Portland, OR (My Sportsbook) - The
Golden State Warriors try to snap a two- game skid when they travel to the Rose Garden to take on the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night.
Golden State's latest skid come on the heels of a three-game winning streak. The Warriors are coming off a 125-117 setback at the hands of the Boston Celtics. Wasted in the loss was a stellar effort by Antawn Jamison. Jamison finished with 39 points and 13 rebounds in the losing effort. Gilbert Arenas added 22 points and 12 assists for the Warriors.
"We had a hard time defending the three, but we also had other holes defensively," said Warriors coach Eric Musselman. "We didn't sustain a team effort, or force turnovers, and that cost us."
Golden State has won three of its last four road games and is 9-17 as the guest this season. The Warriors are 12-23 against their Western Conference rivals.
Portland has won two straight and six of its last eight games. The Trail Blazers are coming off a 99-91 victory over the New York Knicks. Rasheed Wallace scored 23 points and grabbed eight rebounds to help the Blazers take advantage of the undersized Knicks. Derek Anderson hit two-of-three from behind the arc and finished with 14 points.
Arvydas Sabonis finished with 10 points and distributed the ball well from the post.
"He's such a good passer and tonight we wanted to get some offense from him," Blazers coach Maurice Cheeks said. "We put Sabas in the game and we went to him. He doesn't always look for his offense, but tonight he hit some key shots for us."
The Trail Blazers are currently the fourth seed in the Western Conference, 2 1/2 games behind the third-seeded San Antonio Spurs and 2 1/2 games ahead of the fifth-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves. In their current position, the Blazers would have home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
Portland is 16-8 at home this season and has an 18-13 mark within the Western Conference.
Portland captured the first meeting of the season 113-111 at Oakland on December 20. The Blazers have won four of their last six home games overall and nine straight home contests in the series.
The Trail Blazers lead the all-time series 101-66.