Why the Blazers Lost - Refs, Coaching, Lack of Focus

Why the blazers lost-

1. They didn't score as many points as LA in 4 games of the series.

Bottom line is the Blazers lost to a beter team.

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Bottom line is the Blazers choked and gave away a championship to a team they are better than. No way around that. They proved to me in every facet they were the better team, and then just choked it away. Analyze it all you want, but it all comes down to one word: CHOKE.

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Cheaters never win. Unless you play for LA that is.

 

I thought the whole conspiracy theory was destroyed when NY was beaten.

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Portland led for probably about 75% of this whole series. That should tell you something. Also, I could not tell a big difference between Shaq in the first 3 quarters and the 4th. He doesn't deserve the credit. It was Brian Shaw and Kobe draining the shots, and Horry all over the offensive glass. The reason Shaq wasn't aggressive is that he couldn't be- Portland knows how to shut him down.

Also, this series should have already been over with because of that terrible no-call when Harper hacked Sabonis on the last play of game 3. Just because the other team sucks for one quarter and you get several breaks from the officials doesn't make you a better team. By the way, the Lakers could never come close to blowing out Portland. Maybe the other way around, but the Lakers are so overmatched in talent against Portland their only hope was to win close games, and by Portland choking and help from the officials they did. IMO that doesn't make you a championship quality team. By the way, I'm not a Portland fan- I'm just someone who hates the Fakers and wants them out of the playoffs now.

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Cheaters never win. Unless you play for LA that is.

[This message has been edited by The Cat (edited June 06, 2000).]

 

"The reason Shaq wasn't aggressive is that he couldn't be- Portland knows how to shut him down."

Did they discover how to shut him down before or after they fouled him every time down during the hack-a-shaq game?

"Maybe the other way around, but the Lakers are so overmatched in talent against Portland their only hope was to win close games"

The Lakers had the best player on the court playing for them. That has been the model of winning the title throughout the 80's & 90's. Only argument could have been Isiah & the Pistons. Bird, Magic, Moses (during the Sixers one championship), MJ, Dream, & Duncan were all regarded as the best player (or one of the 2 best players during the Magic-Bird years) when they won championships. Shaq is that player this year. Sheed may eventually step up to this level but he has a long way to go. Pip has proven himself as a great role player, Smith is a smooth shooter who has never led a team very far, Sabonis is old, Grant wasn't the same complete (offensive) player he was last year.
The refs are only an excuse. I know I constantly complained about MJ getting all of his calls, but when you are an elite player you get those calls. When you complain as much as the Blazers (ala I have never committed a four Wallace) you are going to get some bad calls.

The Blazers obviously thought in game 1 that they couldn't match up with the Lakers when they resorted to hack-a-shaq. They did gain confidence in game 2 and played well for most of the series.
Then again many people have said that as soon as Portland was in a tight game that they would be in trouble with their lack of a go to guy and it obviously showed. Pip didn't want the ball at the end, Wallace was off, I'm not sure what happend to Smith, but they were in an unfamiliar situation.
They had no leader to step up in the clutch. The first two games they won Pip seemed to be the leader and you saw at the end he wanted to get out of the way. Game 6 showed the Blazers that they didn't need to rely on Pip. But at the end nobody wanted the ball.


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Wallace can be a leader for Portland. He did want the ball at the end. He just missed some easy shots. Nothing more to it. And also, IMO, playing hack-a-shaq IS a way to shut down Shaq because he can't make any. Why do I not follow your argument? Because I don't believe Shaq is the best player in basketball. Sure, he may have won MVP and had good stats, but look beyond the numbers. This is a player who can't make a single free throw, can't perform in the clutch, and one that uses an offensive foul to get over 50% of his baskets. Even though he got MVP, I don't think he is the best player. If I were starting my own franchise from scratch, there are several players I'd take over Shaq. When Shaq can make a free throw and win a big game in the clutch, maybe then I'll think of him as the premier player in the game.

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Cheaters never win. Unless you play for LA that is.

[This message has been edited by The Cat (edited June 06, 2000).]

 

Cat we even disagree on shaq

I think Shaq is the best, and most dominating, player in the game today. If I was starting a franchise today I take him, even though there are some younger guys with lots of potential.

Wilt wasn't very effective with FTs either, and he is remembered as one of the greatest, and I believe Shaq could possibly get to his level, just because there is noone in the NBA that can match up with him (well except Cato! LOL). Yeah he doesn't have a good jump shot, but nobody can keep him out of the paint in the 1st place.

Anyways I just saw your post to someoen else in another thread, and I think we may as well stop this as well. I believe the Lakers & Shaq are the best (this year) and you don't see it that way.

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Again? (Sigh)

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Live Rocketball. Breathe Rocketball. Die with Rocketball.

 

Cat-
I've saw you in several post refer to Portland as the best team, but I don't see it.
Facts:
1. LA had the NBAs best regular season record.
2. LA & Portland split their regular season meetings.
3. Both teams were relatively healthy with their best players. Yeah I know Brian Grant was injured at the beginning of the season and Sabonis was injured at the end. However for the majority of the season Shaq, Kobe, Rice, Pip, Sheed & Smith were injury free.

I still am not sure if you like the blazers or hate the Lakers, but the 4th quarter of game 7 was a combination of poor shooting, a team without a go-to guy, and Shaq finally getting active. For 3 quarters Shaq was pretty invisible (or as invisilbe as a 7' 320 lb man can be). A lot of it had to do with foul trouble, but Shaq was not a factor for 3 quarters.
Yeah you can say if Portland hadn't choked in the 4th they may have won, but I can as easily say if Shaq played hard the whole game the Lakers win in a blow out.

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I never was much on a conspiracy, but how do you lose 20 pts in the 4th quarter on the brink of elimation?!?!

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after harper hacked sabonis? uhhh huh. i have a tape of it and i can tell you that harper didnt' touch sabonis on that shot. he just flew by him. he reached to blcok, sabonis moved the ball and his arms out of the way right into kobe's hands who knocked the ball away cleanly. no foul, by anyone.

no conspiracy either, unless you are calling into question the player's integrity that they missed 13 shots in a row. and if you are, then you are basically slandering them unless you can come up with some proof.

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Mhan- Do we have the same tape? Cause I have it too and it looked like a foul to me. Also, explain the Shaq call where he HAMMERED Smith at the end of the game that essentially put the icing on the cake for the Fakers. Such a hard foul, and yet not called. How you can just "miss that" and be staring right at it is beyond belief. That is what I mean by conspiracy.

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Cheaters never win. Unless you play for LA that is.

 

There was no way in hell Sabonis was fouled. He just put up the weakest, most pathetic shot up. Kobe threw that sh** out, and rightfully so. I was amazed at Sabonis's reaction. He acted like he had been assualted, but no one even touched him! I'm used to his whiny, up-turned palms antics, but that took it to a whole new level. I'm from Portland, and nobody even tried to argue about it in the papers. They know it was clean. I agree with you though, Portland is better, but they really blew it.

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Kobe got a nice clean block. I'm admitting that. I'm just saying Harper fouled him from behind, and looking at the replay, I still think he did.

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Cheaters never win. Unless you play for LA that is.

 

Well I wish I could see another replay now, but from seeing it various times that night and the media reaction the next day it didn't seem very contraversial.

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