so who were you referring to when you said "Now we think we're good enough to pick our opponent?" Most of us largely agree to your point. I guess that was my confusion.
I'll probably fly back to Portland for the playoffs and use my season tickets. If they play the Thuggets, I'll fly back and forth to see every game in person.
With the parity of good teams in the West, I don't think it matters who the Blazers play, any one of 8 teams will be tough. But the Blazers are playing well and I give them good odds to beat anyone in the West, including the Lakers. That's not being a homer, that's looking at the state of the West race right now and realizing that EVERY team has a shot.
I was referring to the concept. Those are pretty general terms. We = Zers My god. This has become very tedious.
Even better. Andre actually tends to elevate his game in the playoffs. There are certain things I look for in players to bring on board this team. One of the key things I look for, is players who elevate their game to another level come playoff time. Andre Miller is one of those players. He has only had one playoff appearance where he didn't eclipse his season average fairly easily.
What's your point, other than being a smug douchebag? Am I not allowed to agree with him with my own opinion in your world?
sorry to bother you. Hope you have a good day then. I guess I was referring to what we Blazer fans think.. not really what the Zers think.
I agree with those who feel you just do your best to win games and let the chips fall where they will. You do want to promote a culture of winning, I think. I couldn't say how much that's worth, but I think it's better to have that than not. A team like Portland should be viewing itself as someone who can compete with anyone, not as a team who needs to try to play angles in hopes of eking out a victory. If they didn't have Camby, or Batum, and were still the team "scrapping" in the wake of being gutted by injuries, I could better see trying to "find" the favourable matchup. But Portland's starting five is now, IMO, about as talented as anyone's. If the bench can provide just one or two contributors per night (doesn't have to be the same one or two every night), Portland is as good as anyone in the conference, especially if LA doesn't have a healthy Bynum, Denver doesn't have a healthy Martin and Utah doesn't have a healthy Kirilenko.
No. Can you tell me what it said? And I did read it...my post applies to it. Play Roy the same minutes you planned to anyway. Win that game. Then go beat the Jazz. That should be the mentality.
It seems fairly obvious to me in the NBA that teams that lose their focus are easy prey in the playoffs. Right now you are starting to see the results of playoff basketball approaching. Games are slowing down. More fouls are being committed. More games are important so there are TV timeouts. All things that aggregate towards the strengths of Portlands game. Control the pace/tempo. Execute. Don't turn over the ball. If you stop doing that, you lose your edge. So don't stop doing that.
Another point I would make, is that the Blazers do not have complete control, even if they did chose to lose games. Hell at the rate Denver is losing games, they are going to find a way to be 8th. Now wouldn't that be funny. The two western conference finalist from last year meeting in the first round.
