So NOW do you understand what I'm talking about??? We are a better team this year.

I also don't want anyone to interpret what i am saying as i don't think they can or will make the playoffs. I most certainly want this team to do well and play as hard as they can all the time.

 

You guys wanna know what changed? We were home for 17 straight days. Every off day we got a practice in, which is rare in the middle of the season. We were able to review tape from the first part of the season and work on improving our flaws. That home stretch was a hell of alot more than just having an easy stretch of opponents. It allowed us to actually WORK ON IMPROVING OUR GAME. and it has been showing.

People say our schedule is tougher now than it has been the last 15 games. Well we are also a much better team than when we played these same teams that are coming up, in the first part of the season.

Do you think we allow Zach to get a tip in now? Do you think we lose those fourth quarter leads now? Not me. I think we play at least .500 for the rest of the season, even though the SOS is tough.

I'm gonna dig up old quotes where King and I got Blasted for saying we would be a better team, we would improve. We would... yeah. Man I think I was called a Homer more than Homer was.

 

This may have been said in the previous 42 pages on this thread, but while I see our starting 5 as not as strong as last year's, I see our entire team 1-12 as being abundantly stronger and more talented. We now have a bench - something we haven't had in many years. Overall, we're working with a greater load of talent then the LA/Wes/Batum years IMO.

 

Im an idiot. You have sooo completely lost me!!!

On the side, I just printed tickets to a game a month from today my man!!!

 

Going back to thread purity, I think Alberto Jr's premise is still correct.

Not the same level of player experience, and a worse record, but a better team than last year. Certainly, a helluva lot more fun to watch.

 

PHX/PHX back to back is not difficult and if it is, speaks to where the team playing them is. Back to backs are part of the NBA....everyone has them so citing them or games against DEN or road trips which every team plays doesn't seem out of the norm. Besides, I was referring to the SOS which for the Blazers was 27-29th easiest up until a couple weeks ago. That part isn't really up for debate.

It's not an attack on the team. Why can't some things just be an observation of what was versus an immediate perceived demonization of the team or their effort?

 

That frustration is well understood. The recent schedule has certainly been tougher for sure. Now yes, there have been a string of Home games but the quality of opponent has risen significantly and that can't be ignored. Now it gets even more difficult in March as the quality of opponent is high and most of those games are on the road. Again, the pace will slow down from what it has been but if Portland still makes the Playoffs, they will have completely earned it and done it the hard way by playing better against tougher teams as opposed to the last 2 seasons where they feasted on a poor Eastern conference and then struggled down the stretch against the tougher West in the last couple of months.

 

I think, perhaps, too much is being made of our upcoming schedule. Yes, we have a lot of road games in March, but the level of opponent isn't as high as people are making it out to be:

CHI
IND
NYK
BOS
TOR
DET

TOR has a great record, but we're on par with everyone else on that list. Remember when everyone thought the East was finally better than the West? LOL! It's evened out quite a bit.

And sure, after that trip we come home for one game, only to head down to Oakland. And then quickly have a 4-game trip of OKC, SAS, NOP, ending with an Away/Home with DAL. Two or three tough games.

I'm not concerned about the quality of opponents in March. It'll be tougher on the road, but it's not like we're playing heavyweights from here on out.

 

Bottom line is great call King and I'll gladly eat some crow, lovin seein how this team has grown and improved. While I don't necessarily agree we are better "in every aspect" of the game this year we are deep which is a huge improvement - great bench play. But that's beside the point, you made a good call on the season and kudos for that. I really. really enjoy watching these guys compete.

 

I'm ready to eat it too. Hope they get to the playoffs and win a series or two even.....

 

At the beginning of the season, I expected the Blazers to lose the close games, and I said so. And they did.

Now, with the improvement they've shown during this home stand...I expect the Blazers to win the close games. And every game for that matter. Like the Utah game the other day -- never had a doubt the Blazers would pull it out.

I think thoughts of lottery balls (or random number generators for you literals) are gone. If we're going to be in the playoffs, lets root to get the best seeding we can, and for this young team to make the most of the experience.

 

Dude. Two seasons ago, we played the first half of the season like we were going to get 65 wins and the 1 seed and then we completely collapsed WITH a healthy Wes and needed a 9-1 stretch at the end of the season just to get the 5 seed. Last year, we started 30-8 and then took a huge dive before Wes got hurt. We finished with the 6th best record in the West. This year's team is surging when it matters. I'm much more happier with this team than last year's.

You're not looking at context. Last year's team finished the year 22-27. It's not where you start, it's where you finish. We had the 6th best record last year. We are currently a half gamer out of 6th this year. I could tell from preseason that we were better than last year. I wasn't just being a homer.

PHX was a tougher team before Bledsoe got hurt. He was having an All Star caliber year.

 

Now you are just plain making things up. There was never a 9-1 stretch at the end of last season more like 10-12.
See Here...
http://www.landofbasketball.com/results_by_team/2014_2015_trail_blazers.htm
Now i was at the Dallas game on March 5th when Wes went down. The entire season changed that very minute. You could see it in Aldridge's eyes and you could see it in the way Rolo acted. The whole arena knew the season was pretty much over.
I am completely looking at "Context" it seems to be you that has missed the whole idea of what was going on last year.


And by the way....Don't call me DUDE!

 

These are facts. They lost 5 of the last 6 games and limped into the playoffs. Everyone was talking about Wes being the Heart and Soul of the team. Comparable to this date last year they were 36-19. when Wes went down they were 41-19 then after that they struggled to get 10 more wins. It's all there right on the link. Hard to dispute facts when they look you in the face.

I will say it again...I love this team and hope they continue to grow. Hell i even hope they completely dominate the rest of the season and make everyone eat a bunch of crow. Hell my prediction was a joke at the beginning of the year when i said 50 wins (Look it up). How i would love to see them do it. And yes i will be pulling for them to do it every time they play. But realism tells me they will struggle to get into the playoffs and if they do they will come up against a really good team and get beat soundly. I have no problem with that either as they will most certainly grow from the experience.

 

The 9-1 was two years ago, not last year... Just like KS said in his post. http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/POR/2014.html

So yeah. Learn the game, yakkitty schmackity.

 

Ah yes reading it again he did say two seasons ago. My bad. But then we are not talking about two years ago now are we?