After five long months, basketball returns to Moda Center Monday night as the Portland Trail Blazers (0-0) welcome the Utah Jazz (0-0) for their first exhibition game ahead of the 2016-17 NBA season. Finishing fifth in the Western Conference, the Blazers claimed victory in three of four meetings with the Jazz during the 2015-16 regular season.
Being the first of seven preseason games, Portland head coach Terry Stotts is focused on fine-tuning his team's execution rather than results Monday night.
"It'll be more about us than about Utah," Stotts said following Fan Fest on Sunday. "What we've done this week, see what things we need to clean up. Obviously, there's no scouting so I'm not sure what they'll be running. Defensively, it might be be a little bit of a challenge, but it's good to go against somebody else so you can evaluate yourself a little bit better."
The Blazers opened training camp on September 27, though the majority of the team reconvened in Portland soon after the Labor Day holiday for involuntary workouts. After multiple daily practices last week and Sunday's scrimmage at Fan Fest, Blazer players are simply looking forward to facing opposition other than their teammates in Monday's exhibition.
"I'm excited; I'm excited to get back out there competing," forward Maurice Harkless said. "It's hard for me to not like these guys on the team in practice. That level of intensity goes up another level when you see someone on another level that -- I won't say you don't care for, but at that moment, you're trying to pretty much kill them."
Monday's game is televised locally on CSNNW as Kevin Calabro and Lamar Hurd make their debuts in their play-by-play and analyst roles, while Brooke Olzendam reports from courtside. Longtime radio voice of the Blazers Brian Wheeler is set to call the action on Rip City Radio 620 AM. NBATV will carry the matchup nationally.