Our season may very well come down to how well we play next Monday and Tuesday. We absolutely MUST win one of these games and winning both would really pave a path to the playoffs. Lose both and we fall way behind the Nuggets in the division and we move to 0-4 against the Nuggets & Jazz, the very teams we are competing with to get into the damn playoffs. Of course, we must beat the Kings and then finally beat the Suns on Thursday, but these two games vs Denver are crucial, crucial, crucial. IF we can beat the Kings, beat the Suns (finally), beat the Nuggs twice, and then beat the Mavs on Christmas Day to improve to 20-10, we will be in GREAT shape for making the playoffs. GREAT shape. 17-13 isn't good enough. GO BLAZERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We can loose all 4 of these games and then go on a 16-2 streak later and make up for it... Its a long season. That said I'd love for the blazers to win 3 of the next 4 games. Im just not sure if the Suns are a good matchup for this team.
Tie breakers will be so important at the end of the season. We must win these games to win the tiebreaker.
I'm with you on this one King, I think even though it is still pretty early we need to be beating certain teams for tiebreaker reasons.
it basically comes down to us and the mavs. one gets in...the other doesnt. lakers, rockets, spurs, hornets, jazz, nuggets, suns are LOCKS with their current rosters. Blazers or Mavs get the 8th seed. Thats the bottom line.
I'm not so sure about that. Getting owned by a division rival in back-to-back games would almost certainly rattle the team's confidence. In other words, the psychological impact could outweigh any effect on the standings.
This is why beating teams like the Clips is so important. If you win all the games you should, your playoff position takes care of itself.
I disagree that all those teams are locks. 2 through 9 are pretty close right now and will probably remain that way throughout the season.