I think it may be. Not because of the final score, which was bad enough, but because of the horrible execution, sloppy play, and almost total lack of effort. Not to mention that it came at the hands of a team on a 6-game losing streak. Even in the early years of the expansion Trail Blazers, when they were at the bottom of the NBA barrel, they fought hard and gave it an honest effort. This team did not do that tonight. They laid down right from the first quarter, and it only got worse from there. I watched the game on MSG, and the Knicks' announcers were stunned at how poorly the Blazers were playing. "Horrible," "pathetic," "bumbling," and worse were some of the words they used. At several points during the game they actually seemed to feel sorry for Portland. I wish I had gone out to see a movie instead of watching this embarrassment. I can't remember a time when I've ever felt more disillusioned about this team.
I couldn't shake the feeling while I was watching the game that they were getting paid to take a dive like some hack palooka.
That was a different kind of bad. Heartbreaking and unbelievable, but at least the Blazers played the Lakers neck-and-neck until their collapse. Tonight they were completely outmatched from the opening tip, and they didn't even seem to care.
This wasn't the worst loss, but it might be the least professional ... all-time is a long time though.
Officially this was the 5th worse loss (points wise) in history. Pride-wise? Definitely the worst. LA's remarks (via the twitters) tell me they're just sandbagging it: LaMarcus Aldridge: "You know when you fire your coach and i don't know the situation, but when you go through something like that, they might play more rejuvenated and show that that was a good move." If the team leader is sandbagging it to get Nate fired, the rest of the team is following suit. Camby and Wallace are players and aren't happy about it, but you can see that the team as a whole is just not playing hard, and LA just admitted as much. That quote from LA is directed at Paul Allen. It's the ultimatum: "we're tanking, Paul, but if you fire Nate, we'll play hard again. Until then? The choice is yours. You have five earth minutes to comply." I hate this game of brinksmanship between the team and ownership. The fans suffer and everyone looks like clowns.
