Archive for November, 2010

So apparently it’s going to have to get worse before it gets any better. Sunday night’s 18 points in the fourth quarter against New Jersey seemed like a pretty low number. While how about 11 in the final quarter against the 76ers? Now that’s a REALLY low number. There were moments in this game, like in most of the games in November, where the Blazers looked like they had it won. Every time they’ve been unable to shut the door, unable to keep the other team from going on a run, and most importantly completely unable to do a single [...]

Blazers: 8-8 Sixers: 4-13 Game Details: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA. 4:00 PM. TV: CSN. Radio: KXTG (95.5 FM). Projected Portland Starting Lineup: PG Andre Miller (#24, 6′2″, Utah), SG Brandon Roy (#7, 6′6″, Washington), SF Wesley Matthews (#2, 6′5″, Marquette), PF LaMarcus Aldridge (#12, 6′11″, Texas), C Marcus Camby (#23, 6′11″, UMass) Projected Philadelphia Starting Lineup: PG Jrue Holiday (#11, 6’4″, UCLA), SG Evan Turner (#12, 6’7″, Ohio State), SF Andre Igoudala (#9, 6’6″, Arizona), PF Elton Brand (#42, 6’9″, Duke), C Spencer Hawes (#0, 7’1″, Washington) There’s no more dancing around it: the Blazers are at a crossroads. [...]

I tried hard to avoid Blazer related news today, knowing that after Sunday’s performance against the Nets plenty of stuff would be out there about the status and expectations of the Blazers going forward. I made it about half the day, paying attention but not commenting. I’m not going to make it the rest of the evening, because I feel like I want to comment on the recent news that came out this afternoon. The Oregonian‘s Joe Freeman dropped the tidbit of information in the middle of the day that Nicolas Batum would be removed from the starting lineup for [...]

I have to apologize in advance for the lateness of this recap, scheduling conflicts being what they are I was forced to watch Sunday’s game after it happened. Looking back, I wish I hadn’t watched it at all. This was easily not the worst game that Portland has played during what is an increasingly long rough stretch, but it was far from good. Sunday there were moments when it looked like the Blazers were going to be able to right the ship, and do what they need to do, whip an inferior team. A lot of shots didn’t fall, a [...]

Blazers: 8-7 Nets: 5-11 Game Details: Prudential Center, Newark, NJ. 4:00 PM. TV: CSN. Radio: KXTG (95.5 FM) Projected Portland Starting Lineup: PG Andre Miller (#24, 6′2″, Utah), SG Brandon Roy (#7, 6′6″, Washington), SF Nicolas Batum (#88, 6′8″, France), PF LaMarcus Aldridge (#12, 6′11″, Texas), C Marcus Camby (#23, 6′11″, UMass) Projected New Jersey Starting Lineup: PG Devin Harris (#34, 6’3″, Wisconsin), SG Anthony Morrow (#22, 6’5″, Georgia Tech), SF Travis Outlaw (#21, 6’9″, Starkville High School), PF Kris Humphries (#43, 6’9″, Minnesota), C Brook Lopez (#11, 7’0″, Stanford) You know it’s a rough stretch of season for Portland [...]

If you couldn’t see the difference Saturday night between the Blazers and the New Orleans Hornets, then you weren’t watching. New Orleans looked like a championship caliber team with a smart and driven All-Star at the controls. They moved the ball around, found open shooters, ran an offense with a lot of different looks, hit the boards, ran the floor, caused turnovers, the list goes on. Portland, on the other hand, settled for jumpers, didn’t attack the rim, turned the ball over, and overall just failed to show up. What was the worst part about Friday’s game, a game with [...]

Blazers: 8-6 Hornets: 11-3 Game Details: Rose Garden, Portland, OR. 7:00 PM. TV: CSN. Radio: KXTG (95.5 FM) Projected Portland Starting Lineup: PG Andre Miller (#24, 6′2″, Utah), SG Brandon Roy (#7, 6′6″, Washington), SF Nicolas Batum (#88, 6′8″, France), PF LaMarcus Aldridge (#12, 6′11″, Texas), C Marcus Camby (#23, 6′11″, UMass) Projected New Orleans Starting Lineup: PG Chris Paul (#3, 6′, Wake Forest), SG Marco Belinelli (#8, 6′5″, Italy), SF Trevor Ariza (#1, 6′8″, UCLA), PF David West (#30, 6′9″, Xavier), C Emeka Okafor (#50, 6′10″, Connecticut) After a five-day layoff following a blown game to Utah, the Blazers [...]

This week, we look at the Memphis, Denver, and Utah games and discuss what the Greg Oden injury means to the team going forward. Enjoy. Download Powered by Podbean.com

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you will have noticed that November has not been kind to the Portland Trail Blazers. Portland has dropped games to division rivals Utah and Oklahoma City, and more than that the team has lost Greg Oden for the remainder of this season without him having logged so much as a single minute. The idea of rebuilding has been kicking around some circles over the past few days. Matt Moore from NBC Sports Pro Basketball Talk blog likely gets credit for introducing the topic not 10 days ago. Since then I’ve used rebuilding as [...]

OK Blazer fans, it’s time to admit that we are at a bit of a crossroads. Maybe not a generation defining crossroads, but at least a month of November, early season defining crossroads. There are two ways to look at Saturday’s game, each way leading down a different path of thinking. One way is to look at Saturday as some kind of moral victory. The Blazers are hurting for a big time scorer, the Utah Jazz are one of the hottest road times of this young season, and Portland played them well for three out of four quarters. Along this [...]