So proud. So, so proud. The Blazers got the L*kers as healthy as they were going to be, with Bynum back and Kobe Bryant ready to play as hard as necessary to try and hang onto hopes for home court advantage throughout the playoffs. The Blazers got the best of Los Angeles, which drew close time and time again, after having rebuilt their lead again and again. The L*ker defense was a swarming mob of shark-toothed bees high on crank for much of the first half, and it wasn't much looser in the second--but Nate McMillan drew up the answers and Brandon Roy executed them for the win in the 4th over the biggesr rival Portland has, certainly the best team in the West.
This was a marquee NBA contest for people who were paying attention, which suddenly became a classic matchup in a close fourth quarter as Brandon Roy and Kobe Bryant began guarding each other for the last five or six minutes of the game, trading shots as each tried to carry his team to a much-desired victory. No post-clinch slacking was evident on the part of LA Affilliate #1; they were trying, and trying hard. They were NOT going to get shellacked again like they did so long ago...no wait, I'm sorry--it was actually a month and one day ago. My bad.
How many gut checks does this team need to pass? How many times must they disprove the theory that they fold under pressure? How many times must they outbody one of the more physical teams in the NBA before they're no longer "too soft to win it all?" In short, when will Portland's jockeying for home court advantage be seen for what it is in the mainstream NBA media--bloody shocking, but 100% for real? Can we give that up now, please? They belong, and if their playoff opponents aren't ready to concede that and give it their all, they will find themselves as disappointed as the the Spurs and L*kers.
You gotta have your head examined if you felt dumbfounded and angry about the Blazers getting convincingly thunked at Staples Center again (doing a doubleheader with the Blazers' next opponent--Detroit beating the Clippers earlier in the day). With Brandon Roy, they got smoked the first night of the season, and while they're by no means the same squad they might not even be as good as that night without him.
So I could have written that "Blazers lose to Lakers as Bryant leads fourth quarter blowout" and been right 90% of the time, and it wouldn't have been that hard a prediction. I might have said that that L*kers just buried them in shots and ran past 100 as nobody was contested. Inside the Blazers had serious foul trouble and the L*kers--particularly Kobe--went to the line a zillion times.
And I'd have been right in several ways. But in other ways, for at least the opening third of this game, the Blazers were well within their capacity to put up a sizable lead beyond the ones they had. And well into the third quarter, while they were shaky and going through a cold stretch they could have stayed easily competitive. After that it fell apart like an Indian scooter. (Trust me, they're the K Cars of scooters, with shadier parts places).
So it's instructive to see where the weaknesses remain--Rudy has lost his shot and doesn't know where in the world it has gone, Travis has it sometimes, doesn't at others, and doesn't rightly seem to care which it is on any given night for all it will change his game...and he'll throw in the standing around and not getting out on D for free. Bayless is like Sergio two years ago, Blake can pass and drive but he can't calm the team. Etc. etc. etc.
But let's focus instead on another game where but for simply average rather than crushingly poor shooting, especially from distance, the Blazers played an elite team awfully tough. For much of the first half I saw Kobe having to work a little, and not liking it. Some of the other players started bitching as well. Have you noticed that the top teams all start to whine when stuff doesn't go right for them in the first half, and by the second half the stuff they were complaining about seems to go away?
They played a really kick-ass first quarter. Let's look at that instead.
Declaring that it was time to "set wins and losses aside," Phil Jackson said Wednesday that he would temporarily suspend the Lakers' 2008-2009 season and seek to delay the Lakers' season opener against the Portland Trail Blazers, so that he could return to New York to help to forge an overhaul of the NBA Referees Association, which has been mired in scandal since allegations of bribery against former official Tim Donaghy came to light last season.
Kevin Pritchard rejected the call by Mr. Jackson, the Los Angeles Lakers' head coach, to delay the game, and Blazers officials noted that Mr. Jackson only made the offer after the Blazers reached out to their opponent asking them to issue a joint statement calling for increased transparency of the Referees Association's internal processes during the coming season.
The maneuvering came as the referee scandal continued to dominate headlines in the wake of Mr. Donaghy's reporting to a Federal holding cell in Florida on Wednesday. Wednesday evening both Mr. Jackson and Mr. Pritchard, the Blazers General Manager, accepted Commissioner David Stern's invitation to meet with him on Thursday to address the issue.
Phil Jackson's a real, honest to Magic hero! Way to put league first, Phil...
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