meh...yeah you're winning the division but you guys have the worst record of a division leader. HOU and NO would be leading your division if they were in there... Good team? Absolutely. Upper tier team? Sure. Elite? No way
Re: Don't know if anyone noticed... I wouldnt go that far yet, not saying that the NW teams are as mediocre.. but take for example the AFC West in nfl. Denver lead for weeks and San Diego didnt lead until the last game of the season. I wouldnt say that either one of them was elite, just because they lead their division.
There are three definitely elite teams in Boston, LA and Cleveland. Beyond them, San Antonio and Orlando are arguably elite. Portland is in the next tier of teams, IMO, with Utah, Denver, Houston and New Orleans.
This is where I part company with many of you. Before the season started, chasing the 8th seed seemed like a reasonable goal. Things change. On the negative side, Oden hasn't been healthy and hasn't made the contribution we all hoped for. On the plus side, Batum has exceeded expectations, Joel and Blake have been having career years, and every other WC contender has been hit with serious problems. To argue that going after the division title or HCA is "unreasonable", implies that Denver and Utah are clearly superior to the Blazers. Sorry, but I don't see it.
Ok, lets say HCA in the playoffs makes you a elite team. That means we are a elite team, but might not be a elite team after tomorrow!
Going after the division title is what Portland is doing. They may not win it, but I think defining success as winning the division title would be unreasonable. That would be penalizing them for playing better than expected. I think Batum is showing that Pritchard was wise to keep him out of deals for Vince Carter or Gerald Wallace. I think it would be nice to get Batum more minutes.
Having HCA does not make you an elite team...it makes you have HCA. Maybe "elite" means something different to you and me. Elite: Bos, Cle, LA Right below elite: SA, Utah, Orl Then there is everybody else...
Personally, elite means having a legit shot at winning a title, which the Blazers, in all honesty, don't have. I hate to agree with the Laker fan, but he's got it spot on. At this point in the season, winning the division should be the goal even though IMO it would represent over achievement. Making the playoffs was always the target, and doing so would just be meeting the expectations, not exceeding them. Not making the playoffs is only something Mixum thinks about, who cares...
It was pretty shallow of them, they should have forked over millions of public dollars to a sports franchise.
Not anymore. New Orleans just got blown out in Chicago. And Houston has one more loss than us now so we can pass them with a win tomorrow.
Blazers have a better record than Utah. And Utah is 0-8 on road vs WC top 9 teams. Learn the game, then post.
I was waiting for somebody to say that, makes sense it would be you... Utah has been injured all year. They are finally healthy and now they are kicking ass...amazing how that works. Utah is killer at home. I really dont care that they are 0-8 on the road since most, maybe even all of those games were with key players not playing. They can beat ANYBODY at their place and pull off a game or two on the road in a series. KS I dont know if you are this clueless when it comes to these kinds of things or just choose to ignore them to pump up the Blazers in your eyes. Who do you think you are kidding? oh and for what its worth Kidd had a triple double today I know the game...in fact, I know it a shitload better than you do stick that in your pipe and smoke it
Blazers have been injured all year too. Webster out all year. Oden missed 19 games. Blake missed a ton of games. Rudy has missed games. Roy has missed games. Dallas didn't even play today. And the healthy "kicking ass" Utah Jazz are on a two game losing streak. Please learn the game before posting. Seriously.
Umm...Those are some nice role players you are naming off but Utah didn't have Boozer's 20/10 for 40+ games, Deron missed first part of the season...he's 2nd best PG in the league according to many analysis if you believe them...AK missed quite a bit of time, and some others have taken turns being out also. You also haven't seen Utah lately either b/c they're not healthy, Boozer is still around 80%. Got your back DaRizzle
Roy, Webster, Oden, and Blake are all starters. Rudy is one of the best sixth men in the league. DWill has never made an All Star team. AK is role player. Learn the game please.
Sorry but injuries to Deron and Boozer are waaaay worse than Webster and Oden...hate to break it to you Oops, yesterday...still doesnt take away that you call a player done and then the next game hes 3 points off a triple double and the game after that he gets a triple double with 21 points... Gee, its a good thing they won the 12 before that including the Celts, Lakers, Hou, Den, and NO. 12-2 is just fine. Are you noticing how this works EVERYTIME? How you point out a very small sample size and then look foolish when you take a greater body of work as the sample size... I mean seriously if players were stocks I would buy anybody that you were hating on
