[Trader Ed]

I am with Speed.... I think at times I do bleed Blazer Scarlett Red...

each and every year I am just as hopeful as the next that we will somehow someway win another world championship. Its the greatest feeling in the world.... my only ohter dream along this line would be to be able to be in the Portland venue when it happens. I was waiting inside in '90 and '92.. but it fell short...

This team we have is incredibly talented, and incredibly unfulfilling at the same time. I refer to it as the Blazer rollar coaster.. the Blazer express... what ever....

but I will never give up on my dream, and never give up on rooting for them. Its the appeal of sports, its why they keep score, its why we root for the underdog (well I do anyway)...

but I do know when the planets align right... this team, even now can win it all, when properly motivated and a majority of the fans face north. We might all have to pair off by odd numbered birthdays, or everyone change our avatars on here again... but its possible.... the odds are no one has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit.... but its possible.

and since its possible, that is why I root for them....

I will believe even harder tomorrow....

but I understand, the team may be headed in a whole new direction next year. We may be done Sunday or Wednesday or next Sunday... or a month from now... but the wheels of change, I believe are already in progress.

[Terrible]

Speed, you say that Damon, Patterson and Sabas raised their games so effort was made and that is true; but they and our two best players have to show up to beat Dallas every game. Do you understand that? Sheed and Bonzi were absent again. Throw in DA and Pip and that four of our five starters gone for a game three against Dallas in a must win game. If Damon, Patterson and Sabas all step up they'll still need atleast one of our "SO CALLED" stars to help them. Where were they? Oh yeah complaining on the bench was where Sheed seems to always be in big games! Did you see the fouls Sheed comitted to be put on the bench? Sheed just doesn't think!


Our defense was lost out there, Dallas swung the ball around our guys like they were doing a clininc on how to find the open three point shooter. The Blazers were mentally lost out there much of the game, and it showed not only on defense but on offense they don't even know how to set up a good play. It ends up being Bonzi taken a wild shot or Sheed taking a lazy three. You don't beat smart teams this way. How do ya think this will change on Sunday?

[Storyteller]

I didn't believe that the Blazers would win this series when it started, and I have no more belief that they will win it now. They've played well at times, and individual players have stepped up at various times, but the Blazers are a bunch of individuals playing a team in Dallas.

Pippen - we've been saying it all year - has been the glue that holds all the individual parts together. Is it any wonder that they can't win without him? Especially when the opposing team shoots nearly 50% from behind the arc? Scottie is, IMO, the key component in both the Blazer offense and defense. You take out DA as well, and it's no surprise at all to me that the Blazers don't have enough to beat the Mavs.

That being said, I'm still going to cheer loudly on Sunday night - just like I did last night. I will applaud my team just as I did last night. I will enjoy the entertainment of NBA basketball.

Then, I fully expect on Monday to be able to jump into the various trading/FA posts here on this forum. I vowed to not post on any of them until the Blazers' season was officially over, and I'm glad that I've kept that vow. But if Portland can somehow pull together a win on Sunday night, I'll jump and cheer and celebrate. But I doubt (unless, God forbid, something devastating happened to the Mavs like losing Nowitzki to injury) that even a win on Sunday will raise my expectation level for the Blazers in this year's playoffs.

[MAS RipCity]

Originally posted by <b>Speed</b>!
We can do this.

Go Blazers

Trying to belive harder but Cheeks' moronic sub pattern after moronic sub pattern of lack their of almost makes me think he is trying to please the players instead of going with what wins. It is also hard to believe harder when arguably your best player in Sheed Wallace shoots what 12 shots and score like the quietest 13 ever. Back to Cheeks, why in the hell would he take out Zach? He was passing hte ball like he was LeBron James. He was amazing when he got it at the high post, catching everything and either making a brilliant pass or a nice duece, but again CHeeks took him out. And where in the EFF was Jeff Freaking McInnis? He was on the floor when we made our nice offensive run. No time ever in my lifespan should I or want to see Daniels on the floor with Mouse. NO MAS DAMON, go with stritcly either McInnis or Daniels. Play Bonzi at the 2, Sheed/Ruben at the 3, Zach at the 4 and Sabas/Dale at the 5. Is it really that hard? Seems quite simple to me. Man this is the last straw that has broke my back in reguards to Cheeks. Does he have a woody for Damon or something? I remember he brought a cold Damon off the bench to hit a wide open 3 against the Bucks and then he plays Damon like what 35-40 minutes in Game 3!?!? All I want to see is effort in Game 4, please just 1 win, that is all I ask for.

[Trader Ed]

You take 1 starter from any playoff team and it will hurt their chances in the playoffs considerably...

taking away 2 starts hurts even more...

mix in players who can chew gum, but nothing else... priceless

but I will cheer Sunday... just like SCBF...

[Minstrel]

Originally posted by <b>Terrible</b>!
Not quite as polished as usual Minstrel, must have struck a nerve, or taken the better page out of your "How to make a clever rebuttal!" book that's right next to your computer!

No, it was mostly that you didn't even address what I originally said, admitting you weren't willing to put up or shut up. You want to continue to whine as if a sports franchise owes you something. But you didn't want to admit to being a complainer unwilling to take any real action, so you tried to mount an ineffective attack.

Since you've admitted to that, what more is there for me to say?

[radtech77]

B;azers have dominated this team historically and recently in Portland. I know we can win game 4 and I know we can win in Dallas. The first 2 games showed us that. There is no way Pip suits up for game 4, unless you count the Armani he wears from the sideline. If the team comes together and dominates Dallas like they always do in Portland, then Pip will suit up for game 5. Then maybe we can pull out some game 2 magic and win there. Then back home where we dominate and then game 7 in Dallas we can blow a 16 point 4th quarter lead and lose in heartbraking Blazer fashion. If we can just get one game, we can get some believers (on our own team) and then who knows what could happen. Dallas is a team of *****-footers and I think any West playoff team could beat them 4 in a row. Us included. The main thing is getting our own team to believe, cause Sheed did not believe for us Friday and it showed.

[Terrible]

Now that was really clever Minstrel especially the parts where you highlight the words so you can remember the key parts of your argument for me to address. You didn't think it was for my benefit did ya?

Fact is Minstrel, I can be both for and against this team as I see fit. I wont be cornered into your wishes anymore than you would of mine. I praise this team when it plays well and beat on them when they play without purpose, in this series our stars have not shown up regularly and our defense and offense has no purpose except to react to a far superior mental team. They should be better than they are playing for the level they are in. Our team resembles a pick up game gone wild as of late, and I think many would agree!

BTW- I never said this team owed me anything, you made that "my" point and it was wrong, and your whole debate here has been on a theory I never made! Please in the future don't try and assume for me, you know how the expression goes right?

[Speed]

Does anyone wanna take a stab at guessing what personal issues Terrible must have going on? I post some optimistic posts about the Blazers on a Blazers message board and that has sent him OFF!! Wow, I thought we were hear to discuss the Blazers, not each other.

But now that Terrible has opened the discussion, what are his issues? I'm guessing he envies me on some level. Either he envies not having my hopefulness, cuz he'd like to feel that way, but he's afraid to risk his emotions. Or maybe he knows I know more about basketball than he does, and he feels threatened by that, so when I say something outlandish, he needs to attack it to feel better about his knowledge of the game. It could be anything.

Go Blazers

[Speed]

Terrible, both Sheed and Wells showed up. Sheed got saddled with foul trouble and that's why he was less effective. Wells ABSOLUTELY showed up. He shot the ball, he just didn't make them. Do you think he didn't WANT To hit his shots? WHat evidence do you have of that? He did hit his FTs though and he had a good handful of rebounds and assists. A BAD game doesn't qualify as "not showing up."

Dallas beat us when we were down and killed us by swinging the ball yes. But they attacked us in those situations on fastbreaks and when our defense wasn't set. Good teams do that. They did it SIXTY times this year. We didn't lose to the Cavs. We lost to a VERY VERY good team. But we do things well vs them TOO. We get to the line more. We outrebound them. And we are VERY capable of beating these guys..... more than once.

Go Blazers

[Samuel]

[Speed]

Whoa. What is that about? That picture is 4 years old! LOL

[Speed]

There are some true fans here, but there are WAY too many scaredy cats in here, who are fearful of putting their heart on the line tomorrow. I KNOW the players will put their heart on the line. It's too bad so many fans have given up. ALL YEAR LONG, I keep hearing about how this game and that game is a MUST WIN. Well, ladies and gentleman, TONIGHT is our first MUST WIN game of the entire season. There has not been a must win game for the Blazers all year. NOW, and only now, do we find out what our team is made of. NOW, it's put up of shut up. And yet, so many of you have given up. Some have declared they won't watch. Others have said that the games "doesn't matter."

Doesn't matter??? Tonight's game is the only game that has truly mattered all year.

Why are a lot of you SCARED to back your team at its most important hour??

The men have CERTAINLY been separated from the boys.

The Blazers will play like Men tonight while the little scaredy cat boys who bash the team on here run for cover.

Go Blazers

[Siouxperior]

Im just bein a 'realest' Were down 3-0, a HUGE hole to try to get out of. Game 2-3 were HUGE, and we blew 'em. Our 'Superstar" (according to Bob) Hasn't showed up yet!! We may win tomarrow...but IMHO, our season is all but over.

[Speed]

The last three games have NOTHING to do with our chances of winning Game 4 or any other game in the series. The score starts at 0-0 all over again. Nothing that happened in the first three games, short of DA's injury, has ANY bearing.

Go Blazers