Watch Portland Trail Blazers @ New Orleans Hornets: Preview, Food & Drink Specials

January 16, 2012 — PDXPIPELINE

The Blazers lost Saturday evening in overtime to the Houston Rockets. That’s three straight losses for the Blazers with four more road games to go. Today they square off against a rather bad New Orleans team. Unfortunately, New Orleans is much stronger at the center postition with Chris Kaman (Kaman is out!) and Emeka Okafor, and the Blazers are still without Marcus Camby. What should have been an easy win could turn intio a grudge match today.

Other than Christmas, Martin Luther King Jr Day is the most important regular season game-day for the NBA. With many Americans on vacation, the league plays games all day starting in the morning for us on the West Coast. The league will be highlighting the many volunteer projects that teams and players donate their time to throughout the years as well.

The game starts at 12 p.m. on Comcast Sports Network, a time when many Portland bars and restaurants are closed on Mondays. If you do not have television or want a good Portland establishment to enjoy the game with friends, here are suggestions from our sponsors.

Watch Trailblazers Games in Portland:

Blitz (Ladd, Pearl, Tigard, NW 21) | More info: blitzbarpdx.webs.com
Blitz's FOUR locations will be happening as always with tons of televisions, drinks specials, and games (ping pong, shuffleboard, buckhunters, horseshoes in Tigard, and more).

NE 15th Avenue & Hawthorne Hophouses | More info: oregonhophouse.com
15th Avenue: 1517 NE Brazee | Hawthorne: 4111 SE Hawthorne Blvd.
The Blazers are back and we are ready to make up for lost time. While they dunk, we'll drink. Come watch the Blazers take on the Cavaliers at 6pm at the Hophouse! Dress in Blazer gear and get your first beer for $2.00.

-------------------------------------

Preview - Portland Trail Blazers @ New Orleans Hornets:

By Cain Stoneking

Portland Trailblazers (7-5) @ New Orleans Hornets (3-9)
Monday, January 16th, 12:00pm CSN
Schedule: Portland Trail Blazers 2011-12 Schedule + Win Tickets

Game Notes: The Blazers are in the midst of a three game losing streak that desperately needs to be snapped before playing out the rest of this road trip. Luckily, in comes the Hornets. After the Chris Paul trade, this team lacks a lot of talent. After Eric Gordon was injured, the Hornets lost their only true scoring threat too.

The main problem is the Hornets' front court can give the Blazers fits in this game. Normally they wouldn’t, but the Blazers will probably be without Marcus Camby who is nursing a sprained ankle. It is clear the Blazers cannot rebound the ball without their anchor in the middle and one thing the Hornets will be able to do is clean up on the glass. This is the worst team in the West, so this is a must win for the Blazers.

The Hornets:

Starting Lineup: Jarret Jack, Marco Belinelli, Emeka Okafor, Chris Kaman, DaJuan Summers
Bench: Greivis Vasquez, Carl Landry, Jason Smith, Al-Farouq Aminu

X’s and O’s:

Gerald Wallace did a poor job of posting up in the last game and LaMarcus seems unable to shoulder all the low-post responsibilities. Without a post up game, the Blazers are going to lose about 90 percent of the time. The only way they can win is if one of the guards goes off. Last game, Batum had 29 points and seven rebounds plus a plethora of blocks and that was still not enough because the Blazers had almost no points in the paint. It seems like LaMarcus does not want to play in the low-post but he is going to have to for the Blazers to win. I hope the coaches tell him this and run plays for him at the low-post.

Advantage Blazers:

It has been super frustrating to be a Blazer fan the last couple of games and see so many open shots not go in. The guards have to do a better job. Felton has not been able to find his shot, shooting around fifteen percent from behind the arc. Crawford has not shot over 33 percent in the last three or four games. Wesley seems to be afraid to shoot the ball… so where is the scoring going to come from with the Blazers? Every team has just learned to pack it in the lane. This game will actually be Felton’s best chance to find his stroke. It is against an inferior team, he is obviously going to have the ball in his hands a lot and his match-up will not be able to burn him on defense. Hopefully, Felton finds his shot and can ride a hot hand for the rest of the road trip because that would completely change the make-up of this team.

Last Words:

This road trip is only going to get harder, so the Blazers need to find a way to win on the road fast. They don’t have the luxury of resting players right now because they are on a tough road trip that was supposed to define this team. The Blazers would be very fortunate just to finish 3-3 on this trip. After this trip, they have three games in three nights. If they think fatigue is a factor now, then they are going to have a rude awakening at the end of this month.

Games this week:

@ New Orleans – 16^th@ Atlanta – 18^th@ Toronto – 20^th@ Detroit

--------

Blazers coverage by Cain Stoneking, a life-long Oregonian who breathes Blazers basketball. During the offseason he enjoys backpacking and playing music in his local band Foxtrot. Follow him on twitter at Letsgoblazers, or write to him at lightcain@gmail.com.

-------------------------------------