I hope I'm wrong but I've been saying for some time now if the Blazers went 7-2 during that last nine game stretch our team was a true Western Conference finals contender. If they went 6-3 they were a playoff team, if they went 5-4 they were headed for the lottery. Well, they finished 5-4, so I'm here to say, the season will be clearly be over to even those of you that are still holding out hope about the team in the next 30 days. Just look how poorly they played in the last 9 games for a glimpse of what is to come over the next 30 days:

@Toronto W
@Detroit L
Sacramento W
Memphis W
@Golden State L
@Utah L
Charlotte W
@Sacramento L

Pretty sad for the Blazers to go just 5-4 in that stretch. We played a lot of teams lately that were missing key players. No Randolph for Memphis. No Big Al or Bell for Utah. No Bargnani for Toronto. No Gordon for Detroit. Even before the glory nine stretch, we played Atlanta without Horford, New Orleans minus Gordon. The Spurs didn't have Manu.

Since Portland started 7-2, they have went a TERRIBLE 6-8!!! I think the Blazers are more of the 6-8 team than the 7-2 team.

And the news doesn't get any better. Look at the scary Feb. schedule that made this recent 9-game-bum-stretch even more important, the Blazers SOS was top 3 before, and now it's fallen into the 20's. The schedule is about to reverse course and toughen WAY up. Check it out.

Playoff contenders in NEXT 30 DAYS:
DENVER
OKLAHOMA CITY
HOUSTON
DALLAS
LA CLIPPERS
ATLANTA
LA LAKERS
SAN ANTONIO
DENVER
MIAMI

Bums in the next 30 days:
NEW ORLEANS
WASHINGTON
GOLDEN STATE

As you can see there are a lot more quality teams, compared to bums coming up for Portland. And even worse yet, the bums are @ New Orleans, and @ Golden State where we never win. It's like we are the Lakers in Portland when we are in that building.

When these next 30 days are over we are all gonna be wondering what lottery pick we are gonna get.

Edit: Wow, after the 30 days we get two bums in Minny and New Orleans, then the awful road team aka the Blazers goes off for 7 straight road games! It's gonna be a tough next 45 days!!!