GAME THREAD: 76ERS @ BLAZERS - JANUARY 4, 2014, SATURDAY, 7:00 PM, CSNNW

During the first half mike and mike showed the steal of the game, which was a pair of pants, for 65 Fucking dollars. This loss was a karma bitch slap for an attempt at raping the fan bass. Thanks marketing team.

 

Portland was 24-5 but have now lost 3 of their last 5. That seems like it is coming back down to earth at least a bit and certainly a change in trend. That doesn't make me an idiot but seems much more like simply reality.

I wish they had won, they should have won, they played horribly and I hope that changes. But the simple fact is they are not playing as well, not shooting as well and still playing very poor defense that the decline in shooting no longer covers.

 

I hate my phone. Don't change the subject. $65... FOR PANTS?

 

$65 isn't expensive for pants; plenty of pants cost way more than that. Just a matter of the quality of those pants - which I couldn't tell from the pic. But $65 isn't outrageous.

 

Curious... when does shooting 36.4% from the field, and 13.6% from 3, equate to normal for the Blazers? You know - normal, back to reality, returning from fantasy… “coming back down to earth”.

It's use about tonight's game does seem rather misplaced, lazy, and even stupid. Maybe the need to project clairvoyance and deep philosophical understanding of causation in few words is what solicits such phrases.

Could some delicate genius, who can’t help themselves but vomit up dumb shit clichés after a Blazer loss, please articulate for the rest of us mere Blazer fans what the fantasy was prior to the Blazers returning to reality? And go.


Or rather, what is the reality and the norm Portland returned to?

A normal 9 block a game team? A realistic 19 offensive rebounds a game team? A 26 assists on 36 makes team? A 7 steal a game team? Three players with double-doubles a game team? An 18 turnover a game team? A 36.4 FG% shooting team? A 13.6 3PT% shooting team? A team where Mo Williams shoots better from 2 and from 3 than Lillard, LA, Wes, and Batum? A tied for 2nd in the Western Conference and ½ game back from 1st having beaten that #1 team two times in two tries… team? Go on.


Portland had their worst shooting performance in 34 tries and got beat by 2 points on a night where the poor officiating was palatable. But by all means, don’t let me bog anyone down here. Someone was about to diagram the sky-is-falling, return to reality and normalcy taking place that did not occur a game ago, but is now, a definitive, and downward trending occurrence. This should be exciting.


The Blazers shot a terrible 36% one game and lost. Next up: Kings.

 

The short answer: over the last 10 games the Blazers are 6-4. Perfectly respectable, but not on par with their earlier hot streak. Hence the "returning to earth" comments. What is your prefered term - and are we really going to argue over semantics?

 

What do some people like to say: 'regressing to the mean'? Maybe 6-4 is a better reflection of the team's true abilities in relation to the league? That's pretty good, still. 6-4 will take us a long way in the playoffs. But I was getting spoiled by the 24-5 play, and I'd kinda like them to get back to that after this little hiccup.

 

Pick your snap shot I guess if that is what you personally are looking at. But here's the rub, Portland's "hot streak" happened. It wasn't a dream. They actually played and won all those games. In reality. Earth, in the phrase "come back to earth" means "reality" or the "norm". It's syntax, not semantics. What is the norm? If the "realists" who all projected 38-41 wins had anything to say about what the "norm" is, they still be living a nightmare, scrambling to discredit the Blazers and their success - which is exactly what people are saying when they use the lazy and misplaced cliche' "coming back to earth." If that's not what they want people to take away from their comment, they should use different syntax.

Were the Blazers on Earth the game before Philly? People pick an choose what fits their narrative and explanation for why thing happen, call themselves "realists" and then seek to bestow their "wisdom" and dose of reality to all Blazer fans. News flash: fans don't appreciate "realists" telling them their team sucks, their players suck, or that their team is headed for a worse record. And even less so when the "realist" have a 38 win pre-season prediction lodged in their rear.

I'm just a Blazer fan. What do I know?

 

It's called being human I think, I traveled extensively when I was young like these players and I performed night after night on the road (music) and almost every night was a back to back. For folks who've never done this, it's grueling and nobody is at the top of their game night in and night out. Put what these guys do in perspective and I say, cut them some slack when they lose a game or someone has a poor performance. Damian was one of the worst players on the court in this game but it's just one game. You can only come back from a big deficit so many times and win before you lose a few.