The Warriors continue their preseason jaunt through the Pacific Division tonight, taking a trip across state-lines to take on the Portland Trail Blazers. We'll have the Warriors 2010 Preseason covered throughout this stream.
The Warriors 09-10 season ended with a thrilling game at the Rose Garden where Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis led the Warriors injury-decimated squad to a victory against another equally injury-decimated squad in the Trailblazers. Without Brandon Roy, Joe Pryzbilla, and Greg Oden, this was hardly a star-studded match-up. But the six Warriors that were able to suit-up, one player in center Chris Hunter dragging his leg in the few minutes he could stay in, outlasted Portland's second and third units.
Tonight's game probably will not be as entertaining as that game for all its randomness, but it could be another benchmark for how well this Warriors squad needs to be to be competitive. So far playing non-playoff teams in the Los Angeles Clippers and Sacramento Kings made glaringly transparent some of the troubles in the Warriors frontline as they struggled to matchup at times against the athleticism and length of such players as Blake Griffin, Omri Casspi, and Jason Thompson.
If Warriors are having problems defending these players, what's going to happen when they have to face (an aging) Tim Duncan or Carlos Boozer?
The Warriors may finally get to test out Louis Amundson and Rodney Carney tonight as they are listed as questionable. Perhaps Amundson can provide the muscle down low to grab rebounds.
On the roster front, the Warriors narrowed down their roster this week to 16, cutting forward Vernon Goodridge. Point guard Aaron Miles and power forward Jeff Adrien are battling for that fifteenth spot, if the Warriors choose to even decide to carry fifteen players.
Miles seems like a front-runner at this point given the shakiness of Jeremy Lin as a possible backup point guard thus far.
Interestingly, the Blazers are having their own saga of teammate turmoil. As Andre Miller and Brandon Roy continue to struggle to co-exist in the backcourt, Roy reopened the wounds this past week by saying that he "want(s) the ball a lot more." Perhaps this is more of the same, but keep an eye out on how this plays out against the Warriors tonight.
To get in on the discussion of tonights game, join the gamethread over at Golden State of Mind. Also, see BlazersEdge, for interpretations from the other side.