If not for the Orlando game, I’d be in great spirits right now. Still a great start for Portland. We need a W tonight though.

Although they are playing with 2 rookies and have won big games Im a little worried about the make up of our team. They have to many scorers and not enough role players. I wish they didnt shoot so many jumpers, played better " D" . I wish we had a better pg that drove to the hole and distribute the ball better. I dont know if we have the team that will compete in the playoffs this year or any year until we get one.

But I still keep my prediction of 46 wins this season. This team will go through winning streaks, as well as losing streaks. We must be able to win without putting up 25 – 30 3pt shots. We will not shoot 40-45% every night, and we need to find a way to stay in games when we are struggeling from the outside.

so they’re definitely exceeding my expectations.

The great early record against all odds may have inflated my excitement too much, however. I fear the “real” Blazers team might be good but not as good as they’ve looked thus far against that rediculous schedule.

probably not even .500 at this point. Tough schedule and too many new faces.

Orlando loss was the toughest in the coulda-woulda-shoulda category. Much worse than the schooling in Boston.

However, if I had eaten some really bad burritos on day 1 of the season causing me to lapse into a coma and awaken today with short term memory loss to find them 15-9…it wouldn’t matter how they got here or how painful or humiliating any of the losses were. They would simply be far above my expectations.

‘course I’d probably have forgotten about those burritos also and would consume the leftovers.

Individually I expected more from LA (can he just keep playing like the last couple games now??). I expected to see more PT for Rex. Roy is exceeding expectations. I figured with the increased scrutiny by other teams, the scouts figuring out that he’s THE MAN, etc, that he would be doing well to maintain last years productivity.

I actually expected quite a bit from Channing, too. I’m just gonna bite my tongue here.

I’ve been able to ratchet down my expectations for Oden. I bought into the hype. Now I figure he’s just another rookie with potential and things are cool. If Joel wasn’t killing it out there this pill would be a lot tougher to swallow.

6 games above your expectations.

I had us 10 – 14 in my “realistic” prediction which now turned out to be a bit pessimistic so far (45 games overall, more probably more like 50-55). But a few game comments I noted were dead on, especially regarding the losses:

Golden State: “Tired at the end of the first road trip”
Boston: “No chance against their experience”
Orlando: “Hedo Turkoglu drains the last hope”
Utah: “A little pre-Christmas crisis”

My comment for the Clippers game was “Davis is good, but we prevail”.

But like any Blazer adict, I always want more!

I’d say the worst losses were the L@kers, GS, and Heido’s HORSE banker.

but we are kinda getting killed by these close losses