Dec 23 vs Denver Nuggets Gametime is 7 pm Pacific time. If it seemed like we just played the Denver Nuggets, it's because we did. And now its the next day and we are playing them again at home after Monday nights game in Denver. And the bad taste from Monday nights loss is fresh in my mouth. ESPN has a recap of the game and boxcores here. Our guys made a lot of mistakes in this game. Perhaps they failed to read Dave's Blog over at Blazers Edge entitled "Go get them". We had a chance to step on the throat of one of our divisonal rivals and take the lead in our division from them. We had a chance to show we are a playoff team. We had a chance to put the hammer down on a Nuggets team that was playing without their star attraction Carmello Anthony. And we let it all slip away. Who is responsible? Well, if a guy wanted to point a finger at any one of several Blazer players or even the coach it wouldn't be difficult to build an argument that they were the scapegoat. The team wasn't ready to play tonight. Could have been for any one of a number of reasons, but the bottom line is the Boston Celtics show up every blessed night, and we don't. I hope this is a topic of discussion on the trip back to Portland tonight. And I hope every one of these guys makes a solid commitment to suck it up and beat the pants off the Nuggets tomorrow night. Dropping two in a row to this team would not be a good thing. What I want to see from the Blazers tomorrow night is the smothering playoff intensity defense they should be playing every night. I want to see Greg Oden keep his feet planted on defense and not reach in AFTER he has been beaten. I want to see Brandon Roy remember he is Brandon Roy. I'd rather not see Nate pull the quick hook on Sergio, but if he does I certainly want to see Jerryd Bayless shoot and play with confidence. And I'd like to see the gods of basketball smile on Ike Diogus shots that he works so hard for and make a few more of them go thru the hoop. Projected starters Portland Trailblazers Steve Blake -PG Brandon Roy-SG Nic Batum-SF LaMarcus Aldridge-PF Greg Oden-Center Projected starters Denver Nuggets Chauncey Billups-PG Dahntay Jones-SG JR Smith-SF Kenyon Martin-PF Nene-Center As always there will be pregame, gametime, and postgame discussion of the game in the gameday forum
I think we'll play exponentially better than we did tonight, though it couldn't get any worse. We played with no energy there, but it'll change when they come to the RG. I have a feeling we'll come out with a win.
