Portland Trailblazers: What 4 Losses in a Row Mean To Brandon Roy and Co.

The past four games have been grueling to watch. What's even more grueling is whose hands these losses have come to.

Portland has lost to Utah, New Orleans, New Jersey and Philadelphia.

All of the losses are because of horrible fourth quarter performances.

Here's an in depth analysis at what is happening, and if Rip City should begin to worry about the losses piling on.

Loss To Utah

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ATLANTA - NOVEMBER 12: C.J. Miles #34 of the Utah Jazz against Mike Bibby #10 of the Atlanta Hawks at Philips Arena on November 12, 2010 in Atlanta, Georgia. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Pho

Portland started the game off well. They held Utah to only 19 points in the first quarter, and Utah never scored more than 26 in any quarter.

That is, until the fourth quarter. In the fourth, Portland's defense fell apart. Utah has done that to a lot of teams lately.

CJ Miles was stroking all night and was 7-10 on three-pointers in this contest.

The Blazers went on to lose in the fourth quarter 38-20, which allowed Utah to come away with the win.

Notable Performances

Aldridge had 24 points and 11 rebounds, but these came with EIGHT turnovers as well.

CJ Miles had 25 off the bench, connecting on a career-high seven three-pointers.

Rudy Fernandez took 10 shots, all three-pointers, and only three fell.

Loss To New Orleans

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NEW ORLEANS - NOVEMBER 28: Chris Paul #3 of the New Orleans Hornets shoots the ball over Tony Parker #9 of the San Antonio Spurs at the New Orleans Arena on November 28, 2010 in New Orleans, Louisiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agree

Brandon Roy scored 27 points, four assists and three rebounds in his first game back. Sounds like a win, right?

Well, no. Roy was the only bright spot of Portland's offense, as the second-highest scorer on the team was Aldridge with only 14 points.

New Orleans out-rebounded Portland 48-27. Seeing that stat is just sad.

Again, Portland closed out the game horribly, being outscored in the fourth 22-13. This is when something is wrong.

Notable Performances

Roy had 27 points on 50 percent shooting.

Wesley Mathews only had four points, and Batum chipped in just five.

Loss To New Jersey

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BOSTON - NOVEMBER 24: Devin Harris #34 of the New Jersey Nets drives to the basket in the second half against the Boston Celtics on November 24, 2010 at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. The Celtics defeated the nets 89-83. NOTE TO USER: User expre

This is just where it gets plain old ugly. Portland should have won it; they were ahead the whole game.

Then the fourth quarter curse came upon them for the third straight game and they were outscored 25-18.

At the end, Devin Harris took over. His three-pointer gave New Jersey the lead, and the Nets never lost it.

Mathews hit two clutch threes that kept the loss at only two points, but a loss is still a loss, no matter by how much or to who. What made this hard to watch was the team they were playing.

This game forced a 'players' only' conference to be held, and for good reason.

Notable Performances

Batum, Camby and Aldridge combined for six blocks. Each had two a piece.

Mathews, Aldridge and Roy combined for 66.

Roy scored 21, and his knee didn't look too bad these two games back.

All in all, Portland put together a good performance, but its fourth-quarter performances are taking a toll on its record.

Loss To Philadelphia

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This was the tipping point. This just shows that the Blazers are doing something wrong. They need to fix that, now.

Roy was way off tonight. He continued to shoot the three well, but he was hitting iron on almost everything else. Aldridge had a solid game, and Mathews performed well despite four turnovers.

There was no reason Portland should have lost this game. Maybe Roy's shooting threw them off.

Portland shouldn't make excuses. I wouldn't be surprised to see Rudy moved by the deadline, since all he likes to do is throw up threes. It almost feels like its all he's doing just so Portland moves him.

Notable Performances

Roy shot 3-of-9 from the field, but 2-of-2 from three-point range. He finished with only 10 points.

Aldridge had 12 rebounds to go along with 20 points and three assists. He has improved his passing over these past couple games.

Mathews finished with 26 points. He was lights out shooting, but it didn't help in the end.

Batum was moved to the bench to start the game and only had two points, both from free-throws.

The highest rebounder on the other team only had seven, yet Portland only out-rebounded them by five.

On the side: I really love the spin move Aldridge does to free himself up for alley-oops. It's nice to watch and makes my day.

What Needs To Be Done

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Portland needs to pull its act together. They are now one game below the .500 mark at 8-9. The team's play has been disappointing, and they haven't been able to return to the shape of their 3-0 start.

They are a better team than this, and need to figure out if they really want to take the next step to being an elite team.

There really is nothing else to say until Oden comes back, if he even does next year. Roy's injury isn't curable, and it is going to be on and off. If they're losing four straight with him in the lineup for three of those games, I don't want to know how they'll fare without him for longer periods of time.