The Washington Wizards are coming off three straight wins and will look to close out their homestand with another win over a top Western Conference opponent. They’ll take on the Portland Trail Blazers at 7:00pm EST.

Key Match Up:

Nene has missed two consecutive games due to personal reasons. His wife recently gave birth to twins, but that might not be the reason for his absence.

@BigGrosh @kylemorris97 @CSNWizards That's true. But that's not the whole story. He should be back soon tho — J. Michael (@JMichaelCSN) March 14, 2015

If Nene does miss another game, the Washington Wizards could be in some trouble. LaMarcus Aldridge is one of the most skilled big men in the NBA and the thought of having Drew Gooden defend him makes me shudder. With or without Nene, the Wizards are going to have to find a way to stop Aldridge, or at least contain him.

Aldridge is averaging over 23 points and nearly 11 rebounds per game this season. For someone who puts up 20 & 10 on a nightly basis, Aldridge doesn’t necessarily get the credit he deserves. The Blazers have been a top team in the brutal Western Conference all season long, and it might be time for Aldridge to get some serious MVP consideration.

via vorped.com

Most of Aldridge’s shots will come from mid-range, so the Washington Wizards just have to do a better job of closing out. He’s capable of scoring in the post as well, and once he gets it going, Aldridge is virtually impossible to stop. As long as the Wizards make life difficult for Aldridge, they should live with his makes. If they keep him to his season average and don’t allow him to put up absurd numbers, they might have a chance to pull off the upset.

Just please, come back Nene. If Drew Gooden or DeJuan Blair have to defend LaMarcus Aldridge, it won’t be pretty.

Prediction:

The reverse jinx has worked for three straight times, so we’ll continue the gimmick for this game.

The Trail Blazers are in the top half of the league in points, rebounds, assists and defense. Now that Nicolas Batum is back to contributing and Arron Afflalo is getting comfortable in his new role, the Blazers have become a legitimate contender. Of course, Damian Lillard continues to be an offensive force, making the Blazers that much tougher to stop.

Similar to last year’s team, though, the Blazers don’t have much depth after their starting unit. Now that Wesley Matthews will miss the remainder of the season with a torn achilles, the Blazers will have to rely on Afflalo to fill his role. Afflalo was brought in to help their second unit, but their bench will continue to struggle.

The Wizards have been an elite defensive team, and if they could contain the Blazers’ starting unit from obliterating them early in the contest, they should have a chance to get the win at home. Ramon Sessions, Rasual Butler and even Blair gave the Washington Wizards some much needed help off the bench last game, and they’ll need their production against Portland.

Both John Wall and Bradley Beal have to play at a high level for the Wizards to beat the Blazers. We haven’t seen both of them play well at the same time in what seems like forever. When Wall is off, Beal appears to play well and vice versa. Paul Pierce has carried Washington’s offense in spurts, and Beal recognizes that he has to start playing better.

The Washington Wizards are less than two games behind the third seed and they have a tough West Coast road trip coming up. They could potentially get some much needed momentum with a win over the Blazers.