Hello losses, my old friend. The right-hand column is quickly filling up, compared to the left, and it’s not as fun to watch this team accumulate just porous losses. With the New Year around the corner, trade rumors are happening, and you’d assume just about anyone on the Blazers is up for grabs, except for Scoot, Shaedon, and Clingan. That being said, time will tell when this roster looks nothing like its current state. Maybe we’ll get some wins in December. Perhaps we won’t. Either way, we’re headed for the lottery in 2025, and it’s time to embrace that reality 24 games into the season.
Game #22 - 12/3 @ LA Clippers (127-105 L) NBA Cup Group Play
Welp, that was fun while it lasted. It's definitely a bummer not to advance to the Quarterfinals of the NBA Cup, but it was a long shot from the jump, anyway. James Harden and Norman Powell came to play in a game that really only mattered for the Blazers. The Clippers had no shot of making it to the knockout round, but with a Portland win and some luck from a couple of other games, they would’ve moved on. As much as the two aforementioned players balled out, you can’t give up 51% from 3-point and expect to win any game. Pretty disappointing to see a squad that isn’t great defensively give up that kind of success in a game that was essentially do-or-die. Maybe we can rebound with a home trip against an equally pitiful Jazz team.
Game #23 - 12/6 vs Utah (144-99 L)
LOL, maybe not. What a tremendously lousy showing by the Portland Trail Blazers. (Yes, they deserve to be referred to their full name). I get that we aren’t a great team, but there is no way we’re outscored by 7+ points in each quarter by a team like the Utah freaking Jazz?!? We didn’t score 10 points until 4:27 left in Q1. How does that even happen? I have so many questions about this game, but the team should be embarrassed by this performance. There is only one positive to this game: Shaedon throws down the highest recorded vert on a dunk since tracking started last season. This is definitely a “forget it and move on” type of game for the Blazers. And let’s hope that’s what happens.
Game #24 - 12/8 @ LA Lakers (107-98 L)
It was another loss, but this time against a LeBron-less Lakers team. AD, Rui Hachimura, and D’Angelo Russell wanted to ensure this wasn’t a trap game for the Lakers as they hosted Portland. Yeah, the first half was competitive, but once the second half started, it was nothing but purple and gold – they took the lead midway through Q2 and never relinquished it. Once again, the Blazers are bad on defense, which seems to be this team's personality. We have quality players that have quality offensive abilities, but we can’t seem to figure out the defense. Unsure if that’s a tactical thing or if we are just bad individually. Who knows. But we ended the week on a low note, having given up our 4th loss of four games in December. Hopefully, we can crawl out of this hole and become more competitive soon.
Record: 0-3 (8-16)
Next Week’s Games: 12/13 @ San Antonio, 12/15 @ Phoenix, 12/19 vs Denver, 21/21 @ San Antonio