(3) Phoenix vs. (6) Portland Season series: 2-1 Blazers. Odds say: Suns 64.9%; Blazers 35.1% The odds and head-to-head matchups say the Blazers have a chance; common sense says otherwise. Forget the fact Phoenix is the hottest team in the West at the moment and that the Blazers are ill-suited to take advantage of the Suns' biggest weakness (a lack of quality size), because there's also the little matter of Portland's best player being unable to perform. Brandon Roy wasn't as good this season as he was in 2008-09, but there's still a serious diminution in production when he's off the court. Portland was 8-9 in games he missed in the regular season and had a negative scoring margin in those 17 games. While the rest of the Blazers were good enough at times to hammer Orlando by 15 and even beat the Suns in Phoenix without him, they also were bad enough to lose to Washington and New Orleans. We'll talk more about the Suns down below, but suffice it to say, I'll be surprised if they're tested in Round 1, buying them more time to get Robin Lopez back into playing shape. Pick: Suns in five
If it means anything, he has the Suns losing to the Cavs in the NBA Finals. http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/play...?columnist=hollinger_john&page=PERDiem-100415
What he leaves out is that we beat the Suns and Magic without Brandon Roy because we had Steve Blake. People forget that how great Steve Blake was in those games. Without Brandon Roy OR Steve Blake we need Miller and Bayless to seriously step their games up and we need the piece we traded Blake for to dominate the Suns' bigs. In the next week, we're gonna find out if the Camby trade was worth it.
Well-no one picked the Warriors to beat the 67 win Mavs in 07 either...thats why the play the games. I like our chances in this series..
What? I sure did. The Warriors had won the season series, and Don Nelson knew the Mavs roster, schemes, and tendencies better than Avery Johnson did. I wasn't surprised by that series at all.
Well, we're boned. I'm as optimistic as they come usually, but I think we'll be doing well to go out after six games.
Not only is the Portland-Phoenix series the least-followed in the whole playoffs (according to ESPN and the national media, anyway), but the Blazers are just expected to roll over and die against the "red hot" Suns. Never mind that Portland has had a nearly identical record to Phoenix in the last month and a half of the season. Never mind that a good number of the games Portland has played after the All-Star break has been either with a hobbled or completely missing Brandon Roy. Never mind that Andre Miller, Marcus Camby, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Nicolas Batum have all stepped up their game and beaten quality teams in the West to secure the 6th seed when most pundits had them MISSING the playoffs due to injury after injury. The lack of respect for what the Blazers have accomplished is not surprising in the slightest. I've said many times that the national media and the NBA as a whole considers the Blazers and Portland to be a comical sideshow, not worthy of recognition, and wishes that they would just accept their role as the Washington Generals to the "elite" larger-market teams with the marketable superstars that the league makes money off of. The Blazers *CAN* win this series. They have the players, they have the motivation, and they have the momentum. Phoenix is fundamentally the same team that the Blazers beat two out of three times, once *IN* Phoenix *without* Brandon Roy and *without* Marcus Camby. I just don't understand how they can be written off so easily.
I'm just saying, we will miss the calming influence of Brandon's game. The ability to go to him in the post when things aren't going so good. I love this team and what they has accomplished this year, but I think it is asking a lot to take out the Suns without Roy. If it means anything, I hope they prove me wrong, they already have once, shit I said we weren't even gonna make the playoffs!
At times this year, Brandon's influence has been too calming. The team has stood around way to much watching him take over. With him out of the line-up we'll have to make that extra pass and increase the ball movement. Could liven up the offense a bit. Couple that with great defense and we got a shooters chance.
Given the promise at the beginning of the season, and the incredible string of injuries that the team has had to contend with, it's a miracle that the team is even in the playoffs to begin with, let alone in a somewhat favorable matchup to win a first-round series. To me, everything from this point on is gravy. Brandon being hurt absolutely sucks, but really, the way this season has gone, I guess I couldn't have expected anything else. If you and everyone else want to write off this season as a failure, well, that's your decision. Mine is to be thrilled with everything this team has accomplished (and may still), and focus on what has ALWAYS been the goal: multiple championships in the near future.
I'm glad that everyone is overlooking us. I hope the Suns overlook us. If we can steal the opener, I really like our chances. I hope we can come out with a vengeance in game 1. I want US to be the physical team. I want US to set the tone. The first thing we should do in game one is come out and knock Steve Nash on the ground. The reason why I wanted Phoenix is because they're soft. They aren't Denver or Utah. We are in perfect position to shock the world.
I fully expect Juwan Howard go get at least two, maybe three, hard flagrant one fouls during this series.
I see your point, but that's not in the playoffs. When Phoenix goes on a run and the crowd is roaring and the pressure is high and we need a big shot, that's when we'll miss Roy's calming influence. And we'll definitely miss him in the last two minutes of a close game.
I seem to think that Andre Miller will calmly slide into that role. Whether he is effective or not has yet to be seen.
Where and what in my post made you think I have written off the season as a failure? I am very proud of our team and am excited about the future.
