Archive for February, 2009

Relative to the rest of the league, this was a small game. Stephon Marbury was in Boston, Shaq was obliterating people and very few people outside of Minny or Portland probably knew this game was happening. That’s just as well, because a couple weeks from now it will be entirely forgotten, other than perhaps as the game when Rudy got his groove back. The thing I like most about this game was that it felt like a system win. Nobody really had to carry the team or go above and beyond their role. Everybody just ran the offense they were [...]

Portland enters must-win territory trying to wrap-up this road trip tonight in Minneapolis. Awaiting are the 18-39 Minnesota Timberwolves. This is a game that Portland has to win to avoid falling down the standings. We’re currently in 5th with a mere game separating us from 8th place. If we want to make noise in the playoffs, we’ll have to get that #4 or #5 spot. I wouldn’t look for much help as New Orleans and Dallas are at home against Milwaukee and Oklahoma City. We have to take care of business on the road. It should not be that tough [...]

Finding a hard time talking about this game because pretty much any key to success went the other way. Also I just have a weird feeling about it. I think the next week or so will put these two losses in perspective. How do we play against San Antonio on Monday is going to let me know what I should feel about tonight. So I’m going to bite my tongue for a few days. Everyone bow down to Tony Parker for his performance last night. The Blazers tried everything and I mean everything but there was absolutely no stopping him. [...]

We’re diving right into it today people. There is no need for a lengthy talking about the Spurs. You know what they bring to the table. Year after year they just keep doing the same thing. Foolish people drop the ‘Are the Spurs falling off?’ and before you can blink they’re back up at the top of the Western Conference. This is the definition of a well-oiled machine. Of course this San Antonio team will be without Manu and Tim Duncan, who just got ruled out with “right quad tendonosis” which I have actually had and is just a really [...]

Well, you’re not going to beat many good team on the road playing that unevenly over the course of 48 minutes. Things started off fine with Roy doing most of the heavy lifting, but the moment the second units checked in, it was doom. I exaggerate not. With Joel and LaMarcus picking up some early fouls, it fell on Channing Frye to do much of the dirty work. Unfortunately, it’s asking a bit much of him to bang down low with Chuck Hayes and Luis Scola, not to mention Yao, who picked his spots nicely and could’ve had more than [...]

And now….*cue ominous music*….The Texas Two-Step. “SJ…What’s the Texas Two-Step?” It’s not a new dance move. It’s not country line dancing. It is a combination of shots of alcohol that will make you shake your head (ask me if you really wanna know). But I’m talking about drinking, we’re talking about basketball. And that means we’re talking about back-to-back games, on the road, against two of the Texas teams. I can’t recall this road trip a) ever being fun or b) ever going well. But tonight the Blazers embark on a short but meaningful journey as they face the Rockets [...]

So exactly how much can you take out of a February home victory over a terrible team? Not much. How much can you take out of that victory when you add that the terrible team was depleted thanks to injury? Even less. I think you see the pattern… Not much deep analysis coming on this one. A dominant performance from the home team last night. When I think about what I watched…it was just neat. Last night was just a neat victory with a lot of neat things that happened. I know it's a dorky word but I think it [...]

I can’t believe I have to talk about the Clippers for a third time this season. I literally almost have nothing to say. Key word = almost. Portland cannot afford to lose to teams like this at home during this stretch. Especially when you consider they are about to do a Texas Two-Step and end up playing San Antonio twice in a week. And even more if you consider we’ve already lost at home to the Clippers once. If this was college basketball and we had a selection committee that would be the definition of a key loss. Reasons the [...]

You know, the DVR is easily one of the greatest inventions of the last two decades, but every so often it can have an identity crisis and start acting like a first generation VCR. I was able to watch most of the game but it was so choppy I felt like I was watching someone try to play Call of Duty 4 on a Sega Genesis. Thus I’m not going to try to analyze a game I could barely follow, but it probably goes without saying that it was an extremely satisfying win. No Greg? LaMarcus crashes the boards. No [...]

I can’t tell you how sad this makes me. As dissapointed as I’m sure many of you were when nothing substantial happened at the trade deadline, I’m probably that times two. Webster has long been “my guy” and I have always held out hope that he would become our glue guy as the starting SF. I honestly believe that the Blazers might be as many as 2-3 wins better if Martell had not been injured, but then Batum would never have gotten his chance, so we’ll avoid the “what if” scenarios as much as possible. The best we can hope [...]