This team is great at manufacturing hope when all seems lost, and then squashing that hope. Well we just saw them crush the defending champs, so let me just say my expectations are fairly low for this road trip.
Jinxspeed has lost some cred... you trying to fill his shoes? You know if we lose big on this trip now its on you right?
Really? God, I hope you’re wrong. If they go 2-5 on this trip we might as well write them off as first-round losers again.
2-5? Haha cmon man... Games We Should Win: Brooklyn Cavaliers Memphis Charlotte Games We Shouldn't Win: Toronto Philadelphia Boston At worst, I see us losing one of those top 4 games and all three bottom games and going 3-4. I expect 4-3 though, and optimistically hoping for 5-2.
Miami - Had our number this year, for whatever reason. Minnesota - Played them in our worst stretch of the season. Dallas - Great home team (terrible road team) with a good coach and Luka... One of them was the worst collapse of the season. Sacremento - Better than Brooklyn, Memphis, Charlotte, and Cleveland. Memphis - Was playing much better early in the year and that was before they traded away a collection of starters. Brooklyn, Charlotte, and especially Memphis and Cleveland don't stack up to those games you listed. The first two aren't pushovers but we're the much better team. - Russell would be an average starting PG in the West. We have the advantage at multiple positions, and will be rested out of the break. They won't have Dinwiddie either. - If you're listing Avery Bradley as a chance Memphis could win then I don't know what to say except that the dudes been absolutely terrible this year. And now he's their 2nd best player. They suck now. - Charlotte has Kemba? They had Kemba when we whipped them by 30 earlier this year. All I'm saying is, many of the games you listed either took absolutely terrible play by us, or were harder than the upcoming Charlotte, Brooklyn, Cleveland, and Memphis games. Also wouldn't surprise me if we pulled out a win in Boston or Philadelphia.
I don't really disagree that much with what you said there or what the platypus said earlier; just that penciling in wins in those 4 games, might be more optimistic than realistic. Cleveland would definitely be a bad loss; they simply suck. And the Nets have lost 5 of 7. But I'd say those 3 games against the Nets, Charlotte, and Memphis are going to be against similar competition as those losses against Dallas, Minny and the Kings. if I was to predict, I'd probably go with 4-3. I think the Blazers will win one of the games against the eastern powers, but will also drop one of those 3 games against the also-rans
You know what really stands out to me is that the Blazer bench has been not nearly as good on the road as at home. I think this road trip is a huge oppurtunity for Jake and the new guys to prove they can really help the team get wins on the road. Im actually curious statistically what the stats say, but it seems like the bench has been not nearly as good in away games.
Turner: 47.2 FG% home/45.5% road; 8.2 pts home/6.6 pts road; +8.4 home/-10.5 road Layman: .645 TS% home/.620 road; 9.3 pts home/6.6 pts road; +6.7 home/-0.3 road Meyers: .685 TS% home/.662 road; 6.9 pts home/5.0 pts road; +3.3 home/-18.8 road Zach: .583 TS% home/.546 road; 7.5 pts home/5.8 pts road; +4.7 home/-14.0 road Curry: .571 TS% home/.589 road; 6.7 pts home/5.5 pts road; +11.5 home/-9.4 road yeah, generally they shoot worse and score less on the road, but my guess is that's pretty typical for 2nd unit players. The real and gaping differential is in plus/minus. That's where the bench is really failing. Since, the differentials in shooting and scoring aren't that big, the plus/minus differential really seems to suggest the bench is sucking big time defensively on the road. I doubt Kanter is going to help that, but maybe his offense can offset some of the differential
So we'll beat Charlotte, Cleveland and Memphis. Then I think there will be a lot of very competitive games that we'll hopefully win half of. 5-2 would be absolutely fantastic. Go Blazers!!!
2/3 of the NBA have sub .500 records on the road. Decades of watching NBA games has convinced me there is no such thing as an "easy" road trip. 3-4 would be a relief. 2-5 isn't even pessimistic.
I'd be happy with 3-4. 4-3 would be better 5-2 would be better than that. 6-1 would be fun to watch. 7-0 would shake this place! 8-0 as @SlyPokerDog has predicted would make me wonder what they were doing in Brooklyn? I'm sure it would be fun to score enough to get a win off the court also.
Seems this thread needs a bump with the final game of the road trip tonight. Seems like the dish below is appropriate for some regardless of the outcome tonight.
