A Word Or Two About Wee Little JJ Barea

On Wednesday morning, bright and early, Mavericks guard JJ Barea was asked what I feel is the dumbass question of the month.  On ESPN's First Take, host Jay Crawford asked him who he would rather play in the next round of the playoffs, between the Grizzlies and the Thunder.  Now usually when an athlete is asked this question, you get something like "it really doesn't matter...as long as we take care of our business....as long as we play the way we know how to play...we'll be fine no matter who we play."  You know, typical athlete cliches.

But Barea shocked the world when he actually told Crawford that he'd like to play the Memphis Grizzlies and avoid the OKC Thunder.  It was kind of cool that Barea actually answered the question at all, but I still think the question is beyond dumb.

It's like no sh!t, Jay Crawford.  Thank you for that insightful question.  We got to peek inside the soul of JJ Barea, and we're all surely better off now. 

Of course JJ Barea is going to want to play the crappier team of the two choices you gave him.  What a dumb question to ask.  You should have also asked him who he wants to face in the NBA Finals from the East, the Heat or the Cleveland Cavaliers.  Sure, the Cavs aren't even in the playoffs, but fire away Jay Crawford.

Can The Blazers Force A Game 7 With The Mavs Tonight?

That is the question of the day, isn't it?  Especially this day, seeing as game six is tonight.  If you ask the panel of "experts" at ESPN.com, they don't see Portland as having much of a chance.  And the reason they all give is pretty much the same thing...that the game four version of Brandon Roy ain't walking onto that court again.

LZ Granderson of ESPN The Magazine says, "It's a four-point-play miracle there is even a Game 6. I think Nate McMillian has done a great job, once again, keeping his injured squad competitive. But you can't depend on Brandon Roy to come close to his Game 4 heroics, and the Blazers just don't have the consistent firepower outside of LaMarcus Aldridge right now to keep pace."

Granderson makes a fair enough point.  Jordan Heimer of ClipperBlog, is the only "expert" of the five that thinks Portland wins game six.  "Portland is a really tough place for visitors to clinch a tight series. In elimination games occurring in Game 5 or later (so, sweeps excluded), the Blazers are 6-2 since 1980. Factor in the collective buzz of the Blazer faithful coming off the Brandon Roy Miracle Game and Monday's Patty Mills body-check, and the Rose Garden should feel like Thunderdome."

Things That I'm Tired Of This Week: Mark Cuban And His Skin Tight T-Shirts

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!

I want to start this post out by sharing some very exclusive quotes from Mark Cuban after every single one of Dallas' 27 losses this season, up to this point.  I want to give credit to the PSG research team for all their hard work and focus in obtaining these quotes from Cuban. 

Remember, these are quotes from every game the Mavericks have lost this season.  Here's what he said.

"Wahhhhhhhhh wahhhhhhhhhh waaaahhhhhhhhhh.  My team lost this game!  And it was all the refs fault!  It's a conspiracy against my team.  All the refs in the league hate us and want us to lose!  Screw you David Stern!  Screw you NBA!  I hate all of you!!!    Wahhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Pretty crazy huh?  He said the same exact thing every time his team lost.  What are the odds?

Stop the presses, people.  Mark Cuban is pissed about the officiating in the NBA.  Totally came out of the blue, I know.  Apparently, amateur referee-in-training Mark Cuban has analyzed the game film from game 4 of the Mavs-Blazers series, and has found two specific plays, where if the referees hadn't been paid off to make the Blazers win, and the calls went in Dallas' favor, the Mavericks clearly would have prevailed and the series would already be over and the Mavericks would be on their way to being the basketball champions of the universe.

Or something like that.

So The Blazers Are Down 2-0 In The Series And I Don't Know Whether To Panic Or Not

First of all, part of this post will be fairly objective and part of it will be anything but objective.  Most of the time, I can look at the Blazers pretty objectively when writing about the team.  But talk to me in the middle of a game, and I am anything but reasonable.  I bet it actually gets pretty entertaining sometimes.  But I digress. 

First, the objective, reasonable part of this post. 

So it looks like the Blazers are in a bit of trouble.  After listening to everyone of their mom (including yours truly) talk about how Dallas had no shot in the first round and the Blazers were going to pretty much beat them up and take their lunch money, it looks like so far, Dallas is the team that is getting it done and coming up clutch when they need to.

That doesn't mean that the first two games have been runaway Dallas victories, though.  Far from it.  Both games were very close for 3 quarters, and then saw the Mavericks pull away in the 4th quarter.  Nowitzki has been damn good.  Jason Kidd has been damn good too.  For Portland, Gerald Wallace has been pretty good and LaMarcus Aldridge has been decent, but Aldridge hasn't been great in down the stretch and in the 4th quarter.  And there's your difference in the series thus far.

Where Will The Blazers Finish In The West And What Are Their Chances In The Playoffs?

A week ago, prior to Portland losing a heart breaker in New Orleans, the prevailing thought around the league was that Portland would finish 6th in the Western Conference and face the Dallas Mavericks.  After Sunday's win over the Mavericks at home, it seemed like a lock.

Right now though, it's anything but a lock.  In fact, right now the Blazers are currently the 7th seed in the West and just dropped a gimmie game at home against the uninspired Warriors.  But I still think the Blazers finish 6th in the conference, based on their remaining games and the remaining games of Memphis and New Orleans.  I think Portland beats Utah, Memphis and Golden State and then loses to the Lakers.  I think the Hornets beat the Suns and Utah, and then lose on the road to Memphis and Dallas.  And then I think the Grizzlies beat Sacramento, the Hornets and the Clippers, and lose when they visit Portland.

Quickie Game Summary: Dallas 84, Portland 81

Well this went about as well as our last trip to Dallas went.  By the way, why do we have to travel to play at Dallas for two games without having them come play here in Portland first?  The NBA is rigged!

This time the guys didn't have to comeback from like 20 points to make it close, but they still lost a close game.  This time they actually had the lead and a bit of an advantage with about 4 minutes left in the game. 

But it was another damn fourth quarter collapse that did the Blazers in.  And no one really played that well, except LaMarcus Aldridge and Marcus Camby.  As a whole, this team is still in the Jekyll and Hyde mode and it drives me frickin nuts.  Now playing at Dallas isn't a gimmie game by any means, but they should have won with Dallas playing without Nowitzki and Caron Butler.

Anyway, we still need to just blow up the team and trade Brandon Roy away.  This will solve all of our problems.  Right?