What. The. Heck. (Update)

but we lost by 30

It was just a loss.

The Blazers had 28 of them this year, now they have 29.

The season/playoffs are far from over.

Portland did not show up for this game and got dominated in all aspects… and you are blaming the refs. Amazing.

and shot over 60% from the field. no matter how good or bad the refs are, you are not going to win if you let your opponents do that to you.

for a team shooting 60%. If it comes down to a 10 point loss then maybe you can say “those 5 possessions cost us the game.” But the Blazers lost by almost THIRTY.

and get Yao out of there, but tonight was on the team, not the refs.

weren’t the problem, but it was a little lopsided fouls-wise. We didn’t get much at the basket, which sucked.

The only things I can think of are…

- The Rockets offense is not that good. Shots will not fall for them like that again.

- Oden played well. Not well “He is going to breakout” but well enough.

Can anyone think of anything else?

Not excuses.

If the Blazers get out -rebounded and shoot 1-11 from 3 point land they usually don’t beat anyone. They got drilled on the boards and Houston was on fire.

Keys to the next game:

Beat Houston On The Boards
Hold them to 45% shooting or less
Hit our season average on 3’s
Get to the foul line
Smarter game plan
Better execution
LA, Trout and Blake come to play
More Oden touches on Offense
Tenacious D
Fans stop crying about the refs
Remove Scola’s Hair Net (It is the key to his power)
Realize that Scola can and will hit the open shot on the pick and pop and guard accordingly
Don’t leave your man to double Brooks when he breaks down the D
Go to a bigger lineup with Roy at the 1 and Rudy at the 2 and post Brooks up repeatedly

On a list of bad things that happened in Game 1. Refs are on the bottom of the list.

This is basically whine post.

Hang my head and just have a good cry.

I wish TiH was here so that he and I could hug it out. This one hurts. Hurts bad.

as far as refs hosing us. I haven’t even watched the game yet, but I would think that this, a 30 point game, was not one of them. ;-)

and I saw him get bumped around pretty hard, at least as hard as Yao early on. I saw LMA shoot two FTs all game. Maybe because his moves can be awkward.

The 20-3 FT disparity in the first half is pretty tough to overlook. When they flashed that on the screen, the bartender (from Philly) said, “Its like a Celtics game.”

I’ve moved on – I’m perfectly content with Brooks shooting 8 threes next game. I’d be surprised if he makes 5 of them again.

Night all

Why do you think everyone screams about Playoff experience. The games are called more physical and so the players need to adjust and play that way. It was very obvoius this was new to Portland.

and were flat footed till the end of the game. we were trying to make baskets 1 on 1 all night, rather than being unselfish with the ball and making the extra pass. i’m trying to be more positive these days, but there’s not much to be positive about this game…other than our bench. our team has obviously bought into the hype and thought that being home should guarantee a win. on a more positive note, i’m hoping this butt kicking will embarrass them enough to come out strong on tuesday. blake needs to start throwing chairs or something.

But not 30 points horrible. Even if they would have called everything perfectly (Or rather, since there is some subjectivety, if they had called it consistently) we still would have lost.

we lost becuase NO one except for brandon was ready to play this game…

the team droped the ball and lost their nerves…

They need to be called out for their lack of HEART.

FIRE, DETERMINATION, RESOLVE!!!….

they need to find it quick or we’ll become the houston rockets for the next decade….

that was a very piss poor showing by some of the BEST rookies of the years past.

I expect more.

and I agree.

But what I want to know, from the many of you who are defending the officials and saying Portland needs to “suck it up” and so on is this: Why are games in the playoffs officiated differently than regular season games? There seems to be this consensus that this is “playoff basketball” and things are called differently. Why?? A foul in November is a foul in April, if there’s any objective standard at all in this game.

When Blake gets whacked taking a three and ends up in the first row, it’s a foul. When Brandon drives the lane and gets hacked by Yao, it’s a foul – in exhibition games, at the beginning of the season, the middle, and in the playoffs. This whole business of different calls or non-calls is ever so much BS. Why can the Rockets hack, grab arms as Blazer cutters go around screens, hook arms while going to the basket, grab jerseys when Travis is trying to go after a loose ball …. and all the rest of it? These things are fouls and THEY WEREN’T CALLED. I don’t give a (expletive) if it’s the playoffs, if Houston has a “reputation” for physical play. A foul is a foul is a foul.

This is the same sort of crap that goes on when the superstars get calls or non-calls because they’re superstars. I saw it years ago with Kareem’s constant travelling and I still see it today and it was crap then and it’s crap now.

Yeah, Portland got outplayed. Yao was great. Brooks was great. But what the Rockets get away with on the defensive end is just wrong.

A bunch of you are saying Portland needs to adjust. How in the world do you adjust when the rules of the game aren’t properly enforced and when one team is allowed to do something you are not allowed to do? You can’t.