Looks Like They Don't Need Greg Oden After All...
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by Romiezzo
The Portland Trail Blazers just keep winning, and have pulled yet another upset; this time, it was against the Denver Nuggets.
The Portland Trail Blazers were expected to have another year out of the playoffs, as they lost first overall draft pick Greg Oden for the entire year. It looks like they don't need him after all, as they have now started to heat up in a big way, beating the Denver Nuggets 99-96 in an well fought fourth quarter (for the Blazers, that is). They have won 10 straight games, which is the longest winning streak in the NBA this season (yes, Boston's longest in 9 straight games), and the longest they ever had since the 2001-2002 season.
Win number ten for the Blazers was definitely not easy though. They were trailing by 7 in the fourth quarter, but they were able to pull off a 16-2 run until they started to heat up and defeat what was the fifth best team in the Western Conference. That's really saying something. Imagine what they could be with Greg Oden.
When's the last time you've heard of Martell Webster? When's the last time you've heard of Brandon Roy or LaMarcus Aldridge? Well, they were the key factors to winnning the Portland/Denver game, and have really come up big the past couple of weeks, coming from a 5-12 record, to a 15-12 record, which is only 1/2 game behind the Nuggets for first place in the Northwest Conference.
"Who would have thought Portland would do that?" Brandon Roy said after the game. "You'd think it would be Dallas or Phoenix." He later added, "we're a young team but we're growing up. We're maturing a lot during this win streak. If you watched tonight, it wasn't just a young team that's hot. We had to work for this and face adversity, but we came through."
"It's hard to say they're creeping up on teams. They are a hot team and they are playing well right now," said Denver's Carmelo Anthony, who scored 34 points and collected 12 rebounds during that game. "Everything they throw up is going in and they are playing together right now."
Portland statistically is the youngest team in the NBA, but they are showing that is not just experience that makes a basketball team win ball games, but factors such as teamwork, diligence, and the bigger urge to win matter more.
Congratulations to the Blazers for their double digit winning streak. Can/will they keep this up until the end of the season? We'll find out in a few months.
I never knew this was gonna happen.
What'd you think of the ending, BTW?
It's #1 in the 10 Plays of the Day.