Archive for March, 2009

Last time we did this, it worked out pretty well for me, pretty well for the Blazers and was a couple bounces away from being a great night for Jarret Jack. The Pacers jumped all over the Blazers early and then slowly opened the flood gates because they couldn’t sustain any semblance of an inside attack. The words ‘Die by the three’ come to mind. Tonight really shouldn’t be any different. Danny Granger is back (though not exactly playing at 100%) and Troy Murphy is probably out, so its going to be an easier game defensively for Joel and a [...]

Who isn’t letting out a minor sigh of relief? This would be a huge boost if Greg can get some minutes before the big Cavaliers game, and for the record bringing him off the bench is the correct thing to do (I could even see it lasting the rest of the season, frankly). We can only hope, however, that the Oden we get is the one that was playing so well prior to the injury, not one who is timid about his knee.

Tonight was an excellent contrast to yesterday’s loss. Not just because of the win (that is 89% of it though) but how it was won. Tonight, the Blazers were patient and almost machine-like in taking to the Grizzlies for 48 minutes. Memphis never led and when they threatened Portland just patiently responded and extended the lead. It was kind of odd to watch the Blazers do that to someone after Dallas just got done doing it to them. A sign of maturation though. And yes that game is still fresh in my brain. Of course it doesn’t hurt that we [...]

Blazer fans, time to take Jay-Z’s advice and get that dirt off our shoulders. And by dirt I mean that not-so-fun last 24 minutes that took place in dirty south. I knew I could tie that in. Several things can help soften that Atlanta loss. For one, it was a weird early afternoon game on Sunday. Selection Sunday nearly erased it from my memories (for several reasons). Also, Utah and Dallas both dropped games tonight so our drop went from 4 to 6 and we’re very much still in reach. Lastly a win tonight wouldn’t hurt. Anyways, tonight Portland will [...]

Um, ouch. So much for showing those East Coast media types a little bit of that Blazers somethin’ somethin’. It’s funny how fickle basketball can be (and how dramatic the road can impact you) when less than one week ago the Blazers were blowing out the Lakers and today they go in and lay a second-half egg against Atlanta. That might be saying too much, but the Hawks didn’t go on just any home-court run, they thoroughly outplayed and out-ran their visitors. The easy explanation is that this was the first game of a long road trip and the Blazers [...]

And we’re back. Sorry for the slow week, but it was good to get away from the computers and phones for a bit. Not going to bust out a full pre-thoughts for you, mostly because hardly anybody is going to read it due to the 10 am start time out West. Everybody knows that the Hawks are the East’s version of the Blazers with their young talent, especially the media, who I’d guess would take a closer look at this matchup when putting together their thoughts on teams they don’t cover as often. People loved to lump Roy in with [...]

Don’t toy with me, Martell. I’m such a sucker for hope.

Another game against Dallas and another loss. The Mavs sweep the season series which saw 2 of the 3 games take place at the Rose Garden. A pretty big loss for a couple reasons. One the tie-breaker obviously goes to Dallas which in this tight race makes me nervous. Second, it erases the Laker loss and any of that positive mojo. And lastly because Dallas is now making up some major ground. Thankfully Phoenix is tanking but realize that the difference between the #3 seed and the #8 seed is 1 and 1/2 games. The difference between #4 and #8 [...]

Just typing that title put a smile on my face. Be forewarned, I’m going to continue the route Coup forged in his pre-thoughts by trying my best to not get too Randi Rah-Rah and geeked up over this because it was LA. Don’t get me wrong, this was a huge win and it is always fun to see the Lakers go down in the Rose Garden. But two things hold me back from complete and absolute joy. One is Rudy’s injury. Yes all signs point to him being ok but until I know he’s 100 percent and see him back [...]

Hold on, it’s going to be a big one. No, actually, we aren’t going to go there. I’m not going to hype this game up to playoff levels just because its the hated Lakers. Yes, we might witness a glorious grudge match and see LaMarcus Aldridge knock Lamar Odom’s block off once and for all, but more importantly, the Blazers need a win to keep up with the surging Utah Jazz (11 victories in a row). So, to avoid hyperbole, we’re going to get right down to it. To win, the Blazers need to score, and they need that scoring [...]