To start off I am officially erasing the L*kers game from my memory. That game was too emotional with starting the year on ESPN against the best team in the League, but I digress. The other 7 games show a positive sign. Throughout the season the blazers have found different ways to win games. One of the most important is shot volume. Before this year the blazers averaged shooting less shots than their opponents. Things have changed this year with the following stats you can see that this could be a promising year when we start to get hot:

Attempted shots in a game:   

                   Portland                      Opponent    

SA-                 82                                68

Suns-             81                                69  (Loss but still ability we lost because of                                                                                     rebounds)

Jazz-              73                                74 

Rockets-        89                                78

Timb.-            73                                 84 (One of the few that we did not compete                                                                                   because we didn't need to, to win)

Orlando-        80                                 71

Miami-           78                                  72

With this look it seems that we are competing hard. We do well when it comes to scrapping because our young guys have the drive to win for the team. The other look at our energy on the court is seen in the rebounds we have a game:

                             Portland                         Opponents

SA-                          37                                        31

Suns-                      28                                        36 (Don't expect much with Shaq and                                                                                             Amar'e in the paint)

Jazz-                      35                                         38 (We did lose that one)

Rockets-                48                                         36

Timb.-                     45                                         38

Orlando-                34                                         44 (You know Dwight killed in that game)

Miami-                    40                                         35

For one last look at how we can scrap, check the stats for steals:

                     Portland                 Opponent 

 SA-                11                                  1 (Thats right 11 to 1)

Suns-              7                                    7 (Nice against a veteran team like the Suns)

Jazz-               8                                    7

Rockets-         2                                    6 

Timb.-              4                                    4

Orlando-         9                                    3 

Miami-            8                                     7

The talent of our young team has shown to be a force against other teams. We can show up night in and night out with consistency. Heres another stat that is interesting that could be seen as positive or negative. 

         Portland has given up an average of 54.5 percent on their first three games (excluding the l*ker game), the next four games that we won the opponent averaged 45 percent. Slowly the Blazers are getting on defense and getting to the boards, especially with Batum starting (Nice choice NATE!). 

I see great opportunity with playoffs capable.