| 2008/2009 NBA Regular Season | ||
|---|---|---|
 | @ |  |
| 3-3 | 4-2 | |
| November 10th, 2008 | ||
| Amway Arena | ||
| 7:00 PM | ||
| NBA TV / Sun Sports | ||
| Probable starters: | ||
| Steve Blake | PG | Jameer Nelson |
| Brandon Roy | SG | Mickael Pietrus |
| Nicolas Batum | SF | Hedo Turkoglu |
| LaMarcus Aldridge | PF | Rashard Lewis |
| Joel Przybilla | C | Dwight Howard |
I'm sick and have a ton of schoolwork to do, so please forgive me for cutting this preview short. Portland is a skilled, young team that's 3-0 at home and 0-3 on the road. And while it's also one of my favorite teams, I certainly hope that road record drops to 0-4 tonight.
Dwight Howard has, perhaps surprisingly, not played well against Joel Przybilla in his career. The Magic may find themselves having to rely on Hedo Turkoglu--who will likely be defended by the athletic rookie Nicolas Batum--and Rashard Lewis to score tonight.
Keep an eye on how Jameer Nelson plays, especially in the first three quarters. If the game is tight in the fourth, Portland will shift 6'06" Brandon Roy to point guard. The Magic will have to either cross-match him with Mickael Pietrus, leaving Nelson to guard Portland's shooting guard, or shift to a zone. My money's on the former option; have the Magic ever played zone under Stan Van Gundy?
Check out Blazer's Edge for a Portland perspective. In his wonderfully nuanced game preview, Dave has the quote of the blogging season so far:
The very first thing to know about the Magic is that Dwight Howard is destroying everything in his path like a tornado full of bazookas stuffed with pop rocks and diet coke.Well done, sir.
Tip's at 7. Go Magic.