and this is comin from a Blazers fan

The Blazers have a much tougher RD 1 opponent, one we haven’t had great success with, but also one who we’ve had nothing but close games with. You make it sound like they blew us out twice and we had no answer.

Hopefully, if your God, Bracketeus, allows us past Houston, we’ll enjoy ourselves an awesome series with the lakers.

While Houston isn’t exactly overflowing with playoff experience (especially at making it out of the first round), the playoff experience they have vastly overshadows what Portland has. Paul Allen had to resort last night to talking about the playoff experience Rudy Fernandez has when asked about Portland’s lack of experience, and Fernandez is a rookie.

The other thing working in Houston’s favor is defense. Houston is good at it, Portland doesn’t play any of it. Defense is even more important in the playoffs, and Portland not having a commitment to it is going to hurt them in this series. Both teams are great at home and poor on the road, so if that holds true then it’ll go 7 with Portland winning; but the defensive difference and the playoff experience leads me to believe that Houston might steal one on the road, and if that happens, Portland is done.

Houston in 6, even though the Rockets would make for a much more dull 2nd round opponent for the Lakers.

You heed the minority of Blazer fans that are braggarts regarding the Lakers/Blazers history in the last few years. Those pundits are simply responding to the numerous (and by numerous I mean numerous) Kobe jockriders who say everything short of him being the next messiah.

We’re proud of our young team, there is no doubt in that. But to call out all Blazer fans for getting ahead of themselves is a little ridiculous. And besides, this blog has been around, what, a week? That isn’t nearly enough time to experience a true sample size of our fandom.

I am in the minority of Blazer fans who believes the Blazers will lose a hard fought series to Houston. Their not a great matchup for us.

On a side note, showing a picture of Yao dunking over Roy? Seriously? Yao has a solid foot in height on Roy. That’s like Bynum dunking on Fisher!

so the Blazers have a slight edge. I’m picking Portland in 7.

Regardless of what a few BEdgers posted over here, very few Blazer fans actually believe Portland would beat LA in round 2. Here’s what many of us do believe: Portland would give LA a very good run— perhaps the best run of any team out West, perhaps taking it to 7 games. Also, we believe there is some chance Portland could pull the shocker… if they get past what will be a very stiff test in round 1.

LA is an overwhelming favorite out West, and while I think Portland is best equipped to challenge them, Portland winning a hypothetical 2nd round series remains very unlikely.

Here is what I found:

Houston shot 47.4% against Portland in the three games. Houston shot 45.3% against all other teams. Portland gave up 45.6% against all other teams.

Portland shot 45.1% against Houston in the three games. Portland shot 46.5% against all other teams. Houston gave up 44.4% against all other teams.

So the three games (I know, small sample) show that Houston shot better against Portland than it did against other teams, and while Portland shot worse than they normally do, they shot better against Houston than Houston’s other opponents.

As a Blazer fan I would have preferred an older San Antonio team but I do not think that would have been an easy series at all. I think the Blazers are playing very well right now (perhaps the best of any team) and have a chance to do well in the playoffs but Houston will be a tough team.

That said, everyone alive knows that Lakers would be favored to beat Portland in round 2 if both teams make it. No news there.

I think this will easily go to 7 games, Houston with the edge.

Yes.

Can the blazers handle them?

Yes.

If not, they don’t deserve the next round anyway. I’ve long been a fan of the actual best team winning, and if the blazers are going to make and win the finals, then i WANT them to go through the best so that no one can nay say and talk about how they got lucky.

Kobe bryant stated that he wanted to play the blazers again after the last game. He stated it because he wants to show his teams dominance. I hate the guy, but at the same time greatly admire that. I also feel the same way. I want the blazers to show their dominance.

Either way, should be an exciting ride. Thanks for the controversy, should make it more fun and interesting!

cuz you know in 2-3 years the lakers wont be the same team they are now and the Blazers will dominate, but you cant swallow that can you, so you gotta hate. Last year i was rooting for the Lakers to beat Boston and if their in the finals aggain, id rather see kobe and crew win rather than LBJ and the Lebrons

that I’m glad the Lakers are finally represented on SBN. I hope your site gains a large following quickly (20 million people down that way, should be a few Laker fans!) because I think the Blazers and Lakers are going to be on each other’s dance card a lot more in the next few years. It would be great for fans at each site to be comfortable commenting on the other site.

Let me make a point, here.

Why is this post on my blog? Because it relates to an earlier conversation here at SS&R, and because this is a basketball blog, and I’m not going to limit myself to talking about only the Lakers. I’m allowed to branch out a little and discuss the league at large.

Sure, I get that BE wouldn’t put this on their front page. But you need to get that this isn’t BE, and I didn’t sign up to copy BE’s model. So don’t be surprised if I do things a little differently.

You want to disagree with me, fine. But if you’re going to get upset because I put posts on my blog that you wouldn’t put on yours, then I’m pretty sure there’s a blog out there that does things your way.

How would you like me to come in and tell you what you can and can’t post on your blog? I don’t think you signed up to do things my way, either. Please don’t go postal on my simply because I didn’t do things your way.

peace gl with da season

Why would I care if the Lakers were being trashed on another team’s blog? In any event, I hate to let the Blazer fans here in on this little secret, but that happens with great regularity and has pretty much since basketball websites went up. Maybe Laker fans are used to having their team be considered the most evil entity in the NBA and aren’t bothered a bit when a website of a rival team trashes them. Honestly I’d be surprised if a Blazer blog (or Celtics blog, or Spurs blog, or Suns blog, or Kings blog, or Pistons blog, etc) wasn’t trashing the Lakers on a regular basis. The only Laker fans who would be surprised by this kind of behavior from fans of other teams are Laker fans who just jumped on the bandwagon. Fans who have been with the team for years are well used to being called every name in the book. It comes with the territory when you happen to root for the most hated team in the league.

Beautifully sad Laker fans, taking shots at the Blazers when we have a whole series till we face eachother.. I guess you gotta get ready huh??

Sad title. Inflammatory.

Good luck in the playoffs. – Elgin

yao will prove too much for the baby blazers and the rockets have artest and battier to guard roy

Let’s not get personal now. Blazers vs Lakers might not happen this year…It might have to be next season, but when it does……..It sure as hell will be exciting.

I think the Portland/Houston series will be decided in 6 games… either Portland will choke at home, or they will take their momentum from home down south.. and yes.. I’m going for Blazers in 6!!!

and then… IF the L.kers make it past the Jazz (afterall, let’s not get too presumptuous.. there is a reason they actually have to PLAY the series out), the Blazers will slide on down to the Staples and then all the blogging and arguing and predicting won’t matter anymore and some can go slink back into the smoggy cyberworld while the Blazers shock the nation by punking the L.kers in 6 on their way to the world championship!!!!!!

if you can’t tell, my friendly trash talk tone is on. Sure, I can also be realistic about things and get very serious about actual odds and likelihood of events happening.. and we did draw the worst matchup we could have possibly drawn… but any team can win any game… I know where I stand.. and you stand where you are SS&R.. and if both of our teams can best their first round matchups then I might just come back here to throw just a bit more smack down..

because even if the odds are stacked against us.. I’d still rather believe anything is possible while it is.. because it is..

.-*

Blazer fan here with no problem about this.

I always say L-A-K-E-R-S, because they are perennially one of the toughest teams in the league, and I love watching them play. I recently voted, that I have no hate for any of the Lakers players in a BEdge poll about most hated Laker.

Write your Blog the way you want, and don’t sweat the haters. It might make us mad, but trash talking is part of sports; do your thing man, and welcome to SBNation.

Finally, I can’t freaking wait to see y’all in round two. The Blazers will bring it. believe that!

Everett

hoping to you not getting upset when the BE army comes here daily as long as the series lasts.

By the way, you had an interesting take on how the basketball gods react. Another way to look at it is the basketball gods saw how the Rockets played last night and through they deserved a quick exit (as usual) by sending them to Portland…..Co-champions of the NW division, and owners of the second best record in the west. And while they were on the bad side of a 2-1 season series, that was because only 1 game was played in Portland. Since this series will feature more games in Portland….well…… :-)

but you sure can’t take it. I have spent a fair bit of time at BE and I would say it’s about 70/30 split between the respectful, fun fans and the a**holes. Apparently the 30% took the day off of work. Like many others have said here today, we Laker fans get crap from other sites ALL the time. I have news for the Blazer fans “if you are really a contender now you had better get used to it”.

I’ll tell you what else (whispering quietly in your ear) it’s a sign of RESPECT. When they aren’t talking about you it means you don’t matter.

To pretend that you don’t talk crap about the L*kers constantly is actually laughable. Welcome to the Varsity, hope you stay a while.

There is a reason that BE has a lot of hits. It happens to be the same reason that the Blazers fans (and SA fans, and Packer fans, and Jazz fans) are so fanatical. (whispering) It’s because there is nothing else to do there. Seriously ever notice the correlation?

Or should I say Yao?

Somebody woke up the “azy-cra” “eople-pa” from up north. (If you know what I’m saying.)

Man, Blazer fans sure are feeling it. You made the playoffs. Yay, good for you! Now why don’t you win a round or two and stop trying to dictate what others put on their sites? Because the way I see it the Clippers still have a better playoff record than the Blazers over the last few years.

So those of you with something civil to say, stick around. For the rest of you barbarians I hear that CelticsBlog is having a meaningful debate about whether this year’s Celtic team is the “Team of the Decade”, “Team of The Century” or the “Greatest Team of Evah”.

….let’s talk basketball. We know for a fact that the Lakers will be there in the Finals. Regardless of who we face. There are two things that can beat us ourselves and injuries (just ask the Celtic fans). I truly enjoy the smack talk as someone said in here. But sometimes the hatred towards the Lakers causes some non Laker fans to make ridiculous claims. Yes! the Blazers will bring it and they will without a doubt be the Lakers biggest challenge. But, that is if they get to the second round. Which is my biggest issue. As Laker fans we can say without a doubt that the Lakers will make it that far. That is based on their talent and how badly they have beaten the Jazz. It is similar as if a Laker fan were to make claims that if the Lakers play the Blazers that we will sweep them. We wont because it is a fact that the Lakers have a hard time playing in Portland and can’t win their to save their lives. But, ultimately they will pull it out. So, all you Portland fans out there, yes the city might be a nice place to visit but I am talking about playoffs which is something that this team is lacking experience in. So before you start talking about the Lakers lets see how you do in the first round! GO LAKERS!

Houston is better than San Antonio and a tougher matchup with Portland, no doubt about it.

On the other hand, if the Lakers are thinking they get a free pass to the NBA Finals, they are in error. If the Blazers beat the Rockets, strap on those helmets…

Lets focus on the first round and if the Lakers and Portland advance to the second round so be it. I also feel that the Portland will lose to Houston in a tough series so who knows the games will definitely be exciting. If the Lakers do meet up with Portland I still like the Lakers given that we have home court advantage forget the rose garden Portland has to win in Staples Center and they haven’t this season.

What are they going to do next put up a video clip of Ariza’s phantom flagrant foul on R. Fernandez. I mean really? Is that the best you can do? I have to admit that was ingenious but we all know that wasn’t a dirty foul.

If it was shear frustration Ariza would have cut him in half and that would be just gross (not to mention a suspension). Second of all if the League wants to make a rule that says if you hit a guy while in the air on a breakaway transition basket it will automatically be a Flagrant foul then they can. But until they do they should call the foul on it’s merits not on the result (even if little Rudy hurt his poor self).

Anyone (not a homer) who watched the foul knew it was almost all ball and obviously Ariza was not trying to hurt him. Obviously if you don’t view the world through Rose Garden colored glasses I mean. If it was so bad why did the league not suspend Ariza?

….how can you acuse us of whining when it is the Blazers replaying the video. It was the Blazer players during their post game interviews that were whining. You were right about one thing that cannot be denied and that is the the Lakers were getting pummeled. But you are saying that Ariza acted out of frustration. Which means that you know him personally or you have some special gift that allows you to read minds therefore you know what Ariza was thinking of feeling. Also you have given us a description of “YOUR” version by saying that he spun R. Fernandez out from under his feet. If you look at the reply, he didn’t swipe him from under his feet. Please get your facts straight. On top of that you are saying that he should have been thrown out because of how dangerous the play was. Are you serious? Any sport that is physical is dangerous. These are grown men playing and it is a competitive sport. Regardless, it is physical and these players know what they are getting themselves into. Do you want Ariza to try and block the ball by tip toeing? It was not that the fould was hard it was the way in which he fell that made it seem worst than it was.

…even the announcers calling the game on NBA.tv…not the Portland announcers pointed out after showing the replay over and over that you can cleary see that he went for the ball. Speaking of whinning, Rudy himself pulled a Paul Pierce by being taken out of the arena in a freakin stretcher and a couple of days later he was okay.

that R. Fernandez is that fragile?

I’m really bewildered by the outrage seen here by Blazers fans. Do you guys really expect fans of rival teams to respect and praise your team? Do you guys respect and praise the Lakers? No, of course not. You guys were all here the other day when the site first went up, talking a bunch of smack about the Lakers, but at the slightest hint of a retort you guys fall to pieces. How are you gonna handle it when your team gets eliminated? It’s not a good idea to be so tightly wound like this. You guys are gonna give yourselves a heart attack before Nicolas Batum is old enough to buy booze.

No offense, but when you get this upset about something this minor you come across as incredibly insecure, like you won’t be satisfied till Laker fans recognize how great your team is or something. This is the real world though, you gotta earn respect. I respect the Celtics (even if I don’t like them) because they beat the Lakers last year and won the title. You guys want Laker fans to respect your team? You gotta beat LA in the playoffs. It’s that simple. But don’t come here and expect Laker fans to humbly respect your team. LA has eliminated the Blazers the last five times the teams have met in the postseason. What’s to respect?