No more hedging my bets, I'm all in! Magnifier is a genius!

I said if they went 7-3 over the stretch of games that started with Milwaukee, I'd be convinced they are "good" ... maybe not great, but at least "good," putting them in the mix of teams that are probably going to finish 7th-4th in the west. They've exceeded my expectations quite a bit. Mission accomplished - good for them. Now beating Indiana might be a step toward becoming "very good" or it could just be a good team beating a very good team at home by 4 points. It's hard to say this early in the year.

So I'm not downing what they did, but how will this translate to April? That is to say: Are they going to be playing this "hot" and this well at the end of the season going into the playoffs? We'll see.

 

Addendum: The Indiana game definitely feels like a game any Blazers team in the past 10 years would have probably found a way to lose - the last couple of years by double digits and the Roy led teams in some last-shot heartbreaker.

 

You son of a bitch!!! I was waiting for the 7th win before I quoted you! I'm sad now

 

You're only as good as your last game.

Bring on the Zombie Sonics!!

 

Why? Is the I-told-you-so, double-barreled "fuck you" dance that important?

 

Could it mean that having such a rigid "long view" of things means you can't presently enjoy a great team that fell into our lap? Is tanking, rebuilding and waving bye bye to LMA worth it?

The pundits on NBA TV are calling Lillard/Aldridge one of the best duos in the league. Against my gloomy instincts as a blazer fan...I'm beginning to agree. I for one am happy to ride this gift horse hard as a fan and not look it in the mouth.

There's plenty of time in the future to suck again. There will be other great drafts to tank away at. For now, I think this team can possibly open a window of title contention by just being damn good and attracting an all-star caliber vet.

 

No I was waiting for the last of the realists to finally believe. No "I told you so" in order!

 

This season I've tried to steal the Chip Kelly philosophy and just think about "winning the day!"

I'm beyond caring whether national pundits think we're for real. We don't have to worry about swaying voters or computer rankings, so SOS means nothing to me. The only thing that matters is wins and losses. If we win enough games, we go to the playoffs, and then it's anybody's game.

So instead of trying to please everyone, just yell "WIN THE DAY" with me and enjoy the ride

 

I'm really not a soccer mom fan. I accept that the team has weaknesses and isn't close to as stacked as say...'99-2000. That team was insanely deep...but flawed in character. You replace Sheed with LMA on that team and you have a mini-dynasty.

But what I may have discounted from the punditry and failed to see through all the gloomy post-Roy/Oden era fogginess is GREAT team play! These guys share the ball and really pull for each other. Stotts has them buying in and its a joy to watch. Chemistry really matters for a team without "super friends" to really get somewhere.

This optimism is all basically assuming decent team health this season.

 

It doesn't seem like there's any real egos on this team, which is nice.

 

WIN THE DAY!

 

I don't think anybody thinks we'll be this hot all season. I mean, are we really going to make a run at a 70 win season? The West is loaded, and there are a lot of games to be played. But at this point, there isn't 1 team I don't think we can play with. Before last night, I feared that team might be Indiana. Big, Physical, athletic. And Paul George had a CAREER NIGHT. I loved it how Indy took the 3 away from us for most of the game, and we found other ways to score. This team continues to find different ways to win games. If someone told you that Paul George had 43 and we only hit 5 threes, what would you have guessed was the outcome? I would have said "not good". Probably double digit loss. Whatever happens the rest of the season, this team has already captured my heart. I can't think of a Blazer team I enjoyed this much. The ball movement, the heart/fight/determination, the unselfishness. I've never seen the Blazers play better "team basketball" than during this stretch (never saw the '77 team play). Not the most talent, but 5 guys/1 heartbeat. Haven't seen that before. Not the Roy Blazers, the 2000 Era team, the Clyde Blazers . . . none of them were as in sync as this year's team through 18 games. How could you not love this team?

 

Welcome to the club! I said it since the summer this team can get a top3 seed. The top teams in the west have very little separation from #3-#7. Sure an injury or something can hurt our playoff chances, but that can be said of twelve teams in the west. Most likely injuries during the year will help us, as injuries to 11 teams help the Blazers but injuries to only 1 team hurts the Blazers.

The only caution I’d have is some fans expecting a first round win. Even if we win 57 games a playoff series could be very difficult to win. Last year the Nuggets won 57 games, got the #3 seed, and then got smoked in the playoffs. But yes getting a top 3 seed would be an awesome year, and not having to play one of the five most accomplished teams in the west would give us a great chance.

 

I actually think we match up really well with Indy. The big physical teams won't give us trouble. It's the teams with the quick little guards that seem to give us fits. We don't have great perimeter defense, so a team like Phoenix exposed our major weakness.

 

Great post! You have to go back to the late '80s/early '90s Drexler teams to find similar chemistry...but this team has better IQ.

 

You sir, are a troll

 

This team continues to impress, in most part because we play like a team and have a very balanced offense. Barring any serious injury this team is easily a much better than .500 team and the odds are improving we are easily a top 4 team in the West. I have said one game at a time, however as those games are played the bullish odds of this team have increased.

 

The last time we started this well, we went to the WCF..... but it's still just way too early to tell what's going to happen this season.

 

We beat Phoenix at home. Also defeated San Ant, Den, Chic, Golden St, and others with fast/penetrating PG's. Are you saying you'd rather play a team with a big physical front court like Houston in the playoffs instead of Phoenix? I'd still rather take the Phoenix match-up. I like our chances against them in a series, especially where we have HCA.