Trail Post - A Portland Trail Blazers Blog

First off: the Celtics are whiners. Just classic bullies. They push the Blazers around on their home floor last game, start barking like a dog at Jerryd Bayless and nothing comes of it. However, when the team pushes back and starts hitting back, they bitch and whine. As infamous campaign director Lee Atwater so famously said, “Y’all a pussy.”It seems like some Celtics fans have a crazy idea that the Celtics lost because of that wacky play where the Blazers had 6 guys on the floor. They’re wrong. If you honestly think you lost a game because of a play at the end of the second quarter went wrong, you’re stupid. There’s no sugar coating this. You are stupid. Was it a turning point? Only by definition, yes. I mean, it’s halftime, the teams exchange where they’re shooting. I saw it as a fair makeup call for that horrible technical foul call on Greg Oden for having Ray Allen bounce off of him.

Worst, I find it ironic that these Celtics fans complain. Here’s a team that got to the free throw line in all of their possessions in the fourth quarter and still couldn’t pull it out. No one could lay a breath on Paul Pierce at the end of the game without sending him to the line. Still, the Blazers overcame that horrible officiating for one of the biggest wins of the season against the World Champs.

Game ball absolutely goes to Steve Blake, as his early three-point shooting kept the team in the game, and really put it in a position to come on strong in the second half. Lesser game balls go to Greg Oden, who stepped up big in a tough game and played 36 minutes and had the team look much better with him in. Also, to Travis, as much as I hate him, did a great job in the fourth quarter and played as not stupid as he could. Just magical. Compliments to Nate too, for putting in the Twin Towers lineup. That flabbergasted the Celtics. That was a huge moment and something they hadn’t game-planned for. It really sent the message well: we’re bigger and stronger than you, and we’re going to physically dominate you (shut your skinny ass up, Garnett).

To a point, a reason that we won was Brandon Roy being out. This is a classic Ewing Theory scenario, and one that will not run well for more than this one game. I’m sure that Doc Rivers planned and drilled the Celtics on that incredible trap that they ran against Roy last game, and when they found out he wouldn’t play, that really changed things for them. A shift down to Greg Oden is much different than Brandon taking people off the dribble. All that being said, PLEASE COME BACK BRANDON.

What does this mean in the larger scale of things? Basically, it means that the Blazers are capable of beating any team in the NBA. It’s something we’ve suspected the last two years, but this is the year we finally had it cemented. We no longer have multi-year losing streaks to any teams on the book now, as we finally got that Celtics monkey off our back, after exorcising the demons of the Suns and Spurs. Still, even a team that can beat any team in the NBA has to play through the regular season. Right now, they’re 2 games out of second place in the conference and 2 games out of 9th. I honestly can’t tell if there’s going to be any separation, but I do know that our schedule is about to get much easier.

I hate the Celtics. My opinions on the matter have been voiced before earlier in this blog, and I must follow through with that statement again. Fuck ‘em.

I would love to see someone just cheap shot Kevin Garnett, maybe by throwing a Rudy Fernandez bobblehead they got a Joe’s with their $25 or more purchase from one of the first few rows. Maybe said bobblehead would hit him right in his nose and break it. Oh God, that would be awesome. Sadly, I think this action is slightly more called for than Garnett’s getting down on all fours and barking like a dog at Jerryd Bayless, who at that point, had played less than 30 minutes in his career. Way to step up to the challenge, you ponce. Way to pick on somebody your own size.

Anyway, this is a team of whiners and hackers and they’ll do lots of both this game. Along with that, Ray Allen is still a cold-blooded assassin, and Rajon Rondo is loving the contact high with the big three. They’ll do their damage, but if we play like we did in the second half of the game, we have a shot, for sure.

Wonderful picture provided by NBA.com, by the way.

Yes that’s Paul Pierce going for a dunk as he uses his off-arm to wipe away Brandon Roy. They can’t even find a picture where the Celtics aren’t being cheap. God, I hope they lose.

Growing up, the only tickets we could get from friends were the non-marquee match-ups, so that usually meant we were seeing one of four different teams: the Clippers, the Grizzlies, the Bucks, and the Raptors. I even managed to catch Damon Stoudamire in either his rookie season, or the season directly after that. My step-brother and I kept chanting “DA-MOOON” every time he was at the free throw line in an effort to psyche him out. He probably shot like 70% for the game, so we attributed it to the power of tweens yelling in the 300 section. What’s sad is that I still do this today.

Tonight we have the cartoon dinosaurs again, and the hope here at Trail Post as that we won’t need a last-second bomb from Steve Blake to win it for us. That Dallas loss was all kinds of nasty, and it’s definitely left Blazer Nation in disarray. No one knows who’s supposed to do what any more. Some of us probably feel dirty for questioning the skill of Brandon Roy. All of us are aching for the return of Martell Webster. How sad is this situation now that we’re calling for a guy who has been nothing but the punchline for not drafting Chris Paul his own career? Still, anything is better than Travis Outlaw or the now-disparu Nico Batum. Some new action is needed.

But hey, I think tonight will turn out alright. Hopefully Sergio can at least pull even in the batalla des bases espanols against Calderon tonight, and then it would just come down to Jermaine choking and Bosh being horrible again. Okay, I really don’t like our chances.

Okay, if you want any actual analysis of last night’s debacle, you can check out some of the other guys out there, like Blazers Edge or all-star beat reporter Jason Quick. Here’s what happened to me.

Last year, your humble Trail Post blogger dressed up with a fellow reader as Santa Claus, with the expressed purpose of being shown not only on the big screen, but also on national television, specifically on ESPN. We had incredible success last year, leading me to proudly post a screen cap of myself for months afterward on my Facebook page. When I saw we had another Christmas game, I got the tickets and the suits as fast as I could for the sequel to Santa night.

First off, these Santa suits only cost 15 dollars, and that may be over priced. They’re made of the felt that catches on any other material. When I took it off, I was covered in red pills, a crimson aura. The beard’s only purpose was to find ways to sneak into my mouth when I least expected it, leaving horrible white fibers that were impossible to dislodge. On the plus side, the boot sheaths worked like a charm, and I truly looked like I was heading a pack of magical flying reindeer from the knee down, so kudos to the folks who give Walgreen’s their Santa suits. To top off the thing, I had my Blazers Santa hat to class it up and make it game-appropriate. Taken altogether, I looked like a low-rent Claus, with my dark beard covered in white specks rubbed off from the flimsy fake beard and the Santa beard draped around my neck like a hipster’s keffiyeh.

Good thing I had an ally; Trail Post reader Nate. He happily donned the tacky suit and waited out at the bus stop with me in order to go to the game. There’s something strange about being out in public dressed as Saint Nick. First of all, every person makes a joke to this effect: “Where’s my present?” By the fourth time we heard it, we had the response of “We’re off duty until next year” rehearsed. It’s quite another surreal thing to be a few beers deep and having excited children yell “Hi!” to you from across the street. Before long, the bus came and we took to the Rose Garden.

Due to the snow delays, we arrived just as the team was tipping off, so we didn’t have time to create a rapport with the cameramen or get ourselves comfortable in our seats, but we were able to get through that with a healthy dose of hefeweizen. Before long, we even got to use our sign: Santa Connection ♥ Spanish Connection (note: I had no clue how homoerotic the sign was until the bus ride back from the game. It seems like we were a couple that was in love with Rudy and Sergio. Our friends at Blazers Edge made a similar assumption when talking about it) when Sergio and Rudy hooked up on that reverse lay-up.

During the game, there were a couple of other solidly festive folks on the screen. My personal favorites included the two guys dressed up in something that I could only say reminded me of a Blazers version of the Green Man suit from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. ¹ The brilliant and disturbing Batum Raider sign featuring the head of French swingman Nico Batum on the body of Angelina Jolie was easily the best of the night. However, my beef with the night laid with the other big holiday tag team at the game; the Grinch and goddamn Cindy Lou Who. This dude was hogging up the TV time and not letting some Santas get the time they deserved too. We get it, you’re green. YAWN. Joke’s on you, it’s probably hard to get red paint off of nipples.

Anyway, this son of a bitch stole the spotlight from the Santa Connection. The TNT cameraman and I had been making eye contact the whole game, waiting for the right moment in order to get us on camera, and it finally came in the fourth quarter. He brought his rig up the aisle and came right to us and was making the “OK” sign as he had it on us. “WE GOT IT!” I was screaming in my head. It was a perfect Christmas moment, I was going to get on TV and the Blazers were ahead during the fourth quarter. Then disaster struck. I didn’t receive the torrent of text messages like I had the year before. When I asked around about the last commercial break, I learned that they had put the Grinch on TV for like the tenth time that game. Not soon afterward, everything fell apart and we lost the game after a huge Mavericks run.

After the painful loss, we were made to wait for over an hour in the cold for the 4 bus back up into North Portland. Somehow, Tri-Met forgot that they were supposed to run buses. Still, there’s something to trying to strike up chitchat while dressed like Kris Kringle. It’s amazing how people stop trying to make jokes when a painful and convincing loss happens. Still, I know who to blame for all of this, and surprisingly enough, it’s not the referees.

I blame you, Grinch, for losing that for us. You were bad luck, and you stole the spotlight from not only me, but the awesome guys in the body suits. How dare you steal Christmas. When you steal from Santa, we all lose. You green bastard.

¹

I’ll make this quick, but here it is:

Your intrepid Trail Post blogger will be going to today’s game at 7:30, although he, along with one of you readers, will be much different than the rest of your normal Blazers crowd. We’ll be wearing Santa hats. “Well, Trail Post, everyone there will be wearing some degree of Santa hat, I mean, it’s Christmas!” I’d tell you to stop being so lippy. We’ll be wearing the entire getup. Trail Post will be posing as Santa Claus at tonight’s game, somewhere near the front row. Along with that, we will be holding up a sign reading Santa Connection ♥ Spanish Connection.

Feel free to watch the game tonight, and make sure to look for one of your favorite bloggers on TV. In case you didn’t know, I made it on ESPN last Christmas, too. Either way, I like our chances.

Last night could have been much worse.

The refs were as bad as the game in Denver and by my count spotted the Nuggets at least 5 points throughout the game. Still, the team overcame, even if the calls against Greg Oden bordered on parody the end of the game. Two times he went in for less than a minute and got a foul, forcing him out of the game. Good times.

Luckily, we have the best back-up center in the NBA, and being from Minnesota, the cold weather caused him to beast out on everybody and decide to destroy the boards to the tune of 19 rebounds, along with 4 clutch free throws made during the fourth quarter. Thank goodness for the Vanilla Gorilla, Joel Przybilla.

Along with him, we had the usual guys perform, with Brandon Roy returning to All-Star form and LaMarcus contributing a quiet 22 points. Steve Blake had one of his worst passing outings of the entire season, giving up 5 turnovers throughout the game.

And, as usual, Travis was stupid. He took stupid shots and he constantly left their best shooter, Kleiza, wide open from three point. I really miss the smart Travis from last year. I’m beginning to question whether he really existed at all.

Either way, we got a win against a division rival and now we share the lead. No rest for us though, as we have the game against the Mavericks on Christmas day. Trail Post will be there to give you a first-hand account, but that preview will be featured tomorrow.

Once again, the Blazers got intimidated by a skinny PF that yells loudly.

Honestly, I cannot understand how the Blazers got outrebounded by over 10 throughout the game last night and still made a push towards the end and had a chance to win the game.

Honestly, I cannot understand how the Blazers shot 20 less free throws that game and were still in it.

Honestly, I cannot understand how Brandon Roy scored under 10 points and the Blazers still had a chance to win the game.

Listen, last night was a horrible conflation of nasty coincidences. They were playing tired after a road trip to Eugene and a flight out of EUG and then they had to deal with that thin Rocky Mountain air, and along with that, they had two of their starters knocked out with foul trouble within the first 5 minutes of the game. That is a deathblow to any other young team. However, the Blazers stuck through it and made a game of it, even if Nate McMillan was resorting to throwing darts at names on a board at the end to pick out line-ups. (This is based on absolutely no research at all, but I think last night’s game was the first loss where Nate played the entire roster.)

The dreary officiating should be minimized during the game tonight, and if it is called evenly, it’s easy to project a rout. Beyond that, any possible intimidation used by Kenyon and Nene really loses its effect when the sound is drowned out by 20,000 cold and win-desperate sons of bitches.

It’s rare when I make projections, because I like them to count. Well, here it is. My projection for tonight is the Blazers will win, and it will be by a larger margin than you’d think.

As per ESPN, Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony will be out for the next two games (and oddly enough, only the next two games).

It’s happy dance time, Blazer fans. What more could we have wanted for Christmas this season? This is a matchup against the team that is currently tied with us for the lead in the conference, and now we have the chance to be ahead of them by 2 games by Christmas time. All I wanted for Christmas was a multi-game division lead.

It’s much more easy to defend the Nugs when they are missing one of their all-stars, and especially when the missing one has given us so much trouble during his entire career. For those of you worried that you won’t hear him yelling “Ah shit!” during the game, there is still Kenyon Martin to take care of that, so you can still put the kiddies to bed early before the game starts.

Either way, the game’s on an hour early tonight, and I hope all of you readers will be enjoying it as much as I will.

I found a GIF over on Deadspin posted by The Fan’s Attic. It’s incredible and describes much of what happened during that magical third quarter run. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but I must say that this GIF is worth the equivalent of the entirety of James Joyce’s classic Ulysses.

I’m sure I’ll return to normal writing duties tomorrow. In this snow, it’s real tough. It’s a lot easier to snuggle up to a Crunchwrap Supreme than to actually, you know, write about the 2 games that have happened in the last 8 days.

In the midst of Brandon Roy’s rapturous run where he cured leprosy in between draining threes in Jason Richardson and Matt Barnes’ respective eyes, the Phoenix Suns took an evident and well-needed time out.

The fans, obviously, were excited, not only for the cure to leprosy, but their attempt to take a lead late in a game against a team they haven’t beaten in over 2 years. This was shown in the inspired choice of cuts made by the Rose Garden jumbotron director.

1. Dancing kid that does that wave thing between his hand that seems to be the go-to symbol of not knowing what rhythm is.

2. Dancing lady over the tunnel does her dancing thing. Crowd goes wild. It hurts sometimes when she doesn’t show up to the games.

3. Dancing jolly old man does his cabbage patches and points his fingers into the air. People are eating this up.

4. Dude starts dancing in the aisle and rips off his shirt and continues to dance

5. Back to kid, then dancing lady

6. Shirtless dude is now being spanked by a girl in the crowd for a while. They switch it around and he starts spanking her.

7. Back to usual assortment of dancers.

8. Shirtless dude is back, now joined by 5 other shirtless dudes dancing.

I honestly can’t decide what was a better run. Was it the man who single handedly turned the Rose Garden into a low-rent Chippendale’s show, or was it Brandon Roy’s 16 straight Blazer points during the third? One of those eternal questions, I suppose.

Back to newly-appointed third best Blazer of all time, Brandon Roy. He scored 52. Yawn. Call me when you can outscore Damon Stoudamire, asshole.

Seriously though, we saw some welcome returns of the players we saw during games last year, such as Trout. The stick-like symbol of ineptitude during the first quarter of the season returned to last year’s form, taking quality looks, and even more taking the ball inside the three point line and not hesitating when thinking of a move. The resurgence of Trout was heralded early by a parade of rebounds.

I wish it was possible to give two game balls out for last night, because Steve Blake earned it. He kept the team in the game during the second quarter with his three pointers. He drew the toughest defensive assignment and managed to outduel one of the top PGs in NBA history. Last night’s game is yet another feather in his hat. (I imagine it’s a bowler) Still, you’re not forgiven for the Clips game. That’ll take us getting to the playoffs.

Sorry to reiterate what I was saying before, but even more credit to the fans at this game. As one of them, I have never heard the RG’s crowd get so loud. We all did our part in digging out this win, and the noise was constant from midway through the third on. The boos after the refs’ absurdly bad calls were some of the loudest I’ve ever heard at a sporting event. Why are NW fans the loudest? Never understood that.

And finally, a special note to former childhood hero, current king of sour grapes Shaquille O’Neal. YOU DID NOT GIVE THIS GAME AWAY. You lost to a team that is better than you. Get used to it. You’re never going to win a championship again for the rest of your career. Shooting 70% from behind the arc and over 55% for the game is called giving your best shot and coming up short. The Suns will have a disappointing fall out of the Western Conference and be buried fighting in between the 9 and 6 seeds for the next couple of years, and then be even worse. You’ll be actually giving away plenty more games over the next three years. Save your excuses for then. You’ll need them. (Keep up on the Twitter, though; it’s hilarious!)

P.S. Hey Shaq - tell me how my ass taste.

A good friend of mine in college is a gifted portraitist. For a period during our sophomore year, he specialized in pictures that approached caricature of famous players from the late 90s and noted Jailblazers. His Larry Johnson had the teeth, and the Sheed had its mouth open, ready to bark at an official on a loading dock. My favorite, though, was the portrait of Ha Seung Jin, the team’s backup center at the time. Right now, the picture is lost to time and unkempt work space, but from memory, the picture was the only one of the series that was subdued. It showed Ha’s face as it was, but it was also able to keep the joy that Ha had whenever he was on the court. His face, in itself, was a caricature. Here’s this 7 foot 3, nearly 300 pound Korean dude with what may be the largest head in history. His brow shot out over his eyes, and his cheek bones were slightly too big and too high, which took attention away from some shoddy orthodontic work. It seemed as if his features were meant for a man a foot shorter while his bone structure kept getting bigger and more oddly defined. And he was this big when he was drafted at only 18 years old. While the picture paid service to his unusual features, it didn’t mock them. It showed a big kid who was looking to do his best.

He’s a great symbol of the change in regimes between the Bob Whitsitt era success at any costs Jail Blazers to the sad-sack Steve Patterson Jail Blazers. Whitsitt’s picks were defensible, as they were focused solely on stock-piling the greatest assortment talent possible and hoping that the whole thing wouldn’t implode on itself before winning a championship.¹ Patterson’s picks were of a different variety; clueless, cronyistic, and vaguely racist.² It seemed as if he was picking Ha simply because he was a giant Asian dude, much like Yao Ming, hoping that he’d play like Yao, regardless of the fact that Yao was (and is) a complete player and Ha was a raw 18 year old kid.

However, this is no insult to Ha. This kid played his heart out to the best of his ability. He never moped, and he always worked hard. If he wasn’t unfit for the NBA, I’m sure he would fit in with the culture of the current team perfectly. His hands were made of material that gave cement blocks a bad name, as passes would bounce off him and out of bounds constantly, but he wouldn’t let that bring him down. He had a joy when he played; when he awkwardly shuffled up the hardwood, you could see that he was just happy to be there.³ By some freak chance of a team losing Arvydas Sabonis, Theo Ratliff, and Joel Przybilla, he got his chance, and tried his hardest. On April 20, 2005, the last game of the season, he put up 13 against the archrival Lakers, including a beautiful hook shot in crunch time that made us forget about Arvydas’ departure for a minute and put the Blazers up 1. The team ended up winning the game and put a cap on the Lakers worst season of the last ten years. After the game, then-interim-head coach and future savior Kevin Pritchard put on a brave face saying, “If you looked around the building tonight you saw some of our future playing out there.” By now, though, most of that team is gone. Ha couldn’t keep up with the league in his next season, and was traded at the end of the 05-06 season.

His departure from the team was part of the end of the Jail Blazer era that coincided with the draft of Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge. There has since been sightings of him around the basketball world. I heard whispers that he was in Beijing representing South Korea at the Olympics. According to Trail Post friend Wikipedia, he’s currently playing for KCC Egis, hopefully gaining the skills for a comeback in the NBA.

Personally, I can’t think of a guy who deserves another shot more.
¹ This is one misunderstood part of his legacy. He managed to nearly succeed twice with this seemingly horrible game plan. If the Sonics had beaten the Bulls or hadn’t lost to the Nuggets in the first round, and somehow won a championship, any fan in Seattle would have gladly taken the championship in exchange for ten years of horrible play that peaked at mediocrity. I’m not going to rehash the events of 2000, but let’s just say Whitsitt would have been canonized in Pioneer Courthouse Square if that team had not melted down in the fourth quarter. Granted the Blazers went on the same streak as the Sonics soon after his departure. He took two teams to the absolute peak, and within ten years of his departure, both became toxic and on the verge of relocation, with one of them hijacked to Oklahoma City. Th

at’s why it’s called gambling, folks.

² Which makes him an ideal representative GM for the Bush era.

³ This sense of joy infected the Blazers fan base, too, resulting in two of Trail Post’s favorite YouTube videos of time: the Ha Seung Jin mixtape, and the NBA Live 2006 Party Hard video. In the first, you see a progression of Ha’s career and skill with R. Kelly’s “The Greatest” droning in the background. With the second, you see the player you wish he could be with the greatest piece of pop music composition from the last ten years blaring into your soul accompanying.

No, it’s not the one you were yelling when Hedo Turkoglu made that prayer.  It’s not the one you murmured under your breath after the first quarter of the Celtics game.  Not the one that you screamed 4 different times when Steve Blake missed those free throws.  And it’s not the one with a bull in front of it you tossed out during the first half of the Jazz game.

Slump.  Five letters, and we’ve been in the middle of one for much more than the last five horrible games.  By my reckoning, it started in New York after the major Pistons win.  The team came out flat and uninspired against one of the lesser teams in the league, but still won.  Does that send a message to a young team that a flat and uninspired performance can still win games?  (Maybe if you’re playing against the Eastern Conference.)  They continued that play against the rest of the Eastern Conference opponents and won 3 out of 4, even if they were squeakers against slumping teams.

Then they met two real teams.  That five game road trip was, in essence, an eight game one, with the home then away then home giving no time for relaxation in the comfortable confines of Portland.  Orlando got lucky because the Blazers couldn’t execute down the stretch.  Utah ran over us because the Blazers’ legs were too tired to even hit 34% of their 3 pointers.  And then the bloomin’-onion flavored spit in the eye when Steve Blake makes 1-5 free throws to lose the game.  In the best cosmic coincidence of all, Blake’s mark matches the Blazers success rate in their last five — one.  And that was Blake’s magical shot.

The problem has been diagnosed.  Toughest schedule ever, blah blah blah.  There’s good news, though folks.  The remedy has already been administered.  Three days without a game.  A few days at home with family.  Maybe just playing some video games.  Just some damn relaxation.  They get to watch a football game on TV.  They get to practice their sets for the first time in what seems like months. The team will be ready, rested, and relaxed the next time they come out.

Then they have the best remedy of all: they’re playing the Kings tomorrow. 

(Author’s note: In place of a tirade against a horrible loss, a simple open letter will take its place)

Dear Guy Sitting Behind Me, 

Huh?

Did you actually do that?

I don’t know if you knew this, but we’re at a basketball game, and a close one at that.  These teams are exchanging runs, and I am a fan of the home team.  The best way I know of helping them to a win is to scream reminders at Hedo Turkoglu of how his face is shaped like a triangle or how I am convinced that Dwight Howard wears a bra.  To do this, I need to stand up, in order to let them know it’s coming from me.

What if I had some sort of joint disorder or disease?  Like I had to stand up whenever I heard a certain decibel level.  It would definitely make train stations hell.  What then?  You really would feel like the fool.  I do not have this disorder.

Seriously, though, why?  I’m confused.  It’s one of the biggest possessions of the game, and standing is one of the best ways I know of to cope with the nerves (especially in the fourth quarter, when the Rose Garden becomes drier than Utah).  I need to yell defense, as there are thousands in the crowd that join in simultaneously, that are doing their duties as fans.  But you tug on my Rudy Fernandez jersey.  That red-lined white number 5 staring you in the face is ruining the game for you.  What does one do when someone is standing?  I mean, there’s no recourse.  It’s not as if you can’t stand too.  I mean,  we’re packed tight here, and we’ve all elbowed our fair share of shoulders and sides, how can we stand?  And what would happen if you did?  You would become like me.  You would be the guy who’s yelling at a game.

I imagine this is some sort of nightmare for you.  When you were a kid, I bet you read your Dr. Seuss books at the top of the slide as a line of kids waited behind you to actually use it.  ”It’s so scenic up here,” you’d say to them.  When your wife was giving birth, you told her to quiet down.  Who can blame you though?  The Times Crossword isn’t going to solve itself.  (Five letter word, “Elaine Chao is the Secretary of _______,”)  Cut down the racket!  

We all paid good money to see this game, and guess what, if I’m sitting in front of you, I probably paid a little more.  There’s a solution to not letting people stand in front of you.  Buy seats as far up as possible.  If that’s not possible, try having a little fun; it’s a basketball game.

Stand up with me.  The air’s a little cleaner up here, and the view is incredible.

Yours,
The Guy Who Ruined The Game For You  

Believe it or not folks, France’s coverage of basketball isn’t that strong.  This is especially concerning to your Trail Post blogger because he’s planning on moving there within the next year.  The coverage there tends to be focused on the David Stern image of the NBA, meaning the league consists of LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, and those other guys.  (On the other hand, one could argue that that’s really it for the NBA right now and be right.)  The other pieces of coverage are on those who have fled France like the Huguenots to find financial safety and fame in the United States and Toronto.

Yesterday, Nicolas Batum wrote a blog piece about his life with the Blazers so far, and about how difficult the schedule has been, and other bits like that, but the bit that L’Equipe, the most popular sports daily in France, bit onto was a small piece about the habits of warming up.

Cette semaine, Nicolas Batum fait une confidence édifiante sur le blog qu’il tient sur le site basketsession. «On va sur le terrain seize minutes avant le match, écrit l’ailier titulaire de Portland. Seize minutes seulement. Me demandez pas pourquoi, je ne sais pas. Et ça, j’ai eu du mal à m’y faire au début, parce qu’avant j’avais toujours l’habitude de m’échauffer au moins une demi-heure. C’est pour ça qu’au début de saison, les premières mi-temps, j’étais pas vraiment dedans. (…) Maintenant, je sais comment m’échauffer en un quart d’heure et je ne suis plus froid quand j’arrive en match.»

To do a quick translation:This week, Nicolas Batum wrote an educational piece on the blog he keeps for the site Basketsession: “We go on the court sixteen minutes before the game,” says the titular Portland wing. “Only sixteen minutes. Don’t ask me why, I don’t know. Due to that, I had a hard time at first, because usually I would always warm up for at least half an hour. That’s why at the beginning of the season, in the first halves of games, I was never really in it…Now, I know how to warm up in fifteen minutes and I’m no longer cold when I enter the game.Ironically, this blog just took on the form of L’Equipe’s site. I have become what I swore to myself not to be. Either way, there’s some fun French translation. Still, I don’t know if I want to be in a place where some big news is the amount of time you goof around before a game. Actually, wait, they have pain au chocolat. Who can resist?

Who knew he had it in him?

Clutch theatrics are expected of this team, but usually it’s from a source like Brandon Roy, franchise restorer, or Rudy Fernandez, Portland’s most eligible bachelor.  Not our favorite pasty dude with bizarrely dark thick eyebrows.  The shot he took with only 8 seconds left was a star shot.  No one but a star should be taking a 3 pointer off the dribble while down two points with under ten seconds left.  (That sentence I just wrote would be the beginning of a tirade agaist Blake if he missed that shot.)  He saw an opportunity and, like a veteran, he seized it.  He knew the score, the time, and he had Jose Calderon, International Goober Extaordinaire right in front of him.  Basically, the shot was another nail in the coffin of the theory that Blake is not right for this team.

He is.

He has the steady hand to guide a young team, the respect of his teammates, and most importantly, an automatic shot from 3 point.  I’m sure he knows that both Sergio and Rex are gunning for his spot, but you could never see that from his attitude on the floor.  He gives guys freezer burn when he goes past them.  He stays out of the way of the stars, and just makes sure he catches the ball when they pass to him and rarely makes stupid mistakes.

Today was welcome after being the dog to the Celtics’ Qyntel Woods.  This was another trap game, both due to coming off a discouraging blowout loss and because the Raptors were due for their dead coach bounce, the second such encounter for the Blazers during the trip.  Toronto came out strong and inspired, but the Blazers took their best shot and made it close by the end of the second quarter.  The rest of the way was just runs, and the Blazers kept it close until the end.  And there is no better team in the NBA in close games than the Portland Trailblazers.

Oh yeah, LaMarcus was the fucking smoke monster from Lost today.  Just everywhere and striking without warning.

LaMarcus Aldridge, in his natural form

Chris Bosh, right before mauling