It seemed like such an ideal situation: The Portland Trail Blazers
waltzed into the post-season as one of the hottest teams in the NBA,
with a first-round home-court advantage neatly tucked away. They never
lose at home. Their opponents, the Houston Rockets, lost their best
player (Tracy McGrady) months back, and hinged their franchise’s future
on an often-injured, monolithic creature named Yao Ming. While their
defense was structurally sound, Houston had not advanced in the
playoffs since Nicolas Batum was a nine-year-old enfant back in
France. (That was back in 1997, when that Rockets team was still
sporting championship rings and a lineup of future Hall of Famers:
Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley, and onetime Blazer Clyde
Drexler.)
So what in the holy hell happened? Last Saturday night’s playoff
party didn’t quite go as planned for the Blazers. The “Rip City
Uprising” was instead a downward spiral, courtesy of an uptight home
team wallowing in their own inexperience and a bruising Rockets lineup
that bullied the Blazers at will, polishing grit with a graceful
precision. The Blazers’ resident knuckle-swinger, Joel
Przybilla—who was quoted delivering the unfortunate boast, “I
want Yao, I want that on my shoulders”—got his wish, and felt all
310 pounds of Yao Ming throughout the night. It was a Tiananmen Square
massacre in the paint, as Przybilla’s mangled remains were all that was
left in the tank treads, and the Blazers crossed paths with a player of
such pure dominance that he failed to miss a shot all evening long. The
final score was 108-81, but it wasn’t nearly that close.
Faced with the stark realization that Tuesday’s contest could very
well mark the final home game of the 2008-09 season, the Blazers came
out inspired for the second meeting of this best-of-seven series. An
intricate war of attrition where neither team established any long-term
dominance was eventually won when Brandon Roy went nuclear. Dropping a
remarkable 42 points (he tied Clyde Drexler for the second-highest
points in franchise playoff history) against a team not known for
letting anyone score with ease, Roy was simply the best player on the
hardwood, and the Blazers defeated the Rockets, 107 to 103.
This week’s pair of games in Houston are almost certainly going to
be defeats for Portland, but as an exhausted Nate McMillan put it
following game two, “I feel like the teams are evenly matched. We have
a shot.” That shot means the Blazers will be coming home next Tuesday,
extending this fairytale season for (at least) one more week.
Tune in as Ezra liveblogs the playoffs at blogtown.portlandmercury.com
“This week’s pair of games in Houston are almost certainly going to be defeats for Portland,”
Those two games are going to be tough to win, but there is no certainty. Just as Portland is tough at home but can still lose, it’s the same with Houston. What about the chance of Yao having an off night? It happens. If you want to be the negative one, it will eventually pay off and you can say “I told you so,” as the chances of winning the finals are very slim. Or, you could have been a positive supporter of Portlands team and looked for some actual insight of how they adjusted their play to win, and not written them off at 1-1. Perhaps you would be better off covering some kick ball tournament or something.
I agree with tw. That is some lame-ass insight and analysis. Apparently the Mercury is too hip to be into professional sports – so instead of leaving the coverage to other publications that can add real insight and analysis, they pooh pooh the entire team and cannot provide one shred of value to this article. I can get better sports commentary down at the corner bar. I’d expect better from the Mercury. You at least could’ve been funny, right?
Thanks for wasting five minutes of my life. I want a refund.
How can you want a refund? The Mercury is free!
fuck you asshole, grow some balls or something. asshole
jarjarbinks69 needs to chill out. its not that big of a deal. rise up!
remember when you put oden on your list of things not invited back, when the poor guy was hurt. you guys should stick to what you know, kareoke, gay shit, and whatever is going on at the doug fir. go fuck yourselves.
that is a great picture of travis though, standing way off in the distance on defense – with a surprised look on his face.
Yea the is just lazy, its clear you have little to no knowledge of the game, and the subtlties that are at play this season.
As far as the bashing goes, I understand the need to give a realistic reporting, but for fucks sake this is blazer maina. Try to ease back on completely comdemning them.
You should stick to giving mediocre, regurgitated music reviews