Can someone tell me what our record is???

From all the panic and nay-saying around here, it sounds like we're 1-14 . . . but last I checked, we're 9-6 right?

We started the season against 5 consecutive teams that won 54+ games the year before.

Oden comes off an entire year off - and hurts himself after playing 13 minutes. Misses more games and never gets that chance to shake off that rust from sitting out a year. He/we start all over again.

Oh yeah, the guy penciled in to be our starting SF hasn't played a minute all season.

We have a 19 yr. old rookie starting.

We have three rookies (should be four) playing major roles.

We're the second youngest team in the league (and not by much for that matter).

Tonight's game was only our FIFTH home game all season!!!

And . . . we're 9-6!

Who honestly would've predicted that given how our opening schedule stacked up?

Come on people, enjoy the win - enjoy the season thus far. These guys are young and, seemingly, only going to get better with time.

 

I agree. We're undefeated at home. .400 on the road (way better than last year where we were 1-9 on the road, I believe). Tonight's game was tough but the great teams win games like this and that's exactly what we did.

Go Blazers

 

Yes, tonight's win was ugly.

Yes, we were damned lucky to have won. We could have (should have) very easily lost.

But did anyone really think we'd blow out the Kings twice in a row in a span of 4 days? It's always very tough to beat the same team twice back to back - especially if you blow them out them out that first game. They'll be pissed, they'll be hungry and they'll be looking for payback - which is exactly what happened tonight. The Kings, even on the back end of a back to back, were playing inspired ball in the second half to avenge that beat down we gave them last week. On heart and effort, they should've won. Yet, the "W" is ours - no matter how ugly it was. I'll take it!

 

Good points Brian.

 

I'm not stupid enough (nor are many others in here) to simply look at the record and say everything's rosy - but it seems like a lot of people are so easily spoiled by a little success.

If you predicted such a record prior to the season (given our starting schedule), then I give you props for having that much faith in this (very young) team. But I would bet that the majority of us "fans" didn't know one way or another how this team was going to fare. They're so young and there are so many unknowns, that they could've been 1-14, 9-6 or 6-9 and it'd really just be anybody's guess.

I'm not sure if this was done, but let's say we took a poll pre-season and asked how they'd be at this point in the season, I'd venture to say that many/most would be happy (or content) being around or slightly above .500.

But Greg goes down and you hear some people looking for another high lottery pick next draft already. Then there's some success . . . and two blow out wins back to back and some people have us winning the championship THIS YEAR! Yay!

Point is, it's a long season of ups and downs. And if people flip out after every loss or gets the team sized for rings after every decent win, we'd all be spent before the All-Star Break.

 

I have one complaint, Aldridge. I know it's only been 15 games but he is our second option and needs to start acting like it. His shot has looked god awful and needs to work on that immediately.

 

My boss was telling me he read somewhere that statistically, the Blazers have one of the hardest schedules for the start of an NBA season in NBA history. Factoring in opposing teams win\loss record from last year blah blah blah somethin like that. (sorry no links, so I cannot say if it was true or not) but interesting none the less.

 

I think for a lot of us fans that don't look through rose garden colored glasses, we see a team that has horible defense and a bloated offense that has been hitting 3's more than they normally will. It's not that we aren't winning, because we are, but more so that we probably won't win as much if we continue to play the way we are playing.


It's the big picture that some of us fans are talking about

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/powerranking?season=2009&week=4

Only thing close to proof I have lol

 

If some people are this negative after a 9-6 start, I can' wait to see the meltdown once they lose 3 or 4 in a row.

 

we did a prediction at bbf, a couple responses

what will our record be after 22 games, 15 on the road, against such tough teams?

me 12-10 with me having us 9-6 right now.
nikolokolus 11-11
jayremmie first said 9-13 then 11-11, then anywhere from 7-12 wins (way to take a stand )
maris61 15-7
reep 11-11
god 7-15
HCP we start 0-5
Nate Bishop 11-11
mediocreman 11-11 or 9-13 or 8-14
utherhimo 14-8
blue32 14-8
moldorf the best they will do is 9-14.

it really looks as though we are exceeding most of our expectations. and this was before martell/oden got hurt.

 

10/28 at lakers
10/31 spurs
11/1 at phoenix
11/5 at utah
11/6 rockets
11/8 wolves
11/10 at orlando
11/12 at miami
11/14 at hornets
11/15 at wolves
11/18 at warriors
11/19 bulls
11/21 at kings
11/22 at phoenix
11/24 kings
11/26 miami
11/28 hornets
11/30 at detroit
12/2 at knicks
12/3 at wizards
12/5 at celtics
12/7 at toronto

we could easily lose 4 out of the last 5 games on this list. and 5/6.

 

Get you popcorn ready, and DennyCrane may have to try and expand on the server space.

 

And at that point I'll have to leave the board for awhile. It's why I left when things were pretty bad a few seasons ago. I'm all for discussion, but when the Chicken Littles of Portland come out in droves it ruins the fun of just watching our young team rise.

 

These forums are funny. After a solid win, everyone is comparing us to the best teams in the league, how we're unbeatable at home, just one game out of first place, etc etc. But after a loss (or a too close for comfort win over a struggling team), everyone is frustrated...trade him, fire the coach, start this guy instead, bench that guy, blah blah blah.

Reality check time. As the OP said, we are 9-6 so far through one of the (if not, THE) toughest NBA opening schedule of all time. Unless the 08-09 Blazers have the same expectations as, say, the 91-92 Bulls (in which case we should be 12-3 at least), then I'm damn satisfied with our record so far.

I think a lot of you are forgetting that this is, for all intents and purposes, the youngest team in the NBA (I know we're second technically, but take off Lafrentz and we're #1). Our current starting lineup consists of players who are 19, 20, 23, 24, and 28. That's an average starter age of 22.8 years old. For a team this young to be considered a playoff contender, one of the deepest teams in the NBA, and to have a record of 9-6 at this point in the season is very, very impressive, especially when you add into that four rookies, three of which are already playing big roles, and two of which are currently starting.

Yes, the Blazers have weaknesses. We struggle shooting the ball sometimes. We lack solid interior defense. We settle for too many jump shots. So what?! This is a team still learning, still getting better, still gelling, still learning their roles, and still learning to play in the NBA. Will our guys improve? Of course they will. It's called experience...the more you do something, the better you get at it. Perhaps I need to define common sense for some of you too. But if you're not damned proud of this team for their performance so far, then I don't even know what to say.

 

Funny enough I revised that prediction downward even further before Oden and Martell got hurt -- I was fully prepared for an 8-16 start to the season once I really started looking at how road heavy the schedule was, how many back-to-backs, who we played on those back-to-backs, and just how many "elite" teams we got matched up against. 9-6? Are you fucking kidding me? I'm blown away how well they've played so far, we're in full on gravy mode as far as I'm concerned.

 

Actually we are 13th in SOS.