Thoughts From Thursday: Blazers Defy Youth In Clutch, Iguodala Flawed

Blazers 101, Rockets 99

• Wow...the ending sure made up for four quarters of ho-hum performances by two "rising powers" in the West.  The last 1.9 seconds featured three shots that all could've qualified for game-winners: 1) Brandon Roy's Jordan-reminiscent shove-off step-back jumper with 1.9 seconds left 2) Yao's Olajuwon-esque fade-away and-one and 3) Roy's "This is for you, Reggie Miller" 27-foot bomb at the buzzer.  Seriously, those final seconds made up for a low-scoring, ugly affair.
• I don't care how big the Blazers' bandwagon is, if it's an overtime game between Portland and Houston (or any other western playoff team for that matter) I'd put money on the Blazers losing.  Why?  'Cause teams like Houston have proven close-out players like Yao/McGrady/Artest. At least, that's how it's supposed to work.  Roy shoved that theory in my face for one night, but if the same situation happened again, I'd still go for the proven commodity.
• Speaking of (un)proven commodities, I can't help but wonder about the Blazers' optimistic future.  I mean, how psyched can a fan and/or franchise be when several of their key players are prone to injury?  Roy's ankles, Martell Webster's foot, and Greg Oden's body should give any overly-hopeful Portland fan reason to pause.
• I'm saying this now—Rudy Fernandez is the next Manu Ginobili.  He's fearless, athletic, crazy-creative, and speaks Spanish. 
• Every year the commentators dub someone "arguably the fastest player in the NBA."  Over the past few seasons it's been Leandro Barbosa, Devin Harris, and Tony Parker.  This year? Houston's Aaron Brooks.  The dude is fast, people.
• Yao Ming is as frustrating as he is tall and talented.  The guy could be unstoppable if he played (meaning rebounded and/or finished) the same way he tries to do for China night in and night out.  Instead, he gets his shot snuffed on the very first play of the game, and ends up getting out-rebounded by Travis Outlaw six to 13.

Magic 98, Sixers 88

• Philadelphia is proving that what the Celtics did last year truly is miraculous and almost never happens—I'm talking about acquiring a "missing piece" and having it fit the very first season.  And the C's had not one, but two "missing pieces" in Ray Allen and KG.  Brand looked overwhelmed at times with the double-teams being thrown at him so hard and fast, and his teammates either weren't spacing the floor well enough or just weren't able to knock down shots (37.9 percent shooting overall, including 5-17 from downtown).
• Is Andre Iguodala really worth over $13 million a year?  Only if he plays for Mike D'Antoni or Don Nelson.  The guy cannot play in the half-court—at least not now.  A.I. has no shot and no go-to move.  He needs to be on the break or slashing, and with Brand in the mix it's just not happening. 
• Howard picked up two fouls less than 1:30 into the game.  Luckily Tony Battie was available for duty.  No, seriously.  He had eight points in the first quarter to go along with his six rebounds for the game.  Even more unexpected was the Magic breaking the game open with Howard playing cheerleader on the bench.
• OK, I understand why foreigners like Hedo Turkoglu burn other teams so badly.  It's because whoever defends them guards him like Turkoglu would guard them.  In other words, soft.  Play the foreign NBA players tough, rough, and in their face, and they crumble.  Example?  Dirk Nowitzki.
• For all the talk of Brand bringing the Sixers experience and consistent scoring, it's Thaddeus Young who looked like the only real deal for them last night—19 points to lead the team, with a pretty array of moves in the fourth quarter to keep the game respectable.
• Jameer Nelson played exactly how Stan Van Gundy and the rest of Orlando wants him to every night—16 points, nine assists and four rebounds.

Final thought: Outside of Kobe and LeBron, who would you want with the ball in his hands to win the game (let's assume the refs wouldn't bail him out with a foul, D-Wade fans)?