Portland is ABUZZ...
posted: Monday, December 17, 2007 at 6:37 PM
And it ain't because the Hornets are in town.
The Trail Blazers have turned the NBA on it's head over the course of the past 7 games by going a remarkable 7 - 0. That's 7 wins, 0 losses. Ask me what their winning percentage is over the past 7 games... Go ahead... Ask...
Yeah - it's 100%.
We beat the Utah Jazz in Utah. Then, beat them at home. We beat the Golden State Warriors, who were an astounding 12 - 3 over the 15 games prior to facing the Trail Blazers. We dismantled Denver. IN DENVER. Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O'Neal couldn't beat the Trail Blazers. Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson couldn't beat the Trail Blazers. Not even, Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams, who are practically built specifically to beat the Trail Blazers could stop this young squad...
So, what does this all mean?
Well, it means that Rip City is returning and it's a little ahead of schedule. It means that "potential" is turning into production. And it means that Coach Nate McMillan's X's and O's are turning into W's.
It means that if it weren’t for the 20 – 2 Boston Celtics, the Portland Trail Blazers would handily be the top story from the first ¼ of the 2007 – 2008 basketball season. After losing #1 pick Greg Oden to season-ending microfracture surgery, the Trail Blazers were largely written off as lottery-destined team with an incredible amount of young but unpolished talent.
Twenty-four games later and Coach Nate McMillan is having trouble clearing room on the bandwagon…
Just check out these articles from around the league-
Brandon Roy recently won his second consecutive “Western Conference Player of the Week” award one game after totaling 26 points and a career high 11 assists against the Denver Nuggets. (Full article available at
http://www.nba.com/news/pow_071217.html)
Michael Wilbon, of ESPN’s “Pardon the Interruption,” gushed over the Trail Blazers in a recent episode, outlining the fact that Portland has two stellar point guards (Steve Blake and Jarrett Jack), a big-time wing scorer in Brandon Roy, and a defensive-minded center in Joel Przybilla who will eventually be the perfect backup to Greg “The Franchise” Oden. [Side note – Wilbon mistakenly called Travis Outlaw “Bo,” which is the same mistake that Yahoo Sports and ESPN.com have both made. Maybe, after winning Sixth Man of the Year honors, people will finally realize it’s TRAVIS Outlaw and actually have a picture of his smiling face rather than one of the former Orlando Magic forward Bo Outlaw]
Ivan Carter and Michael Lee of the Washing Post (all the way across the country) have also taken time out of their busy schedules to gush out about the Trail Blazers we know and love… (Available at
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/wizardsinsider/2007/12/blazers_are_burning.html)
“But considering how well Blazers general manager Kevin Pritchard has assembled the team, there is plenty more to love about Portland.
The prevailing opinion going into the season was that Oden's injury would be a blessing in disguise because the Blazers could have a dreadful season, then have two lottery picks join the team in 2008-09 - Oden and take your pick, Michael Beasley or Derrick Rose.
Rip City, the catch phrase during the Blazers' successful NBA Finals runs in 1978 and the early 1990s, was about to be reborn. Surprisingly, the Blazers have already rallied into contention.”
ESPN.com’s “Daily Dime,” available at
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dime-071217, was probably the best barometer of where the Trail Blazers rate as a national basketball story. Although the 20 – 2 Celtics grabbed the headline article, Portland’s Channing Frye was deemed “Today’s Best” for his 20 point, 9 rebound performance against the Nuggets and Brandon Roy was the face of a “Portland Power” section. After 7,878 votes had been calculated, ESPN’s “SportsNation” was almost a perfect 50-50 split on whether or not the Trail Blazers would finish with more wins than losses.
Best of all, Henry Abbott over at TrueHoop (a now ESPN affiliated basketball blog) has two great posts about the current state of his [and our] Portland Trail Blazers. The most recent, titled “New Statistical Monster – Joel Przybilla” [
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-28-404/New-Statistical-Monster--Joel-Przybilla.html ], outlines just how important “The Thrilla” has been over the course of this 7-game winning streak.
Henry’s second post, “Homer Post about Portland’s Seven-Game Winning Streak,” covers just about every article that I missed regarding the Trail Blazers’ newly found success. Check it out at
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-28-400/Homer-Post-About-Portland-s-Seven-Game-Winning-Streak.html ...
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Pryzbilla the Vanilla Gorilla!! Go Steve "The Ferengi" Blake!!
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