Blazers cooling down after hot start

The Portland Trail Blazers started off the season with a record of 7-2, which included big wins against NBA powers like the Los Angeles Lakers and the Oklahoma City Thunder. But after a long six-game road trip, the Blazers have cooled off, winning only two of their last six games.

Portland now stands at a record of 9-7 going into their Monday game against Sacramento. The Blazers are currently fourth in the Northwest Division and tied for eighth in the Western Conference. The NBA schedule, condensed due to the lockout, has proven to be rigorous. The Blazers have played five back to back games in the young season, and they are currently in the middle of their first back to back to back.

Three games in consecutive nights is unheard of in the NBA in the standard 82-game season. But with the shortened season, all teams will be playing multiple back to back to backs.

The six-game road trip was a disappointment for the Trail Blazers. All of the four losses were decided by four points or less. The Blazers kept matches close, but due to poor execution in the last minute and falling behind early, they were only able to pull out two games.

The trip started off in Texas with games against San Antonio and Houston. After losing to the Spurs in San Antonio, the Blazers played the Houston Rockets to overtime. The Blazers couldn’t overcome an offense led with 33 points and nine assists by Kyle Lowry, and fell to the Rockets 107-105. Portland got their first win of the road trip in New Orleans, beating the Hornets by seven. The Blazers then dropped another game in Atlanta, as the Hawks, led by Joe Johnson with 24 points, put the game away 92-89.

The Trail Blazers had a chance to go .500 on the road trip, if they could pull off wins against Toronto and Detroit. Both teams had well under .500 records going into the games.

Aldridge dominated in Toronto, scoring 33 points and grabbing a career high 23 rebounds. The Blazers controlled the game from the beginning, and beat the Raptors by 10. The game in Detroit didn’t go as well as Portland wanted it to. Forward Gerald Wallace sat out of the game with an injured finger. The Pistons pulled ahead early, but the Blazers were able to fight back and keep the game close going into the fourth quarter. However a tired Portland defense was unable to stop the Pistons down the stretch. Detroit outlasted Portland 94-91.

Raymond Felton has stepped up his play of late after a disappointing stretch of games. Felton had eight turnovers in the win against New Orleans, but the Portland guard has had only five turnovers combined in the last three games. Nicolas Batum has also played well in the past few games. Batum dropped 29 points in the loss to Houston.

The Blazers’ play has been disappointing of late, especially to head coach Nate McMillan. McMillan has questioned the team’s effort of late, especially against Atlanta.

“We’ve got to play harder, play together and come out with a sense of urgency,” McMillan said. “We’ve dropped four out of the last five, but we didn’t play like we had dropped those games…In order for us to give ourselves a chance to win ball games, we’ve got to work harder.” 

The Blazers play tonight against the Memphis Grizzlies. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Rose Garden. You can catch the game on Comcast SportsNet.