I was let down tonight by the Trail Blazers. I really thought they were a much better team then the Nuggets. Maybe they are. But the Blazers couldn't find a way to stop Carmelo and that was their main problem tonight.

Among all things tonight, LaMarcus Aldridge really struggled on offense shooting only 4 of 15 from the floor and only ending up with 9 points. Also Oden and Pryzbilla got into foul trouble so Portland couldn't use their size to their advantage. Travis Outlaw seemed non existent tonight as he only had 4 points. Steve Blake didn't score which is really disappointing because that's what he's out there for. To knock down the open jumpers.

The Blazers rebounded the ball extremely well for most of the game except for at key times in the 4th quarter. Brandon Roy came alive in the second half and Rudy Fernandez played very well in the 4th quarter for them. But I think it will be hard for the Blazers to win any game against a good team if they're not getting what they need from their 2 point guards. As I mentioned earlier Steve Blake didn't score. Andre Miller had 8 points but for the second game in a row his shot selection has been terrible. He attempted 3 3 pointers tonight and I think one of them was just to beat the buzzer so I'll take that one out of there. But he had two other 3 point attempts. What is he thinking? The Blazers didn't bring him there to pull 3's. He's a 20 something percent 3 point shooter for his career. He needs to do what he does and put the ball on the floor, take it to the basket and create.

Greg Oden had a better night as far as scoring goes and he grabbed 9 rebounds. But foul trouble kept him out of them game. But I have to say that it's good that Greg isn't picking up silly fouls like he did last season. But still the Trail Blazers need him on the floor for as long as possible.

Joel was in foul trouble as well. Though I have to question some of the calls on Joel, the fact is he also needs to be on the floor if Oden is in foul trouble. But he ended up in foul trouble just like Oden.

One bright spot that came out of Oden and Pryzbilla getting into foul trouble is that I got to see Juwan Howard get into the game. I thought Juwan played well and he didn't hurt the team. I would like to see Juwan get more minutes but I doubt that will happen.

But the two main bright spots for the Trail Blazers tonight were Brandon Roy and Rudy Fernandez. Brandon started off slow but as the second half started he began to catch fire. Rudy shot the lights out in the 4th. One other Blazer that played well was Martell Webster. He looked really good in the first half. I liked his aggressive defense on Carmelo. Though it didn't stop him, I liked seeing Webster not back down. Also tonight reminded me of how much I hate Carmelo Anthony and the rest of the Denver Nuggets.

To sum this game up though, the Blazers need to make their free throws down the stretch. Brandon missed one, Greg missed two. Also I don't get why they ran the exact same play it looked like at the end of the game that they ran against Houston last year when Brandon hit the 3 for the win. it looked like Denver sniffed it out pretty well.

But one last side note here. I hate when TNT or ESPN does the Blazer games and I don't get to watch Mike Barrett and Mike Rice do the games. It just seems like the national analysts don't know anything about the Blazers. At one point in the game when Ty Lawson drove inside and they called an offensive foul that was overturned to a blocking foul on Pryzbilla, Reggie Miller said "C'mon, be a man and take the charge. You're 7 feet tall." Clearly Reggie knows nothing about Joel. Joel takes charges better then any center in the NBA. But at least they know about Brandon Roy. But still, I hate when the games are nationally televised. I mean, it's good exposure for the team. But i hate the analysts. Have Barrett and Rice call EVERY Blazer game.