Blazers and Mavericks Star in The Night Of A Thousand Whistles
Rob Simonsen | Friday, April 9, 2010 at 10:43PM 
Juwan Howard was called for six different fouls on this play.
Well, it has been said the Blazers “control their own destiny,” and after a crushing 83-77 loss to the Mavericks, is there any doubt who they want to face in the first round? This game—despite the poor shooting and grind-it-out pace (seriously, this game was uglier than Sam Cassell riding a narwhal)—was a battle from the beginning, with the Mavs refusing to be swept in the season series and the Blazers doing everything in their power to grind out a meaningful win. In the end, a 35-23 advantage from the charity stripe for the Mavericks, plus 40 points from Dirk Nowitzki, were the difference makers in this epic, bizarre, and ultimately angry (very angry) fight.
Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge were responsible for the first eleven Blazer points but as soon as the Mavericks decided to get physical and pick up their defense, nobody could make anything, on either side. Ever. The game got scrappy and ugly—with an emphasis on ugly—and despite strong pushes by Jason Kidd and Roy to get the game under control, neither side could get anything going offensively. When pushing came to shoving, the refs let the two teams play on, but that all stopped when Eduardo Najera decided to let an errant elbow fly freely toward the face of Juwan Howard. The wily vet didn’t take too kindly to that and fought back, leading to a technical foul and his first fight since he defeated Gentleman Jim Corbett in a bareknuckle boxing match in 1891 (we need to fact check this). Soon after, the wheels came off of the Blazers’ offense, and the Mavs finished the quarter on a 9-0 run.
The second quarter started no better, with the Blazers continuing to miss everything they threw in the vicinity of the basket. There was also a phantom technical on Rudy Fernandez, who picked up the whistle for… um… walking past Najera? Being too Spanish? (If anyone say anything different on this, please chime in.) Judging by the crowd’s reaction, Najera is now the Rose Garden’s third least favorite player behind Kobe and Hedo “Ball” Turkoglu. (Congrats, Trevor Ariza, you are now number four.) The Blazers couldn’t match Dallas’ physical play, and the Mavs continued to chip away, piling up a double digit lead behind some nifty playmaking from Jason Kidd and a hot hand from Dirk Nowitzki. Aldridge and Roy capped off a 9-2 run to finish the first half, and despite the Mavs hitting 18 free throws in just two questers (they average 18.4 a game), the Blazers ended the half only down three.
The Blazers stepped up the pace in the third, as their slow half court game clearly wasn’t working in their favor. Despite Dirk hitting his first few shots, the Blazers turned on the jets, led by Andre Miller, and started pushing the tempo and getting out in transition. Just as the crowd got into the game and the Blazers established a lead… the second unit came in. The fastbreak offense grinded to a halt with a couple of costly turnovers, and Howard and Bayless looked absolutely lost trying to guard Nowitzki, who made them pay with a couple of quick buckets. Then Rudy Fernandez happened. First a huge block, and then a double clutch three to end the quarter. Nice to see Rudy show a spark of his last-year self, lifting the crowd and his team back into this one.
Wait, did the playoffs start and nobody tell me? The fourth quarter was as physical as a Bad Boys-era Pistons playoff game. Defense was key, with each turnover feeling monumental. A Rudy three early on almost brought the house down, but back-to-back technical fouls on Miller and Nate McMillan halted Portland’s momentum and turned an excited crowd into an angry mob (well, at least as angry as polite Blazer fans can get). Fans were ejected, cups were thrown on the court—at any point it seemed like somebody (Mark Cuban?) was going to get punched by an angry fan. In the end, nine straight points from Dirk and a barrage of missed threes from the Blazers—who couldn’t quite overcome the missed calls and keep their composure down the stretch—sealed this one up tight.
Despite the “these refs suck” chants, it wasn’t the whistles that cost the Blazers this game. It was their inability to control their emotions, something they’ll have to work on come playoff time. Although, it’s hard to ignore the officiating, especially when ESPN’s John Hollinger took the officials to task on Twitter, calling this game the “worst officiated game I’ve seen this yr.” Ouch.
I think the Blazers and Mavericks—plus the fans of these respective teams—are hoping to get a crack at each other again this year. Forget the Lakers, after tonight’s game a playoff series with Dallas may prove to be the most entertaining postseason option. I just hope security is ready if these two teams meet again.
NOTES:
-Tonight marks the end of Portland’s streak of winning 45 straight games when holding opponents to under 88 points or fewer.
-Dallas was out-rebounded, shot worse from the field, and had fewer assists, yet still managed to squeak out a win.
Reader Comments (8)
Rudy deserved that technical. He has been too Spanish, for too long.
It would've been a brilliant ploy by the Blazers to bribe Mauer to throw this game. The way I see it, we'll soon have a grudge against all the top seeded teams.
40 points from Dirk but how many of these were from the free throw line? 17? Also he should get the best flopper in the world award. I saw only parts of the game..highlights..and couldn't believe the two shoves N Batum got that led to HIS foul. What is THAT about? I do hope this game served as a lesson to the Blazers that they need to not led crummy officiating get under their skins. It seems like a difficult but needed strategy.
Blazers and Blazer fans need to whine less and play more. Poor officiating happens, I am sure it has favored them at times this year as well.
The refs gave the game to Dallas, these calls included some of the worst I've ever seen and it broke the sprit of the Blazers. How were the Blazers supposed to adapt to the refs from Dallas? As I saw it as the crowd complained early on about the one sided calls and Mauer pulled his team together and said something like, "lets show these folks some really bad calls".
officiating like they had last night Ive seen only in the realm of the WWE
We as blazers fans are becoming the laughing stock of the nba with our perceived "homerism". Dallas showed their veteran toughness and we showed our inexperience. End of story. You don't think Dallas learned this as the refs "handed" D-Wade his NBA title in 06? Nate and Roy need to lead this team into maturity, we got the talent and the passion...now let's be men.
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