NBA.com Article on Sabonis

With Dirk Nowitzki  winning the championship and the recent announcement of Yao's plan for retirement and everyone talking about his impact on the NBA game, I'm reminded about Arvydas Sabonis--who is still arguably the best European basketball player--having a similar effect on the game.  He deserves to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Everyone loves Sabas.  I think it was a shame he didn't come over to the NBA until after his prime, but he still managed to be very effective.  He made Shaq angry.  My favorite Sabonis moment was any of his no-look passes to a cutting teammate. It was a thing of beauty.  

What was your favorite Sabonis moment?

I'm sorry, but I have to vent a little bit about this game.  Russell Westbrook had 5 fouls with 6 minutes left in the game.  Did the Blazers not know about this?  Did Mike and Mike fail to mention this to Nate McMillan?  I know it was an ESPN game...does that mean they didn't travel with the team?

Andre Miller with all his veteran savvy should have tried to take it right at Westbrook as soon as Westbrook picked up his fifth foul and Scottie Brooks left him in there.  From what I saw, Westbrook didn't take a step back on his defense either so he could have easily been forced into a 6th foul.  I've seen Miller do this before, so was it just that he didn't know Westbrook had 5 fouls?

argh!

In lieu of all this off-season fiasco business, I figured we could start looking towards the future.  It is accepted that name slips are common between two similar names.  However, our  beloved court-side analyst, Mike Rice, seems to mix and match names on a whole new level.  It is inevitable for him to screw up names throughout the season.  We've heard of Lamar Aldridge, LaMarcus Odom, Greg  Odom, Lamar Oden.  And should Armon Johnson make the roster, it is only a matter of time before Mike Rice calls him Amir Johnson or calls Amir Johnson Armon Johnson.

There are still three more weeks of school before I can head back to the Pacific Northwest, and hopefully the Blazers will still be in the playoffs at that time.  In the meantime, while I am still in Atlanta, I decided to take advantage of the lesser dedicated fan base to support my second team, the Atlanta Hawks.  Managed to get lower level baseline (row F) tickets for about $20 and managed to get my nicer camera into the game.

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Well, we've had quite a hectic season in terms of bad news.  Be it bad karma, bad luck, curses, or just coincidences, the Portland Trail Blazers just can't seem to stay out of the negative spotlight.

Fortunately, the Blazers have managed to keep their heads above the waters and are still fighting for a playoff spot.  This is just a short little poll as to which is the worst news that we've received this year.

Vote away I guess.

Steve Blake will be traded to the Clippers along with Travis Outlaw for Marcus Camby (most likely at least).  He was a great person and nobody wanted to mess with him--because he could beat them up.  He was just getting his timing down with Rudy on them alley-oop passes, oh well.  Plus, he was able to tear apart Duke in college.

He has always been able to win the starting point guard spot for each new team he plays for (except the Wizards when he was drafted)--so we'll see what happens (I highly doubt he will start for the Clippers).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2gtMSzB-cs&feature=fvw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdAQT0TQOpU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kcbq0Uz1WWo