I repeat... 36 to 13. Reputation shmeputation, that is flat ridiculous. I think Outlaw has done okay defensively this series. But his insane hops don't equate to insane lateral quickness. Blake is just a step slow to guard ultra quick PGs like Brooks. Nothing new on either of these two fronts... it's not a lack of effort, it's a lack of ability. STOMP
Great point MM. I hate whining but it can make a big difference in the playoffs. Three of the biggest whiners are Phil, Pop and Adelman........whining gets results.......By the way I'm disappointed Nate hasn't stood up for his players by getting a "T". Not sure he's the coach that can take us to the promise land. Isn't his contract up at the end of the year.......?
I guess my question really is "Why is this acceptable?". I haven't ever heard of the rules that state rookies and vets should be treated differently by the officials. I haven't seen the rules that say big name players should be officiated differently then roll players. Nor, for that matter, have I seen the regular season versus post season rule sets. Here is the thing. I feel as though I am being played for a fool. I have hope that Portland will one day receive the same calls that Houston is getting now. But that is a false hope. Historically this has never been the case. Can you imagine the fucking Portland would receive against the Lakers? Or the Cavs? It would make Houston look really good by comparison. Going forward, our main competitors will have LeBron, Kobe and Wade on their teams. What do you think will happen in each and every one of those contests? I don't believe it is a conspiracy. I don't believe that Stern sits in his office and dreams up ways to screw the Trailblazers. I do think Stern is responsible for the star system, which in turn causes the kind of shit we are seeing in this series. Portland doesn't have, more then likely never will have, a star in same way Houston does. That give Houston an implicit advantage that is not mentioned in any of the rules. The fact is that Portland needs a media star to compete. I have no idea what they can do to provide one. Some sort of media blitz by the organization. Shove Roy, LA or Oden down the collective throats of the fan base. All I know for sure is if they don't, you can forget all about a dynasty and start getting ready for bitter loses to teams with that have the media star advantage.
I really felt bad for Rice at the end of the game. Right after we loss it showe Barrett talking and Rice looked lost staring into space. He looked very old and depress.
Yep, it is. But it's the way the league operates. Veterans and superstars get the calls. Rookies and obscure role players don't. It sucks, but it's the way the way they've run the NBA forever. The NBA is consistent in this inconsistency. Might as well complain about the charge circle or the distance of three point line. They are all NBA conventions that they feel maximizes entertainment value and excitement. In this case it comes at the expense of fairness and sportsmanship. Sigh. All the Blazers can do is wait for Batum and Oden to mature, or add more vets to the team if we want to speed the process along.
remind me when Portland had the vets and got the calls or when their superstar mattered more then some larger market's team... that year slips my mind somehow. The stars get the calls crap started with Stern, it doesn't have to be. As a Blazer fan, 36 to 13 isn't some anomaly I'm surprised by. As far as I can tell the star system seems to be about moving product nationally. A smaller market way out west has obvious disadvantages working against them in trying to connect with the masses. Why should I ever hold any hope for this turning around? Is Greg going to get even more handsome? Brandon a better interview/likable guy? Will Americans go on a French is cool phase and go crazy for Batum? STOMP
If this team wants avoid playing 5 on 8 then I would suggest they start outplaying the opposition. In a series this evenly matched with a team with one established superstar playing in a big market, and another team with a budding superstar from a team in a small market I wouldn't want to bet on the latter. Now throw in the fact the Blazers have not played with any kind of poise down the stretch and have settled for a ton of jumpshots and I think Barrett and Rice should cut the bullshit and stop whinging. Let's get real here, in this series Houston has out-hustled the Blazers, out-toughed the Blazers and out-executed the Blazers, end of story.
You're bullshitting. Let me break it down really simple for you. If Portland won the game by 3 points, and the referees decided to just deduct 4 points from their total at the end of the game, would that be grounds to "whine"? Well, in the same way, a ref can add or subtract points from the total by bad calls. No one is whining, they just want a fair game.
Stern's response... Basically, a media day to explain the rules. This quote stands out: So Stern's solution was pretty much just to try and stop broadcasters from talking about bad calls. Then there was the appointment of this guy, who doesn't seem to have changed a fucking thing.
How am I bullshitting? Rice and Barrett whine all the time about the officiating, I'm sick of hearing it from them, that's a simple statement of my opinion. As for the refs adding or subtracting points through fouls and no-calls that may be true, but the Blazers are still getting out-worked and out executed in this series, which is the real reason they are down 3-1, not because of some perceived slight or fix job by the refs. simple enough for you?
Actually, there is merit in both sides. Yes, the officiating has been slanted against the Blazers. Yes, Oden & Przybilla have been called for touch fouls while Yao does not get called for body slamming or hooking. Yes, there is a star system in the NBA. But... Last year, the Rockets, with Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady, lost in the first round to Utah. Utah, with Deron Williams, Carlos Boozer, Andrei Kirilenko. Who had the bigger stars? Remember the 2004 Finals? It was said if the Pistons did everything right they might win one game against the Lakers with Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone, and Gary Payton. Instead, the Lakers won one game against the star-challenged Pistons. Is it an accident that Roy took nearly all the Blazers free throws yesterday? Or has it something to do with him being a two time all star, and getting national attention as an elite player? Clyde did not get calls against Michael Jordan, but he got plenty against lesser beings. The first year Pippen was with the Blazers, he was matched up against Wally Szczerbiak in the first round of the playoffs. A rookie. Who got the calls? Oden does not get the calls because he's seen as a disappointment. Whether or not we agree is irrelevant. If Oden works this summer and next year starts showing why he was such a high rated #1 pick, he's going to start getting calls. So yes, the officiating is stacked against Portland. But they committed at least 3 bonehead mistakes in crunch time in a one point loss yesterday and that was not due to the refs. So yes, Nate should speak up. But the Blazers also need to start earning star treatment. Roy has at least to a degree. Time for Oden and Aldridge to do the same. And for god's sake, don't throw the rebound halfway to San Antonio, or steal the ball but get your pocket picked, or get trapped on the endline, or take an off balance 3 with 9 seconds still left. Get a rep for dumb plays and you'll never get star calls!
If the Blazers are getting outworked and out executed and the refs bias is causing us to lose a net 8 points a game, then we are actually ahead 3-1. So, my question to you is... What are we doing RIGHT, assuming we are getting outworked and out executed, but up in the ref-neutral series 3-1?
Aggressive teams get the calls, they haven't been aggressive so they aren't getting the calls. That's the only bias I've seen in this series. All things being equal, 2 times out 3 the jumpshooting team has to be that much better than a physical inside oriented team in order to win a playoff game. If the Blazers want to stop feeling jobbed by the refs then they should work harder for loose balls, drive to the hole more and put the pressure on the officials to make the call, if they don't get the call the first time do it again and again and again and again ... but that's not what this team does. The only ref-neutral series you are going to see is when both teams take it to each other relentlessly, Houston knows this, the Blazers haven't quite caught on.
Completely Wrong. I'm not talking about the Wafer drives to the hoop. Yes, he's being aggressive and getting calls. Ditto for Lowry (btw, Memphis held onto Lowry too long and didn't get enough for him ) I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about Yao pushing our bigs, and our bigs getting called for fouls REPEATEDLY. Yao is not getting fouls called on our big because "he's aggressive". The fouls are being called for no apparent reason. As M&M pointed out in the last game, it was all by the same ref (things that make you go hmmm.) Again, what I'm talking about has nothing to do with aggressiveness. Actually, this is a HUGE compliment to the blazers. Houston is being much more aggressive than we are (outside of Roy), outrebounding us by a lot, and getting huge lifts from the refs, yet they only won the last two games by a small number of points combined. Roy has been hammered - he's gotten calls some of the time. Yes, other members of our team needs to be more aggressive taking it to the hoop. This has been my gripe about Outlaw all year. This has some truth to it, but it's hard for a small town Portland fan to be paranoid of a billion sized fan base.
I've got to hit you up one more time here.... sorry Joel was the #9 lotto choice in 2000. He's a sometime starter and has been a solid defender/role player for years. Battier was the #6 lotto choice in 2001. He's a sometime starter and has been a solid defender/role player for years. They both signed MLE contracts yet Joel is obscure? Are you really contending that Shane is the bigger star and thus deserves more leeway with the calls anything approaching what we've witnessed? Then we have the Gregarious #1 pick two drafts back who has been featured on numerous national ad campaigns vs the league pariah who punches out fans, and racks up flagrant T's/suspensions... Portland doesn't win that one in the star system either because Ron Ron is a vet who has garnered the respect of the league? I'm sticking with my contention that market size matters a great deal... in Portland he'd receive all the vet respect that Ruben did. STOMP
Utah did... Ming had a broken foot and never stepped on the court during that series. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=280502026 STOMP
Going off MB's stat of us getting the short end of the calls in this series, 101-83, I decided to figure out the discrepancy of fouls compared to the rest of the playoff series. To make it fair, I just went through the first four games of each series. +/- fouls (Through four games) Detroit -32 (Big number, but understandably against LeBron) Portland -18 San Antonio -11 LA Lakers -6 Miami -4 Boston -3 New Orleans -1 Philadelphia 0 Orlando 0 Denver +1 Chicago +3 Atlanta +4 Utah +6 Dallas +11 Houston +18 Cleveland +32 Total fouls (Through four games) Portland 101 LA Lakers 101 New Orleans 101 Denver 100 Detroit 95 Utah 95 Boston 93 Chicago 90 Orlando 89 Philadelphia 89 San Antonio 86 Miami 85 Houston 83 Atlanta 81 Dallas 75 Cleveland 63
While I do agree that the officiating has been one-sided overall, I think at least some discussion should be given to the difference in the way the Blazers and Rockets foul. The Blazers (Oden in particular) often get calls against them because they reach and use their hands. The officials don't often let those fouls go. It seems to me that the Rockets seem to be more adept at using their lower bodies to push people out of position and that the refs seem to ignore those fouls more often, especially when they occur in the paint.
