Uprise [15-3] :: Most successful? Scrap it

Thierry's Blog: Blazers glide past Warriors in thriller
TrailBlazers.com | November 20th, 2009

Welcome back to the blog, Blazers followers. It was a late night for the Trail Blazers staff following the win over Golden State tonight, in Oakland. But, everyone will find their energy very quickly when they're welcomed to the court tomorrow night by a sold-out Rose Garden crowd. Just a couple of thoughts on the win against the Warriors. Everything newspapers and basketball analysts previewed, and everything they talked about, went out the window in the early minutes of the game... that happens sometimes. For some reason, Don Nelson started a big, slow lineup, and that played right into our hands, and we built a quick 9-point lead. Once Monta Ellis was put in the lineup for the Warriors, things started shaking out more the way we thought they would. To our credit, the guys withstood most of the big runs the Warriors threw at them in the second half, and stayed within shouting distance until the closing minutes. Andris Biedrins (only 6 points) and Ellis were held and ended with only a few points. It was Golden State's bench that provided the spark for them to comeback when we were up by 13, not only Ellis but also Stephen Curry, who's looking very impressive in his first season with the Warriors. He had 21 points against Cleveland and 16 against Boston in the last Warriors games.

While flying home late last night (got in after 1:30 am, by the way), we were talking and had to admit that the loss against the Bobcats killed us. I mean, we had a couple of blowouts before that match, and now we won the next games but all of them, by no more than 10 points. It's still very acceptable but not like before. If you're a team battling to get to the 55-60 win mark, the rule is win all games at home, and close to 60% on the road. That leads us to tomorrow's game against Minnesota. They were totally overlooked in pre-season playoff predictions and obviously were not considered to be a contender, even though they made a couple of changes in the off-season. I don't think we will have to worry too much about the Wolves getting out and running all game long. With that said, this should play right into our hands (Full preview at the bottom). I must admit, too, that at the preseason I wanted Brandon to handle the playmaker duties, but considering how he has been playing as of lately, we need to keep him at the 2 spot. I may let him play point maybe in the later stages of the season. I also may give more minutes to Martell in the coming games: it's very early in the season and needs to take precaution at the moment with any injuries he had in the past. I don't need him playing a ton of minutes when he isn't 100 percent; I'd rather get Martell completely healthy and have him play the last 3/4 of the season completely healthy. And the chance has come to Jerryd: I'll start him against the Timberwolves; we'll see how it pans out. We also need to take more time with our possessions and not hurry shots, something I'm already focusing in practice.

(12-2)
(6-6)
(PLAYED :: TEAM STATS)






The Portland Trail Blazers, for years the NBA's ugliest ducklings, are off to a flying start. Ok guys, it's still early. But fourteen games into a new season, the Blazers are soaring like they once did when Clyde Drexler glided all over the air. LaMarcus scored 20 points -- including five on consecutive possessions in the fourth quarter -- and pulled down 8 rebounds as we won our third straight, 99-90 on Friday night over the Golden State Warriors, who killed us with their 3-point shooting. Brandon added 20 points of his own. We improved to 12-2. “This is a big confidence boost for us,” Greg, who a had a double-double with 11 and 10, said. “We've found a way to win these games down the stretch.” Lamar added 10 as well and grabbed 7 rebounds; we had 15 turnovers - but none in the final quarter. Stephen Jackson scored 19 points -- 13 at halftime -- and Kelenna Azubuike 17 for the Warriors, the NBA's best 3-point shooters who went 13-of-24 from beyond the arc, but missed several crucial attempts at the paint that could have made a more even contest. Jackson was 7-of-18 from the floor. “It's not just those shots at the paint,” Jackson said. “It can always help, but they missed and we missed.” Yeah, but too often.

Brandan Wright (17 points in the game) had a chance to put the Warriors, who were down by eight with 5:23 left, tied up at 92 with 2:12 left. However, LaMarcus blocked his shot, and in the next possession Trout drove the right side and dropped a high-arching 3-pointer over Jackson to put it 95-90 and out of reach for Golden State. The only 3-pointer we made in the whole match... I'm really furious about that. I must work on that every day now. After Trout's trey, we reached the final score after Ellis missed a jumper (he was limited to only 4 points), then Rudy converted a dunk and then Lamar, who also added four assists (and only one turnover) in 33 minutes, drained a long shot over Azubuike, just inside the arc, to send all the Warriors fans who came out for a Kirk Hinrich bobblehead promotion home with only their souvenirs. Hinrich made 5-of-5 bombs from 3-point land and finished the night with 15 points. “I felt like it was my time,” Lamar said. “I also wanted my big shot!” Before last season, where we finished with 54 wins, we struggled in previous years, but always had a better season: 41 wins in 2007-08, 32 in 2006-07, 21 in 2005-06. I can safely say, with this young nucleus including Brandon, LaMarcus and Greg, I'm confident we can do more than just compete.

“It feels good, but it's a long season,” Brandon said. “Twelve-and-two doesn't mean anything right now. We've got to keep grinding it out, working hard and who knows what's going to happen.” Warriors coach Don Nelson said: “Our guys competed tonight. They came out in the third quarter with energy and after they made their great run in the first half, we started the fourth with the same way.” We were winning 34-20 at one stage of the game, but the half finished 47-43 for us, with a 11-1 run by the Warriors in the middle of the second period. We shot 57 percent while Golden State only a 42 percent. I must admit LaMarcus redeemed himself tonight after the way he played. I'm sure he wasn't very pleased with the way he played the last games and had someting to prove. He certainly showed a sellout crowd what he is capable of tonight. No doubt he's feeling a little better about things now. I get a sense that this guys legitimately enjoy, not only playing together, but just simply being together. Trust, confidence, respect, effort, ability; these are words I think of now when I think about the way these players feel about one another. There was a moment after the game when the camera caught Greg smiling from ear to ear as he grabbed Lamar and gave him a big bear hug. In fact I think the whole team was hugging one another. It's in moments like these where seasons (and seasons to come) are often times defined. “When a team is up by like 14 and then is down by like 5 in a point of the game, you always listen to that in SportsCenter. This was my chance to steal the show,” LaMarcus joked. Well done, Grapevine.

Flash

Music: Basement Jaxx (Ft. Yoko Ono) - “Day Of The Sunflowers (We March On)”
Next game: Tomorrow, Saturday, we host the Minnesota Timberwolves (4-8, 4th Northwest, 13th West) at the Rose Garden. All our 82 games will be broadcast on the Trail Blazers Broadcasting flagship station, 95.5 FM The Game. Brian Wheeler, in his 12th season calling the play-by-play, and analyst Antonio Harvey, in his fifth season, will call the games, home and away. On television, KGW-TV and Comcast SportsNet will air a total of 75 Trail Blazers games with veteran analyst Mike Rice, in his fifth full season on television after spending the previous 15 years on the radio, and Mike Barrett, in his seventh, calling the action. Between KGW, Comcast SportsNet, TNT, ESPN and ABC, all 82 games will be televised for the third year in a row, and the third time in franchise history. In addition, all games will be available in High-Definition. Key facts against Minny:

• We are 57-24 all-time against the Wolves: 31-10 at home and 26-14 on the road;
• The matchup marks the third meeting between the teams in November, with Portland winning the first two games by 17 and 27 points, respectively. Portland’s 27-point margin of victory, 101-74, Nov. 11 against Minnesota marked its largest win on the road in franchise history;
• Brandon has led the team in scoring (21.5) and assists (6.5) in two games vs. Minnesota this season, with LaMarcus averaging 18.0 points in both games. Greg had 14 in the first game, and Jerryd and Martell both posted season-highs with 18 and 17 points, respectively, in the second contest;
• After winning the first two games in the series, Portland has now won 10 consecutive games vs. Minnesota, its longest current winning streak against any NBA team. We have taken eight meetings in a row at the Rose Garden;
• . The Timberwolves have failed to reach 100 points in each of the last 12 meetings between the teams, with Portland hitting triple figures six times in that span and winning 11 of 12 games;
• Coincidences: Patrick Mills and Minnesota’s Nathan Jawai represent half of the Australian-born players on NBA rosters right now (the other two, Rockets recent signee David Andersen and Milwaukee's 2005 1st overall pick, Andrew Bogut); while Brandon was selected by the Timberwolves with the sixth overall pick in the 2006 NBA Draft and traded here in exchange for the draft rights to Randy Foye in 2006. Great deal for us, eh?




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Last edited by kibaxx7 on Fri Jan 01, 2010 2:16 pm, edited 2 times in total.

great game by your bigs; 12-2 damn! you're cruisin'

Nice win. Good luck against Minnesota.

Good win there. Sucks Nellie never plays Joakim Noah. Noticed the huge three-point discrepancy. Do you not like to take those?

Man you got those Blazers rolling. Good win and awesome video!

Thierry's Blog: Blazers outlast Wolves in overtime; injury.
TrailBlazers.com | November 21th, 2009

It's been a pretty good couple of days in Blazerland. First, Brandon pulls the trigger for 24 points in the win against Detroit. Then, LaMarcus posts a season-high 20 against the Warriors. And now, the Blazers hand the Timberwolves their ninth loss of the season in front of a loud Rose Garden crowd. You could see our GM Nate pumping his fists into the air on Saturday night in the closing seconds of the victory. He's been on the arena for three games this young season -- the opening-night win against Houston, the triumph against San Antonio and tonight over Minnesota. That's a pretty good record. When I was with Brandon this past October, watching him workout and prepare for the season, he told me one of his goals for this season was to make the Western Conference All-Star team again. Following his 23 points a game in 14 contests, he's off to a very nice start. Brandon had 31 points and six assists against the Nuggets in our first loss (October 29), badly outplaying Arron Afflalo; he posted 26 points (on 10-18 shooting), 7 assists and 7 steals against Oklahoma City (November 1); and posted a 31 points (14-of-16 from the floor) - eight assists statline against Memphis (November 10).

Teams continue to double and sometimes triple-team Brandon, and it doesn't seem to matter. When teams try and guard him with just one player, it has almost always resulted in an easy bucket, or a trip to the line. He is playing better than he ever has. Almost superhero level. What's left? Quadruple-team? I am just blown away at how much trust this team has for one and other. You don't perform at the level Brandon is playing at without your teammates firmly back you, and for the first time in maybe 10 years I feel like this is a team and everyone is satisfied with their roles. This was a really important win for us. I'm very proud of this young team following this victory, but I'm not at all satisfied. We'll hit the practice floor on Monday morning to get set for the game against the Chicago Bulls. I'm looking forward to hearing from you about this win, and this kind of effort. It's the scrap and hustle you've been wanting to see. It feels like everything that has been happening this year is for a reason. I haven't seen a team with this much heart since the Drexler, Porter, Kersey days. No attitudes, hard working, young hard working guys that want to play. Video tonight: memorable moments of the 08/09 season, Part 1. Perhaps this will truly be the return of Rip City, eh? Keep the comments coming!

(4-9)
(13-2)
(SIMULATED)





Brandon, Jerryd and the Blazers made the Timberwolves' trip to Oregon one to forget: Brandon scored 27 points to lead the squad as Portland edged Minnesota in overtime with a 96-88 victory. Minnesota appeared to be repeating its last performance against the Blazers, which resulted in a 101-74 blowout loss. On Saturday, the Wolves produced a 17-point second quarter but overcame their struggles to force overtime before once again falling short. “We have to play hard and not let teams intimidate us in the first quarter like Portland and Phoenix did,” said Minnesota guard Ramon Sessions, who collected 16 points, two rebounds, three assists and one block. “You have to keep chasing and chasing. Finally in the fourth quarter when you've got them, you have no energy.” After Jerryd sank two foul shots to put us in front, 82-80, with 50 seconds remaining in regulation, Wolves center Al Jefferson converted a follow shot to even the score 25 seconds later. LaMarcus and Wayne Ellington each split a pair of free throws for a 84-84 tie with 13 ticks to go. Travis' wing jumper rattled in and out to force the extra session. We knew we were going to get one of two things; we ran the play earlier and Travis penetrated and had Brandon wide open behind the line. I wanted either one of those two guys taking the shot at the end of the game.

“Jerryd had a great offensive game,” said Jefferson, who scored a game-high 28 points but pulled down a season-low 5 rebounds. “He hit some big shots. I'm not sure how many treys he ended up making, but it seemed like he was all over the place.” I inform you, Al, he made 5-of-7 shots from beyond the arc. I talked to Jerryd outside the Blazers' locker room following the win, and he talked about how proud he was of his teammates. I let him rest the entire third quarter when we were up by 10. Without him, we got great performances from Travis and Nicolas; both contributed to the win. Travis added 7 points off the bench and I gave Nicolas a couple of minutes to show himself in the third quarter: he collected 6 points (both 3-pointers) in 10 minutes and also had 2 rebounds, and was impressive in the defensive end. Brewer missed his 3 shots when Nicolas was guarding him. “Nicolas did a great job keeping us off balance, even in his limited minutes," Wolves coach Kurt Rambis said. “His defense was terrific. He also was able to get people the basketball and help them get the kinds of shots they wanted. That's one of the big things that hurt us.” Lamar was limited to 5 points but had 11 bounds.

A jumper by Corey Brewer gave the Timberwolves a 86-85 lead in the first moments of the overtime, before Jerryd -- who scored a career-high 24 points -- answered with a jumper. Brandon followed with a baseline jumper of his own to give us a 89-86 edge with 2:45 remaining. Then LaMarcus netted two foul shots, and then Jerryd added another couple of jumpers to secure the win. “It was a great look,” said Jerryd, who also added four rebounds. “That's my range right there and that's my shot. If we had lost the game, the rebounds and how many points and the career-high would have been out the window. But because we won, it was exciting.” Kevin Love scored a season-low 6 points but grabbed 11 boards for the Wolves, who have lost six of their last seven. “We had our chances. We missed free throws and didn't close out on some shooters. You can't give open jump shots coming down the stretch,” Wolves rookie Jonny Flynn, only 4 points, said. “We played hard, but we just seemed to stub our toe every time we got something going. We would make a mistake and let them have the kind of shots they can make. That cost us the ballgame,” Rambis added. Good news, we our back on winning ways, with four straight triumphs. But there's some bad news, as always. Greg had 7 points but was limited to 18 minutes, and left the game in the start of the third following a collision with Love. It was his left knee. He left the game with 24.8 seconds to go in the third, because of what was diagnosed as a hyperextended left knee. Greg didn't return for the remainder of the game and we listed his playing status as day-to-day. He was averaging 9.8 points and 7.3 rebounds.

Flash

Trail Blazers: Memorable Moments Of 08/09 (1/4)
Next game: We fight the Chicago Bulls in the second of four straight games at the Rose Garden. All our 82 games will be broadcast on the Trail Blazers Broadcasting flagship station, 95.5 FM The Game. Brian Wheeler, in his 12th season calling the play-by-play, and analyst Antonio Harvey, in his fifth season, will call the games, home and away. On television, KGW-TV and Comcast SportsNet will air a total of 75 Trail Blazers games with veteran analyst Mike Rice, in his fifth full season on television after spending the previous 15 years on the radio, and Mike Barrett, in his seventh, calling the action. Between KGW, Comcast SportsNet, TNT, ESPN and ABC, all 82 games will be televised for the third year in a row, and the third time in franchise history. In addition, all games will be available in High-Definition. The Bulls are 4-8, 13th in the East and last in the Central Division. The Bulls acquired forward Corey Maggette and center Ronny Turiaf from the Warriors in a trade earlier this month. How are we doing against them? Hope we do well this time as ESPN will broadcast for the whole nation.

• We are down 56-49 all-time. 30-23 at home but losing 33-19 at the United Center;
• Last season, we swept Chicago for the second consecutive season and the 10th time in franchise history. We won by an average of 28 points in two games (112.5-84.5), their largest average margin of victory against any team last year, while the 112.5 points marked their highest scoring average against any opponent a season ago;
• Portland’s 42-point margin of victory (116-74) against Chicago on Nov. 19, 2008, marked the Trail Blazers’ largest margin of victory since Nov. 17, 1997 (120-75 win vs. Dallas), and Portland’s biggest win vs. Chicago, all-time. Portland allowed a season-low 16 defensive rebounds;
• Travis led all scorers in the series with 21.0 (57.1% FG) points to go with 5.5 rebounds, 1.50 steals and 1.50 blocks, while Greg added 14.0 points (8-14 FG, 12-15 FT) and team bests of 11.5 rebounds (5.5 offensive) and 2.00 blocked shots in two contests. Hope Greg can play;
• Coincidences: The Bulls selected LaMarcus with the second overall pick in the 2006 draft before trading him to our squad, in exchange for Viktor Khryapa and the draft rights to Tyrus Thomas; if Greg is available, the contest will feature the number one picks from two consecutive NBA drafts: Greg in 2007 and Chicago’s Derrick Rose, in 2008. The Trail Blazers held Rose to 9.5 points (6-22 FG) and 5.5 assists in two contests last season.




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Last edited by kibaxx7 on Fri Jan 01, 2010 3:16 pm, edited 4 times in total.

great game by your bigs; 12-2 damn! you're cruisin'

Thanks man. But now with the Greg injury, it will be harder.

Nice win. Good luck against Minnesota.

Thanks bro.

Good win there. Sucks Nellie never plays Joakim Noah. Noticed the huge three-point discrepancy. Do you not like to take those?

It's really hard for me to hit 3-pointers. I prefer to score from the paint and inside the arc. I only take treys when the player is wide open, and that happens only a few times when the play is done perfectly.

Man you got those Blazers rolling. Good win and awesome video!

Thanks man, hope I have a new follower!

Thanks guys for 2k views.

Nice win over the Wolves, but i hope you lose the next game

Happy New Year Thierry

Nice win over my Wolves Big Al only 5 rebounds and Bayless really played well he's the future of the Blazers

Two great wins. I guess you're unstoppable at the moment. With the wins flowing like water, I recommend to use even more time on this one instead of your Sonivs, as I definitely want to see how you're doin in the Playoffs
Maybe you could be the one who wins it all in his first season!

Greg Oden out for at least 1 week
TrailBlazers.com | November 22nd, 2009

PORTLAND - Portland Trail Blazers coach Thierry Tirieux today announced that center Greg Oden will be out indefinitely, but for at least 1 week, after suffering a hyperextended left knee. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study done this morning revealed the extent of the injury, which occurred in Portland's game last night against Minnesota, which the Blazers won 96-88. Is yet to be determined if the injury will require surgeryw.

“This is an unfortunate situation for Greg and we wish him a quick recovery,” said Tirieux. “Greg has been playing great this season, and has been our go-to-guy on the court along Brandon. Knowing him, he will work hard in his rehab efforts to get back on the court as soon as possible. In the interim, I'm confident that the other players on our roster will step up and meet this challenge.”

The Blazers moved Oden to the injured list and activated guard Patrick Mills. Oden has appeared in all 15 games for the Blazers this season with averages of 9.6 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game; he will miss the games against Chicago, New Jersey, Memphis and Utah.

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Last edited by kibaxx7 on Sat Jan 02, 2010 8:06 am, edited 2 times in total.

Nice win over the Wolves, but i hope you lose the next game

Happy New Year Thierry

Thanks man, happy new year for you too! It will be harder to win now, with Oden out, I also turned the difficulty up a notch to Superstar. Let's see how it plays out.

Nice win over my Wolves Big Al only 5 rebounds and Bayless really played well he's the future of the Blazers

Yep Bayless has earned his starting spot now. Blake is now the backup point.

Two great wins. I guess you're unstoppable at the moment. With the wins flowing like water, I recommend to use even more time on this one instead of your Sonivs, as I definitely want to see how you're doin in the Playoffs
Maybe you could be the one who wins it all in his first season!

Thanks man. Right now the team is playing awesome. Sonics didn't work out really, not many replies I'm focusing on this one now, I really like it. I know I said this a thousand times but I'll do the playoffs this time!

Side note, decided not to do the Daniels-House trade for now. Batum played the last game and showed he wants to stay. I guess.

Classic that you were going to do whatever the poll said in regards to the trade & it's still 50-50

I'd like to see Batum stay unless you can get a slightly better deal.

Oden injured? Surprise surprise

Classic that you were going to do whatever the poll said in regards to the trade & it's still 50-50

I'd like to see Batum stay unless you can get a slightly better deal.

Might do the trade by January. Batum's staying for now

Oden injured? Surprise surprise

He will miss at least 4 games... that sucks.

Hey guys, I'm thinking in posting week recaps... don't know what you think... the story's going slow.

EDIT: Played the game against Chicago, saved the game and in a power blackout the save got corrupted. Gonna start a new one

Can it be recover?

15 games, gotta be a record.

Can it be recover?

Nope. Power blackout

15 games, gotta be a record.

Actually it's a record-tying 15 games. It's a disgrace, it's a curse, I don't know how to call it anymore.

Pick your favorite team for the next one. Please.

Tough break. Do you not run multiple backups? I have 2 backups, and update those after each game and one for each season. I've done this since my Bobcats' days.

Me too, I had 3 saves of my game, well tough luck man just continue your Seattle Association

Pick your favorite team for the next one. Please.

It doesn't have anything to do with the favorite team My favorite team is San Antonio but don't wanna take them, Clutch has one. I'm thinking of Pacers.

Tough break. Do you not run multiple backups? I have 2 backups, and update those after each game and one for each season. I've done this since my Bobcats' days.

I did before in other stories... but then I had the Windows 7 installation, all got fucked up

Me too, I had 3 saves of my game, well tough luck man just continue your Seattle Association

Scrapped the Sonics. Wasn't going anywhere.

Don't you have backups?

Take the Spurs man. I think you should try it out.

Don't you have backups?

Strange you didn't say anything else. Everything you say at the first post of one of my stories comes true at 15 games, it goes down the trash.

Take the Spurs man. I think you should try it out.

I did before and it didn't work out. Gone at like 5 games.