Hornets at Portland, Pre-pregame

The Hornets are in town tonight. There seems to always be a sense of unease when these two teams play, which I hope is the seeds of a future rivalry. Then again, it could just be from Przybilla and Chandler desperately wanting to punch each other in the face. Either way the winner is the fans. Hooray fans! Roy will be out, so that could suck. Or be awesome. I'll be at the game tonight wearing what may be the greatest t-shirt of all time, so I will see you in the funky 300 level.

Other people's words!

- 15 Thoughts at Blaze of Love
- Sheed's Shakedown at Bust a Bucket
- Game 33 Preview at Blazers Edge

Blazers vs New Orleans Pre-pregame

Tough one at the Hive for Portland tonight. I can think of a few reasons why a win tonight would be especially impressive for the Blazers:

• The Hornets are good
• The Hornets just got humiliated by the Lakers and should be extra aggressive
• The Blazers are three games into the road trip
• Honeybees are distracting

Anyways, it should be fun to watch. CP3 is always a treasure to witness, and that Peja thing they do is cute. Przybilla and Chandler might continue that behavior where they demonstrate their distaste for each other with physical contact, which makes things interesting.

I may miss all of this, as I will be on my way to/doing things in Seattle. In fact I'm probably driving right now. The miracle of the internet.

I Get Money: Blazers buy pick 27

Next year KP might just skip all the drama and have Paul Allen buy every pick in the draft. So far this time around, the Blazers have bought pick #27 from the Hornets. Last year Portland bought Rudy Fernandez from comparatively broke Phoenix, the year before it was Sergio Rodriguez.

Hide the money y'all, there's poor people 'round!

Paul Allen was not quoted as saying.

I never have felt at ease with the fact that teams can literally buy draft spots. Then again, Paul Allen has all the money. This means the Blazers will benefit from this more than other teams, so maybe I should shut up. It is all your teams' fault for not having a super rich owner. Maybe your owner/s should work a little harder so your team doesn't fall in love with selling draft spots for cash. Yes, this thinking is working for me. Now I feel better.

At first glance it seems like KP is amassing even more resources to pull off a trade or seven. Seems likely, but don't be so sure. KP is water like Bruce Lee and I imagine there are some players at 27 the Blazers are interested in. There are still a lot of possibilities in the air. Go get a Big Gulp and some Doritos and chain yourself to ESPNews/Blogfrica, it is time to enjoy another KP draft.

Blazers vs Hornets: Dear God

Blazers 88, Hornets 76 (boxscore)

Eight in a row.

The Blazers are putting me in a bind, its getting harder and harder to come up with new ways to describe the complete awesomeness of this squad.

Full disclosure: I didn't exactly give the game last night the full attention it deserved. It was the I Love New York II finale, and yeah, I'm a loser that got sucked in. Shout out to Tailor Made for pulling off what should be considered one of the biggest upsets of all time.

All signs point to the Blazers finishing the season 70-12. Enjoy.

Mike Barrett: Referee conspiracy whistle blower

I am a supporter of the Blazers All-Mike TV broadcasting team. They're funny, and they do a pretty good job of describing the action.

That said, as I'm sitting here watching the Blazers get blown out by the Hornets in the second game of the season, Mike Barrett's repeated "Refs hate the Blazers" act is already old. Seriously, I'm not sure I can handle another season of this. Its beginning to overshadow the many things the guy does right.

That said, here's some quick notes on the game:

• Chris Paul had 19 points and 6 assists in less than 26 minutes. He's a great, but Jack and Blake's inability to even stay in the frame with him had me thinking of Taurean Green all night. For the record, "Nate-guy" Green has played less than three minutes this season.
• This was the first time LaMarcus saw an NBA team that had a focus on stopping him in the game plan. He struggled and looked frustrated much of the night. After blowing over and around Duncan and the Spurs in the first game, facing Tyson Chandler may have been a little shocking.