Archive for December, 2010

The “players only” meeting wasn’t good for a win, neither was the over-hyped apology from Brandon Roy to his teammates. Thursday night began with a story, that, like the aforementioned events was destined to overshadow anything that was going to happen on the court, but this time, unlike the other times, it might have been just the kick the Blazers needed to pull down a grade A W. As everyone in Blazer Nation now knows, Brandon Roy has been shut down for an indefinite amount of time. You can read indefinite as,  “done for the near future,” “done for the [...]

Blazers: 16-16 Jazz: 22-10 Game Details: Rose Garden, Portland, PR. 7:00 PM. TV: KGW. Radio: KXTG (95.5 FM) Projected Portland Starting Lineup: PG Andre Miller (#24, 6′2″, Utah), SG Wesley Matthews (#2, 6′5″, Marquette), SF Nicolas Batum(#88, 6′9″, France), PF LaMarcus Aldridge (#12, 6′11″, Texas), C Marcus Camby (#23, 6′11″, UMass) Projected Utah Starting Lineup: PG Deron Williams (#8, 6′3″, Illinois), SG Raja Bell (#19, 6′5″, Florida International), SF Andrei Kirilenko (#47, 6′9″, Russia), PF Paul Millsap (#24, 6′8″, Lousiana Tech), C Al Jefferson (#25, 6′10″, Prentiss High School) The Blazers just played the Utah Jazz earlier this week, and [...]

It didn’t take much for Tuesday night’s game to turn into a blowout. And when it went in that direction, it most certainly didn’t turn in Portland’s favor. Not often can you point to one specific set of plays that made the specific difference between winning a game and losing a game. Tuesday was different. The last two seconds of the second quarter Tuesday night was just enough time for Portland to go from being right in the midst of a close game to being completely run out of the Pepsi Center. The fateful sequence began with a three from [...]

Blazers: 16-15 Nuggets: 16-13 Game Details: Pepsi Center, Denver, CO. 6:00 PM. TV: CSN. Radio: KXTG (95.5 FM) Projected Portland Starting Lineup: PG Andre Miller (#24, 6′2″, Utah), SG Wesley Matthews (#2, 6′5″, Marquette), SF Nicolas Batum(#88, 6′9″, France), PF LaMarcus Aldridge (#12, 6′11″, Texas), C Dante Cunningham (#33, 6′8″, Villanova) Projected Denver Starting Lineup: PG Chauncey Billups (#1, 6’3″, Colorado), SF Arron Afflalo (#6, 6’5″, UCLA), SF J.R. Smith (#5, 6’6″, St. Benedict’s Preparatory School), PF Kenyon Martin (#4, 6’9″, Cincinnati), C Nene Hilario (#31, 6’11″, Brazil) Before I begin previewing tonight’s matchup between the Trail Blazers and the Northwest [...]

NBA season version 2010-11 has not been easy for the Portland Trail Blazers. There have been far too many bad losses, not enough good wins, and enough speculation about the future of the franchise and its players to make even the most passive Blazer fan squeamish. The woes and ups and downs may be far from over, but when we look back on this season, one thing will be certain: winning short-handed, on the road, at Utah is pretty freaking incredible. Monday night doesn’t erase the loss at Washington, or the atrocious performances against the Lakers and at home against [...]

Blazers: 15-15 Jazz: 21-9 Game Details: Energy Solutions Arena, Salt Lake City, UT. 6:00 PM. TV: KGW. Radio: KXTG (95.5 FM) Projected Portland Starting Lineup: PG Andre Miller (#24, 6′2″, Utah), SG Wesley Matthews (#2, 6′5″, Marquette), SF Nicolas Batum(#88, 6′9″, France), PF LaMarcus Aldridge (#12, 6′11″, Texas), C Marcus Camby (#23, 6′11″, UMass) Projected Utah Starting Lineup: PG Deron Williams (#8, 6′3″, Illinois), SG Raja Bell (#19, 6′5″, Florida International), SF Andrei Kirilenko (#47, 6′9″, Russia), PF Paul Millsap (#24, 6′8″, Lousiana Tech), C Al Jefferson (#25, 6′10″, Prentiss High School) The last time the Blazers faced the Northwest [...]

It’s not the Christmas present the Blazers probably wanted, but given the way Portland played down the stretch, it was the present they deserved. Put Golden State next to Portland, and most nights out of the year the Blazers are the better team. Factor in too many turnovers, cold shooting from LaMarcus Aldridge, and a white-hot night from Monta Ellis, and that equation changes. Portland wins the game when Monta doesn’t have the ball, when Monta does have the ball they lose. Saturday, Monta had the ball a lot. That’s it and that’s all. Portland had their moments in this [...]

Blazers: 15-14 Warriors: 10-18 Game Details: Oracle Arena, Oakland, CA. 7:30 PM. TV: ESPN/KGW. Radio: KXTG (95.5 FM) Projected Portland Starting Lineup: PG Andre Miller (#24, 6′2″, Utah), SG Wesley Matthews (#2, 6′5″, Marquette), SF Nicolas Batum(#88, 6′9″, France), PF LaMarcus Aldridge (#12, 6′11″, Texas), C Dante Cunningham (#33, 6′8″, Villanova) Projected Golden State Starting Lineup: PG Monta Ellis (#8, 6′3″, Lanier High School), SG Reggie Williams (#55, 6′6″, Virginia Military Institute), SF Dorell Wright (#1, 6′9″, South Kent Prep), PF David Lee (#10, 6′9″, Florida), C Dan Gadzuric (#50, 6′11″, UCLA) I’ll keep this brief because we all have [...]

On most nights over the last two seasons it has been the Portland Trail Blazers that have come into gyms depleted by injury, lacking important pieces of their offense, and hoping to catch a break somewhere at some time that would lead to a win. Over those many nights, the wins have been hard fought, and the defeats have brought the fans right up to the edge of chucking it all and starting over. What didn’t happen too much last season, and hasn’t happened at all this season, were the games when it was Portland opposition that was short handed, [...]

Blazers: 14-14 Bucks: 10-15 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 Wesley Matthews (#2, 6′5″, Marquette), SF Nicolas Batum(#88, 6′9″, France), PF LaMarcus Aldridge (#12, 6′11″, Texas), C Dante Cunningham (#33, 6′8″, Villanova) Projected Milwaukee Starting Lineup: PG Keyon Dooling (#55, 6’3″, Missouri), SG John Salmons (#15, 6’6″, Miami), SF Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (#12, 6’8″, UCLA), PF Larry Sanders (#8, 6’11″, Virginia Commonwealth), C Andrew Bogut (#6, 7’0″, Utah) Coming off a hard-fought win over the Warriors that was essentially [...]