Category: Portland Trailblazers

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Portland Trailblazers

Around the Rim: Portland pride shines


1. Still going
The Portland Trail Blazers hit a little bump in the road after winning 13 consecutive games when the Utah Jazz snapped the streak with a 111-101 victory in Salt Lake City on New Year’s Eve. But the Blazers took the loss in stride and bounced back with two victories in two days, the most recent being a double-overtime affair against Chicago. The Bulls owned a seven-point advantage at the half, but Portland got big plays from Brandon Roy (25 pts, 11 ast), Jarrett Jack (17 pts) and Travis Outlaw (21 pts) down the stretch, winning by six, 115-109, after ten extra minutes of play. Ben Gordon put up 32 points off the bench for Chicago and Joe Smith put up a season-high 31 points, but it wasn’t enough for the hapless Bulls. Next up for the Blazers are those pesky Jazz. Saturday night’s contest will be the fourth and final game between the Northwest Division rivals with each of the previous three being decided by 10 points or less.

2. Best in the West

Amare Stoudemire had another gigantic game for Phoenix, scoring 34 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in the Suns 104-96 victory over Seattle. The byproduct of Stoudemire’s All-Star caliber performances is Phoenix now owns the top record in the Western Conference (23-9). Surprisingly, the game against one of the West’s worst wasn’t an easy one for the conference’s new kings of the court; at least, not at first. Phoenix fell down by 20 points to start the game, trailing 33-13 after the first quarter, but rallied to outscore the Sonics 91-63 over the final 36 minutes for the victory. In addition to Stoudemire’s nasty numbers, Shawn Marion had 11 points and 14 rebounds while Steve Nash finished with 17 points and 10 assists. On the bright side for Seattle, rookie Kevin Durant took the reigns offensively, finishing with a team-high 28 points on 11-of-24 shooting to go with seven rebounds, after missing most of the previous two games with an injured finger.

3. K-Mart’s Blue Light Special: blocks
The Nuggets are a completely different team when Kenyon Martin is healthy and it showed on Thursday when Denver defeated San Antonio 80-77. K-Mart finished with just four points and seven rebounds, but took over the game defensively by swatting a career-high seven shots in the contest. Marcus Camby had four blocks to go with 18 rebounds as the Nuggets won the battles on the glass (48-35) and in blocks (14-3). Allen Iverson led the way offensively, scoring 29 points while Carmelo Anthony finished with 17 and nine rebounds. San Antonio got solid numbers from Tim Duncan (20 pts, 14 reb), Tony Parker (20 pts, 9 ast) and Michael Finley (18 pts, 8 reb), but lost their fourth consecutive road game since winning at Minnesota on November 30.

Thursday’s Player of the Day: Brandon Roy @ Chicago 49 min, 25 pts (FG: 7-15, 3FG: 1-2, FT: 10-11), 6 reb, 11 ast, 2 stl, 1 blk

Friday’s Game to Watch: Detroit (25-7) @ Toronto (17-15)
Say what you will about the Celtics or the Trail Blazers, but our vote for hottest team in the league goes to the Pistons who have won 10 in a row and 17 of their last 19 games. In that span, 15 victories were by at least 10 points. The Raptors are playing their first game of the new year after wrapping up 2007 with a seven-game road trip, producing just three victories. The good news for Toronto is that Chris Bosh and Jose Calderon are playing outta their minds right now. Over the previous five contests, Bosh is averaging 25.2 points and 10.8 rebounds while Calderon is filling in for the injured T.J. Ford quite nicely with 14.4 points, 4.8 boards and 9.4 assists per game.

Buzzer Beater: The third installment of returns for the NBA All-Star voting was released on Thursday and Chris Bosh is not going to be a happy camper. Luckily for “W.”, voting continues through Jan. 13 for paper balloting and up until Jan. 20 for ballots cast on NBA.com.

2008 NBA ALL-STAR BALLOTING EASTERN CONFERENCE

Forwards: Kevin Garnett (Bos) 1,527,963; LeBron James (Clev) 1,294,019; Chris Bosh (Tor) 411,313; Paul Pierce (Bos) 352,243; Yi Jianlian (Mil) 291,447; Caron Butler (Was) 187,396; Hedo Turkoglu (Orl) 172,720; Tayshaun Prince (Det) 155,502; Josh Smith (Atl) 143,518; Rashard Lewis (Orl) 143,118.

Guards: Dwyane Wade (Mia) 1,019,582; Jason Kidd (NJ) 743,683; Ray Allen (Bos) 617,123; Vince Carter (NJ) 612,543; Gilbert Arenas (Was) 511,763; Chauncey Billups (Det) 331,872; Michael Redd (Mil) 221,777; Richard Hamilton (Det) 163,250; Joe Johnson (Atl) 149,367; Andre Iguodala (Phi) 140, 292.

Centers: Dwight Howard (Orl) 1,260,987; Shaquille O’Neal (Mia) 609,597; Rasheed Wallace (Det) 162,792; Ben Wallace (Chi) 146,332; Andrew Bogut (Mil) 132,469; Jermaine O’Neal (Ind) 120,690; Zydrunas Ilgauskas (Clev) 77,350; Emeka Okafor (Cha) 74,269; Zaza Pachulia (Atl) 58,430; Eddy Curry (NY) 53,084.

2008 NBA ALL-STAR BALLOTING WESTERN CONFERENCE

Forwards: Tim Duncan (SA) 1,049,641; Carmelo Anthony (Den) 1,029,335; Dirk Nowitzki (Dal) 830,970; Carlos Boozer (Utah) 347,899; Shane Battier (Hou) 297,672; Shawn Marion (Pho) 296,917; Josh Howard (Dal) 285,580; Luis Scola (Hou) 279,970; Kevin Durant (Sea) 242,953; Grant Hill (Pho) 209,057.

Guards: Kobe Bryant (LAL) 1,234,111; Tracy McGrady (Hou) 809,395; Allen Iverson (Den) 694,611; Steve Nash (Pho) 684,813; Manu Ginobili (SA) 360,408; Tony Parker (SA) 316,541; Chris Paul (NO) 261,169; Baron Davis (GS) 247,187; Jason Terry (Dal) 218,052; Jerry Stackhouse (Dal) 192,017.

Centers: Yao Ming (Hou) 1,077,244; Amaré Stoudemire (Pho) 583,249; Marcus Camby (Den) 221,527; Erick Dampier (Dal) 184,689; Pau Gasol (Mem) 139,254; Mehmet Okur (Utah) 112,434; Tyson Chandler (NO) 98,424; LaMarcus Aldridge (Por) 93,043; Chris Kaman (LAC) 83,516; Andris Biedrins (GS) 81,611.

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Portland Trailblazers

Around the Rim: Blazers grab another victory


1. Future Roy-alty
If Portland could ever get a healthy roster, they’d be pretty darn good, but, in the meantime, they’re pretty darn good. Led by the continually improving Brandon Roy’s 26 points and 11 assists, the Blazers won their seventh consecutive game on Sunday, downing Denver 116-105. In addition to playing without this year’s top draft pick for the entire season, Portland was missing their second overall pick from a year back as LaMarcus Aldridge sat out for the fourth straight game with a case of plantar fasciitis. Points in the paint are going to extremely hard to come by once Aldridge and Oden team up to become the Pacific Northwest’s version of the Twin Towers. Until then, it’s up to Roy to carry this squad to the playoffs and with a win tonight over the Hornets, Portland will improve to 13-12, putting them on the cusp of moving into the eighth and final postseason slot.

2. Big Three Two

What a difference a year makes. Last season Boston was enduring one of the worst seasons in the history of the NBA and this year they match their longest winning streak since the early `90s. Go figure. 1993 was the last time the Celtics won nine consecutive games until Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce led the mean green to a 90-77 win in Toronto on Sunday. The duo combined for 34 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists in the contest, using a 27-17 first quarter advantage to propel Boston to victory. Ray Allen missed his second game with a right ankle injury, but he is expected to be in the lineup when the Pistons come to Beantown on Wednesday.

3. Shelden Williams got jacked up!
Being rich ain’t what it used to be. In fact, the curse of money is at an all-time high right now for athletes with Shelden Williams becoming the latest victim of greedy goons. Williams was carjacked at gunpoint near Atlanta on Saturday by two suspects. Both were arrested in Williams’ car later that night during an attempted robbery. This could have been a lot worse for Williams, who should be thanking his lucky stars he’s not dead over a freakin’ 2008 Chrysler. Williams played two minutes in Atlanta’s Saturday night game against Charlotte, logging zeros across the board. Next up for the baby birds is a home game tonight against Carlos Boozer, Deron Williams and the rest of the Jazz.

Sunday’s Player of the Day: Allen Iverson vs. Portland 46 min, 38 pts (FG: 11-22, 3FG: 3-6, FT: 13-15), 2 reb, 6 ast, 3 stl

Monday’s Games to Watch: Phoenix (17-7) @ San Antonio (18-5) AND Orlando (17-8) @ Dallas (16-9)
You’re going to have to do some serious channel flipping tonight because both of these games are must see TV. You can’t go wrong with one of the most intense rivalries currently going in the NBA. Phoenix is still fuming after getting bounced from last year’s playoffs by the Spurs. San Antonio is hoping to have a full compliment of players, but Tony Parker’s sprained ankle is keeping his status up in the air. With a win, Phoenix can move within half a game of the conference leading Spurs.

Just up the road you’ll find the Magic looking to extend their two game win streak with a victory in Dallas. Dwight Howard is giving opponents sweat-inducing nightmares with his play of late. Howard is fresh off a 31-point, 20-rebound performance against Memphis and is averaging 25.6 points, 16.8 rebounds, 1.4 steals and 1.6 blocks per game over the team’s last five contests (4-1). In case Dirk Nowitzki needed any more reason to stay out of the paint, there it is. But regardless of style, Nowitzki is averaging 20.8 points to go with 8.2 boards and 4.1 assists and the Mavs have won four of their last five outings.

Buzzer Beater: More sobering news from the NBA, sorta. A judge tossed out former baller Keon Clark’s two-and-a-half year prison sentence, citing that Clark deserves a new hearing. Afterwards, Clark let loose with some surprisingly honest and bewildering comments.

Clark, 32, of Danville, said in Vermilion County Circuit Court on Friday that he is an alcoholic and was drinking a half pint to a pint of gin daily when he was playing pro basketball.

“I never played a game sober, unfortunately,” said Clark, who last played for the Utah Jazz and Phoenix Suns.

Clark said in court that he started drinking in high school and, after he was drafted in the NBA by the Orlando Magic in 1998, he drank at games during halftime.

“It just never stopped,” he said.

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Portland Trailblazers

Hey, Mike Vick; you could learn a thing or two from Greg Oden


So, what do you do when you’re young and famous with millions of dollars in the bank and a year off of work? Well, if you’re Greg Oden you don’t do much of anything. Granted, the guy is recovering from some hefty surgery, but c’mon! Someone call over a bunch of strippers and Three 6 Mafia for this guy and let’s get this party rockin’ NBA style! Oh, wait, his landlord might not approve.

But we really do love Oden around here and are hoping for a speedy recovery. In the meantime, if Charles Barkley McLovin keeps him from becoming Ron Artest McRodman than we’re all for it.

His name is Charles Barkley McLovin and he is my new dog. He is a Boston/Beagle. He is not too big because i cant have a big dog while im renting my house. He is very quiet, hasnt even barked since i had him so far. He does of course pee in the house, making me mad. I know it takes time to train a dog, but don’t you wish that a dog can just be born knowing to go to the restroom outside and to eat his food out of the dish?

This dog is stressing me out some because he sniffs everything and he loves eating grass, but he won’t eat his dog food. The second day i had him Brandon and I left him in the backyard for like 30 minutes and when we got back he had crawled under the gate and run away. Luckily, i have great neighbors. It was funny because when i was down the street i told one of my neighbors and she said she hadn’t seen him, but by the time i got to my house and got out the car i saw another lady walk out the door saying “about 30 to 45 minutes ago and he has a red collar.” i looked at Brandon and said “she talking about me” lol. They all were looking for him, even their kids were on bikes. He turned up two houses down and i was so happy. Now i watch him every time he goes outside. I love him already. All he does is cuddle and sleep and he is quiet. I just wish he would stop eating grass.

Keep us updated big fella.

Links:

[Yardbarker]: My New Family Member

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Portland Trailblazers

Oden ignored his injury and now he can forget about his rookie campaign


Thanks for ruining Christmas, Greg! Yea, that’s right; Greg Oden just ruined our Christmas. Sure, it’s still a few months away, but we were already planning our X-Mas day “Rookie Coming Out Party.” Not like a John Amaechi or Christian Laettner coming out party, but the welcoming of the NBA’s future as Kevin Durant and Oden hooked it up for the first time in the bigs. Well, exploratory surgery became microfracture surgery on Thursday and now we’re gonna be stuck watching A Christmas Story for like the billionth time because Oden is out for the season most likely. Now, we used to love that flick, but over the years, “You’ll shoot your eye out” has mutated into a wishful “Please shoot your eye out.”

Oh, well, we couldn’t possibly feel as awful about this as Oden does right?

Greg looked at me as he was coming out of his surgery, and he and his mom, Zoe, probably said ‘sorry’ 20 times,” Blazers general manager Kevin Pritchard said.

“I could feel the weight of the world on his shoulders. And as a leader and as leaders of this organization, my first thought was how lucky we were to have a guy that cares about the organization that much.

Yea, it’s obvious that he really does care about the team. He cares so much, in fact, that he hid his injury from the team and instead of being proactive, he ignored it and threw away his season.

Oden talked about the injury earlier this week in his blog. He said he had a sharp pain about a month ago when he was on vacation.

“I didn’t tell anyone because I didn’t want to seem like I was complaining or making excuses for anything. Plus, I wasn’t doing anything at the time I realized it hurt, so I figured it couldn’t be anything big,” he said.

We hate to tell you this, but when you’re the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, getting paid millions of dollars from a franchise, getting paid millions of dollars in endorsements and single-handedly took an entire city off the NBA’s suicide watch list then everything is a big deal. Sorry, Greg, but we really hope you get a lump of coal in your stocking this year.

Links:

[Fox Sports]: Oden likely to miss 2007-08 season

Categories
Portland Trailblazers

Trail Blazers can’t catch a break, Greg Oden is going under the knife



Could this improper footwork have
caused the knee injury?

Scary, scary, scary, scary, did we say scary news out of Portland for all you Trail Blazers fans out there. Rookie soon-to-be phenom Greg Oden injured his right knee and is scheduled to undergo exploratory surgery on Thursday. Apparently, Oden has been having some pain in the knee for some time and doctors believe that he may have some cartilage issues.

We’re no doctors, but when you’re the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft and you’re having surgery before you ever play in a regular season game then it can’t be good. With only about a month-and-a-half until the season kicks off, there have got to be some seriously sweaty palms in Portland. After all, with a healthy Kevin Durant right down the road reminding them of what they passed on, a serious injury to the cornerstone of the Blazers would be devastating.

But we shouldn’t be getting all doom and gloom on the situation just yet, after all he recovered just fine from his tonsillectomy earlier in the year. Oh, wait, you don’t need your tonsils to battle for position down in the post against guys like Shaquille O’Neal, Tim Duncan and Marcus Camby. Sorry, Portland, you should be holding you’re breath until the post surgery press conference with team physician Dr. Don Roberts.

Links:

[KGW.com]: Oden to undergo knee surgery
[OregonLive.com]: Oden injures knee

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Portland Trailblazers

Greg Oden wants to show you his current pad

So, have you ever wondered what it’s like to be an NBA superstar in the waiting? If you’re pretending to be Greg Oden, it’s probably not what you’d expect. Surely you’ve heard about LeBron James’ multimillion dollar mansion that is currently in the works; well, this is just a couple steps down from that. But, hey, everyone has to start somewhere and we’re guessing that it won’t be long until Oden breaks ground on his very own humble abode that will have LeBron and the rest of the world saying, “Daaaaamn!” Until then, it looks like he’s going to be eating Cookie Crisp and watermelon in this cramped little apartment.

Thanks for sharing, Greg!

Links:

[The Big Lead]: Greg Oden, Cribs (Well, His Mom’s Apartment, Anyway)

Categories
Portland Trailblazers

Greg Oden is already skipping practice


The Portland Trailblazers knew that they would have to go through some growing pains when they drafted Greg Oden with the No. 1 pick last month, but they probably weren’t expecting this. Oden is expected to miss the remainder of the team’s summer league games because he has to have his tonsils removed. Geez, despite having the look of a 35-year-old, turns out that this kid really is just a kid.

The surgery date hasn’t been set yet, but Oden is expected to attend the ESPY awards before heading to the hospital and going under the knife. Recovery time is expected to be about two weeks; unfortunately, the Blazers don’t have two weeks to spare at the moment. Everyone knows that Oden has all the potential to be the next big thing in the NBA, but his first summer league game shows that he has a lot of work to do. In his debut, he picked up a whopping ten fouls!

Oh, well, we doubt that anyone in Portland is really worried about the fouls or the tonsils at the moment. After all, considering all the crap that city has gone through with their team over the last eight years or so, they’ll give their rookie all the rest and ice cream in bed that he can eat if it translates into a winning record and a shot at a postseason slot.

Links:

[KGW.com]: Oden and tonsils: Out for summer

Categories
Portland Trailblazers

Odds and Ends for Fri May 5 2006: Zach Randolph is a white kid?

Last night, we watched the episode of Scrubs on DVD where Turk is photoshopped onto the cover of his college brochure… twice. Today, there’s a story about how some kid had to stand in for Zach Randolph in the Trailblazers’ team photo because he forgot to show up. Coincidence? Actually, yes. But it’s pretty goddamn funny that the Blazers would even bother having someone stand in, much less someone who is nowhere near the dimensions of Zack Randolph. It’s like using Rosie O’Donnell as a butt double for Keira Knightley. Damn.. now we both have that image in our heads. Sorry.

In other news…

[Kuklas Korner]: Proving once again that hockey players are the toughest athletes on the planet, Dion Phaneuf played with a broken foot. By the way, is it just us or does everyone think Enuff Z’Nuff when they hear Phaneuf’s name?

[SI]: Poor Kirby Puckett. At least they’re not trying to freeze him.

[NY Post]: Come on Cuban, you can’t get into Bugalow 8 with that haircut

[Tampa Bay Online]: Another fine example of the people teaching our kids

[LA Times]: Kobe is a Zen master: “When you go to the bathroom, you can’t stand there and look at what you just dropped. At some point, you have to flush.”