But, with that said, we could have been in a different position had Karl A) Not played AC so much, especially on Roy. (I mean, how have we not got past this yet? The whole playing a career backup PG on the best offensive players of all time thing?) B) Made it a clear point to get rough with this young Blazers team, especially on the defensive side of the ball (did anybody else notice how much more in control we seemed in the first half when K-Mart was laying down flagrants, and Birdman was swatting shots all over the place ruining the Blazers swag?) and C) found some way to at least slow down Roy. (I know Roy was as hot has he’s been all year tonight, but I didn’t see any double teams. I also didn’t see any other players on Roy other than AC and JR, with AA making a few appearances. Where is Balkman? Where is K-Mart? Look, I know Karl inexplicably has a deep seeded grudge against Balkman for some reason, but in games like tonight, you HAVE to try something!!!)

But let’s look at Blake for a quick second. The guy hit 5 3’s tonight, most of which came in the 4th quarter when the game was tight. 5 is 1 off his career high of 6!!! Again, why do we continuously allow role players to punish us like they are Michael freakin Jefferey Jordan!!!! All this is, is clear evidence that our defense in nowhere near where it should be. Our whole swagger, attitude and pride last year stemmed from our tough defense, and so far this year it’s been M.I.A. and why? What is the difference this year?

Honestly though, I’m really not sweating this loss as much as a lot of people. Playing in Portland is incredibly tough, and although they are extremely injury depleted they had an epic performance by Roy tonight to lift them to the win. Should we have won? Yes. Did we deserve to win? No way in hell.

I apologize for trolls like this.

Fun game to watch. Portland got a 2nd team all NBA performance from Roy, and a little assistance from Billups Hammy.

BTW, how’s the snow? Good year?

 trade jr and balkman and get david lee here and appeal to the league to see if we can play the rest of the schedule at home cause we sure cant fucking win on the road. we can beat down the hawks but lose to the one man band blazers. karl has got to go this team is not playing for him and they play good at home for the crowd not him. we can not afford any more of these losses espacially division ones.

In the 4th, Roy defended Melo. Melo defended….Steve Blake.

This game should have been dominated by Nene and Kmart, and Nene in particular was a no-show.

If Karl was a decent coach, he would have started the second half with Lawson and told them that they were to play the scheme that they used at the start against Atlanta. You get the defensive rebound and get the ball to Lawson. Everybody else try to keep up with him and good things happen. Always get the ball in to Nene in the half court set. Tell Nene that he has to punish them for having Oden and Pryzbilla out. Yeah maybe Nene was a no-show but what was anybody doing to get him involved against their depleted front line?

Coaching could have made a difference in this one.

I’ve seen more contact in the men’s room.

Don’t know what this has to do with anything, but Marlowe said it last night and it made me laugh.

Karl should spend next year’s Christmas as a mall Santa.

thanks for keep it classy

Hey Nug fans, legitimate poster here. no trolls. From someone who was at the game I want to thank you guys for having a good enough team to awaken Blazer Nation. The atmosphere of that game was amazing. Just a few things I want to point out.

1. Chauncey Billups is your team, period. If he gets injured, if he starts feeling his age, you won’t go no where. I understand Melo is your All-Star/MVP caliber player but as the record shows without Chauncey you’re like 1-5?

2. Nene definitely looked complacent, if you’re planning on contending for a title against the Laker bigs, and can’t even get your center in double digit points and like 3 boards against the skeletal remains of what is the Blazer front-line, I don’t see it happening.

3. Jr Smith, I understand he’s a really fun and flashy player to watch. But you won’t win with him, a flashy player like him draws alot of market value to a team like the Knicks, trade him and a decent player like that crappy point guard you guys have that was trying to guard Roy all night for David Lee and a throw in player. Have Martin be your scoring force off the bench not someone who will score 20 points off of 27 outside shots when the advantage was inside.

surprise #1- earl smith is not the only guard in the nba that can score over 40 points in a game. the way broy scored shows just how far smith’s game needs to evolve. 6 for 6 from the free throw line and 3 for 6 from the 3 point line. roy put on a clinic for shooting guard play. surprise #2- ninny hilarious showed why he will never be able to play forward in the nba. he also showed the rest of the nba how to beat denver. dallas will start gooden against nene. surprise #3- rebounding and assists. blazers 38 boards and denver 35. portland was missing their first and second string centers. denver was beat on the boards by a team that played either a 3 guard offense or a 3 forward offense. assists-blazers 26 denver 14. billups led with 5 and he played only the first half. melo was second with 4.

Blame/credit Brandon Roy all ya want. I’m still pinning this one on Mariah Carey

We stole 1 on the road from them, and now we will sweep them badly at home.