Portland Trail Blazers at Utah Jazz. 6 PM Pacific. No TV. Radio: 95.5 FM.
Jason Quick writes that Nate has said he may use last year's starters on opening night.
Looking for better defense and more cohesion, Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan strongly indicated on Thursday that his starting unit from last season will remain intact as the team approaches it's Oct. 27 season opener against Houston.
McMillan said Sunday's exhibition game against Denver will feature a starting lineup of Steve Blake at point guard, Brandon Roy at shooting guard, Nicolas Batum at small forward, LaMarcus Aldridge at power forward and Joel Przybilla at center.
Smells like a motivational ploy to me. I'll believe that when I see it when it comes to opening night. Nate was obviously frustrated by the effort last night and rightfully so; but he's singling out the wrong people with this message in my opinion.
In the same piece, Jason Quick also has tonight's starters...
The Blazers tonight will play at Utah and will start Blake, Webster, Aldridge and Przybilla. McMillan was undecided at small forward, saying either Ime Udoka or Batum would start.
Bummed that you can't watch tonight's game on TV? Then watch all of last night's game recorded on a flip cam. Awesome guerilla work there. I think we found a viable business model: one man and a flip cam. The tape isn't perfect but you'll be able to clearly see a number of the plays I wrote about in the Media Row Report.
-- Ben (benjamin.golliver@gmail.com)