Some thoughts after the last 2 games...

[MIXUM]

As barkley pointed out last year... you cant always rely on jumpers if you wanna make the playoffs. Thats kinda what we do. Do we really get that many easy baskets? Ive seen every game and while i think we are better at getting easy shots compared to last year..we still take too many jumpers.

1. Aldridge is really getting worse. His jump shots are worse then sergios.

2. Why do guys like MAtt Barnes always kill us? Ever since ive watched the blazers, its always guys like him that do us in. CAN WE FIND SOMEONE TO GUARD THESE COMBO GUARDS FOR ONCE? ITS UNREAL! Reason we lost to GS. Guys like Jackson, morrow, etc have their way with us. Its like a f'ing shoot around.

3. Odens offense is almost laughable unless its a dunk. He needs major work.

4. Webster cant come back fast enough just for his defense alone.

5. Pryz, Blake and Roy have been our most consistant players all year. Its not close.

6. Aldridge, Frye, and Outlaw.... i cringe every time the ball is in their hands lately. Its not pretty.

7. The suns announcers have man crushes on Amare. God i've never heard an announcer get so excited about a player doing nothing. AMARE! AMARIIIIE! I had to mute the TV.

8. We still are a very immature team who needs to stop trying to be flashy.

9. Harlow is def hooking up with ALdridge. I'd bet my condo.

10. 8-6 is a nice start but my gut tells me this team isnt a playoff team. Hope im wrong but we lose too many games we should win. If that continues... we are dead.

 

[KingSpeed]

Which games have we lost that we "should win"? We beat Miami, we beat the Wolves twice, we beat the injured Spurs, we beat the Bulls, we beat the Kings. And we took games from two healthy powers- Houston at home and Orlando on the road. Our six losses have been road games against Phoenix twice, New Orleans, Utah, Golden State, and the Lakers. Of those 6 losses, the only game we maybe should've won is the GS game. And we were pretty much in all of the games down the stretch except for the game against the Lakers.

I'd say we're doing pretty well. We're winning our home games. We're winning the games against inferior rosters. And we're competiting against the tough teams. And we have won FOUR road games, one of which was against a Top 5 team in the league. We will get another chance in Utah, LA, and New Orleans. We'll have chances to win road games in Houston and Denver (where we were successful last season). AND we get the chance to kick all of their butts at the Rose Garden.

Look, it's not a mistake that Hollinger ranks us 4th in the league and Sagarin ranks us 5th in the league. We have had a tough schedule and dealt with it near perfectly. Just wait for all the games we still have yet to play against OKC, the Clippers, and the like.

Finally, going into tonight's game we had the 2nd best record in the west. If we sweep our next three games at home, by beating the Heat and Sac again and then showing New Orleans that they can't win in our house, we may move back into 2nd. The way things are going, anything is possible. Right now, it's the Lakers and then everyone else.

I really like the team's focus this year. That is why we had the two blowouts. And tonight, even though our shots weren't falling, it was clear that they were doing all they could to pull out the win. That 11-0 run after they had fallen behind by 15 in the 4th showed me that there is no quit in them.

And why do you cringe when Outlaw has the ball? His three ball is money. 5th best three point shooter in the league.

 

[KingSpeed]

One more THING- we have added THREE key rookies this season. This is the first time we have played with these guys so it's a lot to ask them to go into hostile crowds against top teams and win this early in the season. Give this team some time to grow.

 

[Miksaid]

As barkley pointed out last year... you cant always rely on jumpers if you wanna make the playoffs. Thats kinda what we do. Do we really get that many easy baskets? Ive seen every game and while i think we are better at getting easy shots compared to last year..we still take too many jumpers.

1. Aldridge is really getting worse. His jump shots are worse then sergios.

2. Why do guys like MAtt Barnes always kill us? Ever since ive watched the blazers, its always guys like him that do us in. CAN WE FIND SOMEONE TO GUARD THESE COMBO GUARDS FOR ONCE? ITS UNREAL! Reason we lost to GS. Guys like Jackson, morrow, etc have their way with us. Its like a f'ing shoot around.

3. Odens offense is almost laughable unless its a dunk. He needs major work.

4. Webster cant come back fast enough just for his defense alone.

5. Pryz, Blake and Roy have been our most consistant players all year. Its not close.

6. Aldridge, Frye, and Outlaw.... i cringe every time the ball is in their hands lately. Its not pretty.

7. The suns announcers have man crushes on Amare. God i've never heard an announcer get so excited about a player doing nothing. AMARE! AMARIIIIE! I had to mute the TV.

8. We still are a very immature team who needs to stop trying to be flashy.

9. Harlow is def hooking up with ALdridge. I'd bet my condo.

10. 8-6 is a nice start but my gut tells me this team isnt a playoff team. Hope im wrong but we lose too many games we should win. If that continues... we are dead.

1. This is my first season in a long time being able to watch Blazer games on a regular basis. Thank you, NBA League Pass Broadband. I haven't really gotten a good look at Aldridge until now but sadly, I'm going to have to agree with you that he hasn't been all that impressive so far.
2. Our perimeter defense (well, our defense in general too but particularly our perimeter defense) isn't amazing... but you can tell, on occasion, that our team has the potential to be a damned good defensive team.
3. Yeah, his offense needs a lot of work. He also isn't nearly as explosive as he was during summer league last year. I just keep remembering that Dallas slam where he took off from like 6 feet away. I hope he can get back to where he was athletically. I think it took Amare a whole season after his microfracture surgery. So if it happens, it's not gonna happen now.
4. I wish Batum got more burn.
5. Except for maybe this game, Outlaw should be mentioned with these players.
6. Minus Outlaw, I think.
7. He's good so I suppose he deserves it. What pisses me off the most, however, are the Golden State announcers... ugh.
8. No I disagree, I like how we play... we just need to get better, and we will.
9. Did anyone watch the Sacramento Kings game? Could anyone tell me who in the WORLD that woman wearing the purple dress sitting next to that lucky fucking homie G that the camera would zoom into every so often was? I need to know.
10. We'll make the playoffs, I'll bet you your condo. Lose too many games we should win? Don't get too down we lost to Phoenix, they're a good team.

 

[STOMP]

As barkley pointed out last year... you cant always rely on jumpers if you wanna make the playoffs.

aren't the Celtics the reigning NBA champions?

STOMP

 

[craigehlo]

aren't the Celtics the reigning NBA champions?

They get a ton of easy buckets in the paint (with smart passing) and at the foul line if you watch them.

The Blazers still don't have a compliment to Roy in terms of another slashing player that can force the issue and get to the FT line when the jumpers aren't falling. You need that to win on the road vs teams in the Western Conference these days.

 

[julius]

So because we're 2 games above .500, despite already playing a quarter of our road games vs a 10th of our home games?

We're 4-6 on the road, I could understand if we were 1-9 on the road. Your gut needs to settle down.

 

[MIXUM]

we "should" have beat utah, GS and the suns at least once.

And sorry, outlaw makes as many good plays as he does BAD! I dont care about his 3 point %. He takes too many tough shots and wastes possesions. Aldridge is following in his footsteps lately.

 

[STOMP]

They get a ton of easy buckets in the paint (with smart passing) and at the foul line if you watch them.

The Blazers still don't have a compliment to Roy in terms of another slashing player that can force the issue and get to the FT line when the jumpers aren't falling. You need that to win on the road vs teams in the Western Conference these days.

If I watch them

Portland also gets their fair share of dunks and points in the paint. Like Boston, their inside game is enhanced by their outside shooting... both are primarily jump shooting teams.

STOMP

 

[Nikolokolus]

we "should" have beat utah, GS and the suns at least once.

And sorry, outlaw makes as many good plays as he does BAD! I dont care about his 3 point %. He takes too many tough shots and wastes possesions. Aldridge is following in his footsteps lately.

I'll partially agree with the GS statement, but this ridiculous idea of "should" just doesn't add up. Utah at home is probably the toughest team in the NBA, and Phoenix is a veteran team composed of several good perimeter defenders, two former MVPs, and a rising superstar power forward, not to mention well coached.

Let's try to develop just a little bit of perspective; the fact that we are still two games over .500 is fucking ridiculously good. I'm totally amazed we aren't 4 and 10.

 

[KingSpeed]

we "should" have beat utah, GS and the suns at least once.

And sorry, outlaw makes as many good plays as he does BAD! I dont care about his 3 point %. He takes too many tough shots and wastes possesions. Aldridge is following in his footsteps lately.

We WILL beat Utah. We WILL beat GS. And we WILL beat the Suns. We get to play these guys at home. And in the case of Utah and GS, we have another chance to beat them in their house.

 

[gatorpops]

we "should" have beat utah, GS and the suns at least once.

And sorry, outlaw makes as many good plays as he does BAD! I dont care about his 3 point %. He takes too many tough shots and wastes possesions. Aldridge is following in his footsteps lately.

Outlaw appears to me to be trying to get closer to the rim or draw more fouls, probably because of coaches asking him to be more varied. He is primarily a jump shooter because that is his strength. I am like you in that he has the range to just rise up and shoot instead of make a move to try and draw a foul. His handle is just not good enough except on the base line.

 

[TowelBoy]

Wow, the mind of MIXUM is a depressing place indeed. Not a single positive thought after the last two games? What's the working definition of "troll"?