<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The frustrations of a disappointing season are starting to surface with the Trail Blazers, as evident during their 106-96 loss to the upstart Denver Nuggets on Friday night in front of 17,316 at the Rose Garden. Team captain Damon Stoudamire and emerging star Zach Randolph engaged in two heated arguments during the second half, creating enough of a scene that coach Maurice Cheeks felt the need to address the issue in the locker room. Also, reserve forward Ruben Patterson, the constant target of public, on-court criticism by Cheeks, snapped back at the coach during the second quarter, telling Cheeks that if he is going to get on him, then he needs to get on everybody else when they mess up. And center Dale Davis, frustrated by another quiet night that produced two points and three rebounds, initiated a cheap-shot elbow to Denver's Nene in the second quarter, resulting in a quick shoving match that led to technical fouls on each player. The scenes -- some major and some minor -- capture the emotions of what quickly is developing as an underachieving season. The Blazers slipped to 15-16 and are not-so-subtly being passed in the arms race by the likes of Denver, Houston, Utah and Minnesota.</div> Full Story My thoughts: First off, Patterson better enjoying his playing time while Derek Anderson is injured. Rueben is just trying to act like Bonzi, and has no business talking back to the Coach. I kinda like Dale Davis, but the guy is horrible. We can't unload him for another center of the same "caliber", and there's no way to motivate the guy because the skill isn't there. I kinda wish Nene had knocked some sense into him after that elbow was thrown. Randolph is becoming the franchise, but he needs to respect his elders, lol. Stoudamire may need to learn to deal with people, but I think that Zach is getting conceeded. Thoughts?
I really hope the Blazers get it together before their season drifts away and it's too late to turn things around and they end up being a cellar dellwer team.