Portland Trail Blazers Game Seven: The Magic Trick Is a BUST...

The magician pulled the rabbit out the hat, but the audience quickly realized the hat was on a chair with a trap, and the rabbit was underneath the table, hidden by the table cloth.

So, the magician tried to dazzle the audience with a set of card tricks, except the crowd exposed every trick.

In a last desperate attempt, the magician tried to make himself disappear, but one of the giant hidden mirrors he was using to deflect the light cracked, and the he never went anywhere.

It was a lousy display of magic. 

A  BUST.

The Orlando Magic are one of my favorite teams outside of Portland.  I like Dwight Howard a lot.  I call him...The Juggernaut. 

There is nothing magic about The Juggernaut.  The Juggernaut smashes, destroys, controls, dominates, devastates, annihilates, you name it.  The Juggernaut is one powerful enemy.

The Juggernaut can only be stopped if you tire him out. 

The Blazers got their first road win of the 2008-09 season by letting the Juggernaut do whatever The Juggernaut wanted for three quarters...relying on the strategy his team would not be able to hold the load.

As Portland let the Juggernaut dominate, the Blazers unleashed a FLAMETHROWER attack at the three point line.   The BLAZING FLAMES singed the Juggernaut...but he was unfazed.

Until the fourth quarter, where The Juggernaut got tired.

When that happened, the attack of the three point FLAMETHROWER increased dramatically, and The Juggernaut's team simply could not keep up.  

It is clear the Orlando Magic did not care about this game as much as Portland did.  It is clear that if Orlando had a better strategy then unleashing The Juggernaut, they could have won.

But they let The Juggernaut off his leash, and The Blazers have been through too many battles in this early season to allow The Juggernaut to win. 

The Magic Trick was a BUST.

POOF.   

Time for both teams to disappear, and move onto the next battle.

Go Blazers!