Sorry haters, but this season went down long before Oden went down.

This season fell apart when Travis Outlaw went down.

We were 8-3 when we found out that Travis Outlaw would miss the next 3-5 months. Our three losses were by a combined 13 points. We had a chance to win all three of those games. Three of our wins were by 20 or more points. It was OUR BEST START SINCE THE 99-00 SEASON. Since he went down, we've been 6-8. And we've been blown out in some of the losses.

When people think of Webster's 24 point third quarter two seasons ago, they forget how Outlaw hit clutch shot after clutch shot in the 4th quarter to hold off the Jazz. When people think of Brandon Roy's 52 point game last season, they forget the big shots Travis hit when we needed someone else to step up.

Now, by all measures, Travis was not having his best season this year before he went down, but with his loss, we lost athleticism, lost versatility in our lineup options, and we lost someone who could take the pressure off of LMA and Roy. I can't help but believe we would've beaten Cleveland if Travis had played. We needed someone else to make a shot when Cleveland was rallying. Webster disappeared and we could've used a clutch shot from Travis. I also think we would've beaten Milwaukee if Travis had played.

Yes, the loss of Greg has killed us but really, our two biggest weaknesses right now are at backup SF and backup PF, the two positions that Travis played. Sure, we don't have a backup center per se, but LMA works at backup C if Travis is there to play PF. That lineup won us a lot of games two seasons ago.

Of course, in addition to the loss of Oden, the losses of Batum and Rudy have hurt us in several areas as well, but Roy and LMA were able to win games two seasons ago without Batum, Rudy, or Oden. But they needed Travis.

I'm very worried about the rest of our season. Moral victories have replaced actual victories.

The ONLY way that we can recover from this mess and make the playoffs this season is for KP to work a miracle and trade Andre Miller for a SF/PF who can score.

I pray that KP makes a trade.. Miller has been fine in the recent games, giving us some scoring off the bench, but if we trade him, we'll finally get to see who Bayless is about. He's our future.

Go Blazers

 

Thanks for the laugh. I needed that in these times of despair.

 

Outlaw is a HUGE LOSS!!!!












Lol

 

On that day, I made a sandwich. It was pretty good. The team was 8-3 on that day. The season has gone downhill since then. The drop-off happened directly after I made the sandwich. That is just facts. Clearly the sandwich caused the Blazers collapse.

If you don't think so, you clearly don't watch the games.

 

Owned

 

That post was more effective the first time you used it.

 

The post is different, I simply recycled the sandwich. Seems reasonable to use the same argument when someone makes the same mistake.

 

Wow, you guys don't understand the game at all.

 

The winning streak started when Oden starting scoring in double-digits consistently. Look at his game log.

And Miller was the starting PG.

When Oden went down the season was lost. Plain and simple. Moving Blake back to the starting PG spot hasn't helped either. The team is 7-9 with Blake as the starting PG, 7-2 with Miller.

 

Good post.

 

That must be it.

 

"Pretty good" sandwiches are 1/1 in causing Blazers collapses. Usually, I just buy a sandwich because I prefer not to cook.

The timing, though, is inarguable. Do you watch the games?

 

What kind of sandwich?

 

An intangibles and cheese sandwich. It's not too filling, but it's better than it sounds on paper.

 

After a harrowing day of being hugged by family members at a Christmas party I needed this laugh. Thank you.

 

Oh wow...KS changed his opinion 180 degrees from all his previous threads...how shocking

Hey I have a great idea! Lets have the guy who knows the least about basketball be the creator of the most threads on this board! Woo Hoo!!!

The people who know the least are for some reason always the loudest....hmmmm