I like their unbiasedness… they didn’t even attempt to defend Z-Bo’s flop. Although it was pretty depressing to hear them talk about the days of yore and how they were all excited for this new team coming in which never materialized.

I think they also said Nate McMillan instead of Rudy Fernandez one time. Right after talking about how he had 33 games in a row where he his a three pointer. Anyone else catch that?

They didn’t suck, but they were the equivalent of replacement-level announcers. They were professional and did a decent job.

They only seem good because Mike Rice is such an extreme embarrassment. Paul Allen really needs to step up and put Kevin Calabro and Marques Johnson back together again – bar none the BEST basketball announcing team of all-time.

They’re great. Much better than the Laker Announcers, especially the dimwitted Stu Lance. It’s actually harder to be an announcer for a losing team. You have to find much more to talk about. These guys have long ago conceded that they’re going to have to focus on the visiting talent. The color guy really gives it up for opponents. Last night he forgot that he had seen that same insane curl play that Rudy alley-ooped to Aldridge. Here it is in December. Watch at 1:25. The color guy is floored by Rudy’s play. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlAcm_hkaVI. The other guy, Lawler, is a smooth-talking classic announcer, but never gets over-hyped like Marv Albert or caught up in requisite idiot broadcaster sing-songy exits like Stu Lance.

(i get NBA package so I’ve seen quite a few of the opposing duos. I like Utah and Oklahoma City guys too. Walt Frazier, in NY, on the other hand, has an annoying style. )

He said “Wade was the only one close but Brandon does it with such ease”. He also said something like “Roy has a wicked crossover and an uncanny ability to get his 6’6” body into the smallest of places". That is exactly what I’m always in awe over. What allows this is his amazing ball handling. I don’t think there is a player at his size with a better handle in the NBA.

One of the guys also mentioned that Roy has a 41" vertical but rarely uses it. And they asked “how deep are the Blazers … Frye and Bayless are not even playing!”

I don’t think Brandon is a secret any longer nor are the Blazers as a team for that matter. I hear recognition for them coming all the time now.

he got fouled and fell on his arm. I believe the sleeve might be there for protection purposes, if not physically, at least mentally. Many athletes will wear sleeves and such over knees, elbows etc… even if they are not that sore because it gives them a sense of security.

That’s why LMA had a headband earlier in the year, because of his eardrum getting hurt.

Morty

Big bummer, too… I hope we play on Saturday to start it all off.

next year

the 3 games against them is way too small a sample size to judge from. Given their injuries, I’d rather play NO or SA, and I’d probobly rather play Utah also, but Houston is the team I’m really hoping to avoid. Dallas doesn’t worry me that much.

LMA should be a perfect lanky and quick defender for Dirk, and our bench can match Terry’s production most nights.

I agree with Jake, our losses to the Mavs were more flukey with how good we are this year. Aside from Dirk, who is a matchup problem for anyone and I think we got a few nice answers for him (Batum would be good on him as well, if he isn’t needed for Kidd), there is no one we can’t handle.

We fell flat on X-Mas, lost to them on the road, and happened to lose again. I am confident in this team being able to cream the Mavs, despite the regular season. It’s not like the Rockets, who we barely beat once, who have premiere defenders to give Roy trouble, which gives our entire team trouble at this stage in everyone’s career.

Mavs, Hornets, a Spurs team WITHOUT a somewhat healthy Duncan, are all beatable by us. The Mavs don’t worry me just cause they beat us a few times this year. Hell, I like our chances against anyone really, since us stealing a win on the road is a lot easier than them stealing a win in the Rose Garden right now.

Mortimer

He just does not appear to be a student of the game.

How do you work on your defense in the off-season?

Part of the problem, though, was when he played next to Trout at PF. That is a terrible combo against a decent rebounding frontline on the other side. Oden’s a good rebounder and defender but his mobility is low – you need to pair him with a PF who brings SOMETHING to the table on the glass on on help D. Trout, um, does not. When he plays PF, he’s possibly the worst defending/rebounding four in the league. And it may not be close.

I don’t know, every two or three seconds it seemed…

Travis played terrible the past two games. I like what he gives the Blazers when he’s playing well, don’t get me wrong, but when he’s bad, he’s hold-your-nose stinking bad.

Trout should never, ever play PF against a good rebounding PF on the other side. The Blazers get killed every time Nate tries that. Travis is not a good rebounder even for a SF. You might as well just not guard Lamar Odom if you’re going to have Travis Outlaw trying to box him out. It’s man vs. child.

Speaking of which, there are much worse ways to spend $8 mil in cap space than bringing Odom in…

If Houston wins out (very likely), then denver comes into that game 1 game up on us and Houston. If we beat them, sure, they beat us in the tie breaker, BUT Houston will be Division champ as well, and since Denver loses to us, the will have the same record as Houston—and Houston owns the season series 3-1. So, Denver could very well be playing for the #2 seed, which they will want very very badly, as it gives them home court advantage in the second round.

Someone tell me if I’m wrong. It’s crazy to think we could very likely end up with a 4 way tie for 2nd place in the conference—talk about close. For that to happen Spurs, Blazers and Houston have to win out (totally possible) and Denver just loses to us on the last day.

I remember the game down here LAST season, where Roy was out, and we only beat the Clippers because Jack had an above average game. It was the worst win I can ever remember.

This 15 point win was ugly, but had some beautiful moments… break away dunks, Roy dunked twice, the Rudy to LMA oops, the Oden rebound dunk… last year, it was a game NO ONE wanted to win.

Mortimer

I think that Utah still has a shot at the six seed. If they win their final two games, Dallas loses their final three games, and New Orleans only wins their Dallas game, then you’d have Utah/NO at 49-33, and Dallas at 48-34, with Utah owning the tiebreaker against NO (assuming Dave is correct re: tiebreakers). If Utah also owns the tiebreaker vs Dallas (as trailblazersfan sez), then Utah would get the #6 seed if both NO & Dallas lose the two games where they don’t face each other.

I thought I heard the announcers (by the way, those guys seemed to LOVE the Blazers) say that Rudy needed to hit 10 three point shots to tie the all time record for 3’s made in a rookie year. He went on to hit 2 in the game, so now needs 8 in the next two games to tie. Go Rudy!!!!!

its got traditional stats as well as some of the more generally accepted advanced stats.

But I got food poisoning, and it was purty rough.

There was no way I’d miss the game with the seats I had, though. It was also supposed to be a Blazer game first, then bachelor party after that, but I canceled that because I felt like crap sticks.

Some off the top o’ the head notes:
—Baron came running out of the tunnel a few minutes after the other Clippers, and from how he played and looked I think he was eating a big plate of cheesy saucy meaty lasagna. He looked and played heavy.

—DeAndre Jordan was the player they chose to grace the face of my ticket. …why?

—Z-Bo and Nate and Z-Bo and Joel were pretty chummy together.

—A drunk dude behind me was ragging on Oden all night, AND every single Clipper player. “Hey Oden… you’re garbage! Hey Oden… you’re junk!”. It’s all he could think up.

—Fred Jones shot is still broke.

—Brian Skinner is taller than I expected, since I had him classified as an undersized PF. He took more shots than he should have and was pretty bad, I thought.

—Not Z-Bo bad, but Brian Skinner bad (and to think he was like a savior back when we had no center aside from Ha Seung-Jinn, just by being serviceable, which he still is).

—Everyone around me was a Blazer fan, for the most part. I admire Clipper fans though… the way I see it, if you’re from LA, it’s more than okay to like the Lakers. They’re your team! So to be from LA, when it is totally okay to be a Laker fan, and choose to push the incredibly successful and popular Lakers to the side for the perennial loser Clippers… that’s a special sort of person high of character. Hey, I hate the Lakers, but if I was born in the LA area and was a basketball fan (which I am), how would I not grow up as a Laker fan? It’s like someone just happening to be born in Germany, so he became a Nazi. It’s just what you do.

—One thing I didn’t like about the Clipper fans that night, was when Oden stepped on a foot and limped for a few times up and down the court, people were laughing like it was hysterical. I just put my program over my face and hoped for the best.

—Which, of course, made me think… Rudy comes up limping like that every other play. We see it and go “oh he’ll be fine”. Oden comes up limping in a very normal sort of play, and our heart sinks and we think up the worst case scenarios and next day headlines. I’m as bad as anyone.

—Speaking of Oden, this was one of those games where he just didn’t have the energy he does some nights. My fitness expert friend who came to the game with me thinks it’s the season long grind combined with the year off and the stop and go season he had with the ankle and knee, and I tend to agree with it. It’s a long season even for someone not coming off of a year off, and with no real injuries, so some days Oden looks like Oden and other days he looks tired. His legs were heavy this game.

—EVERYONE’s legs were heavy this game, though Rudy had some mojo going. LMA shoulda’ had a monster game, and Roy wasn’t really trying for the most part… as much as Roy doesn’t try, I mean. He wasn’t being like Baron Davis or something.

—The Staples Center really sucks for watching games, I say. You can’t find any relevant stats anywhere, the jumbotron is smaller than the TV I’m gonna buy after the wedding, and so pixelly it’s like you’re watching a Real Player video from 1998. Not a very cool game experience, especially compared to the Rose Garden and because it’s LA and all… you’d think they could afford to do better.

—I just don’t know how Clipper fans do it. Yeah, we had our dark years there, but because of our history you felt like we were only a few moves away back to goodness. What kind of faith can the Clipper fans have in Sterling and Dunleavy, and their scouting departments? Sterling is cheap as hell except when he isn’t, and when he isn’t he’s spending money stupidly. Dunleavy should just be a coach, not GM as well. Ya got a guy with a ton of potential in DeAndre, but a kid known for laziness and effort problems shouldn’t be around Baron Davis and Ricky Davis and Z-Bo (off the court at least). They gotta do so many moves to get rid of the guys they just got, and it just sucks to see since Clipper fans are (obviously) some of the most faithful fans in the world.

—Even with everyone healthy, the pieces just don’t fit. If Eric Gordon could play PG, I’d be more excited, since I’m not a fan of short 2-guards who can score but can’t guard either position. He’s always going to be a great scorer though, and he’s more athletic than, say, Ben Gordon, and a better ballhandler as well. He’s a nice piece who should be scoring 20+ for years.

—They need a New Jack KP/Presti/Houston’s GM type GM. Fresh blood, not a Rick Sund type.

—As soon as we started going on a little run with 5 minutes left (or so) after being tied in the 4th, the Clipper fans just started heading to the exit. They’d seen this episode before.

Mortimer