Portland Trail Blazers vs Golden State Warriors- Matchup. Fun. 1-26-2014

Portland Trailblazers (33-11) at Golden State Warriors (26-18)

6:00 p.m. PST

Roaracle - Oakland, CA

TV: CSNBA/HD| Radio: KTCT 1050

Buddy blog: Blazers Edge

Back in the day, I lived in Portland, playing rock and roll and going to Blazers games. I do mean back - this was in the '70s and '80s. I won't say I was a fanatic Blazer fan, but our wedding and honeymoon were scheduled around the '77 finals. We're long divorced now, and don't speak. Recently some old friends and bandmates posted about the Blazers on FaceBook, and we had a little friendly banter. My ex then posted "Has anything happened since '77?"

And I responded - Dame Lillard is like Johnny Davis with Freddy Brown's shot; Nic Batum is Bob Gross-level underrated, Robin Lopez has almost as much hair as Bill Walton, and LaMarcus Aldridge is every bit as good a rebounder and scorer as Maurice Lucas.

Last year the Nuggets were one of my favorite opponents - because I love watching Andre Iguodala play, This year it's Portland, because - like the Dubs - they're a blast to watch when they're clicking. And like the Dubs, at their best they play the style of basketball I've loved for nearly 40 years.

I'm not going to rant about rotations, or plus/minus, or Harrison Barnes, or anything else. The Warriors can win this game, and need to (as much as you need any win before the ASB, at least).

Portland isn't a fluke, and in LMA/Batum/Wes Matthews they match up very well with the Dubs - although not enough that I would give them the advantage at any of those positions. Andrew Bogut is better than Robin Lopez most nights, and Stephen Curry is just *that* much better than Dame Lillard. This is a real "any given night" contest, and it should be really fun. This is also the third game in the Wolves-Blazers-Dubs round robin, with all three games in 4 days. This time, the Blazers are on the road on a B2B.

If David Lee plays LMA even, and if Klay Thompson can outshoot and defend Matthews, and if @andre can do more Andre things than Nic does Batum things, the Warriors should win. That's a lot of ifs, but it's where we are right now.

Predictions:

• Warriors by 7
• 6 total double-doubles
• announcers lobbying for All-Star reserves