milo's official Portland Trail Blazers thread

[volfanbill]

Originally Posted by milohimself

That was embarrassing. Blazers showed absolutely zero effort in the middle half of the game. My team's definitely talented, but has a tough road to hoe. And we could probably use another good shooter outside of the Spanish Connection.

the writer in me has to correct this. "tough row to hoe". Probably more misused than could care less (should be couldn't care less). Nothing personal towards you, but as someone who has grown up working in a garden just about every year, you can hoe a row, but it would be extremely difficult to hoe a road...

[milohimself]

ESPN - Boston vs. Portland - Recap - December 30, 2008

[milohimself]

Took it to Detroit tonight.

Denver, your #1 spot in the division is in trouble!

[Volsguy12]

Bayless had a sweet ass dunk tonight.

[milohimself]

Can't believe they're actually beating the Spurs.

[milohimself]

That was a crazy series of events. Can anybody else watch LAL@Portland right now?

Ariza just hit Rudy Fernandez in the head from behind, and gets into it with Brandon Roy directly after. Ariza got hit with a Flagrant 2 and ejected, Odom left the bench and will be suspended now, and more fouls on the way...

[milohimself]

Not too many updates in here from me...

Reactions to be mixed when Blazers clinch playoff spot - Behind The Blazers Beat

But the Blazers just clinched their first playoff berth since 2003. Luckily it seems the team is still taking business seriously, but I'm incredibly joyous right now. The Jail Blazers era were some very painful years in Portland (bad enough that I stopped rooting for the team and the organization for a few years) but this is a decent measure of vindication.

[milohimself]

Second huge decision in a row for the Blazers tonight. That was a tremendous game against LA. They came in to the Rose Garden needing to win to try and gain homecourt for the finals. But my Blazers played tremendous. Some game thoughts...

1. Saw John Cal and Rod Strickland in the stands. Methinks I need to go stroll over to the Rose Garden for the Nike Hoops Summit tomorrow...
2. This game cements it. Greg Oden vs. Andrew Bynum has the potential to be an all-time great big man matchup.
3. 8 in a row vs. the class of the West at home. Part good matchup. Part one of the best home courts in the NBA.
4. I might be sounding like a Blazer honk here, but Luke Walton needs to shut up for his own good. He complained to the ref after nearly every single loose ball, foul and out of bounds call that went against LA. The refs were calling very much in LA's favor in the first half, but that changed as Walton talked more.
5. Definitely interesting to hear the talk around town. Sounds like folks here are starting to shed that "happy to be here" attitude already, and demand performance.

[hatvol96]

It's now time for Portland to package some of their excess young talent to acquire a legit veteran point guard. You aren't going deep in the playoffs with Steve Blake logging major minutes.
Posted via VolNation Mobile

[milohimself]

My thought process this whole last year.

Pending how effective lining up Przybilla and Oden on Yao proves, that would be all the team needs to tie it together.

Terrible first game. Playoff jitters for sure. Second one looked a lot better. If we somehow manage to make it past the rockets (which I still doubt -- we simply don't match up well with Battier, Yao or Scola at times), this series and a matchup with the Lakers will give us a great barometer of what we need to do.

One other note on the Rockets: Aaron Brooks is straight cold-blooded. He could turn into a clutch shooter for the ages.

[milohimself]

Some post-series thoughts...

1. I suppose this could have been the best chance for growth. I honestly believe that the Blazers would have won a seven-game series against any other team in the west except LA or Denver (and an outside shot at them). I knew going in Houston just matched up too well.
2. We need to organize who's on the chopping block. Here's mine, in order of importance. Raef LaFrentz, need to clear cap space ($12.7mil/year). Travis Outlaw, good contributor in the reg. season but choked huge, and will likely be buried on the depth chart with Webster's return next season. Sergio Rodriguez, I expect Bayless to step up, and a better veteran point is our top priority. Nicolas Batum and possibly Channing Frye as possible toss-ins.
3. Like I said, we NEED a better point. Steve Blake is a great back-up but that's it. Somebody preferably in their late 20's, and defensively-minded. I don't know who would fit the bill, and their team would need to be hurting for forwards.
4. Oden's development is going to be critical next season. I have a hard time believing Przybilla will be able to match his production from this year, and if Oden doesn't come up strong, then we are screwed. If he does, and we come up with a new point, fans here will be expecting a trip to the Western Finals. I honestly believe we are extremely close to being just that good.
5. I think the city should host another get-together in Pioneer Square. I would be willing to bet we could get 10,000 people there on a weekday afternoon downtown for a second time this month.

Thoughts? Hat, I'd like to hear from you on this.

[milohimself]

Back in it!

A couple of wins over the Rockets to start the season would be very reassuring to me...

I still don't know what to make of our game against the Nuggets from last night though.

On the bright side, if you told me the Blazers shot less than 35% and Carmelo had what will probably end up being one of his better games all season, I'd have thought we would have lost by double digits. Instead it came down to a pair of free throws that Oden whiffed.

However, we've got a team that ought to be winning these games by now... And have NO business getting punked on the glass in the fourth quarter by a guy like Nene. Especially with Oden, Aldridge and Andre Miller (he looked pretty scrappy at times last night). Also -- Why did Martell Webster get that many minutes?

Oh well. We're set with scoring guards, with Rudy and Roy capable of going for 20 each in the same night whenever you ask of them. If we see some improvement in the post (LA is good for it -- is Oden? Should Przybilla be getting more minutes?) then I firmly believe you're looking at the best squad in the Western Conference, and a true Title contender.

[milohimself]

Awesome home win over the Spurs last night, finally starting to gel a little bit. Anybody else like the Rip City jerseys?

[milohimself]

Time to bring the small line up with Andre Miller into ATL to exact some revenge.