The Blazers have a pattern this year of following big wins with big losses. I hope they realize that and bear down hard tonight. On Nov. 3 they beat Houston, then lost two nights later to Dallas. On Jan. 1 they beat the Knicks, then got blown out the next day by the Raptors. On Jan. 10 they beat the Heat, but lost the next night to the Warriors. On Feb. 24 they beat Boston, but then lost the next game to Denver. One very hopeful sign, however . . . On Dec. 13 they beat the Spurs, and then they won the next game against the Hornets!! In an odd quirk of the schedule, we are now playing the Spurs and Hornets in consecutive games once again.
Not sure if losing to Denver or the Warriors was as much of a letdown as losing to the Hornets tonight would be.
If we lose this game, it over for us. Dallas will tie us and we'll be too far behind considering our schedule. We must win these next four.
I guess this trend is no accident. Once again the Blazers can't follow a big win over a great team with a win over a lousy team. Very disappointing.
I just did a quick count and, if I have this correctly, the Blazers are 15-14 for the season against teams with losing records. Their inability to avoid playing down to the caliber of the competition, not their performance against good teams, is what is going to keep them out of the playoffs this year. The two losses to Washington, two to Phoenix, two to New Orleans, and two to Sacramento are particularly egregious. If the Blazers win 6 of those 8 games against bottom-tier teams, they'd be 35-28 and would be in the sixth seed for the playoffs. This is definitely something that the team needs to clean up next season. A little more maturity and another player or two on the bench should rectify this problem.
Growing pains indeed. Not to mention new roster/coach. This time next year should be a whole different story. Speaking of which: Blazers' Terry Stotts Deserves Coach Of The Year Consideration
