Trailblazers-Hornets: A Preview

Last season, early on I looked at the rosters and predicted a Portland victory. I was wrong. The Hornets came out and controlled the game start to finish, cruising to an easy win. I was not alone in missing. The Hornets played much better than people expected and had a shot at the Finals. This year, I look at the rosters and think, wow, Portland has a really good shot at this game. Let's go old school for a moment.   Center Tyson Chandler v. Joel Przybilla. Chandler will put up more points than the Vanilla Gorilla and might even have a couple more rebounds but Przybilla will make him work for it. The point differential and rebound differential will scarcely be noticeable.   Power Forward David West v. LaMarcus Aldridge On the season, West scores almost a point per game more and rebounds three tenths of a board better. Yet last year, against my expectation, he completely dominated this matchup. It would be extremely arrogant of me to proclaim that a fluke, but I also ... (link)