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Spurs -6.5 risking 2.2 to win 2.
I believe that many of the defensive tricks Carlisle had up his sleeve against the Spurs were the Blazers' only shot of stealing a game in San Antonio. You have to stay home in the corners and dare Parker to beat you in the midrange/the bigs to dominate in the paint. It was a sound strategy that worked for a while, but San Antonio eventually conquered it handily. Additionally, going small was another tactic Carlisle tinkered with and San Antonio figured that out too.
Point blank, the Blazers' roster and playing style is very similar to that of Dallas. They run very similar sets offensively, and have only those same tricks to use defensively to give them a shot. Unfortunately, the Spurs have had all kinds of practice against this style of defense now, and seem to be hitting their stride in a way that should scare Blazers backers. One more point - the Dallas bench gave the Spurs fits all series. Unfortunately, Portland has nobody of that ilk, Spurs should be able to extend leads with their foreign legion.
Coming off the biggest moment off every single player on the roster's career on a Friday night with a weekend to celebrate before flying cross country doesn't help Portland much either. Wouldn't be too surprised if they get rolled by 15+ by a vastly superior squad in each of these first two games. GL guys.
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