FOX26 Houston (and now ESPN) report that Von Wafer is out of tonight’s Game 6 courtesy of back spasms caused by a bulging disc. The links are  here and here.  
Well. Raise your hand if you thought Von Wafer missing a game would ever be significant? All jokes aside, this isn’t quite a complete momentum swing in the Blazers favor but I will tilt it towards the game-changer category. No doubt about it, Wafer has been the key guy off of Houston’s bench this series, giving them quality minutes every game. His ability to slash to the basket and score have been key to the Rockets offense. [...]

I’m not making it up. (Credit: Lake Show Life)
I have no words. Perhaps in Ron-Ron’s world he’s trying to play mental games with both Roy and Kobe at once. Ya know, kill Roy with kindness and try and engage Kobe in a 1-on-1 battle. Then again, this is Ron Artest and crediting him with that much thought is probably  giving him too much credit. It is. He made a rap CD and wanted time off because of it and changed his shoes three times in one game.
Thoughts?

 
“Look….if you had one shot, or one opportunity…to seize everything you ever wanted….one moment…would you capture it or just let it slip?”
It has been common knowledge since the Game 1 loss that to win the series Portland would have to pick up a win in Houston. This is that one shot, that one opportunity to grab this series like it is theirs for the taking. And to win this game Portland will have to take it, because I guarantee Houston is not going to give away a single thing. They don’t want to go back to Portland, they don’t [...]

The main reasons why the Portland Trail Blazers season remains alive? LaMarcus Aldridge stepping up in a big way, Brandon Roy leaving everything he had on the floor and a 15-0 run.
Also, they finally went out and took a game in this series.
Its Aldridge who deserves a ton of credit for his performance tonight. He could have disappeared and everyone would have written their best ‘Blazers good but  just a year away’ piece. Nope. Instead he stepped up to the plate and welcomed the challenge. He was solid as a rock for the Blazers all night in a way that [...]

We’ll be on Blazers.com again tonight, folks. I’ll be coming in pretty late, but SJ should be there the entire time. Don’t have the direct link on me, but the live chat should be in the fan page over there.

To quote The Rock…it doesn’t matter.
I could talk about keys to success until I got blue in the face, but guess what? It doesn’t matter. All the strategy, all the preparation, the chess matches, the little give and take…they all don’t matter. This is Game 5 and all of that is thrown out of the window. Houston knows what Portland is bringing to the table and Portland knows what Houston is bringing to the table. Portland knows what they need to do to win and Houston knows what they need to do to win. You can only make so many [...]

That one hurt just about everybody. When that final buzzer sounded, it hurt you, your heart, your girlfriend, your brother, your dog and the rose bush in the yard. It’s okay, I get it. It hurt me, too, and the only thing that made me feel better was “T.R.O.Y.” by Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth. Why, I don’t know, but the point is after looping that jam 13 times, I felt better. Maybe I slipped on my rose-tinted glasses, but when was the last time you felt that real sinking playoff pain? The pain shared by Sixers and Celtics fans [...]

Okay, maybe we’re the only ones that call it Live!-Thoughts (since we’re hip to the streets and all), but SJ and I will be back over at Blazers.com at gametime tonight to join in on their live-blogging festivities. If you had trouble finding the link last time (Alex S…), I’ve got it right here. Enjoy.

“What if your enemy is three inches in front of you, what do you do then? Curl into a ball? Or do you put your FIST through him? It is the wood that should fear your hand, not the other way around.” – Pai Mei, Kill Bill Vol. 2
What does me reading subtitles from Kill Bill Vol. 2 have to do with this game? Everything. The one thing I have learned from the 2009 NBA Playoffs is that whichever team is the aggressor is going to win the ball game. Don’t believe me? How many blowouts have their been this post-season? Exactly. [...]

Elephant in the room before we go any further with this one. This loss isn’t all on Steve Blake’s late three-pointer so just stop it. Was it an absolutely horrible decision? Duh. Was Blake one of the reasons why Portland lost? Yes. But, to say that play is the reason Portland lost the game isn’t quite right. Understand that. Even if on the next morning it is still beyond me how you don’t dribble weave it to Rudy Fernandez on that play, or get him off a screen or something. Ok, I’m still bitter about it. (Sidenote: Mark Jackson pulling out the ‘Steve, you’re not [...]