The problem is that the game won't be called more closely on both sides of the ball, but will be called closer on one side when it comes to Yao. He'll get some calls he didn't in Game 2 and Przy and Oden will be whistled for breathing on him.
If they're smart Nate, Brandon, and Joel will immediately speak with the ref crew and find out what's going to be allowed tonight and what won't be. AND then be sure to say they want the same treatment for Roy and Aldridge!
The problem is that I think we try to take a "high road" philosophy when we're facing a street fight. Nate never gets technicals for his guys. Our players rarely bark at the refs. Sure, we flop to try to sell calls, but we need to take the next step. We're so closely matched with the Rockets, we can't afford to play with one hand tied behind our back.
Brandon's really been told by the team this year that he needs to be vocal with the refs. And he was down the stretch of season. He sort of tapered off though. My point is the team did acknowledge that this was Brandon's next step (influencing the refs) in his progression as a leader. Nate and Brandon SHOULD know what to do. If not, we'll likely look at this result as one of the "next" steps for this team to master. I don't think they'll let us down though. They know that their game isn't going to be enough.
Our bigs do set more than an average number of moving screens. I think Oden is just anxious to get to the basket. I'm just disappointed in Adelman. Never would've though he would stoop to this. Everyone knows how tough and rumble Houston is as a team and then they come out and claim their guys are being roughed up???!?!
IMO, this just screams that the Rockets don't like to be played physical. They are used to being the the bully, getting what they want but when they get smacked back, there not used to it, don't like it and are really not quite sure how to react to the situation (as seen by the bitching about calls printed in the paper). Its obvious that the Blazers got under their skin in the last game. We really need to step it up even more and become the agressors, attack the rim and create contact and body them up. Bullies stop being that way once you prove your not intimated by them and you can play their game. We need to keep our foot on the gas and go for it.
Honestly its perception. Sure Houston is tough, and they ARE a great defensive team but they get the benefit of the doubt with the officials because of that perceived repuatation therefore stuff that is called on one team wont be called the same on the other. THe Blazers have improved greatlyy this season but at the beginning of the year we were considered a soft team that doesn't like to play physical ball. THat is why when we start to play that way the officials call more ticky tack calls on us because they do not expect that kind of play out of us. After the last game they had the chance to see that we are not backing down and were the aggressors. We need to keep playing like that if we want to win this series. If we come out as a jump shooting team, and not challenge their bigs and force the ball inside, we lose in 6.
...still waiting for the Rockets' fan who was going to post the Oden video with his "fouls." Rockets' are bitches, period. No one bitches about the refs more than them. Maybe that's why they haven't got out of the first round in forever... mentally, they're soft. Roy and Co. get hammered in game one, even when they were the more aggressive team, and instead of saying the refs need to call more fouls, he says, verbatim, that the Blazers need to be even more aggressive. Houston says instead of swinging a ball or making Yao actually work for positioning, that he just shouldn't be "fouled."
LOL! 1. Its the playoffs, stop being pussys 2. If they are going to call it tighter with Yao, they better call it with Roy/LMA getting bumped driving or getting position. Scola would foul out in the first quarter and so would Artest. 3. Our bigs got like 16 fouls last game so STFU. Wow, ridiculous. They get all physical and people say this is the playoffs the Blazers need to adjust. So when they do, and be physical right back they call foul. Talk about some soft-ass pussies. Deal with it. The refs can either call it like that (and they do BOTH way, and even favor the Rockets, imo) or they can call it tight, and better both ways... I better see Yao in serious foul trouble, Scola and Artest as well. Anyway, whoever said we set a lot of moving screens is correct. We do. I have no problem with them being called, as long as those go both ways as well.
Excessive contact against Yao has been an issue for the Rockets all year. And you really can't compare what players like Yao and Shaq have to deal with in terms of contact in the paint and what perimeter guys like Roy contend with. It's on a totally different level. Of course Adelman will talk about it. And you honestly don't think that Portland complained to the league after game 1? In a tightly contested series like this, every team will send in reports to the league after games to try to get an edge.
The whole game I was complaining about Scola, Landry, Battier and Artest's moving screens (and Yao too, but not as much). Houston is just as bad if not worse at doing them as Portland. It's all blinders, both ways. It's the fact that Houston is actually complaining to the league that's hilarious after we got so badly jobbed in game one. Game 2 was inconsistent but pretty fair IMO. At the time I felt like we got worse calls, especially in the first 3 quarters and it was pretty even in the 4th so therefor it was in Houston's favor, but looking back it was just very inconsistent. All I know is that if it is overly biased in Houston's favor tonight, Stern and the NBA has lost that last once of credibility they had to me, and so many of my ex-NBA loving friends cite the refs as the reason they don't watch basketball anymore. Just saying, some diehards like us will never go even if every game is fixed, but there's a reason why the NBA isn't pulling in the ratings it once did and one of the big ones is the reffing.
I said if I had time I'd post a video comparing the fouls called on Oden with the alleged no calls for Yao. It's a matter of transferring the video from my DVR to my computer, and editing it, which would take a number of hours. Something tells me, based on the comments of a few posters made here, that the time it takes me to do that wouldn't be worth the effort. There's really too much nuance in how NBA refs calls fouls, so on plays where its really a judgment call ("incidental contact" vs foul-worthy contact, blocking foul vs no call) it will be hard to convince fans that have already made up their minds.
That's cool. My perspective is that the Rockets just outplayed the Blazers in game 1, and the refs decided to allow the teams to play instead of calling it tight. That favors the Rockets, because they're tougher, smarter, and more experienced on defense. A certain amount of contact is allowed if done in a particular way, and veteran teams are better at picking up on those things than young teams. Couple that with the Rockets just playing really well on offense, and the Blazers not giving a great effort at all, and its a blowout. In game 2, the refs decided to take more "control" over the game, and as you said I thought they were inconsistent. It probably went both ways. It's funny to me how you want to criticize the Rockets for complaining about certain calls from game 2; I'm almost positive the Blazers did the exact same thing after game 1. In fact, I'm sure both teams will report their grievances to the league regularly throughout the series. My understanding is that this is standard procedure in the playoffs.
We are having a playoff party tonight, and I am making every guest read the flopping article in this weeks SI before they get their first beer. We may be rowdy fanboys, but at least we will be educated.
Proof? I can tell you that I have seen nothing from the Trail Blazers complaining about the officials. Nothing. So what would make you "positive" and "sure"?
I have no proof. I know it is something teams are allowed to do, I regularly read about teams doing so (particularly in the playoffs), and I understand the Blazers to be a well-runned, well-organized team that wouldn't be falling asleep during the playoffs by not staying in contact with the league over officiating. If the Blazers genuinely felt that bad calls were being systematically made against them and they did not talk to the league about it, then they are foolish. But, hey, maybe I'm wrong. Why don't you ask one your beat writers (Freeman or Quick) if the Blazers have contacted the league about calls they feel are being unfairly called or not called against them? I'd be shocked if he answered "no".
That's what I thought. Why don't you. You're the one coming on making assertions without anything but assumptions to back them up.
