Road Warriors: HCA obstacle?

[TBpup]

9 more wins for the Blazers and 7 more wins for the Spurs....

....and it's collection time of two winning tickets.

 

[Chris Craig]

I'm struggling to find 8 wins in that remaining schedule.

Should win: (well that is already a problem because we lost the first 'should win')
@ Brooklyn
@ Cleveland
@ Charlotte
@ Memphis
PHOENIX

Toss up: (some of these might be in the 'should win' category but after the way they started this trip and their road record this year.....)
@ Clippers
@ New Orleans
@ San Antonio
OKC (feels like I'm being generous putting this in the 'Toss up' category but it is at home.

Underdogs: Possible, but ranges from 'not likely' to 'hell no'.
GOLDEN STATE
@ Philly
@ Boston
@ Toronto

So to get to 8 wins, they have to sweep the 'Should Win' category, and get 3 of 4 of the toss up category, three of which are on the road. ANY slip ups in those two categories and now they have to go get one or more from the 'Underdogs' list. Given that they are now 1-7 against the Top-3 in the West, that task seems daunting.

Please give me some good reasons to have more faith because it is waning right now....

I'm seeing 8 man

 

[TBpup]

I'm seeing 8 man

That was one they needed to get back on track for sure. I had them at 1-2 for the first 3 game, just not in the order they did it.

 

[TBpup]

@ Dallas - L....first loss of the season after leading going into the 4th quarter.
@ OKC - L.......gave up a rare, double-triple-double to George and Westbrick.
GOLDEN ST - W...first comeback win of the season. Perfect timing.
@ Brooklyn - W...good way to start post All-Star break. Kanter huge off the bench.
@ Philadephia
@ Cleveland
@ Boston
@ Toronto
@ Charlotte
@ Memphis
OKLAHOMA CITY
PHOENIX
@ LA Clippers
@ New Orleans
@ San Antonio

 

[JoshuaHall]

@ Dallas - L....first loss of the season after leading going into the 4th quarter.
@ OKC - L.......gave up a rare, double-triple-double to George and Westbrick.
GOLDEN ST - W...first comeback win of the season. Perfect timing.
@ Brooklyn - W...good way to start post All-Star break. Kanter huge off the bench.
@ Philadephia W
@ Cleveland W
@ Boston
@ Toronto
@ Charlotte
@ Memphis
OKLAHOMA CITY
PHOENIX
@ LA Clippers
@ New Orleans
@ San Antonio

If they finish with less than 9 wins, I’ll be disappointed.

Charlotte, Memphis, Phoenix, Clippers, New Orleans.

Assuming we will lose a couple we shouldn’t and win a couple that I wouldn’t favor us in, I.e. Spurs on the road or OKC at home.

 

[LayneStaley]

The Blazers currently sit at #4 in the Western Conference, 1 game up on the Houston Rockets. They play 12 of their next 15 on the road where they currently have a .435 winning percentage. That would equate to 5 wins out of the next 12 road games during a critical stretch as they try to hold on to HCA. They only have 3 home games in that stretch and 2 of those will be very tough games so no rest there either.

What do they need to do to maintain #4?
Will they be helped by any non-playoff teams tanking?

@ Dallas
@ OKC
GOLDEN ST
@ Brooklyn
@ Philadephia
@ Cleveland
@ Boston
@ Toronto
@ Charlotte
@ Memphis
OKLAHOMA CITY
PHOENIX
@ LA Clippers
@ New Orleans
@ San Antonio

Looks like 10-5 to me

 

[TBpup]

@ Dallas - L....first loss of the season after leading going into the 4th quarter.
@ OKC - L.......gave up a rare, double-triple-double to George and Westbrick.
GOLDEN ST - W...first comeback win of the season. Perfect timing.
@ Brooklyn - W...good way to start post All-Star break. Kanter huge off the bench.
@ Philadephia - W...pounded the 76'ers inside without Embid to stop the tide.
@ Cleveland - W...gave up a huge lead but righted the ship to be the tanking Cavs.
@ Boston - W...Big win against a talented Celtics team that seems to have lost their way.
@ Toronto
@ Charlotte
@ Memphis
OKLAHOMA CITY
PHOENIX
@ LA Clippers
@ New Orleans
@ San Antonio

I had them losing 2 of the 3 against the 76'ers, Celtics and Raptors. Imagine if they go 3-0 against those three. That would be a huge accomplishment. I had them at 4-3 so far through this stretch so they are nicely 1 game up on the pace. A win tonight (I have as a loss) would put them on a track to get to 50.

 

[Natebishop3]

I think if we had Kanter we would have won this game.

 

[TBpup]

@ Dallas - L....first loss of the season after leading going into the 4th quarter.
@ OKC - L.......gave up a rare, double-triple-double to George and Westbrick.
GOLDEN ST - W...first comeback win of the season. Perfect timing.
@ Brooklyn - W...good way to start post All-Star break. Kanter huge off the bench.
@ Philadephia - W...pounded the 76'ers inside without Embid to stop the tide.
@ Cleveland - W...gave up a huge lead but righted the ship to be the tanking Cavs.
@ Boston - W...Big win against a talented Celtics team that seems to have lost their way.
@ Toronto - L...schedule loss but impressed by 'how' they played. A # of things to address in the last 2 minutes but good game.
@ Charlotte
@ Memphis
OKLAHOMA CITY
PHOENIX
@ LA Clippers
@ New Orleans
@ San Antonio

5-3 so far on this 15 game stretch of almost all road games. I had them at 4-4 through this stretch so the are 1 game up on projections. If they can win the next 2, that makes the OKC game VERY interesting.

 

[TBpup]

@ Dallas - L....first loss of the season after leading going into the 4th quarter.
@ OKC - L.......gave up a rare, double-triple-double to George and Westbrick.
GOLDEN ST - W...first comeback win of the season. Perfect timing.
@ Brooklyn - W...good way to start post All-Star break. Kanter huge off the bench.
@ Philadephia - W...pounded the 76'ers inside without Embid to stop the tide.
@ Cleveland - W...gave up a huge lead but righted the ship to be the tanking Cavs.
@ Boston - W...Big win against a talented Celtics team that seems to have lost their way.
@ Toronto - L...schedule loss but impressed by 'how' they played. A # of things to address in the last 2 minutes but good game.
@ Charlotte - W...nice bounce back win after a tough loss in Toronto. Blazers now have 2 bench players who have gone 20 points in a quarter.
@ Memphis
OKLAHOMA CITY
PHOENIX
@ LA Clippers
@ New Orleans
@ San Antonio

Now 6-3 on this 15 game mostly road grinder. That Dallas loss is keeping this from being extra special. Can the Blazers go at least 4-2 in the remaining 6 games? Finish this, then they HAVE to get the OKC game. Beat the Suns and then win 1 or 2 of the three road games. They have to stay hot because Houston and Utah are right on their heels.

 

[TBpup]

@ Dallas - L....first loss of the season after leading going into the 4th quarter.
@ OKC - L.......gave up a rare, double-triple-double to George and Westbrick.
GOLDEN ST - W...first comeback win of the season. Perfect timing.
@ Brooklyn - W...good way to start post All-Star break. Kanter huge off the bench.
@ Philadelphia - W...pounded the 76'ers inside without Embid to stop the tide.
@ Cleveland - W...gave up a huge lead but righted the ship to be the tanking Cavs.
@ Boston - W...Big win against a talented Celtics team that seems to have lost their way.
@ Toronto - L...schedule loss but impressed by 'how' they played. A # of things to address in the last 2 minutes but good game.
@ Charlotte - W...nice bounce back win after a tough loss in Toronto. Blazers now have 2 bench players who have gone 20 points in a quarter.
@ Memphis - L.....that on hurt. Not only a loss to the next to last Grizzlies but how they lost and how no adjustments were made.
OKLAHOMA CITY - L...Herculean effort from Dame but gave up a massive amount of points in the paint.
PHOENIX - W...righted the ship against the hapless Suns. Game wasn't as close as the score.
@ LA Clippers
@ New Orleans
@ San Antonio

7-5 so far on this 15 game stretch. Not bad but losses to Dallas and Memphis kept this from being a stretch that really showed this team has grown. Nice wins over Philly (no Embiid) and struggling Boston but perhaps their best game of this stretch was a loss to the Raptors given that we have the Warriors number right around All-Star break ever year.

Blazers somehow need to get 2 out of 3 games in the final stretch of this long, mostly road stretch.

 

[Hoopguru]

I think they win 11 of next last 16, which puts them at 51 wins. This is actually what I went with at the beginning of the season. And if a team in the west wins 50 games this year thats pretty decent. I know they still need to step up against wc teams, which Im hopeful they can & will.