I was told being .500 at the end of november would be pretty good given the schedule, so I guess I should be happy with 11-9.
yeah...there were several people who even said, after looking at the schedule, if the Blazers were 10-10 after the first 20 games it would be encouraging. Some were seriously worried about Portland being around the 5-15 mark
but I guess 11-9 is worse than 10-10
We got scouted. So far we have not adjusted well at all to that.
I've seen several people say that and I think it's extremely overrated as a factor. Sure, Sharpe hadn't been scouted. But Dame has been scouted for a decade; Nurkic has been scouted for 8 years; Grant & Hart have been scouted for years; Ant has been scouted; Winslow has been scouted
Portland's offense this season isn't some kind of secret weapon either. It's a pretty standard offense featuring a couple of ball-dominant guards....meaning it's pretty much the same as a dozen teams offenses
the only component that might have been impacted was the Blazer zone defense, but again, it's a standard zone and teams have been working on breaking zone defenses since the rules were changed allowing them. The problem for Portland is that in the last 6 games they played against teams that had zone-busting players like Durant and Jordan Clarkson and Giannis
what I think is going on is that in any NBA season, the first 20 games or so are filled with aberrations. Often there are schedule aberrations and average teams can catch good teams when they are cold and out of sync. Players can be shooting out of their minds, even role players, and that can make a difference in wins & losses. Remember how many close games the Blazers won during the time when Sharpe was contributing incredibly hot shooting? and how that compares to what he's done lately?
and speaking of close game, remember how Portland was winning them all and some of us warned that would balance out? Well, the Blazers lost 2 consecutive very close games at home against the Nets and Jazz. Win those and Portland is 13-7 right now. Blazers were 6-1 in close games; they are now 7-4.
and of course, Portland has only had a healthy Dame in half of their games
