Anything could happen to any team. But there's valid logic behind singling out those three. If one is being fair to the statement and not arguing just to argue, one might recognize that.
That's my hope as well - we catch teams that are either looking to just play out the string or looking to rest their key guys for the playoffs.
This season I'm going to add Detroit to the list of good teams in the east. I'd like to see the Raptors do well, if for nothing else but their fanbase..they have one division banner in their rafters and every superstar they draft leaves as soon as they can. I'd love to see the Raptors beat the Cavs in the east but if a team can do it...I'm going with Detroit
That's great for padding the win total but has zero relevance when it counts in the playoffs when no one is looking past you or resting starters.
Who could have predicted? - 57 games into the season, the Blazers have the 6th best record in the West. - Dame being the only starter returning, with the increase focus from other teams to stop him: --- Increases his scoring average from 21.0 to 25.1. (5th in the NBA!!!) --- Increases his assists from 6.2 to 7.2. (7th in the NBA!!!) --- Increases his PER from 20.7 to 23.0. - CJ increases his mpg from 15.7 to 35.0 (2.2x) and that results in: --- Scoring increasing from 6.8 to 21.1 (3.1x). (15th in the NBA!!!) --- Assists increasing from 1.0 to 4.3 (4.3x). --- Rebounds increasing from 1.5 to 3.6 (2.4x). --- PER increasing from 13.1 to 18.2. - Crabbe increases his mpg from 13.4 to 26.0 (1.9x) and that results in: --- Scoring increasing from 3.3 to 10.9 (3.3x). Third highest scoring on the Blazers! --- PER increasing from 8.7 to 13.0. - Vonleh starts 42 out of 53 games he plays in. - Plumlee starts all 57 games, averaging career highs in points (9.0), rebounds (7.7), blocks (1.0), and assists (2.7). - Aminu starts all 57 games, averaging career highs in points (10.1), assists (1.6), and 3P% (34.6). I'm a big Blazer fan, and of course hoped they would be competitive this year. They've more than blown away my most optimistic expectations. Let's hope there's more (good) surprises to come from team!!
It all started when Dame got the team together in September and you could see they were special when they killed the Warriors in preseason.
Yeah I do distinctively remember that game. The Warriors were playing all of their starters and trying to get in a rhythm for the season. We had great stretches of play against their best. It confirmed my belief we could get to 35wins and maybe even fight for one of the last playoff spots. I knew we wouldn't be one of the worst teams as all our young guys outside Vonleh had years of experience and success in the roles we were going to ask of them. No way did I think we would have the dominant stretch we've had lately though. It's been a fun year. I've been most happy with the CJ and Dame duo. I've always been a huge CJ fan and supporter. The narrative that he and Damian couldn't exist was stupid and its amazing there are still a few fans who think it won't work long term.
