Good crew. Crawford, Delaney and Corbin are a good experienced group and I've never felt like any of them are prima donnas.
I can swear I just read an article about Crawford's beef with Dallas, and them hardly ever winning when he refs their games. Now, we're not Dallas, so no big deal there, but anyone that holds personal vendettas like that doesn't seem like a top line official to me.
So the question becomes what do they Blazers do to change things up? 1. This game is too important. We cannot afford for Rudy to play 1 minute. 2. Aldridge and Howard need to score more points in the paint. 3. Attack the rim. PHX has no shot blockers of note. Quit playing like they do. 4. Brandon Roy must attack Jason Richardson. Jason doesn't play so well on offense when he has to exert energy to defend. 5. Phoenix likes to run off of missed 3 pointers. So if you shoot it, make sure you make it. 6. Portland needs to be faster to all the loose balls, all the rebounds, and in general, outhustle PHX. If Portland loses tonight it shouldn't be due to lack of effort, like the last game. 7. Will somebody please make Steve Nash attempt to defend them?
Between Roy, Batum, and Miller, Nash is going to be in defensive hell one way or another. *insert lame joke about LMA being so soft Nash could stop him here*
I hope after tonight and the crowd that Amare wont "enjoy being the bad guy" in Portland anymore. Give em hell tonight guys!
Maybe. For him to be on the defensive, whoever he is guarding has to be agressive. If that is Batum, that is a total crapshoot considering we don't even know if he will play for a half, let alone play agressively.
http://twitpic.com/1jgooj http://twitpic.com/1jgpk9 [video=youtube;dkBOI4lNfYs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkBOI4lNfYs[/video]
awwwwwwww yeah! now THATS the stuff I like to hear!!! see ya there for game 1! Cause we are gonna have HCA next round against the Spurs!!!
We must out rebound the Suns - and we will win the game. This means that our bigs (LMA!) must block out first - and show some hustle. Cunningham could be a factor if he comes into the game and hustles on the boards - which he has done very well in a handful of games during the season. And, obviously, we need to stay out of foul trouble - which hurt us quite a bit last game!
This song says it all, without even saying a word. [video=youtube;zCTJmXrgsFg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCTJmXrgsFg[/video]
Portland needs to stay out of touch foul trouble for sure. Getting a few fouls knocking the shit out of guys when they attack the paint is just fine with me.
Only 3 hours to go!! The waiting has been agonizing. We're gonna find out what our team is all about tonight.
