Orlando's Tough Task

The Portland Trailblazers, with a 15-7 record, have yet to lose at the Rose Garden this season, add in the fact that out of 8 contests they've only fallen once to a team from the Eastern Conference and it becomes clear that the Orlando Magic will need to come out guns blazing to build on to their current three game win streak.

The Trailblazers will be lead by the impressive Brandon Roy who is currently averaging just over 20 points a game with 5 assists yet has been struggling the last couple of games.  Roy, who had 27 points against his first encounter with Orlando this season, finished at Toronto with just 15 points which was still an improvement over the game prior in which he had only 12 against the Celtics.  Roy will surely be looking to dupicate his November performance against the Magic all the while hoping that Hedo Turkoglu and Dwight Howard do not.

Turkoglu put up 35 points on the 10th of November, Howard, battling the flu, put up 29 and added 19 rebounds.  Rashard Lewis, however, struggled this night having only shot 3 of 11 and missing all 5 of his three point attempts and yet it will be Lewis looking to have the most dominant performance of the night having already tallied 82 points this month.

Last night saw a change in the Magic's starting lineup with Keith Bogans getting the starting nod against the Clippers in place of the struggling J.J. Redick, who did not play, a Stan Van Gundy decision.  Bogans will get his second consecutive start tonight with Mickael Pietrus still on the injury report, Redick will start tonight's game on the bench, though whether he will see any minutes still remains unknown as Courtney Lee and Anthony Johnson have both been putting up better numbers than the former Duke allstar.

After tonight's 10pm (est) showdown, the Magic will have two days to rest up and then will take on a good looking 12-9 team in the Pheonix Suns, the third game in a challenging 5 game road trip.