Since the Philly game, we are 13-8. Over the past 30 days, we are 9-7. Since New Years, we are 8-5. Depending on the starting point you want to use, we're basically .600 over the past month, give or take a few games. Going .600 over a season would have put us at 49 wins. At the beginning of the season, wouldn't most of us have been happy with that? If we go .600 the rest of the way, that would be 22-15, finishing at 55-27. At the beginning of the season, wouldn't most of us have been thrilled with that? Personally, I'm OK with this team going 6-4 over 10-game stretches. I'd love for them to be a top-2 team, but I'm OK with being in the 3-6 group. What about the rest of you. Is this month-long-plus .600 stretch a disappointment to you--an underperformance, if you will--or does it reflect what this team really is?
I was thinking the exact same thing yesterday. .600 ball and about 55 wins is where I think we will end up barring big injuries. I think that probably puts is in the 3rd or 4th seed, and home court in 1st round. .600 isn't bad when you look at our schedule. We play a lot of good teams, and have some long road trips left. The schedule is a lot tougher, and we needed some ridiculously clutch shots to win several of the games early on against lesser opposition. The West is tough. Even the fringe playoff teams like Memphis, Denver are tough, even at home. For those reasons 55 wins isn't a disappointment.
Just one week ago, we were first in the conference coming off dominant back to back wins at San Antonio and Dallas. These losses and tough happen to every team in the league. It's still too early to definitively say where we'll end up.
I am very happy with .600 ball and 55 wins as long as that means we have HCA in the first round because I think it is imperative to win in at least the first round this year. That growth is so important to the future success of our team.
pretty awesome to think that they've gone ".600" and they're still half a game behind the Spurs, and 2 games behind the Thunder. I can't look it up right now, but what is Miamis record in the same time? Spurs? Thunder? I would bet that the 4 best teams (outside of Indiana) have very similar records over that time period.
I would say .600 sounds about right. We have a few areas that need to be improved upon. Not sure they can be fixed this year. But over all I am content with the direction of this team.
The time period also includes a brutal 4-game road trip and 7 games in 10 nights (8 in 12 nights). The sky isn't falling just yet; the schedule levels out now. We've won almost 3 games per every loss for the season. This latest stretch has done nothing to make me believe it can't continue.
Thunder are 15 and 6 in last 21 Spurs 14-7 Heat 15-6 Pacers 15-6 So a little behind the pace but not bad
So in other words, not a huge glaring issue. I am kind of tired of having stretches of 4 games in 5 nights, and 5 in 7. I don't know if the Blazers are the only one who has it (I doubt it), but it sure seems that ALL of the road trips they have are similar in time span. I think that considering Lillard has been pretty poor the last 3-5 games, and Batum hasn't been very consistent (had a few good games, but otherwise, not enough on defense) and the bench is give or take...I'm not that worried. I think it seems to suck more because A: the Spurs are not beating the top teams at all and we want the team to pass them up and B: they're not passing up the Spurs and C: the Thunder keep fucking winning. But all in all, even if you take the last 21 games, it's not like the Blazers have dropped out of the race for a top 4 team in the west.
How strange is it that me saying that we're basically a 50-win caliber squad, and that I'm happy with that, is construed as a "sky is falling" type comment?
Every team has little lulls like this. The championship Dallas team had a point in the season where they lost 9 of 11.
Ain't that the truth! All those years of mocking Laker fans for their sense of entitlement - and just look at us after half a season of success!
The Blazers have played with a lot of intensity, and 7 games in 10 nights, with a 4 in 5 road trip? They are mentally tired. The all star break can't come soon enough. At this point I'd prefer Dame take the weekend off.
I didn't take it as a sky is falling comment. For me, I was interested in the records of other teams.
Poor choice of words by me. I meant that I don't think much has changed over the last month except the schedule.
Good topic. If we can play .600 ball the rest of the way, that would be great. Let's hope they haven't shot their wad already. Which is a lot of what separates the Spurs from most other teams. The Spurs know it's a long season, and they know how to pace themselves. The Blazers haven't been doing any pacing of selves. They've played, or attempted to play, every game like it was their last. That's gotta wear them out. We are in a good position right now. If we can go at a .600 pace the rest of the season and save something for the playoffs, it would beat being as burned out as they seem to be right now come playoff time. Again, this is where experience in maximizing performance for the playoffs comes in. A good playoff showing this season, and a better more experienced team should be a legitimate contender next year.
Speakin of OKC. Both POR and OKC just finished a stretch of 8 games in 11 days. We went 5-3 OKC went 7-1. Pretty freakin impressive w/o Russ
I still have nightmares of Perkins' ugly baseline jumper that helped ice it (along with Durant going off).
