Archive for January, 2011

The All-Star starters have been selected, meaning we’re getting closer and closer to getting our answer to the most pressing question of the first half of the Blazers’ season: Does LaMarcus Aldridge get the invite to the All-Star Game? As part of their ongoing weekly debate for ESPN.com, analysts Ric Bucher and Chris Broussard take on whether or not LA should be one of the final All-Star selections. Here’s the link to the piece (ESPN Insiders only), and I’ll give you a quick rundown on their individual takes on the issue. Starting with Bucher: RB: It’s hard for me to [...]

In fairness to the Blazers, it seems that Portland can really only play Boston tight once a season. In 2008-09, Portland was blown out in Boston 93-78, only to turn around 11 games later and beat the Celtics at the Rose Garden 91-86. One of the most exciting games in recent memory, that 2008 home version of Blazers vs Celtics featured a team without Brandon Roy, due to injury, and included an infamous back-of-the-head slap from LaMarcus Aldridge to Kevin Garnett. It was also the last time Portland beat the Boston Celtics. The trend continued the following season; Portland lost [...]

Blazers: 25-21 Celtics: 34-10 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 Wesley Matthews (#2, 6′5″, Marquette), SF Nicolas Batum (#88, 6′9″, France), PF LaMarcus Aldridge (#12, 6′11″, Texas), C Joel Przybilla (#10, 7′1″, Minnesota) Projected Boston Starting Lineup: PG Rajon Rondo (#9, 6’1″, Kentucky), SG Ray Allen (#20, 6’5″, Connecticut), SF Paul Pierce (#34, 6’7″, Kansas), PF Kevin Garnett (#5, 6’11″, Farragut Career Academy), C Kendrick Perkins (#43, 6’10″, Clifton J. Ozen High School) In the best of circumstances, with Portland’s entire [...]

Tomorrow night the Blazers take the floor against the Boston Celtics in what will be the final game of the first month of 2011. This game is important for two reasons. First, it marks the beginning of the end of this most recent home stand, the final game will be Tuesday of next week also at home against the San Antonio Spurs, and second it will be the final game it what has undoubtedly been the finest month in the professional career of LaMarcus Aldridge. As has been noted, LaMarcus has become the centerpiece of the Blazer offense since Brandon [...]

You kind of had to see this one coming. Portland has dragged themselves out of the gate now four nights in a row, and for three of those four nights they’ve been able to get hot for just long enough to win. The Blazers have had the advantage of playing bad teams, and although they came into Monday’s contest winners of five straight, they haven’t played all that well over the month of January. It seemed inevitable that one of these nights Portland would spend too much time trying to get going, and end up losing to a bad team [...]

Blazers: 25-20 Kings: 9-32 Game Details: Rose Garden, Portland, OR. 7:00 PM. TV: KGW/NBA TV. 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 Joel Przybilla (#10, 7′1″, Minnesota) Projected Sacramento Starting Lineup: PG Beno Udrih (#19, 6’3″, Slovenia), SG Tyreke Evans (#13, 6’6″, Memphis), SF Francisco Garcia (#32, 6’7″, Louisville), PF Jason Thompson (#34, 6’11″, Rider), C DeMarcus Cousins (#15, 6’11″, Kentucky) The Blazers have had a pretty easy schedule the last two weeks, and [...]

Scott Schroeder of RidiculousUpside, the NBA blogosphere’s go-to guy for all things D-League, reports today on FanHouse that former LSU center Chris Johnson has been called up by the Trail Blazers from the Dakota Wizards. Johnson has had a strong statistical season for the Wizards, averaging 17.2 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 3.1 blocks. With this news, all signs likely point to the end of the Sean Marks era in Portland, as the Blazers already have 15 guaranteed contracts on their roster and will have to cut someone to make room for Johnson. While the 6’11″ Johnson can’t be expected to [...]

Most nights when a team trails for almost an entire three quarters they often lose. I say often, because sometimes they also win. Saturday night was just another day in the life of the Portland Trail Blazers: a pregame mini presser from a hobbled star, the early scratching of an important big minutes starter, a first quarter in which they go down by nine, a second quarter deficit pushed as high as 13, a furious comeback in which said big deficit becomes a double-digit lead, horn, game, win for the Blazers. Saturday the injured star was Brandon Roy. He spoke [...]

Blazers: 24-20 Pacers: 16-23 Game Details: Rose Garden, Portland, OR. 7:00 PM. TV: CSN. Radio: KTXG (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 Joel Przybilla (#10, 7′1″, Minnesota) Projected Indiana Starting Lineup: PG Darren Collison (#2, 6’0″, UCLA), SG Mike Dunleavy (#17, 6’9″, Duke), SF Danny Granger (#33, 6’8″, New Mexico), PF Tyler Hansbrough (#50, 6’9″, North Carolina), C Roy Hibbert (#55, 7’2″, Georgetown) Let’s be real: we won’t find out whether the Blazers of the [...]

We can take away a few things from Portland’s victory Thursday night against the emerging Los Angeles Clippers, but let’s be honest, this game was about one thing: LaMarcus Aldridge versus Blake Griffin. Because it’s late and TNT games take forever, I’m going to try and be as brief as possible, so before I get into the LA/Blake story let me run a few things down. Wesley Matthews: 28 HUGE points. Inside shots, layups, threes, Wesley was big timing all night long. Nicolas Batum: Only 10 points, but a couple of monster threes, solid defense, great energy. Andre Miller: 15 [...]