ESPN: Trail Blazers are "fifth best team in the NBA."

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KingSpeed

KingSpeed

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http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/page/5-on-5-131114/best-teams-league


Arnovitz:*Trail Blazers. A strong case can be made for the Warriors, Thunder and Clippers, but let's give it up for the guys from the Northwest. They've quietly assembled an offense that's a bear to defend. It has a knack for finding shots early, but has skills to thrive in the half court. The defense remains iffy, but has shown signs of progress during the past week. If the D can get to league average, the Blazers should be a quality bet to secure a playoff spot.
 
No wonder this plays goes all nut job after one loss!
 
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I didn't realize they still talked about the Blazers on ESPN. God help us if Portland ends this road trip at 10-2.
 
These are all winnable games against teams with sub-.500 records. Road games are always tough to win but if the Blazers are for real, 2-2 is not good enough against this level of competition. If the Blazers come out of the this 3-1 or 4-0, some fans and prognosticators might have to look at them playing about their pre-season projection for the year.

The strength of schedule hasn't been too tough so far so win these games while you can and develop some rhythm and confidence early.
 
TBpup said:
These are all winnable games against teams with sub-.500 records. Road games are always tough to win but if the Blazers are for real, 2-2 is not good enough against this level of competition. If the Blazers come out of the this 3-1 or 4-0, some fans and prognosticators might have to look at them playing about their pre-season projection for the year.

The strength of schedule hasn't been too tough so far so win these games while you can and develop some rhythm and confidence early.
Click to expand...

After the win against Phoenix, our SOS was third hardest.
 
TBpup said:
These are all winnable games against teams with sub-.500 records. Road games are always tough to win but if the Blazers are for real, 2-2 is not good enough against this level of competition. If the Blazers come out of the this 3-1 or 4-0, some fans and prognosticators might have to look at them playing about their pre-season projection for the year.

The strength of schedule hasn't been too tough so far so win these games while you can and develop some rhythm and confidence early.
Click to expand...

RealGM in the house.

You are completely correct about our SOS, please disregard Mags' comment
 
Mediocre Man said:
RealGM in the house.

You are completely correct about our SOS, please disregard Mags' comment
Click to expand...

Love the 'Schultz' :cheers: I wasn't going on SOS so much as the 'eye' test. Outside of the Spurs and Rockets, the schedule has given the Blazers a chance to jell and get some confidence. Yes, the Suns have been playing over their skis and Hornacek has done a great job early of getting his team to play hard and take advantage of the strengths they do have. If that continues, it will be a MAJOR surprise to everyone.

If the Blazers can continue to grab some of these games early, it could bode well for when they hit the December portion of their schedule which includes games against the Pacers, Thunder (2x), Houston, Clippers, Heat, T-Wolves etc.

If they come through the first two months (32 games) with anything more than 20 wins, which would mean 14-9 or better through the rest of the year, we may all have to do a re-think on where Portland could actually end up in the playoff race.

Being the #7/8 seed is simply no man's land...not good enough to contend and no pick this coming summer.

I'm hoping for a pleasant surprise...
 
TBpup said:
Love the 'Schultz' :cheers: I wasn't going on SOS so much as the 'eye' test. Outside of the Spurs and Rockets, the schedule has given the Blazers a chance to jell and get some confidence. Yes, the Suns have been playing over their skis and Hornacek has done a great job early of getting his team to play hard and take advantage of the strengths they do have. If that continues, it will be a MAJOR surprise to everyone.

If the Blazers can continue to grab some of these games early, it could bode well for when they hit the December portion of their schedule which includes games against the Pacers, Thunder (2x), Houston, Clippers, Heat, T-Wolves etc.

If they come through the first two months (32 games) with anything more than 20 wins, which would mean 14-9 or better through the rest of the year, we may all have to do a re-think on where Portland could actually end up in the playoff race.

Being the #7/8 seed is simply no man's land...not good enough to contend and no pick this coming summer.

I'm hoping for a pleasant surprise...
Click to expand...

Boy are you a welcome addition to this forum.
 
TBpup said:
Love the 'Schultz' :cheers: I wasn't going on SOS so much as the 'eye' test. Outside of the Spurs and Rockets, the schedule has given the Blazers a chance to jell and get some confidence. Yes, the Suns have been playing over their skis and Hornacek has done a great job early of getting his team to play hard and take advantage of the strengths they do have. If that continues, it will be a MAJOR surprise to everyone.

If the Blazers can continue to grab some of these games early, it could bode well for when they hit the December portion of their schedule which includes games against the Pacers, Thunder (2x), Houston, Clippers, Heat, T-Wolves etc.

If they come through the first two months (32 games) with anything more than 20 wins, which would mean 14-9 or better through the rest of the year, we may all have to do a re-think on where Portland could actually end up in the playoff race.

Being the #7/8 seed is simply no man's land...not good enough to contend and no pick this coming summer.

I'm hoping for a pleasant surprise...
Click to expand...

Nice post. Repped.

Thanks.

Gramps...
 
A team that will have a so-so rest of the season, will struggle with this road trip. If they go 3-1, it's a good sign.

I'm not sure they'll go 3-1, I expect 1-3 to be honest.

Decent at home, poor on the road, and struggle late in the year like last year.
 
Just to point out, the main reason the Blazers beat the Suns, was that Dragic hit his head and had to sit out the rest of the game for stitches. Despite the Suns missing Dragic, we just barely won by 1 point with some lucky missed shots by the Suns. We probably should have lost that game by 4 or 5.
 
Eastoff said:
Just to point out, the main reason the Blazers beat the Suns, was that Dragic hit his head and had to sit out the rest of the game for stitches. Despite the Suns missing Dragic, we just barely won by 1 point with some lucky missed shots by the Suns. We probably should have lost that game by 4 or 5.
Click to expand...

We played the whole game without CJ so it's even.
 
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