I really thought we had a shot at the division, hell just a few weeks ago I made a thread about us winning the division, but I don't like the way we have been playing lately and this game was just icing on the 5-day old cake. We needed to beat the teams we were supposed to and the division could have been ours. Now, sure, we could sneak up on the Spurs or Houston and get this win back, or Denver or Utah could fall to a unexpected team...but I am just not as confident at home with this team than I once was. The Dallas and Sixers games were terrible and we could have easily lost to the Nets, Wolves, and Pacers all at home recently. You can really see the toll this race is taking on the players. My goal was to win the division, and we still could, but I'm not sure I see a 2nd wind in this team (I thought the road trip after the ATL game was that, guess not). We better just hope we get into the playoffs and make a series out of it. We aren't going to win it all this year anyways, so just gain experience from the playoffs and hope the maturation process takes course with Oden and Batum. It is obvious Oden is the missing link. He is such a huge difference maker when on the court and still think he makes us better than Durant. Pretty much, our chances to win the division went from 50 to about 25% in one fell swoop. Here's to finishing up the homestand on a 3 game winning streak!
be happy if we make the playoffs. its not a lock with the way the suns are playing. the 8th seed will be tough enough to get. if we lose the suns game... dallas and phoenix have the tie breaker
portland still has a good shot at winning the division. i think at this point it's pretty much a toss up between portland and denver and very easily could come down to the final game(denver at portland). as it is, denver has a 1 game advantage but has 4 remaining tough road games while portland only has 2 remaining tough road games. the jazz are basically out of the race to me with their 7 tough road games remaining.
Utah is more likely to push past us into 2nd, than we are to push past Denver into first. Utah is the more experienced team with a HOF coach. In a close race this late in the season, you better believe that can make a difference!
Normally I'd agree, but Utah's schedule couldn't be drawn up any more brutal to end the season especially in April. They have five road games against playoff teams next month, and they're going to have a hell of a time winning 1 or 2 of them.
how? utah plays phoenix, portland, denver, new orleans, dallas, san antonio, and the lakers all on the road. and they still have a home game against the rockets.
its quite amazing how mixum can grab depression from the jaws of happiness in just a couple of useless sentences.
Very close to going 4-1 on the recent eastern swing and you don't like the way we've been playing lately?
If Greg can stay on the floor and play significant minutes, that's the only way we have a shot at the division. I have a feeling we might have already overtaken the Nuggs if he didn't get the knee injury vs the Clipps. Right now the team defense is pretty abysmal, but Oden covers a lot of those deficiencies with his rebounding and blocking.
When I see doom and gloom crap like this, I just shake my head. We have 11 more games. Something tells me the division race isn't over yet. It's not like Denver is setting the world on fire.
one game down! for a second I thought I was back at Oregon Live with all this "end of the world we lost a game" talk
Here is what I would point out. The Blazers have had multiple opportunities to take the division lead over the last month. Every time they have had an opportunity to step up, they have stepped down. I think this is about the 5th time the Blazers have had the opportunity, and flat out blown it.
people want excuses for this team. the fact of the matter is... we needed another scorer. suns are coming.
