It goes without saying -- the moda center is going to be packed with fans tonight for the portland trail blazers home playoff game... and one life- long fan -- all the way from new york city -- will be there.

Kezi 9 news reporter jillian smukler is live in the studio -- to show us why the team flew "roger licorish" to portland....jillian?

Matt....amber.... licorish has captured the hearts of blazers nation.... when he was just 10-years-old, the blazers sent him a gift that would make him a fan for life... as you can see here on your screen.... roger and lucy martin arrived in portland today.

A few days ago, lucy walked by roger's office in new york... saw a poster of clyde drexler... and asked if he was a fan.

Licorish's answer -- he's been once since he was a kid... because around the age of 10... he wrote to every nba team... saying he loves basketball and is a fan of the league.

The portland trailblazers.... were the only team to write back...*and they sent him a box of blazers gear.

And he's been a die-hard fan ever since.

Lucy's video went viral... the blazers saw it... and boom -- roger's is here for game three.

This morning -- both were stunned.

<7:09 roger licorish on two shot: honestly the way the entire city of portland embraced me, i did no expect that.

I mean yeah, so i gotta say much love to everybody everybody in portland.

7:21 stitc* 6:00 lucy martin on tight shot:*laugh* i don't know it's crazy.

He's magnetic and so it wasn't even a thing.

I love finding meaningful stories to tell, and i didn't think this would happen.

I mean i hoped exactly for this, but i could never have imagined it would happened > they will be in rip city tonight for game three against the denver nuggets.

Live in the studio jillian smukler