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There is a new thread every 30 minutes going up, so you’ll have to jump in the current thread on your own…

Blazers should win this one at home, they’re very tough there… Lead is 7 at the half…

As long as it isn’t the Crying Game

I’d like to have an idea of when we’d start if the Rockets win Game 6.

Blazers have upped their odds of stringing 3 in a row together from about 15% to about 30%, I reckon.

If Houston does not win game 6, they are in deep shit. You heard it here first.

Blazers lost the 2 games in Houston by a total of 4 points. They’re due.

Exactly what we needed, thanks Portland. I’m still going to hope you lose in the end, because the thought of playing in Portland annoys me about as much as playing in Utah did.

San Antonio is out. Celtics and Magic both take care of business, one step closer to meeting each other in the next round.

If the Lakers didn’t have home court advantage in the WC then I would be worried well only if they played Portland. But, that will not be an issue. Besides I can defenitely see the Lakers winning at least one in Portland. Mainly because this is the playoffs. But my personal feeling is that it is going to be Houston. They do have Yao Ming but after looking at the team closer both Utah and Denver as scrapier and tougher on the boards and Houston does not have that interior toughness. The X factor is going to be how effective Bynum is going to be defensively against the Rockets. If he is a factor then that would create matchup problems for Houston. Especially because Scola will be guarding Pau which benefits the Lakers.

Keep in mind we just beat another team that was very good at home. Are they as good as Portland this year? No, but I wouldn’t say the gap is huge.

Let’s look at the home vs. away numbers for these teams:

UTAH
Home — 104.3 ppg / 95.6 opp. ppg
Road — 102.1 ppg / 106.8 opp. ppg
Home Differential — +8.7 ppg
Road Differential — -4.7 ppg
Home vs. Road Differential — +13.4 ppg

PORTLAND
Home — 103.3 ppg / 94.0 opp. ppg
Road — 94.7 ppg / 94.4 opp. ppg
Home Differential — +9.3 ppg
Road Differential — +0.3 ppg
Home vs. Road Differential — +9.0 ppg

Portland’s home differential is better than Utah’s by only about half a point. But the boost Utah receives from being at home vs. being on the road is far greater than the boost Portland receives.

Now, you do still have to factor in the fact that the Lakers struggle in Portland more than most. That’s an added quirk. Then again, the Blazers haven’t had much success in LA, either. But given all that, and how the Lakers did in Utah, I don’t really feel like it’s a stretch to suggest the Lakers can take one of the first two games in Portland. And if Portland wins a game in LA, then I think I’d feel pretty good at the Lakers chances in a closeout situation in Portland.

I think Houston is the easier matchup for the Lakers. I think their offense is weak and can by stymied. Their bigs all struggle with Pau Gasol, and I think Pau+Lamar as a combination causes them a lot of problems. Kobe would certainly have a tougher series against Houston though.

As for Portland — I think their size with Przybilla/Oden/Aldridge causes LA more problems in the paint than Houston does. I also think Brandon Roy’s creativity and playmaking ability makes Portland’s offense more dangerous.

Lakers are the clear favourite against either team.

have you seen the rockets offense when yao is getting fronted? it’s made up of ron artest jacking up crazy shots. btw, our offense is better than their defense

LA would beat Houston or Portland in no more than 5 games, so for me the question of who LA should play in the next round really comes down to whether my enjoyment in watching LA beat Portland in the playoffs (yet again) would be worth having to deal with all the irritating Blazer fans for another two weeks. I don’t think it matters though, I think Houston wraps it up on Thursday.

BLAZERS EDGE

Dave Decker:

* * * A couple of developments became apparent right away. First of all, Steve Blake wasn’t going down without a fight. Instead of dribbling around the perimeter he started taking the ball inside, freeing himself for short jumpers or a teammate for a layup or open shot. Second, the Blazers were committed to getting the ball inside no matter how they had to do it. When Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge got locked down by the Houston defense this inside play took the form of pitches to Joel Przybilla. So be it. He got a layup or two off of those passes but the points were secondary to the message: We’re not going to stay away from you tonight.

As the Blazers committed to getting the ball inside a funny thing happened. A strange noise was heard in the Rose Garden…

Tweet! * * *

http://www.blazersedge.com/2009/4/28/858531/game-5-recap-blazers-88-rockets

Ben Golliver:

* * * When Brandon finally sat down at the long press conference table, he looked tired. He looked a little pale. And he looked proud.

Whether he remembers it clearly through the influenza fog or whether the game film will be needed to jog his memory, Brandon led his team to their best defensive effort of the season, bar none. With the exception of a red-hot Luis Scola, the Blazers’ defensive energy and, I hate to use Nate’s favorite word, scrappiness contained every Rocket, nudging up the degree of difficulty on shot after shot and virtually eliminating offensive rebounds or second chance points for the Rockets. Despite finishing with a double-double, Yao Ming was a non-factor for much of the game and Aaron Brooks, much to Steve Blake’s delight, decided to come back to Earth, struggling through a 6 for 20. Game 4 Hero Shane Battier had the same number of field goals as Brian Cook; Ron Artest was just plain ill-advised. * * *

http://www.blazersedge.com/2009/4/29/858545/game-5-media-row-report

THE DREAM SHAKE

Tom Martin:

Talk about a role reversal. A frustrating, sickening role reversal.

For two home games, we were clutch. We made big shots. We grabbed offensive rebounds. We made defensive stops late. And most importantly, we were composed.

Tonight, Portland was clutch. Portland made big shots, grabbed offensive rebounds, stopped us on defense, and most importantly, were composed and level-headed on offense. They found Brandon Roy when we couldn’t find Yao Ming. And worst of all, Rockets fans had to sit through this display in the form of a Blazer 15-0 run.

Paging Twittering Rick Adelman. Mr. Rick Adelman.

But then there was hope. Portland started missing shots; they looked like the road Blazers. Ron Artest made a three pointer, Luis Scola made a layup, and suddenly, it was a five point game. Yet, as soon as hope was giveth, hope was suddenly snatched away. Our bad habits awoke from their temporary slumber, in the form of The Aaron Brooks show. Brooks must’ve forgotten about his midgetness and took his game into the paint against Joel Przybilla and Greg Oden. End result: Joel eats Aaron’s lunch, takes his ball away, and shoves him into his locker. * * *

http://www.thedreamshake.com/2009/4/29/858385/playoff-recap

Isn’t this ten times more douche-y than anything Kobe has ever done during a game?

Josh, if you think this is too inflammatory, feel free to delete, but sometimes I just don’t get it. A lot of times, actually.