Outcoached... Once Again

A depleted San Antonio Spurs team going into a back-to-back missing two of their "Big 3" players of the great Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili, the Blazers had their best shot in two decades to escape the Alamo Dome, errr, I mean the AT&T Center with a dubya... And with the Blazers depth, that should have made the task more reasonable to accomplish....



BUT... their is a thing called an "x-factor" that I factor in and that my blog followers is COACHING! In one corner, the Spurs arguably have the best coach in the game today in 4-time champion Greg Popovich. And in the Blazer's corner, you probably have the MOST OVERRATED coach today in Nate McMillan, errr, I mean McMuffin. A man before last season had one great season and that was his CONTRACT season in Seattle where he miraculously and somehow led the Sonics into the 2nd round of the Playoffs.

McMuffin said the game plan was to stop Tony Parker (uh... duh when Duncan and Ginobili are missing), yet he couldn't figure out how. Parker only finished with 39 points on 17 of 27 FGs (63%), 9 dimes, and 5 boards. Parker played last night too, but that didn't stop him from dissecting Nate's incompetent scheme. Nate left Blake and Sergio to guard Parker for most of the game in whom the All-Star blew by them both with relative ease.

Oh, did I mention Blake went an incredible 0-9 tonight and only managed 1 assist, which was worthy of 24 minutes according to Nate...

As the 4th quarter ticked down, Nate ended up in desperation and tried putting Travis Outlaw on Parker. Every Blazer fan watching this game on TV was probably yelling at their TVs to put Batum back in... Unfortunately, we have a coach that is a blithering idiot.

The best options IMO for stopping or at least slowing Parker down were probably Nic Batum and Bayless. I recall the few times that the Frenchman guarded his fellow Frenchman, Nic was effective in slowing Tony down... BUT then there's Nate's motto of "If it works, ignore it" went into effect as Batum would get his commonly (1st quarter) 3rd quarter sub out and not return in the (2nd qtr) 4th quarter. For the 2nd night in a row, Batum was very efficient in 8 points on 3-7 FGs (2-3 from distance) and of course, the intangibles on the defense, yet McMuffin somehow inexplicably thought he was only worthy of 16 minutes, which was the least amount of minutes for any Blazer that did not have a DNP by his name...

J-bay, on the other hand, didn't see a second on the floor...

I still am mind-boggled in what Kevin Pritchard sees in Mr. Sonic...

Free Shavlik!!

Shavlik Randolph has played two straight games and I must say, I've been impressed with him. He even got some "non-garbage" time against a top Western Conference team Houston Rockets (only b/c Aldridge picked up 2 quick fouls and Frye who picked up a quicker 3 fouls).

Against the Clips on Sunday, Shav played 8 minutes in garbage time, but managed to score 9 points on 4-8 FGs (1-1 from distance) and grabbed 7 boards. Pretty efficient don't you think. If he plays 10 minutes, I think he gets a double-double in David Lee like manner.

In his short stint vs. the Rockets, Randolph played a mere 4 minutes. He hit one FT and grabbed 3 rebounds and a floor burn from diving for a loose ball. I love the energy and hustle this guy brings. At times, I wonder why this guy doesn't get minutes over Frye or Outlaw.

I also remember Mike Barrett saying that Shavlik was once a guy who started for a 76er team that made the playoffs. Shavlik is no fluke. If a particular player coming off the bench is struggling, I think Randolph would be a great energy sub-guy off the bench. So McMuffin, if your boy Outlaw stinks it up, deattach from him and give Shav the opportunity dammit!!

Phoenix Fires Terry Porter!!

To borrow a line from Marv Albert, "YESSSSSSSS!! And it Counts"

Terry Porter totally ruined this the Suns. Basically the same roster as the previous year and Porter's change of style disgruntled his players and thus, they gave up on him. Sort of like the Clippers giving up on Mike "Dudleavy" for the past two + years (Only they aren't smart enough to fire their Coach/GM).

If you don't know by now, go through my achieves to see the story of Porter and my father. This will probably put a dagger in Porter's hope to ever become a head coach again as he couldn't manage a team with 3 All-Stars. I mean seriously, how can somebody coach a team and have Steve Nash and Amare Stoudamire UNDERPERFORMand QUIT on you?? One word comes to mind now Porter... KARMA!!

Rudy Fernandez Gets the Cold Shoulder from Dunk Judges

Our man Rudy Fernandez totally got the shaft by those Phoenix Suns alum where I have a conspiracy theory that their owner Sarver told them to "readjust" his scores. Remember, Sarver is the guy that made a HUGE mistake (one of many as you see their team self-destructing as I type this) of selling Rudy to the Blazers for a mere $3 million...

There are also conspiracies of the contest being rigged for a "Krypto"Nate Robinson and a "Superman" Dwight Howard final like in the movie... but only this time, the Kryptonite... I mean KryptoNate would come up on top.

Seriously, Dwight Howard's first two dunks should NOT have gotten him 50's and Nate Robinson's dunk off Wilson Chandler's back was unspectacular that should have gotten him 6's or 7's...

Say whatever conspiracy you want, but let me say this... Tom Chambers, Dan Ma-jer-le (still don't know why it's pronounced "Marley"), Kevin Johnson, Cedric Ceballos (and your see-through blindfold, and Larry Nance... You guys can kiss my ass for that piss-poor shitty judging of yours!!

DUUUUUURAAANNNTT!!

Remember when Kevin Pritchard said Kevin Durant is going to be an assassin? Well, not only is Durant sniping teams for 25+ point a game along with 7 rebounds. While Greg Oden, the person drafted in front of him, is racking up the injuries, KD is racking up the points and with the assistance of All-Star Weekend showcasing Durant in not only the Rookie/Sophomore game, but also the H.O.R.S.E. competition tonight (Since his team is atrociously bad, they don't get any National TV exposure, BUT they are young and showing signs of the Blazers from a few years ago). Oh, did I mention, he was the MVP of the Rook/Soph game with a record 46 points on 17 of 25 FGs (4-8 from distance) and grabbed 7 boards and 4 dimes...

Greg Oden, on the other hand, sat out the game because of yet another injury...

Remember, before the 2007 draft, I was one of the few that said we should take Durant

And keep this in mind for those of you that think Greg Oden was still the right choice for Portland... I've been saying it since the beginning of 2009, "In 5 years, Kevin Durant will be the 2nd best player in the league behind LeBron James... With Greg Oden's injury and slow progress thus far, where do you think he'll be ranked at?"

Knicks Deserved Win vs. Blazers but Choke

After falling behind by as many as 17 during midway through the 3rd quarter, the New York Knicks made a dramatic comeback that made it look effortlessly thanks to the piss-poor coaching of Nate McMuffin's zone defense by the Knicks's from long distance by Chris Duhon, Nate Robinson, and yes, Tim Thomas. Thomas was luckily guarded by Travis Outlaw who alone gave up at least 3 three pointers to Thomas and had at least 2 more open looks that wouldn't fall. New York was able to turn the 17 point deficit into a lead in the 3rd but would settle for a tie going into the 4th.

Momentum had turned and the Knicks would build a 13 point lead in the 4th thanks to once again Nate's continuation of the zone defense on the shooters mentioned above. Luckily for McMuffin', the Knicks started to miss WIDE OPEN shots, which left the door open for the Blazers and somehow, managed to pull off the buzzer beater eek out the win.

The Knicks definitely deserve this game as they once had a 30 point turn around as D'Antoni outcoached Nate, but I guess I'll take this (undeserving) win that'll keep us in 5th place.

Adam Carolla in Action

Of course, on occasions I like to do my own version of "This Week in Rage" inspired by Adam Carolla so I thought I'd post a video of the man himself at what he does best in his, This Week in Rage from January 30, 2009. My personal favorite rant from last week about Steve Miller's song "Abracadabra"