A huge win. And that might be an understatement.
Here are the facts. Portland just won the first game of a rough 5-game road trip. Always important because it gives a cushion. More important because of who they did it against. You recall the knocks on Portland before the season. Well…. This “youthful” and “inexperienced” team just went into the Palace of Auburn Hills and outplayed the Detroit Pistons. From start to finish I don’t think there are too many people who can say that Portland was not the better team this afternoon. The Blazers out-veteraned (it’s a made up word) [...]

I swear the first game of an East Coast road trip always throws me off. I had no clue this game tipped off at Noon pacific time or in just about 40 minutes. Today the Blazers kick off their road trip with a game at the Palace of Auburn Hills to face the Detroit Pistons. The Pistons are 10-5 on the year and definitely still finding their way. Michael Curry is still tinkering around with attempting to be a passable head coach while everyone gets used to Allen Iverson. Since the AI deal the Pistons have been inconsistent. They post [...]

What a difference 19 days makes.
It was then that the Blazers began their first extended road trip, five games in which I deemed winning 2 would be successful. Well the Blazers won the road trip taking 3 out of 5 and go into their first East Coast swing having won 10 of their last 13.
This is the second of five nasty road trips the Blazers face this year. Today’s game in Detroit begins a stretch where Portland plays 7 of their next 11 games away from the Rose Garden. This Road Trip is the classic East Coast Swing. 5 games [...]

Just about to hop on a bus home after a nice Thanksgiving hiatus (and a pair of more-than-solid Blazers wins I might add), and I came across this as I did a morning run through the links. According to Yahoo! Sports, the Blazers are discussing a trade for Travis Outlaw and Sergio Rodriguez for the Grizzlies’ Mike Conley Jr., Hakim Warrick and Javaris Crittendon. All I have time to say about this right now is somebody in the Blazers organization must think very highly of Conley, and it almost might represent the type of value the Outlaw-should-be-traded folks should be [...]

This really should be a two-word recap: Brandon Roy. What else can you say about the type of season he is having? This is about the 6th or 7th game of this season where as a Blazer fan almost all you can say is ‘Thank goodness we have Brandon Roy’. Last night was no different. Check out his line: 25 points (11/16 shooting), 10 assists, 6 rebounds. That’s the work Brandon Roy put in last night. And I can’t help but be in awe of his performance last night. The Hornets had absolutely no answer for him. Not one. And [...]

Quick N’ Dirty for Game 2 vs. the Hornets. If you’ll recall these two teams did battle exactly 2 weeks ago in just an ugly, ugly game. It was an encouraging ugly though. Portland withstood rough offensive nights from nearly everyone and went blow for blow with New Orleans on the road. This is a game that the Blazers should win. Pardon my confidence but sitting here with an undefeated record at home and victories over tough Western Conference opponents (Houston, San Antonio) has given me a bit of swagger. It won’t be easy but this is a very winnable [...]

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family. I’m in between food comas here so bear with me as I fight through the sweet potato pie haze.
Last night’s game was just a big old smilefest. I didn’t think the game deserved it’s own reactions to be honest with you. Never want to get to high or too low and there wasn’t much to be taken from last night. Impressed that the Blazers just went out and took care of business. Despite the mature brand of basketball they tend to play, Portland remains young and by proxy inconsistent in areas. I.e. the [...]

Not much new ground to cover as these two teams played 2 weeks ago. (full preview of that game is here). If the Sac game showed us anything, it’s that nothing can be taken for granted. All the facts on paper point to a Blazers victory. The Blazers are 5-0 at the Rose Garden (the only Western Conference team undefeated at home). They are undefeated against the Eastern Conference on the year. Not to mention that the Heat will again be without Shawn Marion as he attends a funeral.
But before we start celebrating, time to remember a few things. The [...]

Over on ESPN, David Thorpe updated his Rookie Watch. Here is what he had to say about Oden:
“Remember how everyone was so impressed with how Al Horford started the season last year? Horford’s 8.7 points per game and 7.4 rebounds per game last November tagged him as the big man to watch in the coming years. Oden is at 8.3 ppg and 6.8 rpg, but is playing 12 minutes per game fewer than Horford did. Add in Oden’s 1.67 blocks per game (almost double what Al did last year: 0.94), and then consider he’s 18 months younger than Big Al, [...]

Time to break the vow of silence on Oden.
I’m conflicted and I need your help people. I need to get off the fence with Oden. Everytime I think about Oden I end up playing Devil’s Advocate with myself. Screw it.
Greg Oden is not ready to start.
There, I said it. You can boo me like a trashy woman on Maury but I think it’s the truth. I didn’t think he was ready Monday and I don’t think he’s ready today. He’ll get there but I’m not sure the time is now. I understand and respect Nate’s thinking. There are thoughts that [...]