Belated He-don't Thoughts

Sorry for the late post but it was the 4th of July Weekend and I had other obligations to fulfill.

Hedo "Turkeysoup" not coming to the Blazers is immaculate news, BUT because of Kevin Pritchard's dubious decision making in pursuing this life-size clucking Turkey, the Blazers will missed out on key free agents steals of (gulp) Ron Artest and Trevor Ariza. I hate to tell you so Blazer fans, but your boy KP "muffed" the ball on this one and if you don't look at just all the great things he has done by ignoring some of the unholy things he has done (like most Blazer fans), well than you are a stubborn, blind, BUT die-hard Blazer fan! There's nothing wrong with being a fan and spitting out the truth and the truth here is that KP has now earned his third strike. That's right and here they are:

* Not firing Coach Muff
* Failing to pull the trigger on Devin Harris in exchange for Blake and Outlaw
* Overrating and overvaluing He-don't to miss out on bargain FA like (gulp-gulp) Artest and Ariza.

AND keep this in mind: The Blazers finished 4th in the Western Conference last year (tied w/Nuggets for 2nd but lost tiebreaker)... With teams like the Lakers and the Spurs improving and with a healthy Utah and San Antonio team this year, don't assume the Blazers will be contending for a title this coming year. I easily can put the Lakers, Cavs, Spurs, Celtics, Jazz, and maybe the Nuggets all ahead of the Blazers right now w/no improvements to the team. Until some more changes are made, that's the bald face truth...

Bill Simmon's Thoughts on Coach Muff...

The great Bill Simmons agrees with yours truly about Coach Muff. Previously, Simmons gave way TOO MUCH credit to Muff on his podcasts saying he was probably a Top 5 Coach today, but after reading this and getting the National Exposure about the Blazers, he realized the truth and wrote about it in his latest column:

It's amazing how many coaches miss chances to make superior teams bend to them. Like Nate McMillan ignoring his biggest advantage in Round 1 (going small against Houston and forcing Yao to come out to guard LaMarcus Aldridge) and stupidly playing right into Houston's hands... Someone needs to explain how it's 2009 and yet coaching and officiating are getting worse. I can't figure it out!

How much more proof does KP and the Blazer Nation need that Muff is not the solution??

The End...

Sorry for the late post but I just got access to a computer after a hellacious weekend in Boardman, Oregon...

Nothing else needs to be said that I've posted in the previous games below vs. Rockets but if the Blazers want to become future contenders, they need to do a few things:
(1) NO MORE TRAVIS OUTLAW!!
(2) Upgrade at PG
(3) Fire Coach McMuff!!

Kevin Pritchard has dropped the ball a couple of times, and I must remove him from my GM of the year list for these reasons:

(*) KP drafted Greg Oden over Kevin Durant. See my post here achieve here.
(*) KP declined a trade 2 seasons ago that would have packaged Steve Blake and Travis Outlaw out of Portland (2 of my least favorite Blazers) for Devin Harris...
(*) KP could have fired Coach McMuff 2 seasons ago after a 5-12 start and a fight started off during practice that involved Jarrett Jack... Instead, he trades Jack and Jack has his best season yet...

Blazers Somehow Pull Away in the 4th

It wasn't pretty last night. Every time the Blazers would build a double digit lead, it wouldn't last a single possession and the Rockets would battle back and go on a run almost immediately after.

The game was tied going into the 4th and Houston would eventually score the 1st four points in the 4th and the Blazers didn't get their first points of the final quarter until the 8:30 mark. This game definitely felt like it was going to be the last of the season...

Somehow, a switch just went off and what quickly was a 4 point deficit (Houston's biggest lead of the game) became quickly a Blazer double digit lead again!! Talk about a seesaw battle!! Roy, who had been playing bad all night and had flu-like symptoms started to get it going w/drives and a very difficult 3 falling down w/Battier in his face to give the Blazers a nice nine point lead.

To my surprise Steve Blake was efficient tonight. The few times he penetrated to the hoop seemed to discombobulate Houston's defense (Where was that in the previous games Coach Muff??) and his huge fake and driving layup over Yao in the 4th sealed the deal.

Another surprise was seeing Rudy be the first man off the bench and he also started in the 2nd half. Rudy was instant offense when he came in. Rudy did everything tonight. He found the open man, grabbed 4 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocks!! It only took Coach Muff 86 games to figure out that Rudy > Outlaw (Speaking of 86, Coach Muff should be 86'ed)!!

Speaking of Outlaw, Coach Muff continued to (over) play Outlaw in 27 minutes. Although he hit a huge three in the 4th, he put up another stinker. Please tell me why this clown is still playing a majority of minutes. He took 13 shots and only made 4 of them... I still can figure out Muff's rationale on this...

Feel like Vomitting

First off, sorry for the delay. I was without a computer until tonight and was able to get back home to catch Game 4.

A sidenote before I start, if you haven't noticed by now, I have given Coach Nate McMillan's nickname a nickname from now on of Muff. It's not right to the (McDonald's) McMuffin. Personally, I love the fast food. Coach, on the other hand, I can't stand his coaching tactics. Nothing personal... AND, if football, "muff" is defined as dropping a punt/kickoff and in "Coach Muff's" case, he is dropping the ball as a coach...

Game 3 thoughts 1st... Steve Blake took a page out of Travis Outlaw's book in bonehead shooting in jacking up a Level 12 degree difficulty shot from a scale of 1 to 10 down by 3 IN TRANSITION without making a pass WITH a hand in his face WITH 13 seconds left!! The previous play before, my man Rudy hit a fade from the corner WITH a hand in his face and was really the main catalyst for the Blazers being in the game. Glad Jeff Van Gundy was on commentary as he called Blake's knucklehead play out (which probably Coach Muff did not as he only scrutinizes bench players)...

Oh, speaking of Muff, what's up with taking Rudy out in the 4th. If you were watching the game on ESPN, you saw a camera shot of Rudy exploding thinking to himself, "Fuck, we're going to lose this game because my coaching is a moron and just took out the hottest player on the team (in that game)". It took a Roy foul out to get him back in the offense...

On to Game 4: Muff leaves Blake in the 4th and produces a donuts across the board. And if you haven't learned by now, Blake is probably the worst transition PG in the game. A team under 25 that averages the least amount of fast break points?! That's unreal. Partially, that's on Muff too for not preaching it because if he did, then Bayless would be starting. When the Blazers had a chance to tie or lead in the 4th where Steve "Choker" Blake was running in transition, he pulls up and gets stripped unsurprisingly...

The Battle of two overrated coaches in Rick "I Always Collapse in the Playoffs" Adelman" vs. Coach Muff in who's coach is worse was epic (in Games 2 and 4), but in Muff's case, he makes Adelman look like Einstein (Did people not notice when the Rockets where up 2 with 41 seconds left that they should have shot the ball w/28 to 30 seconds left so they would get one last look in case the Blazers scored instead of shooting w/24 seconds left?!). Don't forget the Blazers down 3 with about 9 seconds left and Nate draws up a fade Outlaw 3 IMMEDIATELY: Shades of Steve Blake's beautiful disaster the previous game...

Alright there goes my stomach and my head, I can't type anymore, but I leave you with this: It's not to late to start getting long "The Notorious J.V.G. and JBAY next season and sell (short) Coach Muff and Blake!!

The Great Escape

Wow sort of a scary ending... Could have lost too w/Rudy getting bailed out and then Brooks would have probably hit another 3 to win (hit 2 in a row prior). McMuffin had two 20 second timeouts there and didn't use any... And I normally criticize him for using stupid early timeouts... This is a first... Mind-boggling isn't it?! This qualifies as "The Great Escape" but, we go into houston w/NO momentum.

It was a close game throughout and what I thought was a good momentum changer for the 'Zers in the 2nd quarter was Nate using The Twin Tower lineup of "The Vanilla Gorilla" Joel Przybilla and Greg Oden. I was actually going to give Coach Muff credit for making that move BUT Blazer sideline reporter Rebecca Haarlow reported that Nate accidentally found the lineup because some Blazers had foul trouble... I should have known!!

Off course, it wouldn't last long as Oden would either commit another knucklehead foul or Joel would get called for some bogus foul by Joey Crawford and his stooges...

Houston was able to catch up after this BUT then Portland started to "run 'n gun" and took control at the end of the 1st half to build some momentum into the 2nd half. It got us easy looks at the basket which was uncommon compared to all the easy and/or open looks Houston had. BUT I knew better this time. Mike Rice even made a remark that Houston was 30th in fast breaks and doesn't like to run... The 'Zers average age is under 25... Should McMuffin be running this team to death, especially Yao who has a bad footsy (What do you the readers think we should do and what did Nate do? See my post below about Game 1)? I even texted my friend James that I wouldn't be surprised if Muff abandoned the run 'n gun completely... Nate did and Houston was able to build a nice lead to start the 3rd but the game would be deadlocked at 72 going into the 4th...

Roy and Aldridge (minus LaMarcus' 3rd quarter) were spectacular and if they have to do this the rest of the series, I don't see Portland making it past the 6th game. I mean, Roy put up an incredible 42 vs. the normally stellar defense of Shane Battier and Ron Artest...

Although Outlaw hit a big shot and had a nice steal that led to a dunk in the 4th, I don't like Muff's decision of putting Travis in over Rudy and/or Batum. Prior to the 4th, Outlaw had shot 1-6 FG... Who in their right mind puts someone in clutch 4th quarter minutes who has played piss-poor on offense and lacks defense?! Oh, wait, that's Nate's MO... Yet somehow, no matter how abysmal and unfathomable the decision McMuffin makes, he is lucky enough with this deep and talented Blazer team to win just like Mike DUDleavy did... Ladies and Gentlemen, "The 2nd Coming of DUDleavy!"

Bingo Bango Bongo Van Gundy!!

Before Game 1 of the Blazers/Rockets series, DA MAN Jeff Van Gundy predicted that Houston would BLOW OUT the Blazers... Even I thought that was a bold statement as Portland was going into the playoffs on a nice winning streak and held a 34-7 record with those 7 loses being close and contested games...

Apparently, "The Notorious J.V.G." knew what I knew. The Blazers don't match up well with Houston as Houston won the season series 2-1 and the Portland one win was the miracle heave from 35 feet from Roy. The Blazers haven't won a game in Houston in decades and normally games at Houston are blowout dubya's for the Rockets while games at Portland, games are tighter.

AND then, there is my "x-factor" of coaching. McMuffin got it ALL wrong!! NOT Putting Bayless in (at all until garbage time) to try to stop Aaron Brooks was a ghastly mistake. I mean, Steve Blake was abused like Danny Bonaduce. I mean, Brooks ONLY finished with 27 points, 7 assists, and 4 rebounds in his first Playoff game start... Oh, and on a sidenote, I am glad ESPN commentary touched on the Oregon Alum Brooks destroying Steve Blake, which you wouldn't get from Blazer play-by-play suckup Mike Barrett (but I still love you Mike Rice!!).

Yao Ming was going into the playoffs with a ton of mileage on him and a bad foot, YET Coach Muff would not run him to death and let him have his way on offense. I mean, Yao went through the Olympic experience in his home country and played INJURED (Wait, didn't Coach Muff see this 1st hand from the U.S.A. bench?), AND then played 77 games this season which is like a blue moon because he is injury prone and misses at least 2 dozen games a season. Normally, Yao is pulling his shorts, gasping for air at the 8 minute mark in the 1st quarter, but Yao would rest his injury comfortably only playing 24 minutes. Oh, he ONLY scored 24 points on 9-9 FGs and grabbed 9 boards to go as well... Well done Coach McMuffin!!

Refs Blame Overshawdows DiLeo Outcoaching Nate

(Sorry, it's been awhile but I'm back!!)

Sure the Leon Wood blew a bundle of calls in the end and when the fans started to chant "(Steve) Javie sucks", he wasn't going to help bailout Brandon Roy and the Blazers in the final stretch. Oh, and not the greatest night for Roy, who shot miserably and air-balled the potential game winner in regulation.

Let me scrutinize the coaching matchup between "Mike D'Antoni Jr." Tony DiLeo (also notice the 2 capital letters in both last names) vs. Nate McMuffin... You'd think an experienced coach like McMuffin would have the advantage over an interim coach like DiLeo, but if you haven't been following McMuffin or DiLeo, you wouldn't know it...

In the 1st quarter when the game was still even, Nate subs Outlaw into the game for... wait for it... Batum... as always... NOT noticing that Steve Blake was getting torched by Andre Miller. An average Joe (like myself) would know better that if you're going to sub Outlaw in, sub him in for Blake and move Batum over to guard Miller.... Sure Blake had a good run in the 3rd quarter, but pretty much stunk it up in the other periods. BUT you might not have noticed because commentator Mike Barrett's lips are stucked to Blake's you know what...

Once again, how the hell does McMuffin keep under-utilizing Batum with 16 minutes... Outlaw was terrible last night but I guess our genius coach didn't notice it.

Rudy was on fire in the 4th and I still don't know why Nate subbed him out w/3:29 to go; let alone he subbed Outlaw in for Fernandez instead of Batum...

Once again, and I guess no surprise, McMuffin doesn't know a how to create matchups/sub players in/keep a player in that is on fire but does everything he can to try to lose games that we should win/or win close games vs. bad teams that should have been easy blowouts...

Oh, and Nate's flip-flopping of backup PG's is just another mind-boggling situation. If you're a playoff caliber team or contender, shouldn't you have your rotation's down? AND by doing this, you give both Sergio and J-Bay the lack of confidence to succeed (i.e. J-Bay doesn't go to his strengths and plays like McMuffin)... BUT I think I figured it out: Nate McMuffin can't coach PG play because he himself was a underwhelming PG...

Blazers Escape with A Win Again No Thanks to Nate

Again, this game should have been a loss as Nate did almost anything in his power to try to lose the game. The fact that McMuffin got outcoached by Kevin McHale itself is sad and pathetic.

First off, Nicolas Batum was the man tonight. The only person not noticing this was Coach McMuffin. Did Nate not see his boxscore tonight of 12 points on 4-7 shooting, 6 boards, and 3 dimes in ONLY a mere 23 minutes. Can you imagine if he played 30+ minutes tonight?! AND were was Batum in the 4th quarter McMuffin? Why wasn't Batum in the game when Ryan Gomes hit a three with 10 seconds left? I would have to assume Mike Rice or somebody with some BB IQ told McMuffin to put Nic back in on the final play with 6.7 seconds left. Boy, Foye's shot looked damn good, but hit the back iron. Just like the Knicks game, no justice for the better coach...

And the next dilemma from the game was: Is it Sergio or Bayless? Sort of like when Mike Martz of the St. Louis Rams were deciding if they should start a struggling Kurt Warner or a rising Mark Bulger (boy he has fallen and Warner is the Phoenix that has risen). BUT in this situation, which is once again, mind-boggling and hurts my head trying to decipher it, McMuffin is casting both Sergio and J-Bay to question their games IMO. They have to be thinking why am I not TRUELY the guy...

Normally, Sergio will hit one shot, but once he makes a silly turnover or throws up an ugly shot, that will be Nate's cue to sub back Blake in. The ugly flat shot was the case tonight.

Bayless, on the other hand, is not playing towards his strengths. McMuffin is trying to have him play the way McMuffin wants and not the ways J-Bay is best at. Turnovers and some bad no-calls from the refs tonight pretty much doomed Bayless tonight but like Sergio, he got one nice driving layup...

I said it earlier, no justice for the better coach even if his name is Kevin McHale.

Blazers Surprise Me and the Spurs

Looks like the Blazers remembered what happened in San Antonio earlier this week and took this one personally. Not only did the Blazers beat this Spurs, they embarrassed them. AND with Tim Duncan coming back, this makes it even more shocking and thus makes my head spin and hurt.

The Blazers almost led almost wire to wire. Although I am a big fan of Greg Popovich's coaching, I thought he made a mistake early that probably cost them this game. Normally, Greg Popovich would start Bruce Bowen and have his first-class defense harass Roy. Roy normally struggles against the Spurs and Bowen is the main catalyst for that. Bowen is one of the dirtiest and most hated players in the NBA, or at least, IMO. BUT, Popovich now starts Roger Mason over Bowen. Mason did have a great game, but because he had to check B-Roy, Brandon was on FIYAHH early and never cooled off. Five minutes into the game, the Spurs are already trailing double digits and Popovich calls timeout to bring in Bowen, but the Spurs never recovered and drifted further away.

Aldridge ate up (Fabricio) Oberto Jerky and Matt Bonner. LA's and Roy's point totals combined in the first half was just about equivalent to all of the Spurs scoring!!

I still can't figure this one out. Mind-boggling. But early in the day when the have the Pistons pounding the Celtics in Boston (and on a Sunday, which their record on Sundays have been abysmal), the Suns beating the Lakers, and the Pacers coming back to beat the Nuggets, it shouldn't have been that surprising to me as this truly was Upset Sunday.

Outcoached... Once Again

A depleted San Antonio Spurs team going into a back-to-back missing two of their "Big 3" players of the great Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili, the Blazers had their best shot in two decades to escape the Alamo Dome, errr, I mean the AT&T Center with a dubya... And with the Blazers depth, that should have made the task more reasonable to accomplish....



BUT... their is a thing called an "x-factor" that I factor in and that my blog followers is COACHING! In one corner, the Spurs arguably have the best coach in the game today in 4-time champion Greg Popovich. And in the Blazer's corner, you probably have the MOST OVERRATED coach today in Nate McMillan, errr, I mean McMuffin. A man before last season had one great season and that was his CONTRACT season in Seattle where he miraculously and somehow led the Sonics into the 2nd round of the Playoffs.

McMuffin said the game plan was to stop Tony Parker (uh... duh when Duncan and Ginobili are missing), yet he couldn't figure out how. Parker only finished with 39 points on 17 of 27 FGs (63%), 9 dimes, and 5 boards. Parker played last night too, but that didn't stop him from dissecting Nate's incompetent scheme. Nate left Blake and Sergio to guard Parker for most of the game in whom the All-Star blew by them both with relative ease.

Oh, did I mention Blake went an incredible 0-9 tonight and only managed 1 assist, which was worthy of 24 minutes according to Nate...

As the 4th quarter ticked down, Nate ended up in desperation and tried putting Travis Outlaw on Parker. Every Blazer fan watching this game on TV was probably yelling at their TVs to put Batum back in... Unfortunately, we have a coach that is a blithering idiot.

The best options IMO for stopping or at least slowing Parker down were probably Nic Batum and Bayless. I recall the few times that the Frenchman guarded his fellow Frenchman, Nic was effective in slowing Tony down... BUT then there's Nate's motto of "If it works, ignore it" went into effect as Batum would get his commonly (1st quarter) 3rd quarter sub out and not return in the (2nd qtr) 4th quarter. For the 2nd night in a row, Batum was very efficient in 8 points on 3-7 FGs (2-3 from distance) and of course, the intangibles on the defense, yet McMuffin somehow inexplicably thought he was only worthy of 16 minutes, which was the least amount of minutes for any Blazer that did not have a DNP by his name...

J-bay, on the other hand, didn't see a second on the floor...

I still am mind-boggled in what Kevin Pritchard sees in Mr. Sonic...

Free Shavlik!!

Shavlik Randolph has played two straight games and I must say, I've been impressed with him. He even got some "non-garbage" time against a top Western Conference team Houston Rockets (only b/c Aldridge picked up 2 quick fouls and Frye who picked up a quicker 3 fouls).

Against the Clips on Sunday, Shav played 8 minutes in garbage time, but managed to score 9 points on 4-8 FGs (1-1 from distance) and grabbed 7 boards. Pretty efficient don't you think. If he plays 10 minutes, I think he gets a double-double in David Lee like manner.

In his short stint vs. the Rockets, Randolph played a mere 4 minutes. He hit one FT and grabbed 3 rebounds and a floor burn from diving for a loose ball. I love the energy and hustle this guy brings. At times, I wonder why this guy doesn't get minutes over Frye or Outlaw.

I also remember Mike Barrett saying that Shavlik was once a guy who started for a 76er team that made the playoffs. Shavlik is no fluke. If a particular player coming off the bench is struggling, I think Randolph would be a great energy sub-guy off the bench. So McMuffin, if your boy Outlaw stinks it up, deattach from him and give Shav the opportunity dammit!!

Phoenix Fires Terry Porter!!

To borrow a line from Marv Albert, "YESSSSSSSS!! And it Counts"

Terry Porter totally ruined this the Suns. Basically the same roster as the previous year and Porter's change of style disgruntled his players and thus, they gave up on him. Sort of like the Clippers giving up on Mike "Dudleavy" for the past two + years (Only they aren't smart enough to fire their Coach/GM).

If you don't know by now, go through my achieves to see the story of Porter and my father. This will probably put a dagger in Porter's hope to ever become a head coach again as he couldn't manage a team with 3 All-Stars. I mean seriously, how can somebody coach a team and have Steve Nash and Amare Stoudamire UNDERPERFORM and QUIT on you?? One word comes to mind now Porter... KARMA!!

Rudy Fernandez Gets the Cold Shoulder from Dunk Judges

Our man Rudy Fernandez totally got the shaft by those Phoenix Suns alum where I have a conspiracy theory that their owner Sarver told them to "readjust" his scores. Remember, Sarver is the guy that made a HUGE mistake (one of many as you see their team self-destructing as I type this) of selling Rudy to the Blazers for a mere $3 million...

There are also conspiracies of the contest being rigged for a "Krypto"Nate Robinson and a "Superman" Dwight Howard final like in the movie... but only this time, the Kryptonite... I mean KryptoNate would come up on top.

Seriously, Dwight Howard's first two dunks should NOT have gotten him 50's and Nate Robinson's dunk off Wilson Chandler's back was unspectacular that should have gotten him 6's or 7's...

Say whatever conspiracy you want, but let me say this... Tom Chambers, Dan Ma-jer-le (still don't know why it's pronounced "Marley"), Kevin Johnson, Cedric Ceballos (and your see-through blindfold, and Larry Nance... You guys can kiss my ass for that piss-poor shitty judging of yours!!

DUUUUUURAAANNNTT!!

Remember when Kevin Pritchard said Kevin Durant is going to be an assassin? Well, not only is Durant sniping teams for 25+ point a game along with 7 rebounds. While Greg Oden, the person drafted in front of him, is racking up the injuries, KD is racking up the points and with the assistance of All-Star Weekend showcasing Durant in not only the Rookie/Sophomore game, but also the H.O.R.S.E. competition tonight (Since his team is atrociously bad, they don't get any National TV exposure, BUT they are young and showing signs of the Blazers from a few years ago). Oh, did I mention, he was the MVP of the Rook/Soph game with a record 46 points on 17 of 25 FGs (4-8 from distance) and grabbed 7 boards and 4 dimes...

Greg Oden, on the other hand, sat out the game because of yet another injury...

Remember, before the 2007 draft, I was one of the few that said we should take Durant

And keep this in mind for those of you that think Greg Oden was still the right choice for Portland... I've been saying it since the beginning of 2009, "In 5 years, Kevin Durant will be the 2nd best player in the league behind LeBron James... With Greg Oden's injury and slow progress thus far, where do you think he'll be ranked at?"

Knicks Deserved Win vs. Blazers but Choke

After falling behind by as many as 17 during midway through the 3rd quarter, the New York Knicks made a dramatic comeback that made it look effortlessly thanks to the piss-poor coaching of Nate McMuffin's zone defense by the Knicks's from long distance by Chris Duhon, Nate Robinson, and yes, Tim Thomas. Thomas was luckily guarded by Travis Outlaw who alone gave up at least 3 three pointers to Thomas and had at least 2 more open looks that wouldn't fall. New York was able to turn the 17 point deficit into a lead in the 3rd but would settle for a tie going into the 4th.

Momentum had turned and the Knicks would build a 13 point lead in the 4th thanks to once again Nate's continuation of the zone defense on the shooters mentioned above. Luckily for McMuffin', the Knicks started to miss WIDE OPEN shots, which left the door open for the Blazers and somehow, managed to pull off the buzzer beater eek out the win.

The Knicks definitely deserve this game as they once had a 30 point turn around as D'Antoni outcoached Nate, but I guess I'll take this (undeserving) win that'll keep us in 5th place.

B-Roy Gives Cheikh Samb a Facial

Smile Cheikh Samb... You've been posterized by Brandon Roy!!

Cavs Game Thoughts

You can look at once again poor free throw shooting in the 1st half, or Coach McMuffin' poor decision to continue to play zone on sharpshooters Mo Williams and Wally Z, but the thing that stuck out the most for me was the piss-poor job the officials did last night. How many non-calls/favorable calls did Monty Mccutchen and Derrick Stafford give LeBron and the Cavs? And how many non-calls/bad calls did they whistle on the Blazers (i.e. Joel Przybilla's charge taken on LeBron with a no call and then out of the set LBJ hits a three, or any of Jerryd Bayless' fouls)?

I immediately thought that the refs were trying to CTS (Cover the Spread for all you non Sportsbook handicappers). The Cavs were a only giving 1.5 (originally from 1.0 in the mourning) and who wouldn't be all over that? If I were in Vegas, I would have taken the Cavs. One has to wonder if Monty Mccutchen or Derrick Stafford had something in this game as well as I CERTAINLY thought so after watching the Blazers comeback to take a temporary lead in the 4th... Rewatch the 4th if you can stomach it and tell me that this game was rigged...

UNREAL Comeback vs. Detroit

I have to admit, the Blazers deserved to lose the game tonight vs. Detroit. And it was all because of Nate McMuffin'. McMuffin' did everything possible in the 4th to TRY to lose that game. I'm not joking...

A VERY stellar Jerryd Bayless tonight and to not see him in the final 8 minutes or so in the game was unexplainable. Did Nate not see the FIRE and PASSION J-Bay displayed out there? Did Nate not see us turn a 14 point deficit into a lead with J-Bay or is he blind or that moronic?

The fact that McMuffin' tried to sub in an uninspiring Greg Oden during the final minutes of the game with a 2 point lead that eventually turned into a 3 point deficit before resubbing Joel Przybilla back in (probably because somebody in the front row yelled that to him because Nate doesn't normally like to resub Joel for some idiotic reason)...

AND, let's just ignore Travis Outlaw's game winning bucket... If Travis wasn't playing in the 4th quarter at all, the Blazers run away with this one. Just look at the dozen (or more) points he surrendered to Tayshaun Prince and the numerous rebounds he failed to box-out or got out-hustled on... McMuffin', didn't Nicolas Batum's performance vs. Lakers earn him those 4th quarter minutes you gave to Outlaw?? Not to mention Batum is probably the best forward poistion defender on the team that would have a great chance at stopping Prince...

BUT because the Blazers won, the media will praise McMuffin' on the comeback win when all he did was make the game more exciting to (ignorant) fans along with giving me an ulcer and gray hairs, and this will also cover up Outlaw's horrific flaws on anything but his act of taking insanely difficult shots...