Well, 1/8 of the season is officially over. Weve had ups and downs. Weve won some games and weve lost some games. Are the Blazers where you thought they'd be? Have they performed up to your expectations? Did you think we would have been better or worse at this point?

I decided to look over the stats of the first 1/8 of the season and figure out how we compared to the rest of the NBA. I wanted to address any subject that has had an affect on the Blazers, good or bad.

Well, here goes nothin.... 

First of all we our #1 in our division, even if its only a half game lead, with a record of 8 wins and 3 losses. For me, thats awesome. Especially since we had a quote "slow start" and Denver had a quote "my butt is on fire" start. And 6 out of 11 games have been on the road, with 1 more road game to conclude a 5 game trip vs ATL.

Our quote "slow start"  was due to a combination of factors, such as changing roster combinations, injuries (losing a starter Batum), and a slightly tough early schedule (Hou,Den,Hou,OKC,ATL,SAS) etc... After just 5 games we were 2-3 and it seemed to the fans on Blazers Edge that something must be done. 2-3 was a shabby start for a team destined to be title contenders and the fans screamed for a change. It seemed as if Nate somehow sensed that something was awry and he came out with the ever controversial 3 guard lineup! Some folks immediately were 1 of 3 emotions, stoaked, confused or down right angry! But after the 3 guard lineups success, I think that most folks are now happily riding along with the rest of us on the bandwagon. I posted a grip of links on the 3 guard lineup, and it barely scratches the surface of how many posts there actually were. It shows how important this was to some folks. I feel that since the 3 guard lineup hasnt lost a game, there is simply no way to diss it. Period.

Moving on, right now we are in the midst of nice win streak, currently the longest in the NBA at 6 games. Perhaps the nicest part of the win streak is 4 of the games have been on the road. During the streak we have not faced any of the NBAs top tier teams, but these are games we should win and did win. The final game vs ATL tomorrow, is going to be the biggest test to our win streak so far and im sure we are the underdogs in the game. Atlanta beat us already on our court, and they are the last of 5 games on the road. If we win, it will be phenomenal but definitely not out of the realm of possible. Like Dave said--"4-0 on a five-game road swing.  4-1 is the worst that can happen.  I don't care who you are, that's fine work."  Like I say, 4-1 on the road is like icing on the cake, 5-0 on the road is getting your cake and eating it too.

Now lets take a decent look at our now FAMOUS BIG 3! If you dont know what or who our BIG 3 are, you probably just woke up under a rock somewhere, were born yesterday or just fell off of a turnip truck, so I wont hold it against you. Our Big 3 has really stepped it up so far. Lets look at some individual numbers for each player.

Brandon Roy:

We are so lucky to have this cat on our team. His name is mentioned in almost every conversation with Wade and Kobe, and thats saying something for Wade and Kobe. Roy is THE MAN, THE NATURAL. His number reflect his status among the leagues elite. Hes shooting 44%, with 20.6 pts, 4reb, 5.2ast per game! 81%free trhows, 35% 3pts--this guy is a stud. His numbers dont truly reflect his game -if you never saw him play, you wouldnt know how good he really is. He comtrols the flow of the game. Almost every play he makes leaves even the other teams announcers saying things like "WOW! What a MOVE!" and "He so smooth", and "no one can guard him" or "gosh that guy was on Roy like white on rice and yet Roy swished a shot without so much as grazing the rim!!!" Boy oh Boy are we lucky to have ROY. but yet our luck doesnt end there cuz here comes LMA baby!!!

Lamarcus Aldridge:

Sheesh, this guy is getting better by the second. At this rate he will be an ALL Star no doubt about it. LMA is doing everything he can to erase any softness that his detractors label him with. Not only is he playing with a chip on his shoulder, he is actually playing in the post and not just settling for his feathery  fade away jumper( that is so nice he can fall back on it when he needs too, especially since his release is so high, not even the blockmaster Greg Oden could block it!!.) Even though his averages seem low for these first 11 games, he is doing way more than just score, becoming a way better player in the process. Right now he is averaging fg% 49%!! Pts 14.4 Rebs 7.9  ast 1.5. Freethrow% is 77%. He has had 4 double doubles in the last 7 games! Maybe his best game came vs Memphis when he shot 58% for 16pts 12 rebs 3 ast 2 blk and 1 stl and 0 TOs!!!

Greg Oden:

Greg is what you might call larger than life. Not just in a physical way but in the way that people begin to think in mythical proportions, like bigfoot or the chupacabras. I almost feel like there is so much to the big fella you couldnt write enough to explain it all. Not in his lifetime, your or mine. Greg is larger than life and so are the shoes he has to fill. I cant help it myself, when GO gets on the court, I get giddy with excitement. I yell and scream at my tv, as if he or any Blazer can hear me, but for him I yell the loudest. Not to say hes my favorite Blazer, I would have a hard time picking just 1, but he is my favorite to root for because I know he surely hasnt hit his potential. And my how high that potential is. Gregs only real problem right now is FOULS! If he could stay on the court, he would be hands down the most dominat center in the game today. Per 48 min Gregs numbers are through the roof. I know per 48 isnt an accurate stat for a guy who averages just under 24 minute a game, but in Gregs case, the 48per is alarmingly good. Firsty lets look at him 23.4 min pergame averages then we will compare them to 48 min average. First GOs per is 21.79(21st in the NBA).  So far, Gregs averages are 9.7pts 8.5rebs 2.5blks, hes #2 FG% for the entire league! at 62%(45/73) and hes hit 81%(17/21) of his free throws!! Now per 48min lets see what GREG can do!! PTs 20 Rebs 17.6 Blocks 5. Sheesh-thats better than any center in the history of the game! Glad he on our squad. Note: the #1 rebounder in the league per 48 min is (im not surprised are you?)Joel Przybilla at 19.8! And for comparison purposes, Dwight Howard (per48) is #7 with 16.2rebs. (Greg is #3 at 17.6 reb per 48 and Joakim Noah is #2 with 18 rebs per 48 minutes.  I remember when Charles Barkley on an after game TNT broadcast(link down below) said that Greg needed to work on his offensive skills and let some pressure off of himself. I would say that Greg took what Barkley said to heart, and his games this season have reflected his hard offseason work.

What a difference a couple of weeks make. Now we sit with a fine win/loss record and an easy schedule ahead for the next month. (Schedule link below). For the rest of November, I could see us going without any losses. Our toughest games are Monday vs Atlanta and Nov 23 vs Chicago. During December, it gets a little more serious with games vs the leagues elite like Cleveland on Dec 11, Phoenix on Dec 17, a tough road trip vs (ORL,MIA, DAL, SAS) then a home game vs Den on Christmas and ESPN! What our win/loss record looks after December is anyones guess but Im confident that we will be sitting pretty, despite playing vs the leagues best.

Some notes on last nights game:

Last Night we all saw some of LMAs scappyness come out when he and Raja Bell got into a heated exchange.Jason Quick over at Oregon Live quoted LMA in his recap(link below) but here is the gist of it:

The Blazers missed three consecutive three-pointers, but chased down the first two, one by Aldridge and another by Fernandez. After the third three-point try, this one by Fernandez, Charlotte guard Raja Bell elbowed Aldridge in the ear.

Referee Kevin Fehr immediately called a foul, but Aldridge was incensed and began to approach Bell from behind. As Aldridge neared Bell, Charlotte forward Gerald Wallace pushed Aldridge, setting off pushing, shoving, pointing and name-calling. Both head coaches ran onto the floor to contain players.

"For LaMarcus to get upset like that, somebody did something dirty," McMillan said.

Indeed, Aldridge said afterward that he felt Bell intentionally elbowed him. He also said that was as mad as he has ever been on a basketball court.

"He (el)bowed me on purpose," Aldridge said. "I'm not trying to really get into it, but he knew I was right there, and then he looked at me and 'bowed me. I just felt like it was on purpose, that's why I got into it like I got into it."

Personally, im glad LMA didnt back down to Bells strong arm tactics(pun intended). It should show teams we arent a buncha kids that are gonna get pushed around. I also thought, after seeing the replay, Bell was playing dirty and swung a gnarly elbow at LMAs neck and so LMAs anger was justified.

Another major development last night was the injury to Travis Outlaw. Everyone who knows how important Travis is to the team is holding their breath that he isnt out for the season like Martell last season. What a crying shame this is since Travis was our 3rd leading scorer. Anyone, whos minutes go up because of losing Trav had better come to play. We cant lose his numbers and expect to keep on this pace if our subs for Trav dont step it up. Lucky for us, we are stacked so deep in talents, our cup overfloweth. I feel confident in our players to step up their game and carry Travs weight. I also feel bad for Trav because he and Blake are 2 of our most likely to be traded players, and Trav like Blake is in a contract ending season. He needed to have a great year to up his value. Now, with a injury, he will miss a large part of the season,  and also hurt his value to us or to another team in a trade scenario. Links below to more in depth stories on Trav injury.

Conclusion:

As for me, I am completely stoaked with where we are at. If  I had to give Nate a grade it would be an "A". And I think thats up from a "C"  when we were 2-3.  If I had to give our BIG 3 a grade it would also be an "A". So far so good, keep up the good work Blazers. You started the race on your good foot, just remember its a long cross country type of race and not a forty yard dash. Another great analogyy is the tortoise and the hare. The Blazers are the tortoise and  Let some teams like Denver and Phoenix be the hare. While they are busy going mach 6 ape crazy trying to put up 120 points against any given team, they are wasting valuable fuel. While you take your time, and break down a team with a more rounded and methodical approach, conserving fuel for the real race that is the playoffs. All in all, we are right where we should be, a top team in the west. I think we have improved in so many areas, that any team facing us has to take us serious, otherwise they will lose. We are Blazing hot right now though, and I dont see much to slow our roll. Even if the win streak is snapped, we should have a great record by the end of December. This year, more than some others, is easier to see the seperation between the NBAs elite and the rest of the league. Most of the league is unable to compete with the elite teams, but thankfully we are not in the rest of the league category. For me, we are in the elite category, and soon will be on top of that category as well.

Thanks For Reading My Post.

Peace Out,

Cave Junction Blazer

Credits and Links:

Outlaw Injury Links:

http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2009/11/foot_injury_sidelines_outlaw_t.html

http://www.blazersedge.com/2009/11/15/1158116/outlaws-injury-a-chance-to-learn

http://www.blazersedge.com/2009/11/15/1157977/injuries-with-poll

LMA Fight Link:

http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2009/11/portland_80_charlotte_74_bad_n.html

Blazers Schedule Links:

http://www.blazersedge.com/2009/11/9/1123084/the-sched-ahead-11-02-09-week

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/teams/schedule?team=por

Charles Barkley Message to Oden Video:

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=Barkleys+message+to+Greg+Oden&hl=en&emb=0&aq=f#q=Charles+Barkleys+Greg+Oden&hl=en&view=2&emb=0

Stat Links:

http://www.blazersedge.com/2009/11/5/1117461/stats-101-whats-the-deal-let-me

3 Guard Lineup Links

http://www.blazersedge.com/2009/11/10/1125165/who-says-the-3-guard-line-up-is

http://www.blazersedge.com/2009/11/8/1121725/help-can-someone-explain-blake

http://www.blazersedge.com/2009/11/9/1122465/a-paradigm-shift-is-the-new-3

http://www.blazersedge.com/2009/11/3/1114036/who-to-blame-for-the-poor-start

http://www.blazersedge.com/2009/11/2/1111650/nates-substitution-patterns

http://www.blazersedge.com/2009/10/31/1109414/shameless-rant-1st-half-against

http://www.blazersedge.com/2009/11/7/1120551/if-were-going-to-go-with-three

http://www.blazersedge.com/2009/11/14/1157025/can-somebody-please-explain-to-me

http://www.blazersedge.com/2009/11/13/1156794/blazers-streaking

ESPN LINKS:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=por

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/statistics

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/standings

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/teams/schedule?team=por

Oregon Live Page:

http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/