May Day

How strange that a season like this, with all its twists and turns, could go into the history books after just one game, just one more game.  It doesn't seem like it is ready to end.

Mayday is an international distress symbol, apparently originating from the French venez m'aider, "come help".  How appropriate, as the first Mayday of the season came with a major injury to our French forward.

I don't remember a more dramatic season.  Maydays everywhere.  All the angst over Andre's role.  Winning on the road, but winning ugly.  Travis going down, Rudy struggling, Blake struggling.

We lose Greg, we lose Rudy, and even Nate gets hurt, and the chorus of Maydays swells to a crescendo.  Yet, we keep winning enough games to stay in the hunt.

The most brutal stretch of the season comes up, and we win a tough one at home, then split the games in Florida, easing the concerns.  Then, the Maydays swell louder, as Joel goes down in Dallas, and we hold on and win anyway -- but Brandon hurts his shoulder.

The well-oiled machine that we were supposed to be by that point of the season clunks into San Antonio held together by Scotch tape, with three flat tires and sand in all the gears, and pulls out the most improbable win of an improbable season.

No center, but still, we keep the win column ticking over enough to stay in the playoff battle.

The injured players start to come back, but Brandon goes down with his hamstring.  MAYDAY!  MAYDAY!  Somehow, we play .500 ball without Brandon Roy and with Juwan Howard as our starting only center.

The drama continues as Andre goes for 52 in Dallas, with even the Mavs laughing and shaking their heads at some of the shots he was making.

The Camby trade, and the heartbreaking video of Steve and Travis in their post-trade press conference.

The team starting to click together, with a real center!  The surge towards a better playoff seeding.

Brandon's knee.  MAYDAY!  One of the all-time NBA villains involved in the injury -- but Artest did nothing wrong.  If there were any justice in the world, we could at least hate Ron-Ron for the injury.

But the season rolls on, and the team won't be stopped.

Our first home loss to the L@kers in years came this year (without Brandon OR Kobe on the court) but we returned it in spades at LA when Kobe played but Brandon missed almost the whole game.

OKC.  A win gives us at least the seventh seed, probably sixth, while a loss almost certainly means eighth seed.  Without Roy.  As always this season, OKC is fully healthy.  But the "Blunder" had no answer for "Mar-cus" "Cam-by".

And then the playoffs.  The matchup I suggested as a possibility back at the beginning of March, the one I didn't really dare to hope for -- but without Brandon, the one player for whom this playoff matchup was perfect.  Yet, better than I hoped for, with Lopez out and the key open to our guards, to drive, and drive, and drive.  A series for Andre and for Jerryd.

The drama of the playoffs.  The team that has been counted out all year is counted out again.  They have no chance, not without Roy.  Forget nails in the coffin -- screw the lid down.  This coffin isn't going to be opened again.  So the pundits have declared, so it will be.

Someone forgot to tell the players, and game one is ours.  We always knew we could win at least one in Phoenix.

MAYDAY!  The disaster of game two.  We knew the RG had not been a fortress this year, we probably needed two wins in Phoenix.  But we didn't go after it -- if we lose the series, it may have been lost right there in game two.  We had a chance to break their will, to destroy their confidence, and we didn't attack.  It was as if we thought one win in Phoenix was going to be enough.

Game three, and home court advantage was gone.  Almost inevitable that the Suns would have one game like that on our court -- too much firepower to count on keeping it down for three straight home wins.

Game four, and the Return of the Roy.  If only Tolkien had been French.  Who will forget the 8-0 run from the time he stood up before he even got in the game?

Game five, as a healthier, stronger team exerts its will on their own home court.  We're just not good enough.

The extra-curricular stuff.  The Amare elbows, the phantom phourth phoul on Camby in game five.

And it all comes down to only one game?  Just one?  All of this, and it could end on Thursday, after one more game?

I'm almost embarrassed to ask for another game, after everything this team has given us this year. 

But don't let it end, Blazers.  Not yet.  At least one more game.  Not because you owe us, you owe us nothing more after this year, but because you owe it to yourselves.  You've earned the right to say, "Despite everything, they couldn't take it from us in our house."  Don't let them do that to you. 

Take it back to Phoenix for one more game.  When you get there, give them your best shot, and see what happens.  But don't let it end yet.  Not in Portland, not in our house, not this month.  Make them play one more game.  Back in Phoenix.

Make them play it and, if they can, win it on May Day.  If they can.