Take away the Game 1 & Game 4 Refereeing decisions that cost us the Games & we are not even having this discussion. The Blazers can crash & burn for all I care. They are just another team on my most hated list… I'd rather spend the whole off season listening to Lin only fans than have the Blazers win it all.
The result of the Rockets letting them steal 2 on our home court...The result of not being able to do things in the 4th quarter...The result of defense, especially being piss poor at the perimeter...The result of our best offensive weapon leaving his best playoff game for game 6...The result of coaching ineptitude...The result of overconfidence...The result of them making some ridiculous shots...The result of terrible officiating....Yeah...the Trailblazers are a good team, but man did they have a lot of things go right for them this series...Kudos to them...they made winning plays.
I said before the series that people who thought the Blazers would go away easily were wrong. I had it 60/40 in favor of the Rockets and I'm not totally surprised the Blazers won, especially with how the Rockets finished the regular season. They have a chance to beat the Spurs and should be favored over the Mavs. Only way I see them making the Finals is if the Clippers beat OKC AND CP3 gets nicked up really bad in the process. Before this season started, I didn't think much of Terry Stotts but he won me over because of his creative offensive coaching. My respect has gone up further with how he's gotten everything possible from Robin Lopez and Wesley Matthews. Those two guys have played with more heart and passion this season (and post-season) than ever before in their careers. IMO, having Lopez at C instead of JJ Hickson is a huge reason why they didn't crumble into dust like last year.
I agree, even though the Blazers don't have a very good team defense Lopez definitely is still a monster in the paint, he played Dwight about as good as anyone can while still being able to help on Harden and Lin's penetration. Without Lopez the Rockets probably could have swept the series.
Portland is a good team. I've defended them throughout until they seemed to implode around the time when Aldridge was injured. Are they better than us? Probably not. But I'd say they are on the same level. Like us, they are probably not a contender. But they have the talent to go deep in the playoffs. We'll see what they can do in the next round.
They lived off of fortuitous calls and extreme 3 pointers in the final minutes. Like someone else has said, their mystical good fortune has to run out at some point.
I agree. Call me a hater but their style of ball doesn't get you far in the playoffs. Their superstars are just jumpshooting guys. I don't think it gets you very far. I think they have a better shot against Dallas, but if they play the Spurs I really think there is a sweep chance there. They aren't going to ever catch the Spurs sleeping long enough to beat them like they did the Rockets.
I hate to harp on the subject, but if the Dwight foul on Freeland, that the NBA graciously apologised for getting wrong, was called correctly Dwight is on the line for the lead instead of Freeland getting the opportunity from the Line. If the refs called our series the way that they're calling the Spurs vs Blazers series, we win 4-1...if not in a sweep. 3 offensive fouls on the Blazers today for pushing off, even one in LMA...none in 6 games vs Rockets. We blew game 2, but were robbed in every other game...they were even trying to give the Blazers the game in our two wins.
In the playoffs, where every possession and every game matters, you don't "blow 1 or 2 games". Teams that are close in talent levels won't be able to recover from something like that.
I think so too David, I honestly think The Rockets were the better team but the refs never allowed them to gain momentum when they were starting to take control of the game. They were just not calling our games the same way as they are calling the spurs. Actually, I feel like they are calling the blazers the same way they were calling the Rockets...... Not sure why thou, what gives? Houston had bigger stars and the better team and yes I understand the defensive struggles Houston had but its hard defending players you cant touch because the refs wouldn't let The Rockets touch Aldridge. How many times did Aldridge go to the free throw line based on an imaginary foul from Asik ? Enough to beat us. How many times were The Rockets not in foul trouble and allowed to play hard defense like they were playing? None.... This series was weird. So weird that some of us still cant believe it got taken away from us on national television. If the refs let them play. Just simply lets them play it would have been over 4-1 in Rockets favor. Oh well
I never thought I could take San Antonio more seriously but they have surprised me yet again with how great they can be and play. Portland, nah...not taking them too seriously. A little more seriously than I take the Rockets maybe.
It's a psychological thing. Dwight is VERY physical in the post, so they never call fouls when someone is guarding Dwight, their mindset it - "it's part of Dwight's game - to allow some contact" on the other end. LA is quite the back you down post up player so not much contact is needed, but when someone touches him - FEEP. Foul. Plus I also think ref's are subconsciously influenced by reputation of players and teams. I mean cmon - how can you not - we are all human - as objective as we try to be. Ref's need to look at each game after they are played and to see if they are making the right calls. ffs.
