Practice The Blazers' backs are against the wall. Today was potentially their last practice of the 2008 - 2009 season. I'd like to be able to write that there was an urgency in the air. That the shoe squeaks were more rapid; that the post-session free throws were shot with more care; that Bayless devoured the young with more ferocity than usual. I can't write that. Today felt surprisingly normal. Another day, another practice. Spin that positively, negatively or however you like. The only noticeable difference today was that practice took place later in the day due to travelling back from Houston. Otherwise, the guys got their shots up, went through the media rounds and got out of there. How normal was it? So normal that this is the face of a man that missed a game-deciding and potentially series-deciding three pointer less than 20 hours earlier. Yeah, it's safe to say that Travis wasn't tripping off his miss. Shots go in, shots stay out, games are won, games are lost; this team has remained remarkably even-keeled throughout the yearlong journey. Why stop now? Injury Reports As I tweeted earlier, Brandon Roy did not practice today. Neither did LaMarcus Aldridge. Both are expected to play tomorrow. Nate did not seem concerned in the slightest about either of them so that should tell you all you need to know. Here are the reports on each from the team... Contrary to the jokes that are about to appear in the comments, there has been no substantiation to the rumor that Brandon has swine flu. Nate Nate went out of his way today to lobby for his guys with regards to the officiating. The stand out statement was: "we need a consistent whistle." He also repeated numerous times that if you "check the stat sheet" you will see a disparity that "needs to be addressed." He pointed specifically to the disparity in calls between Yao and Oden/Przybilla. Nate said that the Blazers had contacted the league with regard to the officiating. That said, Nate was not overly worked up about the issue. In some ways, it almost felt like he was making the comments because he felt he had to. That's just one person's read on the situation. Others might have interpreted things differently. I do think everyone would agree that that Nate wants to avoid the perception that he is "whining" about the officiating. In other news, I spoke with Nate briefly today about the contributions from Houston's bench. Have you been surprised by the contributions from Houston's role players in this series? What did you think about Lowry and Landry last night? Were you frustrated by the string of offensive rebounds that Houston got in the second half last night? It seemed to kill a few really solid defensive possessions. I have no idea what to expect tomorrow night. 30 point win; 30 point loss; triple overtime barnburner. All seem plausible after this afternoon's practice session. Here's Sean's practice report Link
McMillan is trying to get refs advantage the same as Adelman did...which is pretty funny. What Nate said is invalid. He said that when Oden touches Yao, he gets called foul. No, Oden DID NOT touches Yao, he tried to overpower him and that's unacceptable....and should be unacceptable in the previous games BEFORE that..that is why Rick Adelman complaint about them. They're correcting it up in game #4. He said Battier and Artest were bumping and grinding with Ron and they never get call for fouls. Well, they're smart defenders and they know how much force they need to apply in order to avoid being called foul. Your guys like Oden and that white dude (don't know his name) are not great defenders. They try to overpower Yao and that is unacceptable!
It is so freaking funny that McMilan say Roy doesn't get the calls by the refs when Artest and Shane are playing him hard on defense. How many times did Roy went to the freethrow line in game four? Man, get your facts straight before you open your mouth and sounding so desperate.
i hate when people try to prove unfairness by the disparity in the number of foul calls. its not a valid argument in my opinion. if there is a foul there is a foul. if not there isnt one. refs dont go around manufacturing fouls just to get the numbers in line (at least i hope not). and any disparity in number of calls against them is made up by the BS calls/Non Calls they have for the beating yao takes. we watched oden lower his shoulder and plow into our bigs, with no call made against him. if yao tried that he'd foul out in the first quarter. and we all know about the grabbing, shoving, slapping, and riding their boys do to yao too without much justice.
If Joey Crawford is officiating that game, we lose by at least 10. Isn't it sad that the playoffs come down to this b.s.? Oden and Przybilla should only be playing about 10 minutes a game before sitting down with their 6th fouls. And Yao should be getting about 8 FTs a game because we should be in the bonus with 8-9 minutes left in every quarter. If the officials called the actual fouls on Yao, he would be averaging 30 ppg and we would already be through with this series. The only thing keeping Portland in this series is the official letting all the contact go on Yao. Those guys have two hands on him from the time he hits the FT area, all the way through the whole possession. The officials only call the foul against them when they actually wrestle Yao clear out of the play. When you are wrestling a 320 pound man around the court, and impeding his movement, it is a foul............period. It happens every possession that Yao is in the game. And it is BLATENT!
