The Portland Trail Blazers and San Antonio Spurs are playing Game 1 of their second round western conference NBA playoffs series on Tuesday night and the matchup from the AT&T Center starts up at 9:30 pm ET from Texas and has the two teams going for a 1-0 lead in the series and it comes after Damian Lillard's heroics against the Rockets in the first round and is streaming online from the TNT TV coverage.
The Spurs come into the series after playing Game 7 against the Dallas Mavericks and now the Big 3 of Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and tony Parker have the chance to continue their dominance in the west and it will be against an upstart Blazers team. Lillard has shown that he is one of the most exciting players in the league and he ended the series in fantastic fashion with his game-winning three point shot against the Rockets. Lillard responded quickly after the Blazers went down in that game and he called for the ball with less than a second left and launched his team into the next round for the first time in over a decade.
LaMarcus Aldridge was great over the first two games of the series with back to back 40 points games against Houston and while he was shut down a bit towards the end, he ended up averaging close to 30 points per game and he could be a major factor in the series with the Spurs. Tim Duncan will have his hands full with Aldridge and Robin Lopez after the way they have played so far in the postseason and the Hall of Famer has been very good himself and this series could turn on how each side plays down low.
The Spurs were pushed to the brink by the Mavericks, but they were able to hold on to get the series victory and now they are looking to get back to the west finals for the second straight season. Lillard is averaging six assists in the playoffs, while Aldridge is averaging 29 points and 11 rebounds and for the Spurs, Tiago Splitter is tops in rebounding, while Tony Parker is first in scoring and assists.
The Blazers were one of the best scoring teams in the league this past season and they played very well on offense against the Rockets and Aldridge is coming in after scoring 30 points and grabbing 13 rebounds in the final game of the series. The Blazers are into the second round for the first time since 2000 and now they will have to battle the number one team in the west and the number one team overall in the NBA.
The Spurs have a great home record and while the Mavs won there in the last series, basketball is all about matchups and the Spurs matchup much better with the Blazers than Dallas. Lillard has the chance to continue his evolution into a star and the shot he made at the end of the Rockets series could be his ticket to that. The Spurs ranked sixth in offense and defense by points per game during the regular season and Parker will have to continue his strong play after dropping 32 points in the Game 7 win against the Mavericks.
Check here for the Portland Trail Blazers and San Antonio Spurs live coverage from TNT for the NBA playoffs.