Game 22: New York Knicks 93, Portland Trail Blazers 84

Box Score

Shorthanded and struggling emotionally, Portland begins their road trip with a loss in New York City . A Blazer team that seemed so deep just a couple months ago, is now trying to fill the void of losing Greg Oden and missing key players in the rotation.

There were definitely two different thoughts coming into this game- either Portland would play inspired ball following the devastating loss of Oden, or the depleting injuries would catch up to Portland. Unfortunately it was the latter. Poor three point shooting coupled with even worse perimeter defense left Portland "out-shot from three" 13 to 1.

The Good

Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge were effective in this game. Brandon picked up the slack offensively while LaMarcus contributed with 13 rebounds. Those two outcomes will have to continue as the road trip moves on.

Jerryd Bayless was also a nice spark towards the end of the game. He put forth his best effort to get back in the game with his season high tying 14 points, but it wasn't enough as the Knicks continued to nail threes shooting 13 of 26 overall on the night.

The Bad

The outcome of this game and the statistics aren't going to coincide very well to the untrained eye. The Blazers won almost every battle other than three-pointers and turnovers. But those were the most glaring. Obviously New York was tremendous from three but it's the 18 turnovers that are most concerning. The Knicks barely play defense so 18 turnovers is mostly unforced or "barely forced." It was really a frustrating game to watch, at times it looked like five guys on a court instead of a team.

Someone is going to have to help Przybilla defensively to fill the void left by Oden. Too often we took for granted Greg's shot blocking ability or simply his jedi ability to keep people out of the paint. His presence, which cannot be quantified, was too important on defense. Our inflated defensive numbers so far this season will surely plummet as the season goes on.

Another thing that was bad was that the Blazers played poorly in front of Rhianna .

The Ugly

It's tough to harp on them too much with so many guys out, including the head coach. But the team's cohesiveness, especially on defense, is awful. Spacing is bad on both ends, blocking out seems nonexistent, it is just tough to watch at times. I hope this gets turned around quickly, otherwise my nightmare of December will come true and Blazer fans won't be happy come Christmas.