Fresh Legs

While the Blazers are the slowest team in the NBA, they still need fresh legs to execute their game plan. During the first 24 games of the season the Blazers played a game once every 1.8 days and 40% of their whole road schedule. They finished the stretch with an impressive 4-1 road trip with the only loss coming against the World Champ Celts. However, when they got back home they lost two home games to Orlando and the Clippers through mental mistakes with the lead at the end of the game. Some might chalk it up to how young this team is (Average Age: 24.1); but, the guys missing free throws were Brandon Roy and Steve Blake in the Orlando and Clippers games, respectively. I think it had more to do with tired legs and relaxing a little with the lead at home.

Tonight, the Blazers finally got to play a game with three days rest and against a team coming off of a back-to-back and four games in five nights. They won easily, sweeping the season series against the Kings. With a plethora of homes games and rest coming up, look for the Blazers to start getting some more wins by big margins and pushing their Hollinger Rating back up into the top five in the league.

One other note: Brandon Roy should be an all star again. Tonight he came up one point short from having four 30-point games in a row (because Nate took him out with the 30 point lead). It would have been the first time a Blazer had acomplished the feat since Clyde Drexler did it in 1992.

As Terry Porter said at the end of his jersey retirement ceremony tonight, Rip City!