Post by Skip Bayless (Bball26 Analyst) on Feb 6, 2023 14:51:30 GMT -5
#1 Portland Trail Blazers (25-4) vs. #5 Memphis Grizzlies (21-8)
The top 2 scoring teams in the West from round 1 face off in round 2 as the Blazers take on the Grizzlies in a battle of contrasting roster construction strategies. It's likely that whoever comes out of this round will be favored to represent the West in the finals, so I can't wait to see how the week plays out in this battle of heavyweights.
Everyone knows about the Trail Blazers 3-headed dragon of Jokic, Lillard, and Vucevic. Their depth isn't bad, but will be tested again this week with no Smart or Dorian Finney-Smith to start the week. 0 games on Sunday is scary, but the Blazers hold an overall games advantage for the week and will be looking to build as big of a lead as possible to start the week. Jokic has a great week of matchups despite only playing 3 games, with opportunities against the Timberwolves, Magic, and Hornets. However, Portland will need big performances from Vuc on a 4 game week if they want to defeat Memphis. The Blazers don't have as much room for error as they did last week, but if their stars can continue playing like stars, it's hard not to see them move onto the conference finals.
Memphis is coming off a dominant win over the Thunder in round 1, but is also dealing with injuries to Tre Jones and Jonas Valanciunas. Luckily for Memphis, they only have to face 3 games of Jokic/Lillard, but overall are still at a games disadvantage for the week. Bojan Bogdanovic is the only player on the team with 4 games this week and his performance will be massive to help Memphis keep up throughout the week. If Memphis can stay within 100-150 points by Sunday, they'll give themselves an opportunity to move on.
Trail Blazers X-factor: Nikola Vucevic
Trail Blazers X-factor: Bojan Bogdanonic
Caleb's pick: Blazers
Tyler's pick: Trail Blazers
Sarge's pick: Trail Blazers
Skip's pick: Grizzlies