Or, perhaps, we could look at this with the perspective that we should both have as long time NBA fans: Each individual game is a unique blend of factors that makes comparing scores and looking at who was playing and who wasn't pretty foolish. Butler misses the game against OKC, but "over-the-hill" Derrick Rose plays an out of his mind blast from the past and scores 50, leading the hapless TWolves past Utah. The Lakers are on a mission to beat the Blazers and the 16 game win streak and meet a cold shooting, turn-over prone, Blazers team that has to try to rally from 20 points down and can't quite get the job done. The next night, the Lakers are flat and perhaps a bit overly optimistic about their chances against the Raptors because Kawhi isn't playing, and Ibaka goes off for 34 points. The Blazers pull the same kind of overly confident start against the Pelicans absent Davis and Randle comes off the bench as a one-man wrecking crew in the first half before the Blazers finally make some adjustments and end up pulling out a comfortable win. Teams get hot from three or can't hit the broad side of a barn. Plays run like clockwork or can have sloppy passes sailing into the arms of an opponent or a fan sitting in the first row. Those kinds of things are why comparing scores and looking at who is missing is a futile effort.
The Blazers are 7-3 and you and others may knock them for some of their opponents not being at full strength, but that's the NBA. Every team has games like that and they also have games where they're undermanned themselves due to injuries or other factors. The only thing a team can do is try to win the game that is in front of them. The Blazers 70 percent start will help them later in the season and maybe will make it so that they don't need a super late season push to make the playoffs. I'm celebrating that.
