This 7-Game Road Trip

[jeffhardyfan52]

i picked 7-0 becuase i can. and i think we can surprise boston

[hkphooey]

Quite a few pessimists I see. I guess it's easier to ere on that side so that you can be surprised vs. disappointed, but I'd like us to start thinking in terms that we are a good team, and we should definitely win most of these games because frankly we are better than these teams. That's the next step in our development.

Looks like both Ray Allen and Big Baby will be playing against us when we get to Boston. That spells a full and healthy lineup for the Celts which means, we'll have to beat them the extra ultra hard way.

With one loss against Boston, that allows for only one more against Orlando, Atlanta and NO. I think Joel and LaMarcus will be able to handle Dwight with Frye and LaFrentz checking in with a few fouls to give. I also think we can cover Rashard pretty well as he's not 100% so Hedo is the guy that we have to watch out for and I think our perimeter defenders are up to the task and Martell and James Jones can easily match him for points.

I'm not that worried about ATL. Frankly its shocking that they are only a .500 team in the east because they should be better than that. They got beat up 4 times in a row before this recent when against the Cavs. They aren't there yet.

NO is dangerous because they are a very good team and CP3 is the MVP of the league so far this season. Plus, like it has been said already, they will want this one bad since they are 0-2 against this season so far. The key to NO is to take CP3 out of the game again and let's not forget that the last time we beat them, LaMarcus was on the shelf.

Even if we do lose in NO, we can still scratch out a 5-2 record on this trip .

[Charlie78]

The interesting thing to me is that aside from boston none of these teams is really a dominant home team. So i am choosing 5-2. Losing to boston and atlanta and taking the rest.

[Klinky]

I expect atleast 3 wins. If we get more than that I will be happy.

[BigOrangeBalls]

When my expectations are met or exceeded, I'm happy.

I predict 4-3. I think I have a good chance of being happy.

[d-train]

Normally I would say 1-6 but since the Blazers have been making me look bad by winning I will say 2-5.

[DeezXXnutZ]

I went with 5-2 for some reason..Two weeks ago we had a pole over the next 12 games and I said we'd go 8-4 so I really only need 4-3 to be right on that but I think this road trip will bring highs and lows for us....

Toronto - L
New Jersey - W
Boston - W
Miami - W
Orlando - L
Atlanta - W
New Orleans - W

Something telling me that Toronto and Orlando will be our stumbles on this trip but I'm still routing for 7-0 *******

[Voodoo]

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I would have to agree with that statement right there.

I think hes very close in being an All-Star but I dont
think hes there yet. The consistency is lacking a little
bit with the numbers. I know the numbers dont always
show in how he has a impact on the game, but still if
you want to put him up there as a superstar or even a
All-Star hes going to have to not only help his team win
but Roy is also going to have to have the big stat line.. .

Granted he has been hurt off and on in the season so far.
Maybe if he wasnt his numbers would be more consistent.

You guys still are jumping all over that aren't you. Just can't not say something when I say anything around that topic, even in jest, dang!

[hkphooey]

Mike Barrett has an interesting blurb in his blog about how the team travels:

Good question. I'll try and give you a quick rundown. We're incredibly fortunate, in that Paul Allen gives us a 757 to use during the season. It's not a regular plane, in that it seats only about 38 people. There's a full kitchen in the back, and the coaches and staff sit in a special section near the back. The players sit in the middle section, which is more like a living room. There are seats facing in all directions, a sectional, and several tables. There's also a big-screen TV, where the team usually watches game tape. The seats recline almost completely, so the guys do sleep a lot. Up front there is a lounge, where the TV production crew sits. It contains two couches, that face each other, and seats six. Up front is where the broadcasters sit, along with TV executive producer Scott Zachry. We've got four seats, that face each other (I sit facing backwards), and there's a couch along the wall, where Wheels and Tone usually sit. Mr. Allen has a flight crew, with pilots and flight attendants, and we get to know them well. We're usually welcome to spend some of the flight in the cockpit if we want, and I do that often, especially during daytime landings. It's very cool.

The hotels we stay in are usually the same, and after a few years you get to know the surrounding areas, restaurants, movie theaters, ect. Everyone has their favorite spots, which is probably some attempt at routine. As great as we have it, it's also very draining. Trips like this wipe you out, and you have to be careful to take care of yourself. We usually fly at night, after games, and it's strange to eat dinner at midnight. Add the time zones we always cross back and forth, and your hours get screwed up very quickly. We've always got busses waiting for us, so we don't worry about transporation. Our equipment manager, Geoff Clark, coordinates the handling of bags, which is a huge job. He's the best. They are normally dumped in the entryway of the hotels, and we grab them and go to our rooms. One other great thing about the NBA is, we never have roommates. I can't imagine rooming with Rice on a trip like this. We'd kill each other.

Hope this answers some of your question. It is interesting, and we usually return home pretty whipped. You forget your skipping around the country and it always takes several days to get caught up at home. We miss our families a ton, and I have a tough time with that. I've got a 2 and a-half year old, and a 1 year old. That part of it sucks. But, it's a great job and we're very blessed. Thanks, and talk to you on TV. (that wasn't a short answer I guess)

[UGotThrilled]

thanks for that post. It's really interesting to learn more about what everyone experiences during the road trip. If the announcers are pretty exhausted after the road trips, imagine how tough it must be to play every night. And also imagine how much it would suck if our owner wasnt incredibly rich and he couldnt provide our guys with their own jet. I wonder how many other teams get that kind of treatment (maybe they all do, for all I know. I just wonder how much it costs, and for broke teams like the suns, it could be a tough investment).

[mojomarc]

Well, so much for the 7-0 option. Since I can't imagine a scenario where we win the next six straight, I'm thinking that 5-2 is the best semi-realistic possibility. I'm still thinking we're not coming out of this with a winning record for the trip, though.

[Papercut]

Toronto - early start, revenge game, we lose and the margin is in the 8-12 range

Well I had the margin off by 1, but so far I'm 1/1 this trip.

**** the refs, that game should've been a Blazers victory after the first OT.

[Voodoo]

Well I already lost this poll .

[Tim Lehrbach]

Bad loss today.

[hkphooey]

^ Yeah, tough loss. Hopefully we win in New Jersey to not make it two in a row heading into Boston. A win in NJ will help take the sting out of todays loss.

[J~Rush]

Well I already lost this poll .

+1

[ToffKobe]

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Well I had the margin off by 1, but so far I'm 1/1 this trip.

**** the refs, that game should've been a Blazers victory after the first OT.

Channing Frye travelled in the fourth, various no calls on Bosh and Delfino got fouled on the 3 point line. Good game, goodnight.

[Papercut]

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Channing Frye travelled in the fourth, various no calls on Bosh and Delfino got fouled on the 3 point line. Good game, goodnight.

Well I understand that there are missed calls and bad calls at both ends of the floor during a game. What I don't understand is how, under the new rules where they're supposed to review shots near the end of games, and considering there was a timeout during which they could have checked, Calderon's shot didn't get changed to a 2. Even watching in real time, it looked like a 2 to me, and the replay clearly showed it was a 2.

[listerine]

There were some bad calls at the end of that game, but I'm not going to worry about it. In my opinion, the game went to the team who played harder and deserved to win. The Blazers were flat. Yet they still managed to coax two miracle shots out of that game.

I hope it didn't wear the team down too much for tomorrow in Jersey. And hopefully Blake will be back. I can't believe how much we missed him.

[SabasRevenge!]

If we finish the season at or even near .500 on the road, we're probably in for 50+ wins. If we can continue to protect our home floor - right now we're .850 at home - and win even 35-40% of our games on the road, we're a playoff team.

If we continue playing well at home and even if our home record slips to around .750, we'll have 30 or 31 wins at home. If we win even a third of our road games for the rest of the year, that's 13 or 14 wins on the road. 43 wins will be playoff bubble territory, with GS sneaking in at 42 wins last year, and 45 wins would almost certainly get us in.

Best case scenario IMO... We continue to win at the same clip at home - translating to 35 home wins. We split the rest of our games on the road - winning 12 of the remaining 25 road games. We already have 5 road wins. 35+12+5=52 wins. Utah won our division with 51 wins last year. If we manage 52, we probably win the division and have home floor in the first round. Like I said, this is my best case scenario prediction and at this point I believe 42-43 wins is much more realistic, but I really believe it's possible with these guys.