That is why the Spurs have won so many titles. They are in a huge market and play a very high tempo, visually pleasing brand of basketball.

Is my sarcasm font working properly?

and maybe replace it with your “brain.”

so I will just point out that I respectfully disagree with you.

As Dave noted in the main page, Dwight Howard has been suspended for Game 6. This is a controversy waiting to happen, except well, the superstar all american future hall of famer overall one level from holiness DHow is the one that’s been suspended, not his opponents best defense.

I get where you are going in that you are voicing your fear that perhaps the calls will be soo wacky that it will cost us the game. Everyone feels that way, in a sense I believe it to be natural. What the team must do is rise above all that … UPRISE… and learn to shake the haters off , put there head down and get with it.

In practice, how can the blazers avoid to let the ref’s ruin their attitude? Well they can start by moving their feet on defense. In my opinion it all starts there. Move around quickly and efficiently as a unit of the D end and the flow of the game is maintained while the refs wont call a stupid foul (unless Oden is in , in this case we have no choice but to accept he’ll get dumb touch fouls off the ball on Yao) .

Dont freak, we have a resonable chance to win this game. I dont think we will, but the oppurtunity is there..

enjoy the game and welcome to bedge, we <3 u

Sophia

I thought the NBA is getting more popular. If I believe the NBA is totally rigged then there is no point in watching. I just can’t accept that. In the long run it would hurt the NBA more than it would help. There is no way that in all this time not one person would come forward with actual knowledge that the NBA is rigged.
          I think it’s just very hard to officiate. I think that will improve as time goes on.
          I also think that big market teams are, with exceptions, going to have an edge. Sure there is a salary cap, but if you have more money, because you are in a big market, you can pay more to get that one great player if you need to. Also some players are going to want to play in a big market more than a small one, so they will gravitate there.
         I think there needs to be some evidence, it would be a huge deal if NBA is fixed.

or so many people wouldn’t be saying the same thing. I’m not on the “Blame the Refs” band wagon and i don’t think the officiating has cost us a game in this series and as a player i understand its something you cant worry about because its out of your control but I watch a lot of NBA and the officiating is terrible and painfully inconsistent. I know its seen as a whiner move to blame the ref’s but a lot of the time teams have a legitimate argument. It just seems like too many people are ignoring the reffing problem instead of doing something about it. Maybe us fans need to figure out a way to make a change, i don’t exactly know what we could do but i think it needs to be addressed somehow

Sorry to re-post, but I’m dying to know if this exchange actually took place. . .

According to bedge contributor LaoTzu:

David Stern, sensitive to the Chinese position, read a short announcement. “It is about time that Yao, that giant talent from this unbelievably huge and growth oriented market, has made it out of the first round.” When reminded that Houston had to win another game, Stern said, “Well, let’s call that a formality.”

“You are sure the Rockets make Round 2?”

“Yes, you can quote me in your native tongue that it will be a Kobe versus Yao showdown in Round 2.”

“But sir, is that not a discredit to the proud Trail Blazers franchise of Bill Walton?”

Signing off with a little wave and a crooked smile, Stern said, “Believe me, by now they’re used to it.”

Satire