Lillard,Matthews, Batum, LMA are just wow in clutch situations. For example, Batum hits a tough 3 to tie the game against the Mavs. Next 2 plays, LMA hits a 3 to re-tie the game, and hits the game winner. They are such a fun team to watch. <HR> UPDATE: Video of the finish tonight in Dallas:
they just refuse to lose when its a close game... i cant stand it!!! they just wont go away in the standings.. they are breathing down our necks
Like I said in my first thread on these forums, LA is the heart of that team. He should be given more chances for the win. The guy is automatic from 15 feet.
Yeah they're unbelievably clutch. Also they're apart of the home-cookin' trifecta (Portland-Utah-Denver)
And as others have observed, it's a fluke. Portland doesn't concern me nearly as much as the Lakers and not even as much as the Mavericks do. Seriously guys, think about it. Even WITH all this luck, Portland is still behind us. The only way they can pass Houston is if Houston screws up bad - and then we'll have a lot more problems than just Portland.
Houston screwing up is not out of the question. We have the youngest team in the nba, and I fully expect inconsistency this year. Winning streak after losing streak after winning streak. It will be frustrating. On top of that, we play at a frantic pace. Can this be sustained over the course of a full nba schedule? We've already seen that we get tired during those ridiculous 4 games in 5 nights stretches. The result was a 7 game losing streak. I'm afraid of Portland. They have a go-to post presence all-star in Aldridge, 2-way all around swing man in Batum (a better Parsons IMO), and they finally have a legit PG who is running away with Rookie of the Year honors this year. The gap needs to be a lot wider between the Rockets and Blazers. I'll feel a lot better about it. None of this half game behind crap.
It's a fluke in the same way that OJ Mayo can hit 3's at a rate which would put Ray Allen to shame for 2 months, or a fluke in the way that the 2008-09 Rockets led by Carl Landry reached the 5th seed and a 50 win pace largely due to winning huge amounts of close games for the first few months. It's well established that in reality, what people call clutchness is just a matter of luck, and the Blazers have been phenomenally lucky, and you can even keep it up for quite a while. But the fact is that if you win a lot of games through supposed clutchness, this is not a good thing. At all. As Morey has repeatedly observed, the great teams don't win close games. They blow out their opponents to avoid the close games.
There's that quote I like, "it's better to be lucky than good." The blazers are definitely good at the very least, and their clutchness(or luck) is through the roof. Pretty good spot to be in.
I'm not saying the Blazers can't surpass the Rockets. I'm saying that it will only happen if the Rockets fall apart. And if we fall apart, we will have a lot more problems than just Portland anyways, so we shouldn't really worry about them. Fact is I would bet everything I owned that the Lakers will finish ahead of the Blazers, and I'd even make a strong bet that the Mavericks will as well despite the outcome of this game. Ignoring the fact that I thought the Aldridge pick was an utter travesty ( there is no reason for Aldridge to be picked over Curry or Marc Gasol. Zero), Portland has by far the worst bench in the league ( which also hurts them long-term because their starters have logged heavy minutes), and while Lillard is great, he suffers the normal inconsistency of a rookie.
But despite all this fluke talk, I would not be surprised if the Blazers are a top 4 team in the West 1-2 years.
For individual situations, that is a good quote. Over the course of an 82-game NBA season, luck runs out. Being good does not. Put it in the bank the Blazers will miss the playoffs. If the Rockets don't collapse, they will finish in front of Portland.
Lilliard is a rookie? guy is clutch. I hope he keeps getting better. Cmon Portland, give us Lamarcus :grin:
