December 27, 2008 Portland Trailblazers vs Toronto Raptors Gametime 7pm Pacific time. Steve Blakes heroic three point shot in Toronto with less than ten seconds to play helped the Blazers dodge a bullet the last time we played the Raptors. This time they'll visit Portland hoping for a victory in the Rowdy Rose Garden. If you'd like a look at the highlights from that game and a video recap you can click on this link. Former Blazer Jermaine O'Neal returns to the Rose Garden along with his Toronto Raptor teammates. O'Neal torched the Blazers for 24 points when we visited them in Toronto. No doubt O'Neal, who still keeps a home in the Portland area, will be looking for another good game against his old team. His old team has some issues. And they are starting to become more problematic and habitual as time goes on. Our weak perimeter defense breaks down frequently. One cause of this is having our centers come out too far and they are no match for the qucker players who go around them. In the case of Greg Oden that is one place where is is picking up a lot of cheap fouls.....as he reaches in after being beaten or tries to slap the ball from behind. He'd be better off by focusing on using his size to be in the way and alter shots instead of trying to slap at everything that comes his way. Outlaw and Frye are getting torched on the perimeter also and often fail to rotate. When the Celtics come to town to beat us again and give us another lesson we will once again see how a lockdown defense looks when played for forty eight minutes. Our inept offensive schemes are becoming easier and easier for teams to deal with. If we have a bad three point shooting night we are probably going to lose because its rare thing that any Blazer runs insides and scores. ISOs and clearouts sometimes work in the regular season, but not in the playoffs and not against the defenses of great teams like Boston. The Raptors game will be no cakewalk and they will have to win it to avoid losing three at home in a row. Because I believe Boston is going to beat us again. This stuff is serious, but not what I perceive to be the biggest single problem. Enthusiasm and effort are down. The great crowds we have at the Garden seem to inspire the other teams more than our own. It sickens me to see our opponents benches standing, high fiving, waving towels and sunch and seeing our guys sitting somberly on the bench. As long as situation continues there will be trouble. I pick the Blazers to LOSE to the Raptors by 7. Projected starters Portland Trailblazers Steve Blake -PG Brandon Roy-SG Nic Batum-SF LaMarcus Aldridge-PF Greg Oden-Center Projected starters Toronto Raptors Jose Calderon-PG Jason Kopono-SG Jamario Moon-SF Chris Bosh-PF Jermaine O'Neal-Center Pregame discussion and postgame analysis may be found in the gameday threads
Mentally . . . for fans and the players, this becomes a must game. Can't lose games like this at home . . .
