4-Game Road Trip.......

[BlazerWookee]

First stop FAMS!

Good luck getting in there!

 

[THE HCP]

 

[BlazerCaravan]

Whataburger has a liquor license?

 

[MickZagger]

I remember when I first started following the Blazers back in the early '90s, people always made a big deal about the "Texas Triangle". Now that OKC is in the fold, do we have an alliterative geometric name for visiting all four cities? Panhandle Parallelogram? Death-penalty Diamond? Tumbleweed Trapezoid? Redneck Rhombus? Quail-hunter Quadrilateral?

The Southwest Slaughterhouse.

 

[MickZagger]

I'm pretty sure at the league office they refer to this as the "FU, Paul Allen Road Trip".

Other teams face the Southwest Slaughterhouse as well. Its not just us.

 

[THE HCP]

The Southwest Slaughterhouse.

How 'bout The Hillbilly Hexagon!

 

[BrianFromWA]

uh, I'm pretty sure that's not 4.

 

[THE HCP]

Inbred Isosceles?

 

[MickZagger]

How 'bout The Hillbilly Hexagon!

I can dig it.

 

[Elton]

There should be a "T" before the "W"

 

[Elton]

For some reason I think of this scene when I think of HCP at the Alamo. I can imagine Rice telling this joke on the plane.
[video]

 

[Public Defender]

I would hope for 2-2, with the first two games presenting the best possibilities.

San Antonio is a good matchup for the Blazers. Aldridge has done well against Duncan in recent years, and there's not really another big advantage in the Spurs' favor... other than Popovich, arguably (not a knock on Stotts).

The Mavericks are not as good as the Blazers, though the way the Blazers play - put up as many points as possible and play just good enough defense to get by - is sort of Dallas' calling card, so this one could be a crap shoot.

Houston is tough, and while OKC has certainly fallen a peg without Westbrook, playing the Thunder at the tail end is what some would call a "scheduled loss."

2-2, with the first two as wins I'd be happy with, and I think it's attainable. But I could just as easily see a 3-1 or 1-3 outcome. I don't think it'll be 0-4 or 4-0.

 

[KingSpeed]

2-0

 

[Strenuus]

Can't do any worse than a split. And as they always say in the playoffs, split it on the road, and it ain't bad at all!

 

[SlyPokerDog]

5-0

I'm still sticking with this. We've beaten the Spurs, Mavs and refs. That's 3 wins with 2 games left to play.

 

[Strenuus]

I'm still sticking with this. We've beaten the Spurs, Mavs and refs. That's 3 wins with 2 games left to play.

I have a feeling Harden will be north of 20 FTA's on Monday. The refs are trying their damndest to screw with us.

 

[Rhal]

I have a feeling Harden will be north of 20 FTA's on Monday. The refs are trying their damndest to screw with us.

Ill give Hardin 20 FTs if we hit 20 3s

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

 

[Strenuus]

Ill give Hardin 20 FTs if we hit 20 3s

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

Well, Houston is 14th in % of points from 3, and 16th in total number of points from 3 (23.4)... so... maybe?

 

[PapaG]

to be fair to them, I think there's a difference. While the expectation that this team at this time will win almost every night is fun, for those who "still" don't believe in the team it seems as if the vast majority are saying "show me in the playoffs". Does it matter to most of us if the team goes 55-27 or 60-22 or 65-17 if they lose in the first round? Conversely, I don't hear many people moaning that the 1977 championship team "only" won 49 games.

It actually reminds me a lot of the 2001 Mariners. You never hear people talk about them as the "greatest team of all time", even though no team in history has won more regular-season games than they did. When you lose in the playoffs, you don't get that respect. And it's not as if Portland (again, like those M's) has a track record to build off of and a steady build to greatness (like, say, OKC or the Spurs). Even HOU, with little to nothing remaining since they were last relevant in the McGrady/Yao years, can point to Harden and Howard being big parts of Finals teams very recently. We don't have that--to the outside world, we didn't change any of the Top 4 of a team that won 33 games last year.

So it's not necessarily amazing if people don't hop on (or fall off) the bandwagon after this 4-game trip. It'll be fun to watch, but at least for me, I'm going to go with the Winston Wolfe approach--"let's not start sucking each..."

So you admit that you'll not be appreciating the regular season, and will wait until the playoffs to form an opinion on the team. Why post right at this point, then, when your focus is on April?

 

[THE HCP]

Never would have predicted 4-0! Boys keep bringing it!

 

[BBert]

Never would have predicted 4-0!

Why do you hate the Blazers?

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Why do you hate the Blazers?

He can't support any organization that would hire him as an employee.

 

[THE HCP]

Well since my Lak........errrrr......nevermind.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

He can't support any organization that would hire him as an employee.

That explains the Groucho Marx moustache in his avatar.

 

[PapaG]

That explains the Groucho Marx moustache in his avatar.

I see more Freddie Mercury in it.

 

[Boise Blazer]

Marc Stein @ESPNSteinLine
Portland at Houston tonight trying to become first team to sweep Texas Triangle since Boston in 2008. Elias says Blazers last did it in 1991

 

[illmatic99]

Marc Stein @ESPNSteinLine
Portland at Houston tonight trying to become first team to sweep Texas Triangle since Boston in 2008. Elias says Blazers last did it in 1991

I was looking for this stat. Anyone know who else has done this?

 

[Boise Blazer]

I was looking for this stat. Anyone know who else has done this?

Here is a little info:

http://www.nba.com/features/texas_triangle.html

Boston last did it in 2008 and :

On Thursday in Dallas, the Celtics completed a sweep of the Texas Triangle, something that hadn't been done in more than six years. And with that, there is no longer any doubt that they are the favorites to win the NBA title.

So just twice in 14 years

 

[julius]

wasn't Portland the first team to ever sweep the Texas Trio back in the dark ages?

 

[julius]

That explains the Groucho Marx moustache in his avatar.

I see more Freddie Mercury in it.

You both dropped the ball. It's Gaucho Marx in his avatar.