“Gingers Goin’ Gorillas” Podcast, Take 3: Blowing Up The Blazers, Goodbye Nate, And What The Offseason Holds

March 20, 2012 By 1 Comment

Nate McMillan’s firing as the Portland Trail Blazers coach shocked exactly no one. His team quit on him. That was never more evident than during its seven-game road trip where they trailed by 35 or more against the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks.

The 42-point loss to the Knicks Thursday was the straw that broke McMillan’s back.

The team’s implosion also led to much shuffling and near shuffling at the trade deadline, and undoubtedly will lead to much shuffling in the offseason.

The Trail Blazers just three or four years ago looked like a team set to compete in the Western Conference for the next decade. Now, they look like a team in need of a complete overhaul.

Here’s Matt Wastradowski and yours truly talking about the Blazers. RIP CITY!

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“Gingers Goin’ Gorillas” Podcast, Take 2: On The Blazers’ Road Woes, Trade Rumors, And Nate McMillan’s Job Future

March 13, 2012 By 1 Comment

Matt Wastradowski and I recorded our second “Gingers Goin’ Gorillas” podcast Sunday night sans my intimidating gorilla roar.

We talked about the Blazers’ current road trip, what they need to get in return for trading Jamal Crawford (if they trade him), and what’s ahead for coach Nate McMillan. Is there light at the end of the tunnel? Does it require microfracture surgery to achieve it?

All answers provided in our podcast! Check it!

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“Gingers Goin’ Gorillas” Podcast, Take 1: Blazers Post-Break, Jamal Crawford Trade Rumors And Love For The “Thrilla”

March 5, 2012 By 1 Comment

Does Trail have reason for optimism?

Matt Wastradowski and I taped our first “Gingers Goin’ Gorillas” podcast tonight. We envision it as a weekly soundboard for all things Blazers, gingers, and Greg Oden. OK. Not too much on Greg Oden. (Sad-faced emoticon)

Give it a listen. It’s probably the best thing either of us has ever done. Um, we haven’t done much. Hopefully, there will be more of these in the near future.

This week’s topics: The Blazers’ post-All Star break swoon, Jamal Crawford trade rumors, and Joel Pryzbilla’s return to the Rose Garden.

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Rockets’ Reserves Help Sink Trail Blazers, 103-96

February 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Blaze the Trail Cat.

The Rockets will struggle to score easy points, I told my friend Wastro three minutes into the Portland Trail Blazers’ home game against Houston Wednesday. I had seen enough of The Chandler Parsons Show to know it was headed for cancellation.

Two nights earlier, I watched Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden score at will in Oklahoma City’s overtime win over Portland. Yet, the Blazers matched the Thunder basket-for-basket, and should have won, save for a phantom goaltending call in the final 10 seconds.

Houston, by contrast, had no one in its starting lineup capable of striking fear in Blazers fans’ hearts. They started Parsons, a rookie drafted in the second round, for cripe’s sake.

In hindsight, I should have waited till the Houston’s subs entered the game before declaring their offense impotent. Or at least until the first timeout.

The Rockets bench scored 66 points and hit eight 3′s en route to a 103-96 road win over Portland. The Rockets led by as many as 19 in the third quarter, before the Trail Blazers rallied to seize a slim fourth quarter lead. Then, Houston coach Kevin McHale wisely put his bench back in. D’uh, coach!

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Refs The True Sixth Man As Thunder Edge Blazers

February 7, 2012 By 1 Comment

The scene before Monday's tip-off

“Fuck you, refs!” was the chorus Portland Trail Blazers fans screamed as they dejectedly exited the Rose Garden Monday night following a 111-107 overtime loss to the league-leading Oklahoma City Thunder.

I even heard a child who could not have been older than 3 years old attempt to say the words, only to fail miserably. Her mouth sounded like it was filled with cotton balls.

The adults’ furor I understood. The refs made two highly questionable calls in the final minute of regulation — a goaltending call against the Blazers that tied the game and then a no-call when the Blazers had possession with a chance to win the game.

The Sixth Man, it turned out Monday, was not the Blazers’ faithful, as advertised, but rather the three men prancing around in zebra costumes. Yes, the Blazers blew a six-point lead late in the game, but that would not have mattered had they received a friendly call, at some point. And thus, obscenities rained from the rafters in a fashion that reminded me of RIP City’s unrelenting winters.

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Roy's Play Ignites Blazer Nation, Makes Me Eat Words

April 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

With two minutes left in Saturday’s Game 4 between Dallas and Portland, I went “sharpie” on Dallas. CBS college basketball commentator Seth Davis uses the term to signify that a game is over. For all intents and purposes, this game WAS over.

Dallas led by 23. The exasperated Portland fans I watched the game with could barely muster the energy to let out a groan or scream curses the way they did earlier in the game. Save your energy for Game 5, their subconscious said.

But then out of nowhere, Brandon Roy emerged from the back of the pack — or the bench, in this case — like a thoroughbred blitzing through the crowd down the stretch.

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