Philadelphia 76ers @ Portland Trail Blazers 3/23/2009 Game Thread (Merged)

Roy played his worst game of the season. Philly was unconscious in the first half. The refs were pretty bad. That being said, our perimeter defense once again was just horrible. Everytime Philly needed a bucket Iguodala or Miller drove by whoever was guarding them at will and got a layup or got fouled. I could see it coming before it happened every time, including the last play of regulation. They did it all night. VERY frustrating to watch.

 

Tough loss at home, but not completely unexpected since the first game back from a long road trip is pretty much the same thing as an away game (especially with only 1 day of rest). Hopefully they get rested up, get their heads screwed on straight and are ready to go against Phoenix on Thursday.

But hey, really nice outing from GO only picking up 2 fouls in 23 minutes after the quick 3, and he was absolutely beasting on the defensive end.

Cheer up guys, you can't win 'em all.

 

Re: Philly danced on our floor tonight and WE BENT OVER

I'm not saying that's the way the game should be officiated, I'm saying that's the way it is officiated. Aggressiveness gets you the benefit of the doubt more times than not. You can't skip around two feet behind the three point line for the first 51 minutes of regulation and OT and then expect the officials to suddenly reward you in the final two.

And if you put that question to Brandon, or D-Wade, or Lebron, or Kobe that exact same way I'm framing it, I can guarantee you they'd agree with me.

Brandon crapped the bed tonight, and I'm sure his postgame comments will reflect the opinion that he wasn't aggressive enough.

-Pop

 

Re: Philly danced on our floor tonight and I'M SHOUTING LIKE A MORON!

Will do. Sorry, I was just venting.

My trick was never to raise them stratospherically high, so I never had to lower them back down.

 

Sorry, I'm not buying that excuse when we were playing a team in the last game of a five-game road trip and on the second night of a back-to-back. Couple that with the fact that this is the team that humiliated us in Philly earlier this season and the "first game back doldrums" argument falls flat.

Blazers needed this win, and their leader and go-to guy didn't come to play. Simple as that.

-Pop

 

I just got back. Sat 10 rows up across the sixers bench. This game was decided by Javie. He had to have money on this game. Could hebe next rouge ref?I couldn't believe my eyes on the LAM foul at the end. He was hacked and no call. Seriously there were about 8-10 no calls in the 4th and OT, all benefiting Philly. Horrible, horrible (no) calls.

 

make no mistake... this was a bad bad loss.

should the suns beat the jazz.... and then beat us....

blazers will be 3 games up with the tie breaker to suns with 10 left. and if it comes down to the suns last 3 games... they are losing facing grizz, minny, sac


we get denver and okc(philly of the west)... how nice

 

Re: Philly danced on our floor tonight and I'M SHOUTING LIKE A MORON!

I wasn't responding entirely to you. Before the thread got absorbed into the game thread, Pop was... being Pop. I was more reacting to that.

Andro-rage is another way of saying roid-rage (a rather obtuse and cruddy way, I see now). It sucks that I can't write sometimes.

 

And yet if Brandon would have stepped up for even just one offensive possession at any point in regulation the refs would have been irrelevant. As it was, we played with fire and got burned.

Lesson learned ... I hope.

-Pop

 

Brandon having an off night hurt us. Philly's D sure helped but he was definitely not the Brandon we're used to. Cannot lose to PHX. Go Blazers.

 

Well, I also left out the part about us matching up badly with the Sixers; they pose the same problem the Warriors and Suns do, each with athletic scorers who get into the lane, run up and down the court and out physical opponents, pretty much our kryptonite.

 

The Lakers actually get Memphis and Utah.

 

As pissed off as I am about this loss, Oden was a beast. He stayed in the game with 5 fouls and was still aggressive. God I hope he can stay healthy, because that's the only obstacle between him and greatness. His hook shot will come with time. Really the only positive thing I can say about this one. Great games by Aldridge and Rudy, too.

 

In Portland on Monday night, late in the fourth quarter, the Trail Blazers and Philadelphia were slugging away at each other with an array of drives and jumpers and blocks and big rebounds.
In Phoenix, at the same time, the Suns and Denver Nuggets were doing the exact same thing.

And in both cities, both games mattered -- a lot.

Welcome back, playoff race.

In Phoenix, a Suns loss would drop to seven Portland's magic number for clinching its first playoff appearance since 2003. A Denver loss would move the Blazers into a tie with Denver atop the NBA's Northwest Division -- if Portland won.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2009/03/its_a_playoff_race_again.html

collaspe ahead?

 

You must be giddy with anticipation?

 

See how late he's up just to post? He never stays up this late after a win...

 

Your Lakers have already clinched so you have nothing to worry about.

 

I seriously think the guy has a fetish for Blazer losses. It gets him off as they say.

 

Indeed... Maybe that's why his posts don't come so fast and furious right after a game... typing with one hand and all.



It is a playoff race again, though. I think this isn't an awful thing. It'll keep us on our toes. I was hoping for a win, but Philly has some strong-ass guards (ripped arms man... all those dudes are cut), and they successfully placed our skinny butts where they wanted us on the court. Nothing to be done for it now, of course. We will bounce back. We will dig out more wins. We will make the playoffs.

We just have to fight more for it than we thought...

 

it's a playoff race? maybe for seeding. the blazers are in the playoffs.