Portland Trail Blazers will face the San Antonio Spurs Watch FREE NBA Playoffs LIVE STREAMING from A T & T Center Tuesday at 9:30 PM ET

The Spurs just finished going toe-to-toe with a transformational power forward whose mid-range game stretched their defense to the max, needing seven games to oust Dirk Nowitzski and the Mavericks.

"I think LaMarcus is a younger Dirk who can shoot and drive, play in the post (and do) a lot of things, so it's not going to be easy," Splitter said Monday. "We know that. I think all the team is aware of that; everybody is going to help a little bit."

Like Nowitzki, Aldridge relies heavily on the mid-range game, using every inch of his 6-foot-11 frame to get his jumper off against smaller defenders. When faced with someone his size, Aldridge has the strength and nimble feet to get past them, as he did time and time again in the Trail Blazers' defeat of the Rockets in six games.

The Blazers haven't been out of the first round since 2000 while the Spurs are looking for a return trip to the NBA Finals.

Even after the Trail Blazers added Dorell Wright and Thomas Robinson in an effort to beef up their beleaguered bench, they still relied heavily on their starting five for most of their production. That stands in stark contrast to the Spurs, who didn't have a player average 30 minutes per game this season. If the series goes deep, that could come into play.

After beating the buzzer to hit his game-winner against the Rockets, Lillard said his phone got quite a workout. "My phone was on 60 percent right after the game," he said. "As soon as I picked it up it was just buzzing and I went on the podium and when I got off of the podium it was dead. I think I had like 350 texts or something like that."

The game will live stream on www.nbalivestreamfree.net