Game 19 Preview: Trail Blazers vs. Wizards
by Dave on Dec 2, 2010 11:03 PM PST
in News
Email
PrintGame Time: 4:00 p.m. Pacific TV: CSNNW
The Washington Wizards have lost 12 of their 17 games on the season and don't have a single victory against a decent team. The Portland Trail Blazers are 8-10, have lost 5 in a row, and are most definitely not playing like a decent team, especially defensively. Is anyone really sure the Blazers will walk out with a victory tonight, though this game would once have been penciled in as a sure thing? I'm not. But that's what the team will need if they're to avoid their worst road trip in the history of forever.
The Wizards feature seven players scoring in double figures: explosive point guard John Wall (18 ppg, 9 ast), the horrible Gilbert Arenas (17 ppg, shooting 38%), the springy and unreliable Andre Blatche (16.5 ppg, 8 rpg), score-hound Nick Young (12 ppg), the always-reliable Kirk Hinrich (11 ppg), budding center JaVale McGee (10 ppg, 8.5 rpg), and the even springier and less reliable Al Thornton (10 ppg). Playing against them is like playing whack-a-mole. You never know who's going to pop up. You just have to keep pushing them down until they quit. Fortunately many of these players either think they're amazing scorers or have to be amazing scorers in order to be effective. Even more fortunately they're not interested in doing anything else but scoring or its close cousin, offensive rebounding. How many of these guys play defense? Or better...how many of these guys don't play defense horribly? Hinrich is the only credible guy among them at that end of the floor. The Wizards are one of only two teams with worse defensive field goal percentages allowed than the Blazers. They're bad at defending the three. They foul all the time. They allow more fast break points than anybody but Golden State. They allow more points in the paint than anybody but New York, Toronto, and Phoenix. They're 28th in the league in defensive efficiency. They're bad defensive rebounders. The only thing they do is force turnovers and that ain't near enough.
In short, a random offense and an absolutely pathetic defense should allow an easy win for the Blazers no matter what else is going on. But Portland's defense has been poor as well and nearly all of the Wizards' rotation players are capable of 20-point outings. If Portland comes into this game unfocused again they could get tagged. But they better not. At this point that's all there is to say. If the Blazers lose tonight I expect things to explode inside and outside of the team...a team which seems to find the worst loss of the year at their door every other night. That's exactly what's knocking today. Let's hope the Blazers don't answer.
Look in on the proceedings at Bullets Forever.
Enter tonight's Jersey Contest form here. Bet on the Blazers to win.
--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)
102 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
As you have said, the Wizards have several players who can go off at any time
They’re young and dumb — but essentially fearless. The rest… they may learn in time.
ignacio
I hope Wall goes off...
as this game means nothing and Portland’s most exciting player is (Wesley Matthews?).
At this point, wins and losses shouldn’t mean much to the educated Blazer fan as it’s all too obvious that this team is not going anywhere with it’s current chemistry (or lack thereof) of players and coaching.
In addition, it’s highly unlikely that any changes will be made during the season.
So why are we watching? It’s for the highlights. THE HIGHLIGHTS…. it’s all about the highlights.
Treat people well because Karma can hit you at any second.
2nd!!!!
well the upside..if the Blazers continue to lose….SOMETHING will be done.
Don’t know what but something.
I know. If they lose I will cut my comcast and sell my tickets.
I sure miss Bayless. At least it was entertaining to watch him try so hard to be a good point guard.
He's doing well for himself in Toronto
He’s not going to be a CP3 or Nash type point, but he’s shaping up to be a decent, poor-man’s Derrick Rose. Small sample size, I know, but he’s really come out the gate on fire.
Phase 1: Collect underpants
Phase 2: ???
Phase 3: Profit!
I am not going to guarantee it, but I feel it.
That is because the team learned they can play offense in the fourth quarter and although for just a little help, if Joel is playing any minutes that will relieve LMA of a few minutes and will shore up our second unit and our defense.
It is unfair to say we are a complete defensive liability when in actuality it is because of the lack of bigs in the front line and BRoy’s injury that they can’t hide anymore because the opponents are taking it to him in the attack BRoy mode. I know this because I have the NBA package and have been listening to the opponent’s announcers that say over and over that the game plan is to attack BRoy on the offensive end and stop BRoy and LMA on the defensive end and you will more then likely beat Portland.
Wesley in the starting line-up will curtail some of the stopping LMA and BRoy and Joel in the second unit will also help by giving LMA some valuable rest. Plus, with Joel and the either Armon or Mills in the second unit some good pick and rolls will help the second unit scoring. I don’t know how Rudy or Batum is on pick and roll but Joel is deadly with it.
In my short, I don’t think Portland is as bad on offense or defense as the record shows, but I think they get lazy and depend on them being the better team and the better team usually wins. With our current woes I would say we should summarize we are equal to or worst then the Wizards and therefore play as the underdogs and win.
hg
by BBK on Dec 3, 2010 5:52 AM PST up reply actions
if Joel is playing any minutes that will relieve LMA of a few minutes
has anyone heard about Camby’s status for tonight’s game?
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
with Joel and the either Armon or Mills in the second unit some good pick and rolls will help the second unit scoring. I don’t know how Rudy or Batum is on pick and roll but Joel is deadly with it.
Well, we don’t know if AJ or Patty can run PnRs with Przy or not, they’ve only played together in practice
I think it’s safe to say that Rudy and Nic aren’t PnR trigger men, at least not yet
the other thing that Joel can do is set screens for Batum or Fernandez to curl off of, but it remains to be seen if Patty or Armon have the PG chops to pass the ball on the money, and in time for an open jumper
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
I really hope Armon gets the nod.
He has way more potential than Patty. He’s been slumping lately, but more DNPCPs aren’t going to solve that.
Stealth > Wealth
I thought, I read that Armon was a great pick and roll PG, but lack experience with Joel.
That will come, I am sure, but If they can do just one right tonight that will help a bad scoring bench.
hg
the only offensive set
that I have seen Armon run so far is the high pnr., and he hasn’t yet shown effectiveness with it, although pnr takes 2 (or more) to tango so to speak…so I’m not necessarily saying it’s AJ’s fault.
One thing I really liked during Patty’s stint was he ran the identical sets to Miller, and ran them well, and our offense looked better with him at the point.
With our current woes I would say we should summarize we are equal to or worst then the Wizards and therefore play as the underdogs
Like I wrote after the Celtics game, the Blazers are playing to the level of their competition, right now (e.g. if they had played as hard against NJ or Philly as they did in Boston, we’d be looking at a 2-1 road trip, instead of 0-3) Expecting the same Blazer team effort to show up tonight as they played against KG and the boys the other night is a roll of the dice, at best
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
If they put in the same effort as they did against Boston, they'll blow the Wizards off the floor.
In fact, I was thinking “Guaranteed Win”. And then I remembered how the Blazers looked against NJ & PHI.
It’s hard to tell where this team’s collective psyche is right now. I do think this is pretty much a “must win” game for that reason alone. If they lose this, Dave’s right…things are going to get ugly in that locker room.
If they lose this, Dave’s right…things are going to get ugly in that locker room.
Either that, or resignation will set in, which is even worse. Cho had better take their collective pulse when the team returns home, I suspect Paul Allen will be the one who “gets ugly” before the players or the coaching staff
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
On a side note, I'll drop the obligatory "Let's trade for Hinrich" post now so we can get it out of the way.
It’d be nice to have a starting PG who can be steady at both ends of the floor. Watching a Blazer PG actually D some guys up would be a nice change of pace.
Yeah, Andre Miller has done an adequate job defensively.
Quite frankly, I’d rather have Kirk Hinrich for what he’d provide on offense — such as spreading the floor and shooting efficiently — more than anything else at this moment.
"They say it has no memory. That’s where I want to live the rest of my life. A warm place with no memory."
Oh, That would be almost like the horrible Steve Blake, How could that be?
For all that steve and Travis was or wasn’t, they were able to spread the floor. But, nobody liked them because they were a defensive liability. So getting Kirk is alost like getting Steve back and I can guarantee we will get neither.
hg
by BBK on Dec 3, 2010 5:57 AM PST up reply actions
I'd rather have Kirk Hinrich than Steve Blake, though, for there's nothing that Blake brought ...
to the table — except maybe shooting efficiency by a slight margin — that wouldn’t be surpassed in inherent talent and refined skill by Hinrich.
Then again, though, Hinrich over Blake is just thinking about how things may’ve played out in the abstract, since nobody knows exactly how Hinrich would’ve performed in lieu of Blake during the last 1 5/8 seasons he was here.
"They say it has no memory. That’s where I want to live the rest of my life. A warm place with no memory."
nobody liked them because they were a defensive liability
Steve was a solid team defender, but there were fans that complained that he let quick PGs blow past him—just like they’re doing re: Andre now
I would have been glad to have Blake as a 15-20 mpg backup PG, but Nate would never use him in that limited role. And the Camby trade was too good to pass up
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
Oh, true on that, we couldn't pass up on Camby then or now.
I was referring to all the post that wanted Steve traded and now wants Dre traded. The truth is no one including other fast PG can stop fast PG due to the NBA handcuffing the defense.
hg
Blake and Dre are comparable PG’s defensively but one key difference is that Dre can physically manhandle the smaller quicker PG’s on the other end where as Blake doesn’t have that ability. So in that sense Dre can cancel out the small and quick advantage somewhat.
yeah, I like that
I’d like to see more of Dre backing the waterbugs down, then passing out of the inevitable double teams. Invert the offense
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
andre miller
is a far better player than kirk hinrich, it’s not even close. the comparison is down right insulting.
for kirk hinrich fans still it’s 2006-2007 forever.
I love Miller. And am definitely not a "Hinrich fan". I'm just being realistic.
I think you have to look at play styles, the roles each has been asked to play on their respective teams the past few years, etc…. You have to take into account Hinrich was playing injured 2 out of the last 3 yrs and was asked to step aside when they brought in Rose. Ego was a bit of a problem for Hinrich, but it is no longer. He’s been mellowed out and humbled.
There are things I’d hate to give up in letting Miller go. But there are other things Hinrich would bring to the table that I believe would make us a better overall team given the right pieces being in place at other positions.
Miller is certainly one of the best “low post PGs” in the league right now. Without him we’d be a high pick lotto team this year no doubt. He also saved our bacon in a dozen or more games last year as well.
However, I don’t like the idea of the PG being the focal point of the scoring. The last team that won a championship who did this was the Pistons in the early 90s. Miller is a great player, but he’s not Isiah Thomas.
So, looking forward, I see the need for a guy who can shoot efficiently, hit the 3, play strong man to man D, run the offense and get guys into their sets. Miller runs the offense well, but he doesn’t do any of those other things well. He’s not a good shooter. And he’s a weak man defender (despite his ability to play good team D).
Of course, ideally I’d like to keep them both. It wouldn’t matter to me which started. I think that’d be a fantastic PG rotation. But, I can’t see Miller being willing to backup anyone. With Blake it was understandable, but with Hinrich it’s a closer call who should start and it would depend on the constitution of the team.
So you want the Blazers to trade for a guy with a history of injuries over the last couple of years
Yeah, that’s just what they need.
I would have taken Hinrich-Miller-Roy in a 3 guard rotation
but it’s not 2008 anymore, and Rudy/Matthews need to play
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
Hinrich pretty much won the game against us tonight with his 3rd qtr effort.
By playing strong man D, hitting some shots, making a pass or two, etc…. On a pathetic Wizards team no less.
On a side note, you might want to check out Hinrich’s net 48 minute PER and compare it to Miller’s on 82games.com.
Hinrich is rocking a +12 atm. This is from him posting a PG ~22 PER vs. holding opposing PGs to ~10PER.
I’d say your idea of “it’s not even close” is more than a little faulty for a variety of reasons.
I like Miller’s game, but Hinrich brings some very nice things to the table.
That I agree with
Dre is not the problem on either end except for his shooting threes to spread the floor. I thought we supposedly have BRoy, Wesley, Rudy, Batum and eventually Babbitt for that, he shouldn’t have to shoot the three.
Our two bench point guards are both new and I think will be good in the future, and hopefully this year later on, but as right now when Dre sits to rest the offensive efficiency drops off dramatically. How can that be Dre’s fault?
hg
by BBK on Dec 3, 2010 6:08 AM PST up reply actions
Watching a Blazer PG actually D some guys up
AJ does that well, but it’s certainly not the end-all be-all of a PG’s contribution
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
AJ's defense is OK
so far he’s shown a superb ability to stick to anyone man on man in the open court and apply pressure, but he hasn’t shown to be a great pnr defender or team defender quite yet. Of course I’d like to believe he will come along, but you just never know. Outlaw was always a decent isolation defender, as an example.
Catfish had 6 years to learn team defense
and AJ is already at Travis’ level in that regard
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
A significant part of me is rooting for a loss here, because I want to see a major shakeup. I think its needed.
Blow it up.
Do you expect us to be winning with a 36 year old center having no real back up, Roy's knee only
allowing him to be a spot up shooter, and a bunch of 2nd rounders in the place of 3 veterans we had last season? If we need to shake things up, so does Miami.
by BRoyInThe4th on Dec 3, 2010 12:11 AM PST up reply actions
I feel all warm and fuzzy every time Miami loses.
I know a lot of Laker haters here gain solace off of every Lakers loss. But, for me, I just love to hate the Heat this year. Knowing they are sucking right now makes the year the Blazers are having more bearable.
I am a L*ker Hater
But, I love to see Miami sucking although, I know the blame is going to be on their coach much as many of our fan’s blame Nate. I am tickled that both Miami, and the L*kers are losing, and now if Boston would join them it would make my day.
hg
by BBK on Dec 3, 2010 6:14 AM PST up reply actions
No, I don’t. I’ve been a harsh Nate critic in the past but not really so much this year (though his consistent failure to coach anything other than a mediocre D does annoy me).
The difference between us and Miami is that they have hope since they have 3 allstars with 6 good knees. We have nary a good knee between our two franchise pillars. That’s why I see little hope and why I support blowing it up.
Blow it up.
It's with a heavy heart I'd have to agree with this. :(
I started calling for us to blow things up a couple weeks ago when all the hubub blew up about Roy’s knees. I practically got shouted off the boards. Funny how the worm turns. I think most people are starting to slowly realize what I was saying then: Roy’s knee condition isn’t something that just magically gets better. It’s degenerative. At best, what we are seeing now is what we will get for the rest of the season from him, which is – him favoring his knee(s) in the 4th, playing “Ole’!” defense, shooting off balance covered (low percentage) jumpers in crunch time while the rest of the team stands around and watches, gritting it out and playing in pain by using meds, and possibly having to take every 5th game off to rest &/or get his knee drained, etc….
A few people have been strongly pushing the idea Roy should be coming off the bench in a 6th man, shooter role and I’d have to strongly agree.
Even still, I think you’re pretty much right it’s time to blow things up. Win or lose against the Wiz, it ain’t pretty.
If Brandon Roy's knee injuries are chronic and degenerative over time, then making him a ...
sixth man prolongs the inevitable and is a waste of financial resources in the meantime. That’s why blowing it up would be a quicker, yet more painful way in which to get the rebuilding process in motion. Even when “blowing it up,” though, Greg Oden must stick around as the team’s ace in the hole, no matter if Roy becomes a discarded king.
"They say it has no memory. That’s where I want to live the rest of my life. A warm place with no memory."
But putting Roy on the bench has advantages
He isn’t a terrible player yet. Limiting his minutes to 20 minutes can prolong his productivity. He would be a very difficult guy to trade right now because of the size of his contract, so you might as well maximize what you can get out of him. Further, having Roy in the second unit significantly strengthens that unit’s ability to score.
As far as keeping Greg Oden as an ace in the hole, that is a pipe dream. At this point, I find it unlikely he will ever set foot on the court in any meaningful way again. I would absolutely support trading Oden. If he goes elsewhere and becomes a stud, then so be it.
by hercher on Dec 3, 2010 2:56 AM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Why trade him when he is not hurting us?
We can’t get any value out of him anyway at this point. We still have to pay his salary, so what is the point of trading him, if he never plays again so be it, if he does play again he will be a better back-up third center than Marks for nearly the same price.
hg
by BBK on Dec 3, 2010 6:37 AM PST up reply actions
Because you might be able to get a better asset
in exchange for Oden’s expiring contract. Or if the Blazers choose to just let him go, then they free up cap space.
Why would a team pay for Greg's expiring contract
They can wait until his contract expires and offer what they feel he is worth. since the Blazers didn’t pick up his extension.
hg
Portland's so far over the cap
that releasing Oden would not get them under. Perhaps you were thinking about the luxury tax threshold?
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
"Limiting his minutes to 20 minutes can prolong his productivity."
The franchise should either play Brandon Roy 32+ minutes per game if he’s healthy or — if worse comes to worse — play him if he’s hurt ‘til he breaks down. Now, I’m curious as to whether or not insurance would pick up 80% of Roy’s contract if he’s injured — since some players in the NBA like Eddy Curry and Luol Deng aren’t covered — for there’d be no financial benefit to him being forced into a medical retirement in the next year or so if he isn’t under policy.
"They say it has no memory. That’s where I want to live the rest of my life. A warm place with no memory."
I don't see the value in playing Roy until he breaks down
Roy’s knees are bone on bone. His injuries, unlike Greg Oden’s, are chronic — the result of wear and tear. Oden’s are the result of some traumatic incident.
By limiting Roy to about 20 minutes, you are saving 12 minutes per game (using your number. So in only 3 games, you’ve shaved the equivalent of 1 game’s worth of minutes off that wear and tear. It increases the likelihood that you will have a healthy Roy — relatively speaking, of course — for the post-season in the event the Blazers make the playoffs.
Roy's knees don't seem to be the only problem.
I think he is bringing the entire (well maybe not the ENTIRE) team down with his atttitude.
Still cannot get over the statements he made re: winning…" "Do we have enough to win a game here and there? Yeah. But we’re thin. I don’t think that’s a secret."
"It just depends," Roy said."I just think we have to be realistic with how we continue to approach these games. We’ve almost stepped back into a developing phase. We’re developing guys again. I think we’re developing our bench. I think that’s some of the frustrations we’re having."
"Confidence is low," Roy said. "It hasn’t been this low since my rookie year. It’s hard to say exactly what’s wrong, but I think some of it is definitely confidence."
Isn’t it part of Roy’s job as the so-called LEADER of this team..to inject/inspire hope?
He may just not be able to do so considering what he has to deal with right now….
He is affecting the team..and not in a good way.
sixth man prolongs the inevitable and is a waste of financial resources in the meantime. That’s why blowing it up would be a quicker, yet more painful way
Well yeah, if you can get another team to accept Roy in a trade, or Brandon to medically retire that would be expedient and not tie up all of those precious financial resources
but let’s be practical, here. Let’s say Roy is healthy enough to play at an above-average level for the next 2-3 years. Starter or 6th man? I say 6th man. Miller-Matthews-Batum is a better starting trio defensively, Wesley/Nic are “the future” and they both have benefited from playing alongside Andre. Everyone says that Roy and ’Dre are a bad fit—so separate them. Everyone used to think that Brandon and Rudy would be a great starting backcourt—so hook them up them as a bench duo
It can’ be much worse than what we have right now, and there’s a chance it could be more entertaining and better for the long-term development of the players who will (hopefully) complement Oden, in a year or two.
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
Even if Brandon Roy playing as a 6th man for 28 minutes per game is preferable to ...
him busting his butt for 36 minutes per game as a starter, it’s still just treading water at that point. To me, that’s a lose-lose proposition.
"They say it has no memory. That’s where I want to live the rest of my life. A warm place with no memory."
I agree with BRoy, coming off the bench.
Not only for the team, but for his longevity. I feel this way because when he missed the three games, we won the first two games and probably would have won the third if Wesley hadn’t got in foul trouble. We haven’t won since BRoy came back.
I don’t know for sure what good it would do to blow the team up again. We more or less did that last year by trading off Steve, Travis, Martell, and then this year JBay. We are not going to be able to trade BRoy because of his contract, I am not ready to give up LMA, and Camby for as old as he is, is doing OK. So blowing up the team are you saying get rid of Batum, Wesley, Dante, Armon, Babbitt, Williams and Mills which is still very young; For what more new players or old players? It is unlikely we will be able to get anything in between that is a decent player.
hg
by BBK on Dec 3, 2010 6:33 AM PST up reply actions
well, he definitely wasn't the reason
why the team won the previous games, when he was out
and it’s not like the competition was tougher, this week
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
yeah, let's not give any blame to how horrible
Rudy, Batum and Armon have been. We have no back up center, pg or forward.
These losses have fallen on the whole team, not one player.
Keep thinking that this team is going to be better off without Roy.
#52
I'm not saying they'll be better off without Roy on the roster
but they haven’t been better with him in the starting lineup since he’s come back
So changes need to be made, and we’ve been suggesting some of those changes for the past week
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
Wizards
Have no decent wins, the crappy thing is, neither do the Blazers.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they play uninspired ball and lose to the Wizards and make it six straight and I wouldn’t be surprised if they mopped the floor with the Wizards. I just have very little confidence either way right now. I know in my heart they should win this one, but i’m not sure what their heart with have to say about it.
I love three 3 things in life: Family, Money, and Baseball. Come March the order of those three get changed up a bit.
This is spot on.
The Blazers could win or lose by a lot or a little. And that isn’t fence sitting. This team is so unsteady right now, there is no way of predicting which team will show up. Is Marcus Camby feeling any ill effects from Wednesday night’s knee injury? If so, the team could tailspin. Will Joel Przybilla play? If so, he could give them a huge emotional boost.
Just too many question marks surrounding the Blazers right now.
That's exactly what the team needs!
A big man in the middle off te bench and a big emotional boost!
Let’s go blazers! I still believe…
This is why I think we been loosing. Reding have the big man coming off the bench and looks like tonights the night the blazers are going to turn it around. I see an emotional win streak coming along. Hopfully it’s has good as the 13 game win streak we had in 08. Exactly at this time too!
by Hoi on Dec 3, 2010 3:52 AM PST via mobile up reply actions
Supposedly
Nate just came short of guaranteeing it. according to OR-Live.
hg
by BBK on Dec 3, 2010 6:40 AM PST up reply actions
Barrett said he is
“why would Joel fly across the country to just watch?”
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
We need to temper expectations of Joel, however.
He hasn’t played in a year. A few minutes is all you are going to get out of him. And remember that he has no offensive game whatsoever. At his best, you get some pretty good defense, a few rebounds (he’s not a particularly good rebounder for someone as big as he is), some screens, and a lot of grittiness (Nate would say scrappy). He also gives LMA a few minutes off by taking away the need for LMA to play in the middle.
The emotional boost would be big, and there is a part of me that thinks you keep Joel out until the next home game.
Maybe not from the start, but Joel is also a great pick and roll center, that will help the second unit.
hg
by BBK on Dec 3, 2010 6:42 AM PST up reply actions
Agreed.
Long term he will be a big help. But it still doesn’t provide an interior scoring threat, something the Blazers haven’t had since… when did they last have a low post scoring threat? Z-Bo? Sabonis? Duckworth?
Z-Bo lol
he seems to stay closer to the hoop now, but we all remember his time spent trying to be a 15+ ft jumpshooter at the tail end of his Blazers and Clippers stints
Zach was/is a garbage man scorer, down low
he has some nice moves and fakes, but he will never pass it out and Randolph scores a lot of lay-ins by picking up loose balls (his own shot, after it’s blocked) and scooping the ball in quickly
so he’s hardly a conventional back-to-the-basket beast performer
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
this has got to be a win....right?
I’ve got to think pretty soon the Blazers will snap out of this slump and start to go on a run…… I hope…. Let’s start tonight!
Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company.
I'd say it's a must-win, but it's not
because they’re not really playing for anything
I’d say it’s a must-win for Nate, but it’s not because he’s made of Teflon. Our favorite fish-wrap hack John Clownzano even writes a column today defending him (full disclosure: this is the same guy who predicted Oregon would win 8 games this season)
So yeah…
GO DUCKS
The Leeroy Rule: being insistent >>>> being correct
because they’re not really playing for anything
Mike B said they don’t want to come home empty
Canzano would rip Paul and the Vulcans if they fired McMillian just out of principle. John is giving Nate the proverbial vote of confidence (slash kiss of death)
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
Is Clownzano CONVINCED the Ducks are a national championship team?
This is what he was going on about last time I heard him on the radio..before I changed the station..
Yes, the Ducks beat Stanford and Cal but I’m not CONVINCED…. idiot.
If we don't win tonight
I think Andre and Nate are going to have some publicized strong words again. But maybe that should have happened a few losses ago.
"I don’t think it’s lost. I don’t think it’s lost. It’s adversity and something that we have to deal with. We wish it wasn’t like this, but it is."
-Brandon Roy 11/18/2010 as told to CBSSports.com blog
this losing streak they're on
Andre Miller is a tough competitor who seems to really hate losing, just seems to me Andre’s been frustrated with the losses. I know he’s probably not the only player who is, but he seems more vocal about losing. At the end of the Boston game he could be seen slamming the ball down and yelling.
"I don’t think it’s lost. I don’t think it’s lost. It’s adversity and something that we have to deal with. We wish it wasn’t like this, but it is."
-Brandon Roy 11/18/2010 as told to CBSSports.com blog
It would be nice....
If the team could put together a full 4 quarters. In the last 6 games I have found the team lethargic and boring in at least one quarter. So far my youngest daughter has only been able to see loses at the RG. Can she see a win away and at home please…..
anyone see this? Some about McMillan and the Vulcans but it is Insider. Anyone want to sum it up? I am sure it is not much. The funny thing is I have an ESPN magazine subscription but they charged me once for Insider so I canceled it.
I don't, but I'm guessing it's just excerpts from Canzano's article.
Most of the NBA Rumors section is just links to articles you can read for free if you find them elsewhere. Mostly, the Insider for the NBA fan is to get access to Hollinger’s articles, which I usually enjoy.
"Love may forgive all infirmities and love still in spite of them: but Love cannot cease to will their removal." - C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, 1940
Really is a must win
Our December schedule is chock full of teams that would probably destroy us the way we’ve been playing (excepting the C’s game)
At least we should make the playoffs.
If we make it past the 1st round as a lower seed I’ll be more than thrilled after this garbage.
Should be an interesting season all around.
With the spectre of the lock out looming for next season..wonder how season ticket holders will respond..renew? or not…
Will the Blazers up their prices by >10% again?
When will the consecutive Rose Garden sell outs come to an end?
I'm not as confident that we'll make the playoffs.
An 8-10 record is a .444 winning percentage, which over 82 games is 36 wins.
How about the bench stepping it up tonight?
Joel, Dante, Nic, and Rudy sounds so much better than Marks, Dante, Nic, and Rudy
FIRST POSTER: Is there prescedent for this?
I have been a blazer fan since my dad took me to a game in their expansion year (I was 13). Once you fall in love with a team as a young boy, you will always love that team (or so I think).
My question: does anyone remember a team coming undone this way from one year to the next without any real apparent reason for doing so (in any sport)?
Whatever happens, I still love these guys.
And I have a new love. I confess to loving Blazers Edge. It is one of the finest blogs that I have ever had the pleasure to read. It feeds me ways that go far beyond the realm of sports (and isn’t that what ultimately matters?). All I can say is thank you, this is great stuff!
by lookingForBalance on Dec 3, 2010 8:19 PM PST reply actions
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
NBA Playoffs Content Module
Related FanPosts on Blazer's Edge
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
FanShots
Quick hits of video, photos, quotes, chats, links and lists that you find around the web.
Recommended FanShots
Recent FanShots
In Association With
Ball Don't Lie - NBA - Yahoo! Sport
- Behind the Box Score, where the Boston Celtics are moving on to the conference finals
- NBA Playoffs Fan Fiction: San Antonio Spurs vs. Oklahoma City Thunder
- The Indiana Pacers? Gone till November
- Shaquille O’Neal is in a Chinese beer commercial, too (VIDEO)
- ‘Deep Thoughts’ and Cheap Thoughts: San Antonio Spurs vs. Oklahoma City Thunder
