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The Portland Trailblazers. Still high off of their comeback road victory on Wednesday night, and sitting in a tie atop the Northwestern Division standing, the Trailblazers will look to continue on the positivie progress of rebuilding.
Fresh off thier first road win in something like 18 tries, the Blazers battled back late in the 4th behind a steady diet of the rejuvinated Zach Randolph.
Tonight, I think the Blazers will initially see if they can pound it into Randolf down low and I expect the Warriors will counter with a simple 2-3 zone Defense and double team Zeebo and force him to get rid pass out of the double team. Portland showed that it might have a chance and may have made the right decision by trading away Randy Foye (A DDub favorite) for Brandon Roy. The rookie poured in 20 in his first game. A game in which he spent much of his time chasing the sonics Ray Allen around Key Arena. Roy appears to be solid, confident and polisheded for a rook, and if he can be a consistent producer night in and night out, the Blazers, (it is conceiveable) could end up higher than last in the Western Conference Standings.

For the Warriors, tonight is a big game for a team who's pysche could very well be in question. A loss tonight before a diffucult 3 game roadie to Utah, Dallas and New Orleans/OKC could have Dubs comeing back to Oakland next week, oooohhhhhhhhhhh and five.
However, I imagine it is not lost on coach Nelson Re: this doom scenario that I just referenced. And I'm positive that he will have the Warriors focused and ready to play tonight. I think (but more hope) the Warriors look to run, and spread the ball around on the perimeter (like they did in their first exibition game against the Blazers) and have everyone (including Dunleavy) try to take their man and create mismatches off the dribble.

Will the Warriors win?
I think it possible they could not. I am not sure the extent that Jason Richardson (a Trailblazer killer) is feeling as this will only be his second game of the season.
But in the end, I expect the Dubs to get the victory behind bounce back preformances of everyone on the team. They cannot afford to lose tonight, and they will not.
Warriors 114- 104

Check out what TrueHoop had to say:

Brandon Roy

• Maybe I'm really the first (I doubt it, but I don't remember seeing it elsewhere) to call him Brandin R-O-Y?
• 6-6, with a jumper and mad penetrating abilities, he's going to be a real handful as the ball-handler on the high pick and roll. That's Portland's new go-to play.
• He's still a little tentative--it cost him a traveling violation, an assist to Przybilla, and at least one makeable jumper. That'll pass.
• He's a little dribbley. There are times he should shoot it or pass it faster. But this was, you know, his very first real NBA game.

Dwight Howard

• If you're watching Orlando, and you're unclear which player is Dwight Howard, don't bother looking for his name or number on the uniform. HE'S THE BIG ONE.
• From my notes: Spin move, dunk. Jump hook. Lob for dunk. Put back. Jump hook. Quadruple teamed, and he ends up with an and-one. Kicking out for a three-pointer.
• He is still really young, and his footwork is not yet perfect, and he's already killing everybody.
• He gets very deep post position, which makes him look really good--because when you get the ball all the way down there, it's not to hard to get the bucket. He only looks a little skittish when he catches the ball far from the hoop. Based on this one game against Chicago, that's a little bit of his kryptonite.

Monta Ellis

• He runs really fast.
• He runs really, really fast.
• He rune really, really fast all the time.
• He runs too fast. He'll be better, and cause many fewer turnovers, when he learns to vary his pace and his approach.

Andrew Bynum

• He looks really good, especially considering his age. But I was just watching Dwight Howard. And Andrew Bynum is a really poor man's Dwight Howard.
• He also gets good post position, but he blew more than his share of layups with a hand in his face. (With the same position, Howard would be dunking.) He's not as strong as Howard, which means he has to finesse things a little, which he's OK at.

Kevin Martin

• He's going to score a ton of points. And here's why: he's money on the fast break, and he's money whenever he's left open. He's also pretty much money if he gets an opening to slash to the hoop. Pretty much any mistake the defense could make results in a scoring opportunity for Kevin Martin--without plays being called for him. He can clean up a whole bunch of garbage. And, increasingly, it will also make sense to call his number too.
• I'd have to believe that among high-scoring perimeter players, he counts as one of the longest and one of the fastest. That's a pretty good combination.