Bad last possession cost the game

"Blazer Fan Dan" <BlazerFanDan.DeleteThis@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:fb442948-407b-42df-ab55-7231108f0c12@s37g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
> On Jan 30, 9:11 pm, "Swillabrew" <d....DeleteThis@any.net> wrote:
>> Brandon dribbles the whole clock off before taking a wild outsider.
>> Probably not what Nate drew up. Oh well, there's a reason Roy might make
>> the All-Star Game & James is a perennial lock.
>>
>> Go Blazers !
>
> kind of a disappointing end. Hopefully they were flat and kind of
> distracted because they were responding to the potential trade they're
> "making".

And in a sure sign the apocalypse is near, I actually agree with Can'tzano's
column today. That's scary.

http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/john_canzano/index.ssf?/bas...ports/1
Kidd-ing, here's one trade Blazers need to make
Thursday, January 31, 2008
I n case you were wondering, the Trail Blazers aren't really going to help
free Jason Kidd from New Jersey by giving away Travis Outlaw, Jarrett Jack,
Channing Frye, cash and a draft pick in exchange for Dallas guard Devin
Harris.

It's the wrong trade anyway.

After watching Portland play not to lose in an 84-83 loss Wednesday night at
the Rose Garden, it's clear that this team needs to do something important
and relevant, but parting with three of the team's top eight players isn't
the answer.

Trade?

Sure.

The Blazers need to trade a little enthusiasm for a little experience. They
need to swap their immaturity for maturity. The franchise needs to deal a
pound of apprehension for a tablespoon of confidence.

Which only means the Blazers need to do nothing but allow this group to
mature, and season, and learn that if it leaves the door cracked open for
LeBron James, of the defending Eastern Conference champion Cavaliers, he's
going to rip the door off its hinges and use it as a shoe horn.

Make a trade?

Absolutely.

Let's trade every unfounded trade rumor that is going to swirl around this
franchise over the next three weeks, for the understanding that by the time
these rumors reach the public, the discussions are usually dead. And often,
they're wrong. And just as often, they involve a proposal that was rejected
on arrival.

Help Kidd escape by making a bad deal? Pul-eeze. The Blazers are busy
thinking about not mussing what they have going up, and waiting for Greg
Oden to heal, and if there's going to be a trade, it will be one of ambition
for patience today. And it's going to need to come in the hearts of fans.

Maybe, too, the franchise needs to trade its last two possessions of
Wednesday's game -- one on offense, one on defense -- for a do-over today,
because the Blazers folded up like a young, green team that didn't believe
it could beat the Cavaliers.

You can't manufacture maturity. It's going to happen naturally, over the
course of this season, which only means any hasty deal involving a Blazer
who is contributing on a nightly basis is a bad one for the kiddies playing
at One Center Court.

A beat reporter charged with covering the Cleveland Cavaliers walked down
the Rose Garden hallway after watching James whip past Brandon Roy and
LaMarcus Aldridge to score the winning basket and he said: "Not Joe
Johnson."

There are natural steps in a young team's growth, see? Beating Atlanta and
Johnson on Sunday in a dramatic comeback was one step forward. But the
Blazers regressed against Cleveland in what goes down as an inspiring effort
that was wasted when James was pretty much escorted to the basket by the
Blazers' best two players.

LeYawn, it wasn't.

Trade?

Yup.

Trade the fan sitting in the front row at the Rose Garden, jawing
incessantly at James early in the game as the Blazers built a double-digit
lead, for a fan who will understand that you don't incite a sleeping lion.

James scored 17 of his 37 points in the final quarter, and after a handful
of those baskets, including the final one, he cruised by the fan's seat to
glare, and stare, and basically stick a dagger in the Blazers' loss.

Cold, dude. Cold.

The Blazers are seven games over .500. They find themselves in the
basketball equivalent of a pennant race. And they walk into the arena, every
night, with a chance to win. Whether they do, or not, now almost always
depends on the team's ability to overcome its youth, and inexperience, and
play a grown-up game down the stretch.

Portland general manager Kevin Pritchard was walking around the arena
Wednesday saying, "Trade rumor? What rumor?" while smiling. And so was
assistant GM Tom Penn. These two guys, who are sitting on the cusp of
something special with Oden's eventual return, a championship run, book
deals, speaking fees, pay raises and mega-celebrity would not risk all that
in an effort to simply get involved.

The discussions were ramped up on ESPN, which flashed the rumor as a
"proposed trade" on the screen during its telecast of the game. I suppose
the Nets should have just asked for Oden, too. Sorry, but this one feels
like ambitious sources in other cities, who are manipulating the media and
itching to increase Kidd's market value.

The Blazers don't need to do a thing.

Except, grow older.

Go Blazers !
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