Archive for November, 2010

It’s enough to make you sick really. For the second time in two weeks Portland has dropped a close game to the Oklahoma City Thunder. This time was a lot like the last time; two evenly matched teams, a game coming down to one or two possessions, Portland unable to finish it off. I guess the one positive take away from Friday night is that this one was decided in regulation, we didn’t have to watch Portland melt down in OT. A second possible positive is that Russell Westbrook had to score a career high 36 points and Kevin Durant [...]

Everybody can exhale. Portland hasn’t looked great these last few games, starting with a give away against the Thunder, a too-close-for comfort win against arguably the worst team in the league in the Toronto Raptors, and a third game that at this point we should all forget and never speak of again. With that record on their backs, I’m sure that more than a few Blazer fans came into Tuesday’s game against the once mighty Detroit Pistons expecting the worst. And for moments, they were almost right. Portland came out hot, something they did during their 3-0 start, then stopped [...]

There are  a few ways we could look at the drubbing that the Blazers took Sunday night in Los Angeles at the hands of the defending champions. First, we could look at the numbers, find out where the problems were with Portland, and apply blame accordingly, or second, we could write this off as a non-factor, a non-stress inducing loss that we all saw coming. How about we do both. Portland shot 32-of-75 from the field, 42%, and an abysmal 6-of-20 from deep, 30%. Portland was out rebounded 49-to-25, and didn’t even get close to holding the Lakers to under [...]

Blazers: 5-2 Lakers: 6-0 Game Details: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA. 6:30 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 Los Angeles Starting Lineup: PG Derek Fisher (#2, 6’1″, Arkansas – Little Rock), SG Kobe Bryant (#24, 6’6″, Lower Merion High School), SF Ron Artest (#15, 6’7″, St. John’s), PF Lamar Odom (#7, 6’10″, Rhode Island), C Pau Gasol (#16, 7′, Spain) The Trail Blazers are [...]

Here’s how I feel about what happened at the Rose Garden on Saturday night: You can be forgiven for coming out flat against a very bad team, and you can be forgiven for losing track of a 23 point lead. You can be forgiven for both of those things, if at the final buzzer you walk off the court victorious. In the NBA it is imperative that no team goes overlooked. Although Toronto is one of the worst teams in the league, and they played AWFUL on Saturday night, they’re still a team of professional basketball players. If you sleep [...]

Blazers: 4-2 Raptors: 1-4 Game Details: Rose Garden, Portland, OR, 7: 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 Toronto Starting Lineup: PG Jarrett Jack (#1, 6’3″, Georgia Tech), SG DeMar DeRozan (#10, 6’7″, USC), SF Linas Kleiza (#11, 6’8″, Missouri), PF Reggie Evans (#30, 6’8″, Iowa), C Andrea Bargnani (#7, 7′, Italy) On the surface, a game like this one (in November, against one of [...]

What can you say about this one? If basketball games were three and half quarters long, Portland might have been able to walk off the court Thursday night winners against the NBA’s newest up-and-comers, and one game closer to owning that tie breaker when it comes down to counting wins and losses at the end of the season, which it will. Of course, there’s that fourth quarter, and Thursday night, followed by that overtime, and just like that, the Blazers let one they could have easily had, and most definitely will need, slip away. Portland started out flat for the [...]

Blazers: 4-1 Thunder: 2-2 Game Details: Rose Garden, Portland, OR. 7:30 PM. TV: TNT. 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 Oklahoma City Starting Lineup: PG Russell Westbrook (#0, 6’3″, UCLA), SG Thabo Sefolosha (#2, 6’7″, Switzerland), SF Kevin Durant (#35, 6’9″, Texas), PF Jeff Green (#22, 6’9″, Georgetown), C Nenad Kristic (#12, 7’0″, Serbia) A lot has been written about the Oklahoma City Thunder in the last [...]