Preview: Warriors @ Blazers

The Golden State Warriors take on the 3-3 Portland Trailblazers tonight at 10:00 EST. The Warriors are trying to rebound from their 90-87 loss to the Bucks on Wednesday night. Poor shooting and rebounding were the main reasons for the Warriors loss, let's hope they can turn that around tonight against the Blazers.

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The Blazers have been hot of late. After starting 0-2, they have won 3 out of 4 at home led by Darius Miles and Zach Randolph, both averaging over 20 ppg. Even though the wins were against Atlanta, New York, and Chicago, the team is still playing well as evidenced by their 3 point loss to the undefeated Pistons.

The Warriors defense has been keeping them in games. The offense was supposed to carry this team but it has been the defense that has stepped it up. Once the offense starts clicking like it was at the end of last year, look out. The Warriors will need to shoot better than the 36% they shot last game to post a win tonight. This should be a close game. Look for Pietrus to get some more minutes as the struggles of Mike Dunleavy continue. Also, Pietrus will provide better defense on the improved play of Darius Miles. Additionally, they'll have to rotate in Taft and Biedrins more often to help play defense on Zach Randolph because Murphy won't be able to contain him. Perhaps they can switch Adonal onto Randolph and have Murphy guard Przybilla since Przybilla is not much of an offensive force. If they can limit the damage done by Randolph and Miles and make the rest of the team beat them, the Warriors will have a great shot at winning.

Go Warriors!