What a difference 19 days makes.
It was then that the Blazers began their first extended road trip, five games in which I deemed winning 2 would be successful. Well the Blazers won the road trip taking 3 out of 5 and go into their first East Coast swing having won 10 of their last 13.
This is the second of five nasty road trips the Blazers face this year. Today’s game in Detroit begins a stretch where Portland plays 7 of their next 11 games away from the Rose Garden. This Road Trip is the classic East Coast Swing. 5 games in 7 days as the Blazers take on Detroit, New York, Washington, Boston and Toronto.
Up to this point in the season, Portland has been very successful in dealing with their “stretches”. They survived the Tour of Doom start to end up 3-3. They won their first road trip (3-2) and took care of winnable games over the past week (5-1). 11-6 should put a smile on everyone’s faces. But let’s not get cocky because this road trip does not contain any of the Blazers’ kryptonite (aka a strong Western Conference opponent on the road). The Blazers may be undefeated against the Eastern Conference, but make no mistake about it this will be a tough road trip.
19 days after the first road trip, expectations are a lot higher. Now the Blazers have shown they can win on the road. Prior to the first trip, I wasn’t looking for wins and losses. Instead I was just hoping the Blazers could find a way to compete. Not the case now. The Blazers took a big step forward on that initial road trip, let’s see if they can keep moving ahead. Interesting enough though, looking at the standings Portland has the 8th best road record in the Western Conference behind LA, Phoenix, Houston, New Orleans, Denver, San Antonio and Dallas. All of those teams have winning records on the road. 4-6 is very nice at this point but looking far, far, far down the line, the Blazers are going to have to keep that road record up near or right about .500 if they want to see the post-season. Don’t want to turn into Dallas or Denver from last year and have one of the top 6 or 7 home records in the league, have a rough road record (17-24) and have to run into the Lakers first round. As beautiful as it sounds, there will be no 41-0 season at the Rose Garden.
This road trip is strange in that looking at nearly every game, they are all winnable but I have a funny feeling about them. Uncomfortable is the word I’m looking for. Detroit is clearly not the Detroit of old. They are still transitioning into the Allen Iverson era. Michael f’n Curry is their coach. Their defense has definitely lost it’s luster. But they are still the Pistons and still have Allen Iverson and co. The Knicks have played really well in the Garden (6-3) and after what I saw last night against Golden State I am afraid. We live in a world where Chris Duhon threw 22 assists and Emo-Harrington is dropping 30. Anything can happen. Plus when the Knicks actually threw out a competitive, non Isiah Thomas led team the Blazers had lost 6 of their last 7 in Madison Square Garden. And yes I know they are basically Team LeBron for the next 2 years but I have too much respect for D’Antoni right now. Washington…hah. They are beyond awful. But then finishing the trip at Boston (come on now) and that always tough Sunday afternoon game in Toronto that we always seem to lose and you can see why I’m a bit shaky.
The verdict. I’m going to go ahead and say 3-2 is a definite possibility. Historically the Blazers always seem to win their first East Coast swing, so I’m taking history on my side. Besides, the only game I don’t see the Blazers winning for sure is in Boston. The C’s are a juggernaut right now. The Blazers should handle Washington with ease. Keyword = should. And then there are 3 toss up games. All very winnable but all screwy. I saw the Blazers steal 2 of those. At this point I’m not sure 2-3 would be a “disappointment” quite yet but it wouldn’t put a large smile on my face. I’d kind of have to bit my tongue like an Oregon State fan after what happened yesterday. 4-1 is possible and would have me happier than a Real World castmate finding out his girlfriend didn’t see that one episode where he made out with 8 females.
On second thoughts, I hate the East Coast road trip.