http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4324941

ESPN is reporting that the Magic have matched the offer Cuban and the Mavericks have made to Orlando Center Marcin Gortat.

This is GREAT news for Houston and for Daryl Morey, who will probably have another turn at trying to aquire Gortat.  It looks like a good idea by Orlando as well, realizing Gortat's value and opting to resign him probably in order to sign and trade.

Editor's Note: Morey wasn't going to make a move until this situation was resolved.  Now that Orlando has retained Gortat, I think Morey can take another shot at him.  Honestly, I haven't looked much into a possible deal at all, but Battier's name is the one that I keep hearing.  I'll do some more research on it and come up with a feasible plan. -- Tom

UPDATE: Gortat will be untouchable until December 15th, and the Mavs cannot try to trade for him for another year.

is having a terrible start to the season.  I don't understand Cooper's logic as he keeps sending him out the mound.  Even last night, when it seemed like a blowout was impending Geary tried his hardest to give it away.

In 16 outings this year he's managed to give up 18 ER on 20 Innings pitched.  More disturbing is the fact that he doesn't seem to be settling down giving up 10 of those 18 ER in his last 4.1 innings pitched.

Of the 16 games Geary services have been used the Astros have gone 5-10-1(Washington game that was suspended at 10-10).  More over three of the losses have been a DIRECT result of giving up 1 run or more.

In conclusion, it's quite obvious that Geary is not having a stellar year.  However, I don't think he's lost all ability at this point but I still can't fathom the idea of seeing him trot out to the mound game after game when has obviously been ineffective so far.

Am I the only one who has noticed this horrible trend?

It came from this article by none other than the infamous J.A. Adande:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2009/columns/story?columnist=adande_ja&page=RocketsLakers-090508

Here's what Fisher says:

""It's playoff basketball," Lakers guard Derek Fisher said. "You have to be mentally tough; you have to be physically tough. I don't think there are many plays where guys are intentionally trying to harm guys or injure guys or take guys out"

I guess tackling Scola like he a strong safety in the open field doesn't constitute "intentionally trying to harm guys"

It has come to my attention that the newest trend among angsty Blazers fans (not all the Blazers fans, just some) is that David Stern has sold his soul to the devil, that being the Chinese of course, in order to allow Houston to win this series.

Heaven forbid Houston actually WANTS to win this series, having been stuck in the first round for something like a decade now (which totally contracts the idea that Stern is focused on the Chinese market, but I won't get into that logical fallacy...)

My question to all of this is...  why doesn't anyone remember that Yao is not the only Chinese player in the league? 

You see, if David Stern were REALLY a savvy businessman he would have his cronies (the NBA referees) take care of business and force a Houston/New Jersey Finals.

That way he would insure a Yao vs. Yi matchup and get the best rating he could possibly achieve. 

Seriously.

Blazers fans and Rockets fans alike.

It seems like no matter what the issue a thread starts talking about it inevitably leads back to how terrible Joey Crawford is or how the league is against us or some other crackpot idea.

Honestly, the guys are just calling the games the way they see it. 

If it's too much for your little baby eyes to handle then maybe you need to evaluate your situation as your investing way too much of your emotions into a basketball game.

I love the Rockets.  Everyone over at BlazersEdge loves the Blazers.  Neither of the two games so far were decided by bad officiating.  Get over it.

I hereby request that grungedave or BringBackNovak or someone else invoke a No More Official Bitching Rule.

Just a thought.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=PERDiem-090415

In the article above ESPN's John Hollinger list what he thinks should be the NBA's First, Second and Third All-Defensive Teams.

On a bright note he has Artest as a First Team SG (Which is arguable but I'll take) meanwhile leaving Kobe off and only  "Honorably Mentioning" his name.

Even worse, he proceeds to leave Yao off of any of teams as well but has ANDERSON VAREJAO on the Second team.  How he can construe Varejao as a better defender than the likes of Joel Przybilla and Yao Ming, I have no idea.

It irks me that a guy who is statisically oriented can dismiss the stats so easily.  Why even use this over/under garbage if he's just going to randomly pick who you like anyway? (Which by the way, is he a huge fan of the Cav's or is it just me?)

Anyway, take a look for yourself if you want to have a good laugh.