Some were saying the seven-game road trip would be the real test to see if this young successful team was "for real." I don't really know what that means, but I know it sounds good, so figured it must be in the best interests of the team to get this authenticity. After playing seven teams in seven cities in ten days, what's the verdict? Three wins (New Jersey, Miami, Atlanta) and four losses (Toronto, Boston, Orlando, New Orleans), but is Portland still a bunch of knockoffs?
Whatever line the experts want to give, the team returns home a half-game out of the division lead. There was no implosion on this trip. There wasn't a win streak, either. They looked impressive and horrible, savvy and inexperienced. What we really learned was what we already knew, this is a very good young team working towards becoming elite. Definitely remaining far ahead of schedule, but without a doubt having lots of growing left to do.
So with a decent, disasterous-free road trip under the belt, the team returns to the cozy confines of the Rose Garden for a six game homestand. The opponents over this span have a combined 60% winning percentage of their last ten, including the 8-2 Rockets and the 9-1 Cavaliers. Stiff competition, even when you factor in the Blazers impressive 17-3 home record.
Sure hope this team is for real.
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3 comments:
It seems to me, Jack, that one big problem Portland faces is what to do when Roy, or any guard, is aggressively double teamed on the pick and roll. The offense just goes nowhere against a fast, in your face defense. The other problem I saw was when the Vanilla Gorilla is out of the game there is a lack of interior defense and rebounding...it was very noticable against Chris Bosh, Garnett, and Chandler. Mac's lack of faith in Joel is very noticable.
I agree, Anonymous. The go to strategy to beat the Blazers seems to be to take Roy out of the offense as much as possible. For all the deep talent on this team, there isn't exactly a lot of guys who consistently make plays for others and keep the offense humming. And we're in the same camp on Pryzbilla's minutes.
http://deceptivelyquick.blogspot.com/2008/02/all-star-post-with-abraham-lincoln.html
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