Do you realize we have the 3rd best home record in the ENTIRE NBA!!!????????!!!!!!!!! Not bad Blazer fans!
Gotta be intimidating for some teams who play in front of half full arenas 70-80 percent of the time, then walk into small-town Portland and see 20,000+ crazy fans who know and love their hoops, and try to do waves during a game. I love the home-court advantage that we've got.
It would be absotively slamdamtastic to get HCA in the 1st round. I really think it's vital for them to advance past the 1st round. They don't want to face the Spurs, Jazz, Rockets or Nuggets without HCA in the 1st round. With HCA, they could have a pretty decent shot at beating any of those teams in a series. San Antonio would be tough - with all their post season experience, but the Blazers are 2 - 0 vs. them in the RG this year This team is still growing, but you can see it happening. Last year, they learned to beat the teams they should beat, and to at least compete with the top teams and occasionally steal a win, at home. This year, they are dominant at home. Just off the top of my head, I've seen them beat the Spurs by 18 (with Duncan), the Hornets 15 with a healthy Chris Paul, the Jazz by 14 and blow out the Heat by 42. They also beat the Celtics at home - without Brandon Roy. They still struggle against good teams on the road, but are competitive on most nights and certainly much better on the road this year than last. This is the area to watch for growth next season and the key to going from play-off team to title contender. BNM
I noticed that. I also noticed that we are FIFTH in the NBA in point differential. How awesome is that?
Which is why HCA is so important. Other than the Lakers and Spurs, none of the other play-off teams in the West are dominant road teams, they are all slightly above, to slightly below average on the road - and none as as dominant at home as the Blazers (although Houston and Utah are close). Road records of current 3 - 9 seeds in the West: DEN - 17 - 15 POR 13 - 17 HOU - 14 - 17 NOH - 16 - 13 UT - 11 - 17 DAL - 14 - 16 PHO - 15 - 16 The Blazers would have a good chance of beating any of those teams in a 7-game series IF they have HCA. BNM
Sort of. I don't agree with Dallas, they seem to have the Blazers number, mostly due to experience. Let's put it this way, there isn't a game against Dallas yet where Portland has played to it's strength. Part of that is the fact that Nate often tends to be a coach who tries to match up with other teams, and that will screw you in the end. You have to dictate the game, not be the team that is dictated to. In every one of the Dallas games so far, Nate has tried to match up instead of going big and forcing Dallas to adjust. If that keeps happening in the playoffs, home court or not, the Blazers will struggle with the Mavs.
We haven't done well vs Dallas this year, and recently haven't been able to win in Dallas at all, but usually we beat them at our house. For some reason, i'd be very comfortable if we had HCA vs Dallas in the 1st round. I really think we could win that series. Outside of PHX, Dallas is the team I fear the least I think... I would hate to play LA, Utah or SA. I could live w/ Denver, Houston or New Orleans, but they would be tough.
