BLAZERS: Opening Night

The team hang in there with the Spurs, but ultimately they fell. An encouraging sign is how sincerely they were disappointed. No "moral victory" necessarily, but truly believed they were the better prepared team and should have won that game. That's what I like to see. Brandon Roy had a terrible game, and even says his heel felt great - which in and of itself is enough for me to celebrate. He's gonna have off nights...but a healthy talus bone, that's more than encouraging. The rest of the team executed well offensively (stayed under the dreaded 20 turnovers), but defensively they still need to get some things ironed out in the zone. Too many easy pickins' for the Spurs. Most impressive: Martell Webster. Money from 3-point land and poised and confident in his game. Wait 20 games before we say he's arrived, but this is a good sign. LaMarcus Aldridge looked great offensively as well, but only had 3 rebounds. He was disappointed in his rebounding game and is determined to be more effective there. Przybilla (13 pts, 10 rbs) also reminded us why he was such a great second line of defense. Encouraging game all around.