wizenheimer
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I didn't see the defense thread on either of the first two pages, so...
remember how just a few days ago many were celebrating Portland being 6th in the NBA in defensive rating at 102.1? How it was a new era of stellar Blazer defense..?
well, today Portland ranks 21st with a rating of 109.4. They've become 7.3 points worse in 2 games
I think it's clear that the Blazer defense is improved. But it's not clear how much yet. Maybe 21st is a lot closer to where they'll be than 6th. Obviously, as mentioned in the past threads, there are sample size issues for any stat this early in the season. Normally, the halfway point of the season is a good bellwether for many of these stats. But, at 40 games the Blazers will have a 25-15 home/road imbalance so a better bellwether might be 50 games, considering what their defensive rating has been in the 3 road games:
Clippers 105.0
Hornets 131.5
76ers 124.4
remember how just a few days ago many were celebrating Portland being 6th in the NBA in defensive rating at 102.1? How it was a new era of stellar Blazer defense..?
well, today Portland ranks 21st with a rating of 109.4. They've become 7.3 points worse in 2 games
I think it's clear that the Blazer defense is improved. But it's not clear how much yet. Maybe 21st is a lot closer to where they'll be than 6th. Obviously, as mentioned in the past threads, there are sample size issues for any stat this early in the season. Normally, the halfway point of the season is a good bellwether for many of these stats. But, at 40 games the Blazers will have a 25-15 home/road imbalance so a better bellwether might be 50 games, considering what their defensive rating has been in the 3 road games:
Clippers 105.0
Hornets 131.5
76ers 124.4
