Until somebody gets sneezed on.

having your face smashed into Yao’s pits all night or nasal drip. GO has to choose

…was a euphamism for late season choking. If that’s the case, Greg, please do keep your distance from him.

I’m sure Greggy will sit in a sauna and dip a Neti Pot to cleanse his sinuses before tomorrow. He will be playing primarily against your back up center whom I refer to as Chief 2: Electric Boogaloo. You see, Robert Parish was nicknamed the Chief and was the last center I can remember who played into his 40s quasi effectively…. nevermind.

Yao owns oden. He could pass off his lightweight to motumbo if he wanted to. LONG LIVE MUTOMBO!!!!

I know it’s been the Rockets’ bugaboo all season long, but I really think the Blazers are going to have trouble scoring down the stretch of these ballgames. The Rockets D has been turning up the intensity quite nicely late in the season and I don’t think the Blazers will be ready to respond. Without the extra six fouls that Oden provides (and we all know that Pryzbilla will commit a foul a minute), the Blazers will be forced to go small, and LaMarcus doesn’t have the energy or quickness to effectively front Yao. Rockets pick up the first game and the series is over.

oden not at 100%… oh wait, he hasn’t been 100% all season. Well, missing Oden at 80% will definitely hurt the blazers. Good teams step up. If the blazers are good, and i think they are, they’ll step up and find a way.

I’m a bit nervous though.

Then he will flop, Greg will be called for a foul, and Yao will whine for the rest of the night.

“Nicolas Batum, who did not play Monday against the Oklahoma City Thunder because of flu-like symptoms, is expected to return to the starting lineup against the Nuggets.

Batum was sent home roughly 15 minutes before tipoff against the Thunder and did not practice with the team yesterday, but said prior to the game that he was feeling “OK” tonight.

He was cramming for his challenging defensive matchup against All-Star forward Carmelo Anthony up until about 45 minutes before tipoff as Batum and coach Nate McMillan engaged in a rare and lengthily conversation in McMillan’s office until he opened his door for a pregame meeting with reporters…."

http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2009/04/nuggets_pregame_batum_to_start.html

“After Wednesday’s game, Batum would have just settled for a night in bed.

After missing Monday’s game, Tuesday’s practice and Wednesday’s shootaround because of the flu, nobody expected Batum to play against the Nuggets. At the height of his sickness, Batum said he carried a 103-degree temperature and was unable to keep food down.

I was speaking with Williams two hours before the game underneath the Blazers basket when Batum came out with that look of his – part deer in the headlights, part cool as a cucumber.

“How you feel? You gonna play?’’ Williams asked, a little stunned.

Nonchalantly, Batum shrugged his shoulders and said he felt fine.

The two worked out briefly and Batum disappeared back into the locker room. About 15 minutes later, he re-emerged with team doctor Tom Reis, who wanted to know from Williams exactly what Batum was able to do.

“I didn’t do much with him,’’ Williams said.

Reis had Batum run from the baseline to halfcourt and back a couple times, then escorted him to the locker room. As they walked back under the tunnel, Reis checked Batum’s pulse by gripping his right wrist. Judging from the caution Reis was taking and the two limited on court workouts, I doubted Batum would play.

But about 10 minutes later, inside the locker room, as Batum sat at his locker with a Gatorade and energy bar, McMillan came in and tapped Batum on the shoulder. He wanted to see the rookie in his office.

The meeting lasted a good 15 minutes and extended into the time usually allotted for McMillan’s media access. As such, 10 reporters were waiting outside McMillan’s office door while McMillan gave Batum a run through on the defensive strategy in guarding Carmelo Anthony. Through the long, narrow window on McMillan’s door, I could see the coach diagramming defensive schemes in green felt pen on the large greaseboard. Batum had risen from his seat and stood at attention.

Shyly, Batum exited the office, revealing no shoes, just socks. He was going to play….Batum said he received five bags of intravenous fluids in his forearms about 15 minutes before the game…."

http://www.thedreamshake.com/2009/4/17/842909/is-greg-oden-contracting-a-serious#top

link to Blazers/Nuggets boxscore…
http://stats.oregonlive.com/nba/boxscore.asp?gamecode=2009041522&home=22&vis=7

Boxscore line of importance to you…

C. Anthony F 29:37 - 3-18 - 6-6 - 0-3 - -9 - 1 - 6 - 1 - 0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 12

Repeat that… Nick Batum and Travis Outlaw held Carmelo Anthony to 12 pts and 6 rebs on 3-18 shooting helped Portland annihilate the Nuggets 104-76

Moral of this story: You don’t want to be playing the Portland Trail Blazers when any of them aren’t feeling well. It makes them cranky.

Oden is not even the starting center.

But does anyone else remember how long it took him to learn to play in the NBA.After learning that levelheaded Ron Ron takes the most shots for the Rockets I feel much better about the Blazers chanchs

By whose defenition? Yao failed to average 20 and 10 yet again, a feat he has accomplished only in two injury shortened seasons in his seven year career. Zach Randolph has better stats than that. I predict Yao gets at least two shots blocked back in his face in game one Saturday.

Seriously, I hope Yao dominates. He has the physical gifts to be the MDE but seems reluctant to be the go to guy for his team.

love oden, think he will lead the league in rebounding one year, but he needs to stay on the damn court.

misses his first game of college
misses his first nba season
gets injured in his first nba game
misses his first all star week-end
now could miss his first play-off game

bunk is dejected

but only by 1 game. And you are wrong. Experience may not play a huge role in the overall series, but there is no denying that on the road inthe playoffs experience matters. The rockets are older, wiser, and play amazing defense at home. The blazers winning in Toyota Center is highly unlikely

…. but I quote John Hollinger from ESPN right here:

20, 20, 21, 35, 3, 12, 8, 15, 30 and 28. Those were the Blazers’ margins of victory while taking 10 of their final 11 games. They weren’t just beating teams, folks, they were beating the holy hell out of them. And their road woes ceased late in the year; the Blazers won seven of their final nine road games, and one of the losses was at Cleveland in overtime.

May the beatings of holy hell commence. (and, yes, I am aware of who the other road loss was to – touche!). By the way, that OT loss to Cleveland was w/o LaMarcus.

Im not denying that those are impressive wins, but you need to look at the context of it too.
1st game was vs Phoenix, back to back for phoenix after hosting the jizz
2nd game was vs memphis, back to back for Mem after playing at sac
3rd game was vs Jizz, back to back for Jizz after hosting the knicks
4th game was @OKC, no back to back for either team
5th game was @ Houston, the one yall lost, no back to back for either team
6th was @ Mem, no back to back for either team
7th was @ SA, back to back for both teams
8th was vs. LAL, back to back for LAL after hosting den
9th was @ LAC, back to back for both
10th was vs. OKC, no back to back for either team
11th was vs Den, who didnt care

So to recap, yall played 4 teams who were on the second of a back to back while yall werent. Yall played 0 back to back when it wasnt a back to back for the other team. Thats a pretty favorable schedule.

The margins of when yall played a team on thier second of a back to back were 20, 20, 21, and 8. Those other two big wins, the ones of 35 and 30 were both against the lowly thunder. So on games where the teams were on the same playing field, i.e. no back to backs, your margins were 3, 12, 15. The only impressive one of those was the SA game. I dont count the denver game cause they didnt care and george karl even said that during the game

Since 1984, 78.2 percent of first-round series have been won by the teams hosting Game 1. Just sayin’

GO ROCKETS!!! GET YOUR BROOMS READY!!!!! IT’S SWEEP TIME!!!!