THAT'S IT. THIS IS ROCK-BOTTOM.False. It is bad. This is nose-dive city. All trends are down. Doubt fills the kingdom. But with the Rockets in town on Saturday, and a long road trip that starts at Golden State, Portland faces even darker days ahead. But a rested Blazer team has now posted back-to-back losses to teams playing the 2nd games of a back-to-back. Everything was in place for a Portland victory, including John Wall's absence for the Wizards. Washington was desperate after getting blown out at Utah. Portland was desperate to grab at least one win on this home stand.

For some perspective, one year ago Portland was 12-12. The Blazers then lost 8 of 9 to get to 13-20. Portland was digging a hole that would require the whole season to crawl out of. Portland is still 6th in the West, ahead of teams penciled into the play-offs like OKC (11-12), LAC (8-14) and Memphis (8-15). So Portland is not the only Western team struggling so far. Remember that 4-1 road trip? That was so last week.

YOU CAN BLAME THIS GAME ON A STAR PLAYER GOING OFF.False. Bradley Beal went OFF tonight. 51 points was a historically awesome performance. There were 3 great scoring guards in the game, and Beal was the one to take over. Starters Morris, Porter, Jr., and Gortat went a horrible 4-24 from the field tonight and yet the Wizards won. Beal was certainly the hero of the game, actually the hero of the night in the league.

But Portland could have competed or won this game if the offense was performing properly. The Blazers dug themselves a massive hole with a staggering 11 turnovers in the 2nd quarter. Portland hit a very good 44% from deep, so that wasn't the culprit. After digging themselves a 14 point half-time deficit, the Blazers had to come flying back in the 2nd half. Instead, they only played even with the Wiz after the intermission. Portland wanted to pick up the pace, yet had another game with zero fast-break points. As Terry Stotts fiddled with line-ups they could not come up with a group that could put together a cohesive challenge. Beal was great; Portland's offense was mediocre.

STOTTS GIVES EVERYONE A CHANCE. THE BEST PLAYERS WILL EMERGE.False. Right now there is mass confusion on this roster. Portland went back to their old favorite with Mo and Chief. It didn't work. Pat didn't start, but got starters minutes. He went 1-6. Vonleh and Davis's great play has disappeared, and NOT ONE PLAYER off the bench had more than 3 points. While everyone has their opportunity, the mish-mash of line-ups and combinations is not serving any player well. The only obvious point is that Aminu needs to get starter minutes. Everyone else's role is up for grabs. Don't be surprised if Stotts doesn't boil the line-up down to 8 guys and gives them a chance to fully get involved in the game. The madness may have to continue if Nurk's ankle sprain is serious.

FINAL GRADE: Portland has several days off. Expect some seriously hard practices and some tough decisions have to be made. CJ has to turn around his play, especially early in the game. Portland has mastered the faux comeback lately, making the final scores look better than the actual games. This is a team desperately asking questions and recently getting no answers. There are dark days ahead and Portland has squandered the chance to really grab a hold of this season. Just when you assume they HAD to have it all figured out, they look as disjointed and dispirited as we have seen in recent times. F-