A Look At The Seven Game Road Trip

by ladygonegrey on Jan 6, 2008 4:33 PM PST

Last night after the Blazer game, my nephew and I took a quick look at the 7 game road trip. At that point six of the seven teams were .500 and above teams, although I noticed that Atlanta slid below that mark in this morning's standings in the Oregonian. The seven games in eleven days looked very challenging. There are three days off before the first game. Of the two back to back games, I like Miami to Orlando better than Toronto to New Jersey but even in the Miami to Orlando I would prefer it to be Orlando to Miami. Our opponents will not be coming off any back to backs. Yikes! Three of the seven opponents will have had two days of no games prior to playing the Blazers (new Jersey, Orlando, and Atlanta), but the Blazers won't have any two days spacing between games.

Prior games with these teams show 4 wins at home, 2 losses at home and 1 loss away. Of note, the three prior game losses (for Orlando, New Jersey, and New Orleans) were in November (2nd, 21st, 26th) which would be before the Trail Blazers reaped the benefit of the coaching (of film) changes.

All in all, I think the Blazers will get some very favorable national media attention when the win most, if not all of these games. I'd be real pleased with five wins and two losses. But I think seven wins is not unreasonable.

Here's what we found with today's standings:

1/13 Toronto E-AT .515 prior: 1-W-@-hm
Toronto coming off away game 1-11 in New York

1-14 New Jersey E-AT .515 prior 1-L@-hm
New Jersey coming off home game 1-11 Boston

1-16 Boston E-AT .906 prior: none
Boston coming off home game 1-14 Washington

1-18 Miami E-SE .242 prior: 1-W-@-hm
Miami coming off home game 1-16 Chicago

1-19 Orlando E-SE .629 prior: 1-L-@-hm
Orlando coming off away game 1-16 in Charlotte

1-21 Atlanta E-SE .484 prior: none
Atlanta coming off away game 1-18 in Toronto

1-23 New Orleans .676 prior: 2-W@hm, 1L-A
New Orleans coming off home game 1-21 Milwaukee

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The boston game is on the 16th

thanks for the break down. My sights are set a little lower than yours. I hope we win at NJ, ATL, and MIA, NO would be icing on the cake. That is such a tough trip for our Blazers. Lets just try and get a couple.

by Sabonis4Ever on Jan 6, 2008 5:17 PM PST reply actions

Thanks, I fixed it.

by ladygonegrey on Jan 6, 2008 5:30 PM PST up reply actions

It scared me

I saw it and was very worried that we had 3 games in 3 days. Thankfully it is not true.

by Sabonis4Ever on Jan 6, 2008 5:35 PM PST up reply actions

Didn't you read the text?

When I typed up my notes, Word kept trying to insert consecutive dates. Mea culpa on the proofing.

by ladygonegrey on Jan 6, 2008 9:41 PM PST up reply actions

My Predictions

Games I'd be surprised if we lose:
Miami: A mess. This team lacks shooters, Shaq is waning, and Ricky Davis is used as energy off the bench. Never a good sign. D-Wade is also hobbled and is not playing at 100%
Atlanta: They are young and talented like us but their best player is Joe Johnson (who is nothing but an effective volume shooter, played on the bench in Phoenix), they lack poise and can't execute in the halfcourt like the Blazers.

Games that could swing either way:
New Jersey: This one really depends if Vince Carter decides to show up, if he does it'll be tough for the Blazers to win.
Orlando: (Dwight Howard) Their not playing that well atm but Dwight will probably kill us inside. Plus it's the second on a back to back.

Games that I'm expecting us to lose:
Boston: KG. (Celtics at home=yikes)
New Orleans: Chris Paul and his bigs could give us trouble. Tyson Chandler had a 22 pt 22 rebound performance recently and they are 8-2 their last 10 games.

5-2 or 4-3 are good marks imo. Let's see how we fare against Golden State another tough team.

by Dheepan on Jan 6, 2008 5:30 PM PST reply actions

I would be very happy if we win 4 on this trip.

If we play really well we can win 5 of 7. I do not see us winning any more than that.

by jferg on Jan 6, 2008 5:59 PM PST reply actions

Huh ???

I try to be positive about the Blazers, but
seven wins is a little too much to expect.

1. The team is playing much better on the road than earlier, but east coast swings that include
Boston, Orlando, Toronto and New Orleans are
tough.

2. Back to backs where the opponent has a day or
two to prepare a game plan are very tough.

3. We still have some possible injury concerns
(fingers crossed), so be ready.

4. 4-3 or even 3-4 would be a good trip, but
a 5-2 would be excellent and put us in a great
spot to win our division. Did anyone think that
we could finish with the # 3 seed if we win the
division. Wouldn't that drive the haters crazy !

It's GO time !

by walkoff41 on Jan 6, 2008 6:53 PM PST reply actions

This is the hardest part of the entire season

If we go over .500, I will be ecstatic.

by robrun2 on Jan 6, 2008 6:55 PM PST reply actions

If they go .500

I'm going to be more than surprised by several orders of magnitude. It would mean modern mathematics had been completely turned on its head.

by timg56 on Jan 7, 2008 7:45 AM PST up reply actions

Missed the "over".

Yep - 4-3 is ecstatic territory for me.

by timg56 on Jan 7, 2008 7:50 AM PST up reply actions

3-4 is a good trip, anything more is gravy

by douglast on Jan 6, 2008 7:10 PM PST reply actions

I'm in agreement.

I think they might pull out an addition win, but 3-4 would be fine.

This assumes Roy is healthy.

by timg56 on Jan 7, 2008 7:48 AM PST up reply actions

4 wins would be excellent

I would have no problem with 3 wins.

Let's get the Warriors at home and head out on a good note.

by jksnake99 on Jan 6, 2008 7:43 PM PST reply actions

There is happy, and there is real pleased...

but wouldn't another long string straight through this long road trip set the town talking... I can't put it past them. That would be eleven in a row (counting Golden State next week)

Remember all the whining going on in this website during the nine losses in ten games. Who actually thought back then that they would immediately plunge into thirteen wins in a row? If someone had suggested this late on that December 2nd day, would anyone have taken them seriously?

I rest my case.

The amazing is not unattainable!

by ladygonegrey on Jan 6, 2008 9:51 PM PST up reply actions

Wow, lots of Optimists

If we win 2 out of 7, that would be decent, it puts us at .500 for the month at the end of the trip. I'll take that, few people would have predicted it.

If we win 3, it is a very good trip, if we win 4 everyone is shaking in their boots, if we win 5 then forget about bringing on the elites, we're among them, one of the top 5 teams in the league right now.

It is HARD to win on the road in this league against good teams. Even at the start of the year, when we weren't yet a very good team, we beat both Dallas and Detroit at home.

by jscot on Jan 7, 2008 12:10 AM PST reply actions

We Aren't the ONLY Optimists...

check out the 2nd to last line of Ben Golliver's Media Row Report which Dave posted in the middle column of BlazersEdge on 1-5-08...

by ladygonegrey on Jan 8, 2008 10:05 PM PST up reply actions

Only Boston and maybe NO are truly scary

If the Blazers play like they've been playing teams like NJ and Miami shouldn't be a huge issue. Atlanta and Orlando are fading a bit and I think they were somewhat overrated in the first place. Toronto is tough, but 4-3 is pretty do-able.

As Marc Stein says on today's fresh new rankings page:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/powerranking?season=2008&week=10

Don't be so sure that the Blazers' seven-game trip will ruin the fairy tale. Portland is 5-1 on the road during this astonishing 16-1 run. And its only road losses since Thanksgiving were at Dallas, San Antonio and Utah.

by leeroyjenkins on Jan 7, 2008 9:40 AM PST reply actions

Happy if over .500

I'm actually worried that we'll come back to PDX with a 3-4 record for the road swing (road trips are always hard), but I'm hoping to be surprised! The big thing is how BRoy's keister is feeling before their next game - if it is still bothering him, it could be a nagging injury throughout the road trip.

by DonkeyShins on Jan 7, 2008 1:43 PM PST reply actions