Blazed and Confused

You've got to give it to Rip City. They've been to hell and back this year and still have managed to put out an enjoyable product for those loyal Oregonians. Their stud, Brandon Roy, who Ron Artest referred to as the "best player he's ever played against (other than his boy from Queensbridge)" has worse knees than Broadway Joe Namath. And, if that wasn't bad enough, their fabled #1 pick from a few years back has made more of a splash with his MMS messages more so than his actual on-court performance. Still, with an aging point guard with the most generic skill set in the NBA and one of the most underrated and versatile post players in the league, Portland maintains the 8 spot in the NBA's talented Western Conference.

You can go ahead and chalk up the Oden #1 overall pick as a mistake at this point. Even if he salvages his injury-riddled career that he has had thus far and turns into a cross-breed between Patrick Ewing and Dikembe Mutombo, there is no way his ceiling will eclipse that of Kevin Durant. There's just no way. But Portland hasn't used the "Ballad of Sam Bowie" or the "Omen from Oden" to keep their franchise from succeeding. Sure, they had that stretch a few years back when they could barely field a roster because the majority of their team was incarcerated. But that's over now, Rasheed's a happily retired man, Zach Randolph has resurrected his career, if not his morals, in Memphis and Darius Miles is probably filming the sequel to The Perfect Score so he can finance his next crack rock purchase. Portland has now chosen to put their team on the shoulders of Andre "Air YMCA" MIller and LaMarcus Aldridge, who exploded for an impressive 40 on the Bulls' array of below-average interior defenders last night.

Maybe I haven't watched the Blazers enough because I like to think that I have better things to do when their games air on TNT at 10:30 PM every Friday, but they truly impressed me last night. Much like the Bulls who have had to undergo most of the season without key members of the roster, the Blazers have done the same. And, again, like the Bulls, they are impressing people. Even after giving Wes Matthews the most undeserved contract in the history of professional sports this offseason (5 years, $34 mill for 16 PPG and 3 RPG), they are still holding on to playoff life. Last night, LaMarcus Aldridge solidified himself as one of the better 4's in the league in my opinion. Obviously, it didn't help that Boozer can't defend his own shadow and Taj Gibson is undersized for his position. Regardless, Aldridge was downright impressive. In watching him last night, I came to realize a few things that would make any Bulls fan cringe. First, the Bulls originally drafted Aldridge (#2 overall in '06) but then traded him to the Blazers for their picks, which in turn became Tyrus "The Human Goaltending Violation" Thomas and Viktor Khryapa, who is either the Latvian president or a power-forward who is no longer in the league. Good trade, right? Next, I came to the conclusion that Aldridge and Durant were one year apart at Texas. Imagine those two athletic freaks sharing the floor together in Austin... my god.

Overall though, I don't think last night's loss was a bad loss for the Bullies, at least not as bad as losing to the Warriors in Oakland was the game before. Rose provided the highlight of the week with his 'shoulder-blade-tap' throwdown in the 4th, and Luol had some bright moments as well. Portland is a formidable squad. But with that being said, it would have been nice to come out on top of Joel Przybilla (The Vanilla Gorilla) and the rest of the Blazers with Utah and New Orleans coming up on the schedule. The wild, wild west is a dog eat dog world.

As for Pick of the Day, the Pulse Man experienced a fairly successful Super Bowl besides the fact that he bet on his arch nemesis, Jordy Nelson, to not cover his quota and he almost ended up leaving Dallas with the MVP trophy. For tonight, the Pulse Man likes Northern Iowa in a pick em' game over Evansville in Indiana.

Pick of the Day: Northern Iowa @ Evansville (pick em)- NORTHERN IOWA

Record:(52-37-0)

Now I'm done. Rack me

Frost

Beat the Sweets

Derrick Rose's well documented love for candy is something I find absolutely fascinating. Between him and Lamar Odom, the Nestle Co. should be set on finances well into the next decade. Now, I don't know if both of these pro athlete's guardians kept the Willy Wonka DVD playing relentlessly on their home televisions throughout their childhood, or they're just die-hard fans of John Candy like everyone else. But, these players have gone to extreme measures to keep their sweet tooth satisfied. Odom has his own "candy man" who shops for the Lakers star and provides Lamar with industrial sized candy boxes by the boatload. And for Rose, well he just had a Skittles vending machine installed in his own house--no big deal. Although Rose swears that he's getting better, and Lamar crosses up and down that Khloe Kardashian is changing his diet (very hard to believe), both players continue to produce at the highest level of professional basketball. In that case, I don't care if you're skipping meals like Allie McBeal or pounding pork rinds with Kristie Alley, it's all kosher.

Derrick quarterbacked the Bulls in a hard fought contest in Oklahoma City last night, battling his counterpart Russell Westbrook in a fast paced game that had my eyes moving from left to right like I was taking a field sobriety test. Even though Rose was nagged by foul trouble in the 1st quarter and then again early in the 4th, he proved his worth when he was on the floor and solidified the captain status that Thibodeau heaped upon him just hours before tip-off. My only grievance with D Rose last night was his quick-trigger in certain instances of the game, but that is common during your first trip to the firing range each year (Actually I don't know, I've never been to the firing range, I'm not a hillbilly). But in the final stretch of the 4th, the Bulls crumbled like stray cheez-its under a couch cushion when push came to shove in the ThunderDome. On consecutive possessions down one point, the Bulls had a shot-clock violation and a turnover off of a Taj Gibson travel. In the NBA, you have to value every possession like it's your childhood blanket on the road against a good team, and the Bulls went from down 92-91 to down 12 and virtually out of reach to close out the game due to ill-advised carelessness on the offensive end.

On a more positive note, I thought Taj Gibson had some bright spots finishing some plays under the basket and looked like he could still be building off of his solid rookie campaign from a year ago. Also, Gibson and Bogans both look like they suffer from alopecia areata and could be featured in a TV ad with new cubs skipper Mike Quade nd former MTV veejay Matt Pinfield before the season is out (I'm imagining them all shaving their head in front of a mirror with machetes like Pedro Cerrano in Major League). And, for most of the game, the Bulls D looked stingy and worked as a cohesive unit and held the Durantula to a 'quiet' 30 points, if there is such thing. My other favorite thing about Wednesday's game was Durant's free-throw shoulder shake, that thing gets me every time (it reminds me of Jack Parkman's shake in Major League.."it makes the women here in Cleveland puke" -Bob Uecker-). Also, I was ecstatic that 'Byron' Mullens was in a suit on the bench. I hope he spends all of his rookie paycheck on tailored suits and then gets cut by Scott Brooks, he really deserves it. After all, it's an 82 game season and I knew we wouldn't win them all. 81-1 it is.

As for Pick of the Day, contrary to most people, I am thoroughly enjoying the paradigm associated in this World Series match-up. As the Skalr Bros. recently tweeted (say what you want about Cheap Seats and their guest appearances on Entourage, but the Sklar Brothers are great on Twitter) "I feel like SF vs. Texas is a battle between blue states and red states, tofu and steak, and Harvey Milk and the guy who killed him". With that being said, being the libertarian that Pulse Man is, he likes the Giants again in game 2 at (-105)

Pick of the Day: Rangers @ Giants- GIANTS, moneyline (-105)

Record: (26-21-0)

Now I'm done. Rack me

Frost