Is Portland For Real?

[logic]

Portland is sitting on a nice 10-2 record and is currently highly ranked. They are always a good home team as the Rose Garden is a tough place to steal a victory (ask Lakers fans). But I just took a look at their schedule so far and it is not exactly a who's who of greats, especially the road games. They have a nice home win against San Antonio but that is negated by a road loss to Phoenix. Their road wins are @: Denver (tough place to play, not a tough team right now), Sacramento, Boston, Toronto, Brooklyn (not playing well yet), and Milwaukee. Their home schedule has been little tougher with them splitting the good teams they've faced in San Antonio (W) and Houston (L), and beating Sacramento, Detroit and Phoenix.

I know you can only play the games that are scheduled, but I think that the schedule has been pretty light for the Blazers so far to have a true indication how good they are. As the schedule gets tougher for them, and it does starting tonight with the Bulls coming to town, we will see what the Blazers really are. Will they show they are for real or that their record is a product of an easy early schedule?

 

[bksballer89]

Soft schedule but I think at the end of the day they'll be a 5-7 seed.

 

[BOTSLAYER]

They are a playoff team but I do not think they will be a top 5 seed. Let's see what happens though their next 12 or so games. They finally play a few tough teams mostly at home.

Just looking over their schedule I think the second half of the season is going to crush them.

 

[Cobiemonster]

I thought the Blazers could sneak into the playoffs going into the season, they improved their bench depth greatly and it will show later on in the season - their top guys are playing well and they were really good last season, but the depth on the bench will help them later in the season - I don't think they're a top five team but if they play half as well as they have now, the rest of the way, they'll get in

 

[llemon]

Lotta shooters and Robin Lopez playing Center decently.

Remind me somewhat of this years Mavs.

 

[Hambombs]

Reminds me of 2012-13 golden state warriors

 

[bksballer89]

Chicago up 17 in Portland on the 2nd night of a B2B

 

[bksballer89]

So I turn back to Portland and they're up 5 now

 

[bksballer89]

Wow Bulls outscored 34-12

 

[The Derski]

Soft schedule but I think at the end of the day they'll be a 5-7 seed.

A 5-7 seed in the West is like a 2-3 seed in the East.

 

[bksballer89]

A 5-7 seed in the West is like a 2-3 seed in the East.

I disagree. The top 3 teams in the east are going to have a similar record to the top 3 teams in the West.

Miami, Indy, and maybe Chicago would all be 55+ win teams probably just as the top 3 in the west would be. The separation starts at the 4th seed.

 

[bksballer89]

great game

 

[Hornsstampede2.0]

They have a great starting five, but the bench is suspect at best

The bench is a lot better than last year with the addition of Mo Williams, but it is still comically weak.

They can beat teams now in November and December as the starters are still young and fresh.

But as the season grind goes on and nagging injuries happen, that will cause them to backslide.

There is a silver lining for them in the sense that depth is not important for the playoffs.

But getting a high seed comes from having a deep roster before the playoffs.

 

[Arizona_Sting]

Depends on what your definition of "for real" is. They are a good team, but nowhere near ready to contend for a title and would be lucky to win a playoff series with how tough the West is. They need a bench, and a center that isn't named Robin Lopez before they can establish themselves as potential contenders.

 

[llemon]

Reminds me of 2012-13 golden state warriors

Yeah, I can see that

 

[BOTSLAYER]

I disagree. The top 3 teams in the east are going to have a similar record to the top 3 teams in the West.

Miami, Indy, and maybe Chicago would all be 55+ win teams probably just as the top 3 in the west would be. The separation starts at the 4th seed.

Totally agreed with this before Drose went down again.

the East just became a 2 team race, damn I was hoping the Heat might not have to face the Pacers but at least that will be their only playoff series before the finals if they get there.

Also despite the East being pretty weak after the top 2 I put their top 2 better than any team in the West. Obviously very debatable but a healthy Heat is the best in the League. The Pacers may be 4th in the League behind OKC and SA but I might take them over OKC, that would be an awesome matchup.

 

[bksballer89]

This team is FOR REAL. They were 14 down tonight in GSW and now lead by 4 with 6 to go

 

[bksballer89]

24-9 run since GSW had a 83-71 lead

 

[bksballer89]

33-9 run now

 

[Hambombs]

Man this team passing was non existent in that blazer run all iso