The Portland Trailblazers are resting Brandon Roy for 3 games because of knee soreness. While most would read this as precautionary given the struggles he has faced in the last few games (7 points on 25% shooting), I instead see this as the Trailblazers realizing that the upcoming weak schedule -- Minnesota Timberwolves, tonight's Warriors, and the following Milwaukee Bucks -- means they probably won't need Roy, no matter how ineffective he might be. The Trailblazers don't fear the Warriors.
On the Warriors front, they will be without second leading scorer Stephen Curry and now Andris Biedrins, who too hurt his ankle, but in practice last Thursday. The Warriors, for the second straight season, are facing injuries of pandemic proportions. This jinx I would call the swine flu version of injuries.
The team went through a "mild practice" Friday, coach Keith Smart said. "We're trying to get out of here without someone getting banged up." He said Curry wasn't ready "to jump into a full-tilt game against some pretty explosive players."
With Roy out and the Warriors most likely relying on Louis Amundson and Dan Gadzuric to fill in, I'm expecting this game to look more like the game where they met last year, filled with deep bench guys. But instead of Stephen Curry dominating, maybe we will see Monta Ellis putting Patty Mills in the spin cycle all game?