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A show of hands please- how many of you predicted the Trail Blazers would go 4 and 2 on their longest road trip of the season? The sad part is (and I'm going to sound like a coach here) the Blazers were one bounce of the ball away from going 5 and 1. That was the loss in overtime at Milwaukee. And, in the Indiana loss, at one point they held a 12-point lead. Still, they'll take it, and I'm sure you will as well.

There are those who will say that this revealed much more about the state of the Eastern Conference than it did about the state of the Trail Blazers. But, we're not going to spend a lot of time talking about that. These were still road wins, and two of them came against playoff teams from last year. And, by the way, the Blazers right now have more total wins than last year's NBA champs.

The Trail Blazers have two more road wins, than home wins right now. Their 6 road wins through the first month and a-half of the season, equal their total road wins from a year ago. Their total of 10 wins on the season is almost halfway to their final win total from last year. Oh yeah, they've done most of this without the man overwhelmingly picked by NBA general managers to win Rookie of the Year honors. I'll have more on him in a moment.

Wednesday's win at Memphis was very similar to the wins at Toronto and Philadelphia. They were all three games that saw the Blazers grab big leads, and have to fight to the finish to hang on for the wins. It's also been defense that has been the key in the four wins on the trip. In the four wins the Blazers held their opponents to 85, 83, 79, and 79 points, respectively. That doesn't make for pretty games, but at this point you do what you have to do to get victories.

The Trail Blazers are now 10 and 14 on the season, through 24 games. They've played more games than any other Western Conference team. In fact, only Indiana and New York have played 24 games. Minnesota, for instance, who's also in the Northwest Division, has only played 20 games. That means the schedule will get better, and a little rest is coming.

If I had to pick the MVP of this road trip for the Trail Blazers, I would probably have to go with Ime Udoka. I know Zach Randolph had game-winning shots at Detroit, and Philadelphia, and that makes him tough to not think he was the most valuable. But, all things considered, Udoka is the pick. He nearly got his career-high at Toronto on Sunday, and then did get a career-high 15 points at Memphis. I've said this a lot, I know, but he's still been the most consistent player on the team. He always gets the toughest defensive assignment, rarely makes a mistake, and does so many things that don't show up in the box score. Against the Grizzlies, he hit a huge jumper with one minute left, that gave Portland the lead back, for good.

Now, the Trail Blazers have to learn to protect the home floor. They went 0 and 4 on their homestand just before this 6-game trip. How strange is that? They drop four straight at the Garden, three of them to teams from the east, and then go 4 and 2 in the next 6 away from home.

Starting Friday, 7 of the next 9 games are at the Rose Garden. If you want to stretch it out farther than that, 13 of the next 19 are at home. The L.A. Clippers are first up, followed by Houston and Toronto. There are only 3 games in the next 11 days. That's the reward for being so many games up on the rest of the field right now.

The better news is, Brandon Roy is coming back. There's a chance he could return on Friday against the Clippers, but I think the first time we'll see him will be next Wednesday against the Houston Rockets. He's feeling good, and his rehab workouts have been going great, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Blazers want to get him in at least a couple of practice situations before he's cleared to return. Again, there's a shot he could play Friday, but I'd be surprised. I'll keep you updated on that.