Can this team win in the playoffs?

Yes, although there may be a TRADE COMING SOON that could impact their chances.

 

My scout friend tells me that Nate doesn't actually coach this year, and is merely a puppet for Bernie Bickerstaff, who is pulling the strings.

So, maybe?

 

Funny, but No still

 

The problem with the playoffs is that the scheduling greatly helps the older teams - particularly LA and SA. We've seen what happens to the Lakers when they have to play 4 games in 5 nights. I don't want to play LA because we all know that Kobe can hit that switch when needed. The Spurs, though, are a good matchup personnel wise for us.

Dallas and OKC are both very tough opponents, but again we have the right personnel to match up with them. Butler is officially done for the year, right?

 

Yep. If we faced Dallas, the key to the series would be the respect Aldridge received from the refs. A couple of cheap flops by Dirk and LA could be on the bench.

 

I'd love to see a first round game with OKC. The key to that series would be our ability to contain Westbrook.

 

I believe they can if the matchups are right. For instance, San Antonio seems to have a ton of problems with us. About the same amount of problems that Houston caused us a couple of seasons back when they seemed to have our number.

 

Hollinger weighs in...

Brett (Fargo, ND)

They way the Blazers are playing right now, once healthy, they might be one of the scariest dark horses out there? I know if I'm a higher seed in the West that I dont want to play these guys!
John Hollinger (12:13 PM)

I actually don't see the Blazers as being that scary unless Roy comes back as productive sixth man. Right now they're scraping by with a paper-thin rotation by playing everybody 40-plus minutes, but you can't get through the last three months that way. Add Camby and a halfway-decent Roy to the mix, though, and it becomes a much different proposition. Otherwise, the bottom seed in the West that is the scariest for top seeds is definitely Memphis.

 

Sure, they have a shot.

It's not a great one but they have a chance to get to the second round.

 

I think that OKC as it is currently constructed and the current Blazers are very close We only lost in the previous games with Roy being hobbled and LMA not displaying his current aggressive go to the post self.

 

I know what you are saying, but I also think playing a really tight rotation big minutes has been what has contributed to the team's success. Before the minutes were being spread thin and many players were unhappy with their role and playing time. Now the few that do play, are trusted and have played together so much there is a level of chemistry there. If Roy can come back and put in 20 minutes or so off the bench to provide some stability and Camby comes back to anchor the middle the rotation will bulge slightly, but I don't think it will be a bad way.

 

Look, I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer or a MIXUM, but look at Blazer History... how many times have we seen this movie?:

1) Blazer team starts seasons with low expectations
2) Team performs middling to poor the first half of the season with adversary issues.
3) Team catches fire and runs off some ridiculous record over a period of time during the season, and gets everyone's hopes up for the playoffs.
4) Team runs into a first round opponant that they don't match up well with and gets beat, usually in a cruel, soul-crushing fashion that leaves fans and players shrugging their shoulders, and giving lots of "if only"'s and "what could have been"'s.

As I get older, it gets tougher and tougher to come back each year for the same thing. I do it, because I love this team and this city. But for that brief window of 2007 to late 2008, I thought all the years of pain and emotional investment was going to pay off. How silly of me.

Still... I try to enjoy the games for what they are: entertainment. But I would give my left nut for a championship.

 

If you're only satisfied with a championship season, that's pretty much setting yourself up for serious disappointment. Sixteen teams make the playoffs. Eight exit after the first round. Only one wins the title.

I've been a fan long enough to celebrate one championship season and it was a frickin' awesome ride. I never would have thought that 35 years would pass without them winning another. I also know that going into the playoffs that season, there weren't many experts, let alone fans, around the league who would have predicted that the Blazers would win. You play the regular season for a chance to play in the playoffs. Once you get there, you never know what can happen.

I don't know what Cho is going to do before the deadline, but even if he does nothing, the prospects of getting Camby and Roy back at least improve the odds that the Blazers can make the playoffs and perhaps win a series. If they do that much, I'd be absolutely thrilled with this season.

 

We have seen this movie a ton of times. I can also say though that some of those times, we got absolutely the worst first round matchup we could get. Sometimes like the Phoenix series, which pretty much had the worst possible timing due to Brandon's injury, I am pretty sure we would have won had Brandon been healthy.

 

I would be THRILLED with a 2nd round series or further. You missed the point of my post. It's that we've seen Blazer teams catch fire, rip up the second half of the season, be hotter than a pistol, and then flop in the first round more times than I can count. I was lamenting that it's tougher to get enthused during these "hot streaks" that the Blazers get in during the regular season when historical outcomes have been consistantly..... disappointing.

 

IMO OKC is worst when Westbrook decides he is the man and takes a lot of shots. It takes away from what really makes their team tough. I have seen a few games this year where his decision making was questionable, and somebody else on the team should have got to touch the ball more, but they didn't...... They are only a few games ahead of us for a reason.

 

I caught what you were saying and can understand the sentiment, but I'm not big on history being much of an indicator about what happens in any given playoffs. Different teams, different injuries, different competition, different results.

 

this can only be answered after the trade deadline imo

 

actually this can only be accurately answered in the days proceeding the playoffs when we have a good sense of the health of the team. For example, Portland would have probably killed PHX had Roy not blown a tire two weeks prior to the postseason... Batum injuring his shooting shoulder didn't help either.

But assuming relative health for the core of the current roster, I see plenty of reasons to think they could win at least their first round matchup. How many Western teams have even a decent defensive matchup to throw on LA? I expect the Lakers to enjoy their usual 8 on 5 advantage, but other then that I see no one that the Blazers shouldn't have a reasonable shot against. They say defense and half court offense wins in the playoffs and Portland certainly has both of those traits. But just for once I'd like to see them enter the playoffs healthy and I'm not even including Brandon and Greg in that hope

STOMP

 

we're going to take that 4 seed and beat okc in the first round at home.