Blazers Say They’re for Real; Should We Believe?
The Portland Trail Blazers are unquestionably the hottest team in the League. Having won 15 of their last 17 games, the Blazers have shocked just about everyone in the hoop world with their stellar play. Well, everyone but themselves it seems.
Firmly entrenched in second place in the Northwest division (in a virtual tie with Denver) and following a gutsy double-overtime win in Chicago last night, the team’s confidence is at its highest in years, and these guys say they’re for real.
“People can say what they want about this team,” Brandon Roy said. “But this is a tough team to beat.”
“We’re for real,” James Jones said.
So, just how “real” is this squad? For starters, they’re led by an entirely likable but outright deadly shooting guard (Roy’s name is even being included in some of the MVP chatter), and they don’t seem to be afraid of anyone.
While I certainly don’t expect them to keep winning at this clip, especially not in the brutal Western Conference, it’s pretty obvious that Portland has no plans to wait until Greg Oden joins the lineup to become a force to be reckoned with.
56 Responses to “Blazers Say They’re for Real; Should We Believe?”
Jan.4 at 10:04 am
Tarzan Cooper says:
they are good, but will be ousted in the first round, if they make the playoffs.
Jan.4 at 10:07 am
Tarzan Cooper says:
in the longrun, however, they have the makings of a great team. two-deep quality at every position, that includes grampa. and all the pieces fit. nate is smart.
Jan.4 at 10:10 am
white hot eboy says:
I wouldn’t want to have to play them in a first round matchup.
Jan.4 at 10:10 am
white hot eboy says:
And if they got the Suns in the first round, they could definitley send the Suns home early.
Jan.4 at 10:11 am
Tarzan Cooper says:
the suns and mavs are worried about that. the spurs? they will snatch your soul.
Jan.4 at 10:12 am
Tarzan Cooper says:
i think the blazers vs. mavs would be a nice first round. the suns have their yearly meeting with the lakers.
Jan.4 at 10:20 am
riggs says:
didnt the spurs lose to them earlier in the season? and imagine if they had gone with durant instead of grampa OLDen?
Jan.4 at 10:24 am
Garrett says:
The Pistons dropped one early on against the Blazers, too. Box score here: http://www.nba.com/games/20071113/DETPOR/boxscore.html I wouldn’t want to play Portland in the first round.
Jan.4 at 10:35 am
QQ says:
They’re for real, because Roy is murdering everyone who is guarding him. Brandon Roy for MVP.Ok, not really).
Jan.4 at 10:41 am
Tarzan Cooper says:
riggs, “earlier in the season” is the proper term as it is just now jan. the spurs are not worried about the blazers, the spurs just take care of their business. injury and luck are their worst enemies(i.e. .4)
Jan.4 at 10:49 am
Ryan Jones says:
I think “unquestionably” might be a little strong — you could make a case for the Celtics and Pistons — and I can’t see any way these guys get past the second round, but the young, thug-free Blazers are still a nice story.
Jan.4 at 10:52 am
Solito says:
If they can get rid of the baggage on the bench (LaFritzchen) and the trainer room (D-Miles), they will be of the chart the next few years. Would be good for those two as well, because they still can play.
Jan.4 at 10:53 am
TADOne says:
I second what Ryan just said, because Detroit has 15 of 17 too, and are blowing teams out. So I disagree with the “unquestionably” part. They certainly are the best story so far this season.
Jan.4 at 10:55 am
mutoni says:
damn you, ryan, and your damn “logic”. there’s no room for that around here…
Jan.4 at 11:01 am
Solito says:
The Blazers are the perfect example of what transcends from teams like the Spurs and Pistons: you don’t need a 20+ scorrer to succeed.
Jan.4 at 11:06 am
TADOne says:
Also Solito, the Blazers all seem like good character guys who get along with each other off the court as well as on, just like the Pistons and Spurs. Once Miles gets healthy, they need to ship him out.
Jan.4 at 11:21 am
Tarzan Cooper says:
nate mcmillan has expressed interest in buying darius miles’ car; after apparently staring at it all season.
Jan.4 at 11:22 am
BETCATS says:
people, stop jumping on bandwagons or bandbuses or bandplanes. This team may be good, but we still arent past ASG weekend, still arent past the trade deadline, and still arent in playoff contention spots yet. Sure they are good but lets not get too excited here
Jan.4 at 11:23 am
nothin personal says:
They could still use a baetter pg and at the clip they are winning, they won’t get him through the draft!
Jan.4 at 11:39 am
Devin says:
They do still need a Point. If the organizaton think they need a pg, lottery or not I think they will end up with…Derren Collison. If they dont get him Seattle sure will.
Jan.4 at 11:40 am
TADOne says:
No one is jumping any bandwagons, BET. I just enjoy watching teams overachieve. It makes it all the better that the Blazers have some good guys you can legitimately root for.
Jan.4 at 11:42 am
BETCATS says:
well answer me this, have attendace rates, tv raitings and all that stuff gone up. Yes, and i am not saying you did the wagon riding, i am saying others are and it is annoying
Jan.4 at 11:45 am
Ryan Jones says:
my bad
Jan.4 at 12:44 pm
Mo Charlo says:
The Thug-Free Blazers are not a nice story. I want the thugged out Blazers of yesteryear. Bring back Arvydas and Brian and Ruben!
Jan.4 at 12:49 pm
QQ says:
Where’s Sheed? Isn’t he the thug of the thugs?
Jan.4 at 12:54 pm
Phil B says:
i love the blazers. always have, always will. i just hope they make it to the playoffs, and i think they will. and unless they are injured the only team i know we can’t beat is the spurs, although we haven’t played the suns yet, so maybe they would destroy us as well. i don’t care about going straight through the playoffs, i just care about making it there.
Jan.4 at 12:57 pm
Kadavour says:
I disagree, i think they need a good back-up PG and more importantly, a good rebounder. Roy’s role as facilitator is what gets this team Ws. It saves Roy’s scoring ability for 4th quarter action, but to put that burden on him for all 48 would change the team’s chemistry: supporting cast will lose their rhythm and defenders will lock in on Roy. The Blazers have lost ONE game when Roy had 7+ assists. In every other game they’ve lost, he had less than 7 assists. Greg Oden WILL NOT be an offensive powerhouse. He would best serve his team with defense and rebounding when he returns. He’s gonna get in his 2 cents offensively, but he isn’t going to be be what the hype suggests.
Jan.4 at 1:02 pm
maio says:
They should have let Det (Schrempf) shoot a couple of those 4th quarter shots back in 2000 game 7 WCF though.
Jan.4 at 1:03 pm
maio says:
Greg Oden will provide veteran leadership.
Jan.4 at 2:04 pm
Jake says:
Its too bad Portland doesn’t play in the East,they would probably be a 3-4 seed haha. Has anyone else noticed how completely cold blooded Travis Outlaw is? I think he’s angling for Slamadamonth every time he gets on the court.When Oden gets back, I give this team 2 years before they’re in the Conference Finals.Nash is getting old, the Spurs are getting old,the mavericks are choke artists,Nuggets don’t have a well rounded lineup.Them and the hornets are 2 teams to watch out for in the next few years.
Jan.4 at 2:45 pm
JackBrown says:
Third youngest team in NBA history, the two teams younger finished with 15 and 16 wins, respectively. Oden is coming next year. People saying they aren’t that good because their not an elite western conference team is hilarious. This team is way ahead of schedule. Look out league.
Jan.4 at 3:05 pm
Paniscus says:
I’m late to the game (Thanks West Coast!), but I want to respond to BETcats. Of course TV ratings have gone up—they didn’t play in a single nationally televised game last year. And they sucked! (This coming from a diehard fan) Even if there are people jumping on a bandwagon, this team had nowhere to go but up. You’ve got to start somewhere. As far as my prediction for the team, they’ll keep playing hard but might struggle once their schedule gets more road-heavy. Whether we make the playoffs or not is a win-win situation. Either we get another lottery pick (where Pritchard has done pretty well for himself while spending Paul Allen’s money) or we go to the playoffs (where even a 1-and-out will be a moral victory for this team that’s had a sh*tty recent past). If we do make the playoffs, I’m “afraid” of everyone we could meet, but the only team I think we would not stand a chance against is the Spurs.
Jan.4 at 3:08 pm
Paniscus says:
Oh yeah, we’ve got some dude stashed away in Spain who’s supposed to be a killer 2 guard. That might facilitate a fulltime switch to point for Roy (since defenses would have to be honest). I’ll stop posting now, but I’m just ebullient thinking about this team’s future.
Jan.4 at 3:33 pm
JackBrown says:
Ah yes Paniscus, Rudy Fernandez will be a Blazer next year. Portland has an embarassment of riches thing going. Lovely.
Jan.4 at 3:42 pm
Walter Olivera says:
there going to win only 38 games and i bet on it they are not that good without roy, he is going to stumble sooner or later.
Jan.4 at 4:03 pm
JackBrown says:
How many teams are very good without “there” best player?
Jan.4 at 4:07 pm
Phil B says:
yeah, oden won’t be a big time offensive player that fine. we need rebounds big time. he can just focus on that. scoring? i think roy, lamarcus (especially once he gets strong enough and learns some real post moves), outlaw, jones, jack and webster should be enough. i’m not sold on this fernandez guy, but he’s supposed to be pretty good. i won’t hold my breath. still, i love the way they are playing and while we’re not gonna win it all this year a trip to the playoffs will be more than enough to make portlanders go crazy this year. and the future just looks better and better every day.
Jan.4 at 4:15 pm
mdshuai says:
Martell Webster has some crazy hops; he doesn’t show it off too much ’cause he’s always shooting it from the outside, but, he does. I’ve seen it. And as far as bandwagons go, every team that starts to do well has a bandwagon, and there’s always a pro and con wagon to jump on. The Spurs have a huge Con-wagon cause they always win and piss everyone off with their “boring” play, the suns have a huge bandwagon, and they have not won anything. They’re fun to watch, but they won’t ever beat the Spurs as presently constituted.
Jan.4 at 4:24 pm
Mayor of Lovetron says:
Honestly, they peaked too early. You’re going to see the Jazz and the Nuggets battle it out for the top spot in the northwest. They are playing better than they have in years and yet they are only two and a half games above Utah who had the worst month (December) than they have seen in three years. They’ll fade out
Jan.4 at 4:24 pm
Mayor of Lovetron says:
*that they have seen, rather…
Jan.4 at 4:48 pm
john says:
the blazers are like the warriors in the playoffs didnt expect to do anytthing
Jan.4 at 6:18 pm
KB 24 says:
The blazers are definetly going to make the playoffs it dosen’t seem like they’re slowing down anytime soon so im roooting for them all the way i saw them play against Chicago last night and the way they played was great.
Jan.4 at 7:30 pm
hursty says:
unfortunately, it looks like that the blazers (if they continue at this rate) will knock houston out of the playoffs which is amazing in itself, and if new orleans makes it then utah wont either (they were the 4 and 5th seeds last year.
Jan.4 at 8:04 pm
dccblazers says:
Its 15 of 16, not 15 of 17. How can you not root for these guys unless they are playing your team? It will be tough to make the playoffs this year but after Oden went down no one outside their locker room even considered it a possibility.
GO BLAZERS!!!!!!!!!!
Jan.4 at 8:34 pm
luke says:
Blazers will make the playoffs unless Roy gets injured. Not sure how good they’ll be in the playoffs this year, but they’ll be richer for the experience and be seasoned veterans in two years time. I’m not convinced they’ll sign a big name point guard, a lot of their success has been with Roy running the point. But I’m sure they’ll sign a big name free-agent none the less in two years time. And none of their players will be demanding the “max” like franchise wannabe “I deserve the max” Zach Randolph, so they’ll be good for quite a few years.
Jan.4 at 9:31 pm
PDX Irish says:
There’s a few things happening starting 2008-09 season. First off, ODEN is projected to debut with his beastly ability to block and rebound. Second, Rudy Fernandez from Spain who happens to be Europe’s beloved SG wizard debuts as well. Not to mention Peterri Kopponi (spelling?) who is also very deadly. The talk around Portland is that ROY will most likely end up taking the role of PG while Rudy and Martell fill the SG spot. In 2009 when Chris Paul becomes a legit free agent, Pritchard (GM) has been devilishly devising a plan to be able to land him through the free agency market. Don’t believe me? Watch! By 2009-10… it’s going to be fuggin’ nuts around PORTLAND.
Jan.4 at 9:41 pm
PDX Irish says:
Actually here’s a better way of describing where the Blazers could be heading in the 2009 free agency… “Last night I was chatting with a friend who lives in Oregon. We discussed two points regarding his Blazers. First, Portland will have loads of cap space after the 2008-09 season when Francis’ buyout and Raef LaFrentz’ salary comes off the book. Second, the club will use this money to re-sign their young players and also bring in a big-name point guard. A top table-setter could push this club over-the-top.” Taken from hoopsvibe.
Jan.4 at 10:40 pm
Galen says:
That’s 15 out of 16. If a team wins 10 in a row, you say 10 in a row, not 10 of 11.
Jan.4 at 10:56 pm
PDX Irish says:
Quick link to a blog about bandwagons…
http://blazermania.wordpress.com/
Jan.5 at 12:28 am
sheedfan says:
Nate is a great coach, the team is finally getting it. They are young but not clueless and very hungry. The Portland fans have been wanting a team they can freak out about and they now have it. The home games have been like playoff finals games-the crowd gets hyped, they get the Rose Garden pumping. It’s full on pandemonium in the final minutes of the close ones. Just an appearance in the 1st round will be a huge mark for this team.
Jan.5 at 1:44 am
JP says:
ARE THE BLAZERS FOR REAL? DUHHH!!! THEY HAVE THE MVP OF THE LEAGUE (BRANDON ROY), A YOUNG NOT SO-INSANE RASHEED WALLACE (LAMARCUS ALDRIDGE), AND A HOST OF OUTSTANDING YOUNG ROLE PLAYERS THAT CONSISTENTLY GET THE JOB DONE. I GUARANTEE THAT THEY MAKE THE PLAYOFFS THIS YEAR AND WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP IN THE NEXT FOUR YEARS (WITH GREG ODEN DOMINATING THE PAINT). GO BLAZERS!
Jan.5 at 2:14 am
dma says:
i dont expect the us to make the playoffs, but if we do i wouldnt be pissed one minute. point guard? we are set. we’ve got 5 and a half. blake is a steady pass first pg who can actually run a team effectively, jjack is a bigger scoring pg off the bench, sergio rodriguez is the pg that brings the crowd into the game (everybody loves a white pg with mad handles) taurean green needs some PT, and broy finishes games as the pg. blazers are set.
Jan.5 at 1:43 pm
Pritchslap says:
Forget all the “if they were in the East” stuff.
The Blazers actually play much better against the West (14-7) than they do against the East (6-6).
Jan.6 at 3:19 am
Daniel says:
Actually, the Blazers have six and a half point guards: Blake, Jack, Rodriguez, Green, Roy in the clutch, Rudy Fernandez when he comes over from Spain, and let us not forget the brave and Finnish Petteri Koponen.
Jan.6 at 6:52 am
nico says:
Someone mentioned that we peaked to early, and while I do somewhat agree with that, that term usually only applies to teams with legitimate playoff/championship hopes. You’re right, teams like Denver, Utah, San Antonio, Lakers can coast until the last month in which they gear up for the playoffs. Portland however, doesn’t yet have that luxury (give it 2 years, they will) so we have to take a win (or 13) where we can.
Jan.6 at 9:14 am
skrull says:
same old players? check.
1st pick got injured and cant play the entire season? check. they for real?
check. zach randolph should be crying for this because dude was saying in one of the 04′ nba inside stuff ish “this year, we’re a playoff team”
his dream came true 3 years later (now), but guess what? dude ended up playing for the ny knicks. life is good.