Preview: Portland Trail Blazers @ Golden State Warriors

By Fansided and McLayne Bertsch/FanSided via Rip City Project
Published

The struggling Portland Trail Blazers take on the Golden State Warriors in Oracle. Will Portland be able to keep up with the super team?

Portland carries a five game road losing streak to potentially the toughest road venue on Saturday night: Oracle Arena in the Bay Area. It’s unlikely that the Blazers will be able to keep up with the high-flying Warriors offense, especially without Al-Farouq Aminu. Chief is listed as ‘doubtful’ and will probably sit out another contest with back issues. Aminu has been the only reliable defender on the NBA’s worst defense.

If Portland has any shot at hanging with Golden State, here are the keys:

Get Draymond in foul trouble

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    It’s likely that the Warriors will be without Zaza Pachulia and David West, meaning they could resort to playing JaVale McGee for some serious minutes. This is a good thing for Portland. Baiting Draymond Green into fouls is a tough task at home. He constantly works the referees and usually gets the benefit of the doubt as he is a top-notch defender. The more minutes McGee plays instead of Green, it becomes more likely a Blazers upset occurs.

    Hot shooting from the outside

    The Trail Blazers literally have to catch all the breaks tonight. If Denver put up 132 in regulation versus Portland, what will potentially the greatest offense of this generation do to this roster? It has to be a 40% or better night from the outside for the visiting team. We’ve seen some outstanding Lillard performances versus Steph Curry before and it will take another one tonight. Not just Lillard – it’s going to take a great shooting night from all the guards and wings on Portland.