Comments on: Blazers 83, Thunder 74 Re-Thoughts

By: JB

JB — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:23:31 +0000

Oh, yeah. I gotcha. The Blazers could have been a lot better. Seems like one by one, they’re all coming out of their shell. in that first game, even Roy went 5-18 shooting, Aldridge only had 11 points (then 9 in the next game), and Blake only had 2 assists and 7 points in 26 minutes.

Since then, Roy’s had a 42 point game, Aldridge 27, and now Blake last night with 18.

Their games are all coming around. Slowly but surely. Sooner the better, but it wouldn’t surprise me to see them take until January before they’re winning over half their games. I see them having a very impressive second half for the season. Once this team clicks, they’re going to be hard to stop.

Greg needs to remain vocal on the court! If Greg brings that every game, they could be a 60 win team this year. (referencing this article http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2009/11/oden_sounds_off_and_his_newfou.html)

By: Coup

Coup — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:03:17 +0000

Gave them due credit for being better defensively, and as Ben Golliver showed, Martell probably did better than the OK I gave him on Durant, but I’m just holding them to a higher standard this season. Doing better one game isn’t enough, let’s just hope it continues.

And OKC still played an awful game, which is why I pointed out that we shouldn’t read too much into it this early in the year.

By: JB

JB — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:06:18 +0000

So far as “Not sure how much the Blazers actually won this one as much as the Thunder just handed over the win”, and “Kevin Durant went 3-for-21″.

Did we watch the same game? I’d have to argue that the Blazers looked much better defensively than they have in any of their recent games. Give them some credit. Additionally, they had better ball movement. Two stats stand out– Blazers had 16 assists and 9 steals to the Thunder’s 6 assists, 5 steals.

Additionally, the Blazers were on the second game of a back to back, and despite your opinion, the Thunder really wanted that game. They were simply outplayed. They didn’t lose by 1, they lost by 9.

Following the logic that Durant had an off night, it could also be argued that the Blazers nearly won the game against Houston. If all you look st is the 3 point shooting– Blake 0-2, Fernandez 1-6, Outlaw 0-3. They only lost by 4. On an average night, these players easily would have combined for 3-4 more buckets, netting 9 to 12 more points, resulting in winning by 5 to 8 points.

Just trying to add a little happy to your half full glass of sad.