The Trail Blazers are taking the NBA by surprise, but can they sustain this level of play over the course of an 82-game season? Was Robin Lopez the most under-appreciated offseason signing? And can teams like the Suns and 76ers keep up at their pace? Five local reporters who eat, sleep, and breathe Trail Blazers basketball give their take in the inaugural edition of Running The Break. rtb1nov18.jpg 1. As of this writing (November 14, 2013), the Trail Blazers own the third best record in the NBA at 6-2. Are they legit contenders for Home Court Advantage or is their record a product of beating up on teams they should beat? Casey Holdahl (@Chold), TrailBlazers.com: While the Trail Blazers should be commended for their impressive start, it's going to be a knock down, drag out fight just to get into the playoffs, let alone secure home court advantage. I'm guessing the list of teams that have gone from missing the playoffs completely to finishing in the Top Four of the conference the next season is rather small. And of the teams that have accomplished that feat (assuming there are any), I would imagine those teams added franchise-changing players in the offseason or had franchise players return from injury. While Robin Lopez, Mo Williams and Dorell Wright were all great pickups, they don't qualify for that distinction. Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes), CSNNW.com: I’m not ready to go that far and say they are a legit Top 4 team. I do believe they’re a playoff team. Reason being, all their wins have come against teams that I predict will finish the season .500 or lower, with the exception of San Antonio. They beat the Nuggets, Kings twice, Pistons, Suns, Celtics and Raptors. The schedule has been good to Portland thus far. But hey, you play who’s on the schedule. Erik Gundersen (@BlazerBanter), The Columbian: Right now, they are just taking care of the business they need to take care of. Their hot start may be a product of a favorable schedule but last year they played teams they should beat early on in the season and lost a lot of them. Either way, it's a step in the right direction. Mike Acker (@mikeacker), Willamette Week: I think it’s really a combination. Portland has beaten at least one very good team (San Antonio) and has beaten up a couple not so good teams. There’s a very good chance that once the Blazers’ schedule gets a little more difficult they will slip in the standings. The Blazers had a super easy first half last season and were at around .500 after 41 games. This season’s Blazer team is in a different league than last season’s Blazer team, though. Portland might not be a top three, top five, or top ten team at the end of the season, but they’re certainly contenders for the Playoffs in the west. Dave Deckard (@blazersedge), BlazersEdge: I’d say neither. The Blazers are shooting a torrid percentage from the three-point arc, a shot that fits their skill set and which Coach Stotts values. The long ball is not as consistent as a paint attack but when you’re firing that well it’s more efficient than almost any two-point look you can get. Despite ranking dead last in points in the paint per game at the time of this writing, they’re third in the league in offensive efficiency. They trail only the Heat and Clippers. That’s impressive. When the Blazers are draining threes they can play with anybody in the league. If the opponent doesn’t have a great night themselves the Blazers can beat anybody in the league. That’s what we’re seeing early on. Facing Sacramento a couple times hasn’t hurt the record, but it’s hardly the sole cause. When you’re talking home court advantage in the playoffs, though, you’re talking an entire season of work. Will the threes keep falling? Will Portland’s current problems scoring in and defending the paint—plus their problems scoring and defending transition buckets—erode the advantage at the arc? Will the Blazers’ perimeter-oriented attack continue to deprive them of foul shots? Those are three sources of easy points that Portland cedes on a nightly basis. It hasn’t hurt them over 8 games, but over 82? READ MORE >>> Just wanted to share the first edition of Running The Break. As you can see, we got Casey, Haynes, The Columbian's Erik Gundersen, Mike Acker, and Dave from BlazersEdge to drop some knowledge. There's four other questions for them inside the link. This will be a weekly article, so if you have a great question you want me to ask them, just let me know. I'm also working on getting Freeman/Tokito to join next week's.
http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/stor...p-more-accurately-rank-portland-trail-blazers Could anyone with insider post a quick summary of this?
Lopez wasn't an offseason signing. He was acquired via trade. So, Chris Haynes thinks the Clippers will finish below .500??? Really? Seems like everyone is forgetting we beat the Clipps by 13. Combined with the 10-point win over the Spurs and the Blazers have beaten the two other top teams in the West by double digits. Again, another writer who seems to have forgotten we beat the Clippers by 13. Weren't the Clippers expected to be on of the top teams in the West, with many predicting they would make the finals this season? So, we've beaten the 9-1 Spurs by 10 and the 7-3 Clippers by 13, but we haven't beaten anyone??? Right. Thanks for sharing, I appreciate the effort, but cleaning up the factual errors and omissions would make future installments much better. BNM
Blazers aren't as good as they look at the moment but are better then was expected, expects 44 wins and 7-8th seed.
I'm really confused here... When did we play the Clippers this season? I know we split with them in the pre-season, but looking over the schedule as well as checking with my admittedly poor memory, I don't see/recall a game against the Clippers thus far...
Right, but we split the two pre-season games, and never won by 13. Pre-season victories against a specific team really don't mean anything, especially a team with an entirely new coach and system. I was just really starting to wonder if I had lost my mind with how adamant and angry BNM was about this non-existent 13 point victory over the Clippers.
I understand. But let's be real here. The blazers last season, even playing shitty teams, wouldn't have this record. Plus, we are the only team in the NBA that was able to beat the spurs.
Okay. I'm not going crazy either. LOL. I never remembered the Clips this year. Besides, pre season is blah. It's just warm ups.
Lot's of skepticism. This question also avoids what they were saying before this 9-2 start. I'd like to see what adjustments each of them have made from their pre-season assumptions. How can we ignore wining 3 pairs of back to back games? The road, is the road. This team is much improved, and one simply cannot deny the Blazers are driving a giant hole in the pre-season "out-side chance at the last play-off spot" opinion.
Are we for real? Pretty much. Our starting 5 (except for Lopez) is playing together for a second season. Good chemistry. Our bench has a blend of shooters and NBA veterans rather than ragtag wannabes. We're beating the teams we should beat and that's huge. All that to say I doubt this team can win 50. But I'll take 46-48 and a seed in the playoffs.
