Tonight, I had an e-mail request read on Courtside with Brian Wheeler, Mike Rice & Mike Barrett. The video below will give you the details on the e-mail and the crew's reaction, but the important thing is that Mr. Rice actually accepted my request.
What I need from our loyal Bust a Bucket fans is a little help.
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I learned something last night as the Trail Blazer game got out of reach in the 4th quarter. Portland is not a great team right now without Brandon Roy. They remind me a lot of the bad teams in the NBA, hanging around for 2 quarters, but when the good team goes on a run, the game is virtually over. It’s frustrating to watch, realistically the Blazers should have been up by 10-15 points at half time but neither Rudy nor Steve Blake could make an open shot in the first half. Even after those miscues we were still in it as the 3rd quarter began. Unfortunately that’s when things really started to unravel.
The 3rd quarter was atrocious, the Lakers went on a 9-0 run at one point and Portland had some silly turnovers including 2 shot clock violations. How is that even possible? Probably the most embarrassing type of turnover considering you have complete control over the situation, if you’re paying attention. I felt like nothing was going right and the Lakers were looking much better than they deserved to look on this night. Back to back games with no leadership, no clutch shooting and not enough physical “drive to the hoop” play.
I’ve also come to conclusions about the team after losses to New Orleans and Los Angeles;
Jerryd Bayless flat out needs to play more. He should be our back-up point guard, and sooner than later he will be the starter.
Moving Channing Frye is inevitable. He is a poor man’s LaMarcus Aldridge on a team with LaMarcus Aldridge. That doesn’t make any sense; we need a back-up power forward like, David Lee!
I am completely tired of Travis Outlaw’s game as it relates to the Blazers. He seems so out of place on the court; looking for his own shot, fumbling over himself, I shouldn’t be so nervous every time one guy has the ball.
I am not over reacting at all; games without Brandon Roy are going to be tough. Perhaps having Brandon sidelined is a good thing, it lets Pritchard see our flaws which in turn will cause him to make a move which will benefit Portland a great deal in the future. Hopefully the next few games against Detroit, Golden State and Chicago don’t go as poorly as the last two. I can see the Pistons exploiting our weaknesses and causing even more trade talk. We will see a major or maybe a minor trade by the time the deadline comes around on February 19th.
In honor of the Blazers heading down to Los Angeles, I found a friend on the bloguin network who helped create a nice little question and answer session. Here is the answers I received from DL at With Malice who is a Laker fan writing from Japan. Head on over to his site to see my responses to his questions as well as a game preview, enjoy!
Bust a Bucket: The Lakers have been pretty good this year, but what is going to hold them back from winning the title? What will put them over the top against a team like the Celtics in a 7 game series?
With Malice: I think that LA's biggest weakness exists not against teams like the Celtics, but teams where LA should obviously win. LA seems to get keyed up for games against good opponents, yet can seem very lackadaisical against teams they should crush. Against Boston, LA need to have a better defensive intensity. I think Pau Gasol's performance against them on Christmas Day was huge in helping both him and the Lakers get over the Finals performance... additionally Trevor Ariza is only just now starting to get the appreciation he deserves.
Bust a Bucket: Our readers have voted the Lakers as our biggest rivals, how do you feel about that? Do Laker fans even consider the Trail Blazers a rival at all?
With Malice: Absolutely. Well... to a degree. I think that the opponent that the Lakers (and their fans) most want to beat, but feel is the biggest rival would have to be the Celtics. That's something that's been re-kindled, and David Stern would be ecstatic about that.
Bust a Bucket: On opening night Los Angeles crushed the Blazers, made them rethink all the hype. Are we in for the same type of game? Brandon Roy won't be playing either, do we even stand a chance?
With Malice: It's a pity on Brandon Roy. He's one of my absolute favourite players. LaMarcus Aldridge is fantastic, Greg Oden's coming along, and Portland have a host of good complementary players. That said, LA are 17-1 at home thus far this season, and quite frankly I don't see that changing in a hurry.
Bust a Bucket: One match-up that was talked about a lot in the preseason was Oden vs Bynum. Both players are having similar seasons, inconsistency and moments of greatness. Who is a better long term option? Why is it taking Bynum so long to dominate? Will he ever become your next great center?
With Malice: It's amazing the degree of laxity that Oden gets in his performance, whereas Bynum's thrust under the microscope pretty much every game. There's only 3 months between the two of them in age... anyway, I really like Greg Oden - as a person... but I think there's a degree of frailty there that would have to be troubling to the Portland Trail Blazers - or at least that's the feeling I get with him. Andrew Bynum seems a little more driven than Oden too. I also like that the Lakers got Kareem in to work with him. Bynum's biggest hurdle at the moment is convincing Phil that he's ready to get major minutes. At the moment, most of the time Jackson will finish with Gasol/Odom. Bynum deserves a shot. I think he could be a very, very good center... but great? That's a big call. That said and done... I like him more than Oden thus far. But there's a healthy dose of bias in that.
Bust a Bucket: Was Kobe's decision to run Shaq out of town a good one? I still believe the Lakers would have won many more titles had Shaq stayed, but what do Laker fans say about this change in scenery?
With Malice: That's rather harsh. Even Shaq (at least publically) doesn't buy into that any more. I don't think Kobe actively ran Shaq outta town, but I don't think he did anything to encourage Shaq to stay. Maybe they would have gotten another title (I think maybe one), but trading Shaq got LA Caron Butler and Lamar Odom . Caron Butler became Kwame Brown... who in turn became Pau Gasol. Additionally, LA would never have taken Andrew Bynum if O'Neal was still there. So, LA lost an aging (but still dominant) Shaq who is still now reaping a fortune for limited returns... yet look where they are now. 20/20 vision in hindsight, but I'm ok with where we are now due to that trade!
Steve Blake has had one of his best seasons thus far, and I think he's going to bounce back off a rough outing. He'll have to help the Blazers out a lot, considering Brandon Roy is now out for at least a week. Fisher is a solid PG, probably perfect on a team with Kobe Bryant, but he won't be as good as Blake tonight.
Ugh, we were going to need Roy in this game and now it just became much tougher to play in Los Angeles. No Brandon means another start for Rudy who so far has struggled a bit, he's still getting accustomed to the NBA game. Kobe is still Kobe, he's going to be so tough tonight.
Luke Walton fits almost the exact same role for the Lakers as Nic Batum does for us. Luke is just keeping the seat warm for the very talented but inconsistent Lamar Odom. Neither player here will do much, hopefully Batum can use his athleticism to help defend Kobe.
This one was tough to call. Instead of calling a bunch of toss-ups I'm going to pick a guy, in this match-up I have a bad feeling Pau is going to go off. His crafty post moves and surprising physical nature inside will put him over the top. LaMarcus is still relying on jumpers too much, he'll need to get in and bang the boards to have a chance tonight.
I know, I know, Bynum's stats have been better this year, he's been in the league longer, but I don't care. I believe Oden can be better tonight and he will, as long as he's not in foul trouble. Both players are very similar and have been inconsistent this year. I think the Blazers will rebound from a brutal finish at home against the Hornets, Greg included.
BENCH
BENCH
With Rudy moving to the starting line-up and Lamar Odom manning the Laker bench, the Lakers are just better. Trevor Ariza has been very good and The Machine is capable of hitting big threes off the bench. We are looking at Travis Outlaw and Joel Przybilla as our biggest contributors. Hopefully Travis can carry part of the offensive load without making mistakes.
The news is going from bad to worse regarding Brandon Roy and his injured right hamstring.
The Trail Blazers' All-Star guard had a magnetic resonance imaging performed on his ailing leg Saturday morning, according to coach Nate McMillan, and could miss the Trail Blazers' trip to Los Angeles.
McMillan said after his team's Saturday morning practice that he hoped to get results before the Blazers travel to Los Angeles later this afternoon. Roy has missed the last two games with a sprained hamstring that originally was thought to be minor but is looking more and more like it could be a more serious, and perhaps lengthy, setback.
Even if MRI results come back positive, Roy is doubtful for Sunday's game against the Lakers.
When I hear word of the MRI results, I'll post more.
I don't like the way this thing is lingering and getting worse. I really hope the extra week off actually let the hamstring heal. We need Brandon more down the stretch but based on last night we need him as much as possible.
Ben over at Blazer's Edge found this regarding the MRI.
The MRI results "showed no significant changes to Roy's knee."
Friday’s incident began to pick up steam around the seven-minute mark of the third quarter. The two were banging back and forth — like most centers do — but Przybilla said Chandler kept an incessant whining dialogue going with the referees, who were down a man after Jack Nies was unable to make the game because of an injury.
"I told him he cries more than my 3-year-old son," Przybilla said. "He got mad."
On the ensuing possession, Przybilla reached out with his injured left hand and touched the stomach of Chandler. Chandler angrily swatted the hand down.
"I didn’t know he had a bad hand," Chandler said. "No. Not at all."
He paused.
"If he is worried about that, he should keep it off people," Chandler said.
Przybilla sent a quick slap to Chandler’s chest, which caused the Hornets center to throw what Przybilla called a "chicken wing" — a hard forearm that landed high on Przybilla’s chest, just below his throat.
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Bloguin is the revolutionary blog network specifically focused on helping bloggers get the most out of their websites. We're currently working on building a large network of online communities and hope to expand our blogging coverage to include a wide range of topics. 
The Bloguin Network allows advertisers to promote their products and services to our ever-growing number of visitors. We offer both site-specific ad placements as well as the ability to run a network-wide campaign. If you're interested in working with Bloguin to meet your advertising needs, please contact us.
The Bloguin Network is always looking to expand. Here are some of our high-priority areas that we're specifically looking to grow. If you're a blogger and interested in joining our network, please fill out our application form.
The Bloguin Login gives you full access to everything our network has to offer. Your name and password will work for each and every one of our sites. Signing up is simple, and will allow you to post in all our forums, create member blogs, and access other cool features! What are you waiting for? Create an Account! 