What a week for the Blazers! Chauncey was 0-1, and Bjorkgren was 2-0. Maybe it’s time to consider changing the tides. Perhaps it’s time to accept the fact of Chauncey not being a good coach or being able actually to make adjustments. Or, maybe this team is ass, and it kinda doesn’t matter. Either way, it’s great to see a spark from a team beating both a lousy and a good team in back-to-back games. Hopefully, this energy will continue to ride the team into a positive wave at the beginning of 2025.
Game #29 - 12/23 @ Dallas (132-108 L)
A game that started with some hope of Luka not playing QUICKLY turned into a massacre. As everyone knows, Luka is one of the most dominant players in the NBA, let alone the world. His influence turns the tide of a game, even if he’s on the sideline, kinda like Tom Brady. It wasn’t even halftime before this game was over. The Blazers were outmatched, and Deni came off the bench to provide some spark it was a sad, sad game. This is about when the Blazers need to figure out if the tank is real or if they will be OKC from about four years ago. Do you want to compete knowing you’re a lesser team? Or do you want to suck for the latter half of every game intentionally? Either is fine at this point, but you kinda need to pick a lane.
Game #30 - 12/26 vs Utah (120-118 W)
Is Scoot Henderson the real deal? Is he better than Brandon Miller? Did we get the second-best player in the 2023 draft? It’s way too early to tell, but an assumed franchise pillar getting his first game-winner is tasty and sparks some joy into this tumultuous young team. Scoot talks here about the play and the game overall. Now that the Blazers have two last-second game-winning shots over their last four games, maybe that pull into a more positive direction that I was hoping for is happening. It has been great to see the core of Scoot, Ant, Jerami, Deni, and Shaedon playing consistently over the last few weeks. Maybe it was a mediocre game against the bottom-feeding Jazz. Perhaps it was Nate Bjorkgren subbing in for Chauncey, as he takes some time after losing his late grandmother. Either way, a win is a win in the NBA, and every team is looking to get them.
Game #31 - 12/28 vs Dallas (126-122 W)
Well, slap my face and call me an idiot. That’s a phrase, right? Apparently Luka on the sideline doesn’t have the same effect as being on the court. And Kyrie putting up 46 points won’t do the trick against this young Blazer team led by Shaedon, Ayton, Deni, Scoot, and Ant, all scoring 19+ points. It was a weirdly balanced effort from *checks notes* Nate Bjorkgren, again? Is this man the reason we can succeed? Is the Billups era over? There are a lot of questions to ask about this team that just beat a much better Mavs team coming off a Finals appearance last season. The hype train is real for Bjorkgren, and maybe we need to start a petition for him to succeed Chauncey. Regardless of how it happened or why it happened, it still happened.
Record: 2-1 (11-20)
Next Week’s Games: 12/30 vs Philadelphia, 1/2 @ LA Lakers, 1/4 @ Milwaukee