Game Thread GAME# 35: BLAZERS @ JAZZ - DECEMBER 31, 2015 - THURSDAY, 6:00 PM (PST), CSNNW

It isn't unreasonable, but you can't always get 150% from your players whenever you want, especially on the road.
Things clicked for 3 games and then we lost to a well coached team.

If this situation happened 10 times then the Blazers would have won 6 of them, it's not reasonable to expect a 10-0 match-up against them.

 

If we can only win 6 out of 10 against a very sub .500 team that is missing 4 starters, I REALLY hope we don't make the playoffs.

 

Oh, so we should avoid the playoffs until we'll be sure we can be in the finals?

 

Who said that? Of course that's not even close to what I said. In the last 10 years, this pace wouldn't come close to the playoffs most of the time and it wouldn't be a discussion. Because much of the rest of the West has significantly declined, somehow the Blazers find themselves in the playoff hunt when their play is no where near playoff worthy. So if the team is of that caliber, I'd rather get a good Draft pick than qualify in a low bar season for the playoffs.

 

I'm sorry, i just can't put any weight to that loss.
Last season we were pretenders-contenders and we lost to the Jazz twice (!), freakin Booker scored like 36 points on us in one of those meetings too.

But if you think playoff experience is meaningless then i guess i can't convince you otherwise.

 

Competitive playoff experience with a a legitimate chance of moving on? Absolutely. Series like even what happened against the Grizzlies last season....just show that you need to get a lot better. Well that was already known....and that was as the #4 seed and a #6 playoff ranking. Being down in the #4-6 range of the Lottery with the chance of moving up even higher IMO helps this team more than making the playoffs with 30-something wins long term. That wouldn't be the case every year but I believe it is this season.

The West is in decline and this is the chance to get a real difference maker in the front court to go with Dame/CJ....and that put you in a place to dominate for years to come.

 

OKC and Warriors aside, wouldn't you say this team showed it can compete against any other team in the league on any given night?

 

I would include SA in that mix as well. Real playoff teams don't even start ramping up till after the All-Star break. What happens when they are really TRYING to get in a groove or get HCA? So that is the top 3 which after that there has been a significant fall off. Compare this to a few years ago when every playoff team in the West had 50 wins or another year when it was 7 out of 8.

Portland competes on some night now because other teams just don't get up for them and rightfully so. One of my best friends and I both played for ranked college teams and another of my best friends was on the same team as a former #1 overall pick. They will all tell you how tough it is over a long season, especially early, it is to get pumped up for a team that you know isn't going anywhere.

I am totally with you that playoff experience helps if you are on an upward trajectory with a fairly stable roster in a competitive series. I just don't see Portland at that point right now. They need a LOT more help and I think a good Lottery pick does them more good in the long run than making the playoffs as cannon fodder at this point.

 

"On any given night" - not "nightS".
Yes, any team in the league can beat any other team on any given night. That's just how the regular season is. Just because we can beat the Cavs on one night in mid-December does not mean we can beat a team in a 7-game series - or even win enough regular season games to make the POs. We're a bad team regardless of whether we get the #8 seed or the #4 pick. Whether or not we make the Playoffs this season says more about the other teams in the WC than it does about the Blazers. We are as good as we are, and it's not defined by where we are in the standings.