The Game 78 Do-It-Yourself Preview!

Here we are...the last meeting of the year with the L*kers.  And there's zero reason to think the 38-39 Przybilla-less Blazers (losers of 5 straight and averaging 84.4 ppg during that stretch) have a chance against the 53-24 L*kers, (winners of their last 4 and averaging 114 ppg during that run).  However we bump into an odd truth of the NBA:  games don't always go like they should.  And no series has been more volatile and less predictable over the last few years than Portland and Los Angeles.  Records just haven't mattered much.

This makes for an interesting set-up.  I'm not going to do much analysis or predicting.  You've seen me do 77 of these...this one's up to you.  What do you see as the L*ker strengths and weaknesses, how might we exploit them, how do you deal with Kobe, who are the most important Blazers tonight. and what are your keys?

I will start with the one that is always central to these contests, especially in the Rose Garden: emotion.  For some reason when we gear it up and throw our hearts into it against the L*kers shots start falling, we start getting this crazy idea that we can win, and lo and behold...it happens.  This is a home game.  This is a game where we're underdogs.  This is a game where we can throw a wrench into the plans of a team we have sparked against a few times.  Let's see if there's one more shell left in the howitzer tonight.

Your turn.  Let's make this the best game preview EVER!

--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)