Neither Nic nor Travis are playing very well lately . . . . and tonight neither were many others.

Highlights (albeit minor):

- More time for Bayless.
- Less time for Frye.
- Oden is looking more comfortable, even if he still picks up fouls way too quickly.
- And of course, Joel’s continued manliness.

Having Bayless routinely defend Stojakovic doesn’t work though, even though he managed a tip or two.

No.

Channing walked his St. Bernard past Nate’s house, knocked on the door trying to sell him religious literature, snuck in the window with the dog in tow to try and leave tracts on his kitchen table when Nate refused, watched the dog knock Nate’s new 102" big screen off the wall and then slobber on it, tried to Google “big screen glass repair and cleaning” on Nate’s laptop, ended up on a virus-infested porn site instead, then stood horrified as the dog took a dump on a rare oriental rug and covered it up with pictures of Nate’s children.

Then Channing started finger-painting with it.

—Dave

Nah not really…obnoxious and one-dimensional. Sometimes a guy is just lucky and ends up a string on good teams. See Robert Horry. There is such a thing as coincidence.

David West’s tattoos should read, “Carpe Calf Exercises”. I’m pretty sure I have bigger calves than that and I’m 7 inches shorter and all I do is run.

—Dave

We got told to get out. As in here you go, get out.
I would say we got kicked out of our own shindig. Dang that was rough. What happened? I remember having a party, and then having to leave. (actually don’t worry I didn’t leave early!)
Let’s get back to this imaginary party, we had to leave. Not too late in the party though. I would say the keg was only in the third/quarter of it’s life when it got out of hand and died.

So instead of trying to slowly comb through my spider webs of memories I am just going to start rambling on about things you make me think about Ben, you great writer you.

Nic Batum is an enigma to me. He’s still starting, when all along I knew we would be a better team is Travis had the balls to step up and earn that position. Instead he’s somewhere I will be after I die, in limbo, waiting… Waiting for something that will never come.

I wonder if Rudy could of have ever earned a starting role on this team in the pre-season. I have to say that he could not of, and he did all he could to prove he could start. In his two starts he has been nothing short of starter-potential. Seeing him with Roy could create a new 2 headed dragon for the Blazers of Shooting guards who can play point as well. Does any other team have the potential to start two all-star 2/1 guards? Only my city-team.

David west is Ai-ght. If you like that sort of player who can just stop, pop and shoot the ball to the bottom of the net – in traffic – at a moment’s notice. He might also go 1-on-1 too often for my liking. So I don’t really like those types of players. See again my comments about not really liking players on other teams just because they don’t sport the Pinwheel.

Channing doesn’t have a dog. And he doesn’t talk to Nate. That’s his problem. Sergio let his agent do a little talking, let his game do a little more and he is playing. It might help that his superstar buddy is now on our team, but his poor play tonight might of have helped us loose this ga…Wait, Did we play tonight? I don’t think we did, my mom and I went to the Circus…. My point is, if you think you are a baller, and your balling hard in practice, let it be known. Look at Bayless, He wants to be thee man on this team. Tonight he got a FEW minutes but more importantly he got to the rim. The kid can ball, and yeah, he is learning to play the point alright. I see him jumping off the bench with excitement every time he gets a chance to play, heck, he already does it every time we score, That kid can ball, you just wait and see, Channing, I am going to wait and see if you start perhaps talking to Nate like confession, forgive me father for I have been forgotten.

I stood up when Joel left the game in the 3rd quarter. I thought I was at an MMA fight for a minute. Watching T.Chands getting ready for Rocky 26 brought me out of my seat. And of course I had to clap a couple for the V. Gorilla. I like seeing that type of fight in our guys, maybe we’ll get a harder rep. Let’s just hope it doesn’t spark the other paintball team, we played paintball tonight right? It was NOT basketball I know that much…

One time I gave a standing ovation for Ha-Seung-Gin and Tonic.

Joel’s legend grows daily like those little towel spongey things you can buy down at Finnegan’s toy store.

Chandler. I hate that guy. Especially cause he tried to punk Joel P. and then sparked his team up causing them to… ahem…Anyone remember what happened tonight? All I recall is there was this really cute girl sitting RIGHT behind me and I tried not to look, more then 5 or 6 times…

I don’t count my eggs before they are hatched. I don’t count my chicks before they grow into Chickens you know. The point being, if we are up, I’m nervous. If we are down, I am more nervous.

James Who? Jones? Nan. Lebron? I will trade you for RLEC. Posey? I don’t want no Posey’s on MY team!

Hilton Who? Paris? Alright…She can have 50 points on me any night, actually, I take that back, I want her younger sister, those are the only two Hilton’s I will ever care about, deeply care about, and yearn for their company, and their intelligence, and meaningful conversation…This other basketball player dude just got the better of Oden 1 out of 50 times in the coming years, Oden’s due for a Monster of a game, this Hilton cat is due for a monster migraine because of said game.

Rasual Who? You see boys, I don’t really pay attention to the rest of the league. Call me idiotic if you will, and your probably right, but the point is I just don’t care about them, I don’t have the time to. So when your teams player scores on my teams player and I yell out “WHO?!”, as if to ask? “I’m dumb for not knowing you, but your not exactly a big name guy, I know all the big names, and I don’t know you”, it IS truly an insult to them, unless of course they go ahead and contribute to a lose for my team in which case I hang my head and say, What happened tonight?…We went to a Bendy-lady show? She did have some amazing flexibility…

• Is it time for the Nic Batum experiment to end? → I would feel better about this if Martell was ready to go
• Would Rudy’s rhythm improve if he started alongside Brandon and Blake? → Worth a shot. Best Blazer tonight (at least under 7’0)
• Did David West (25 and 4) just show LaMarcus Aldridge what an All-Star power forward plays like? → Yes
• Did Channing Frye walk his dog past Nate’s house and forget to pooper scoop? → See Dave’s version
• Did you hear the crowd give Joel a standing ovation in the middle of the 3rd quarter after his altercation with Tyson Chandler that led to Chandler’s ejection? → Yes
• When was the last time you remember a backup center getting a standing ovation in the 3rd quarter? → Maybe Zaza Pachulia not backing down to KG in the playoffs? But not really
• Did Joel’s legend just add another chapter tonight? → Yes Yes Yes
• Did you see how Chandler left the court only after delivering messages to each of his teammates? → To some
• Do you wonder if those messages were the difference in the following few minutes, when the Hornets clawed back against the flat Blazers? → We had bigger problems than that :)
• When the Blazers were leading in the second half, did it feel just a little bit too good to be true? → A little bit
• Don’t you wish we had James Posey? → Not exactly him, but his outside shooting and defense sure were impressive
• Did it feel like Hilton Armstrong had 50 points tonight or what? → 50 dunks. Is it too late to involve him in a multi-team deal?
• Are you pretty confident that the Hornets will never win a ring with Rasual Butler at the 2? → No. Didn’t he use to be a deadly three point shooter? At least in video games?
• Do you think Butler should be nick-named Casual? → No
• Are the Blazers ready for the Lakers? → Always
• Are the Blazers minus Brandon ready for the Lakers? → Is Kobe playing?

I don’t like the patent leather look and the last pair has such a girly blue color.

I’m finally 100% convinced that we need to trade Travis Outlaw.

He STILL gets lost on defense. When you’re 5 years into the league and you can’t find someone to guard, that’s a bad sign. Added to that, if you’re 5 years into the league and Blake has to tell you who to go and guard, that’s also a bad sign.

I couldn’t count on one hand how many times I caught Outlaw napping or drifting around on defense, exposing huge gaps between him and his perimeter defender. How did that translate? Hornets shot 8-17 from 3 point range. Great.

Outlaw could NOT be more of a one dimensional player if he tried. His two dribble, pull up jumper that turns into a near impossible fade away is his only move. He gets lucky once in awhile when a defending post player is out of position, but really that’s on the defense and doesn’t talk to any sort of post skill or driving capabilities of Outlaw.

Errant passes (with glaring regularity), snoozing on defense, getting lost on the floor, complete inactivity on offense when the ball isn’t in his hands, no urgency to rebound (even when pushed to the power forward position) unless absolutely necessary.

I can’t understand why the Blazers aren’t seeing this. His 42% field goal rate can only mast so many inadequacies. Like Dave mentioned, it should not be surprising that Outlaw had 15 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists, and 4 turnovers. There is NO excuse for that. By comparison, Chris Paul had 7 rebounds last night.

The sad part is, if you asked me before this game which player would have 7 rebounds and which would have none, and I were given the option of Chris Paul and Travis Outlaw, I would have guessed correctly.

Do the guys know you’re getting those pictures? Do you ask permission? If so, how do the players react? Or do you sneak around, crawling on the floor? Are you starting the get a rep around the league for kick shots?