So I left my home in Alaska at 2:00 AM this morning to fly to Portland for my dad's birthday and to see the Rockets. And it was definitely worth staying up all night on an airplane. My favorite line of the night: After Pippen was called for goaltending and the Rockets were awarded 2 points, I leaned over to dad and said "It's about damn time Pippen did something good for the Rockets" To make a long story short, I was extremely proud of the Rockets tonight. They were undermanned and overmatched against a Portland team that's fighting for playoff position. They walked into the Rose Garden sans Hakeem, Taylor, and Kenny Thomas, and handed the Blazers their butts on a platter. I mean, Matt Bullard was guarding Rasheed Wallace. MATT BULLARD!!! The one big reason they won this game, in my opinion: they flat out had more heart than the Blazers. They wanted to win more. That's about all there was to it. Francis was simply unbelievable. 32 points. The Portland guards had no answer for him. He had to leave the game with about 3:00 minutes left in the 4th after Pippen knocked him down while going for a rebound. But by then the Blazers were through, and the boos were raining down on the Blazers from the crowd. It was an awesome feeling This was the only time this whole season I was able to watch the Rockets either on TV or in person, but to be there in person when they beat one of my least favorite teams in the NBA just about made my year. It made up for having to miss all 81 other games. As I said before, I am very proud of our boys after tonight. ------------------ The Rockets never lose, they just get outscored occasionally
