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I agree. The way they shrank from LA in the season opener was shameful. I was at a bar with my boss, a Laker fan...
Blazers are acting like a different team now then before. It's time to perform like a different team too.
http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindbla...der_story.html
One thing you learn very quickly hanging around the Trail Blazers is you don't use a certain word around LaMarcus Aldridge.
"LaMarcus," Brandon Roy said chuckling before the game, "hates the word 'soft.' Hates it. I learned that real quick."
To a player, being called soft is one of the worst insults around. It's like challenging one's manhood. It means you aren't tough. Don't like contact. Can be easily intimidated. And it is a word that has followed Aldridge since he was the No. 2 overall pick three years ago. Some see his feathery jumper and assume he must hate contact. Others see his lanky frame and equate that with finesse, not power.
Wonder what people are saying today?
Because for me, the Blazers' 91-86 win over the Boston Celtics on Tuesday will always be the game that proves Aldridge is not soft.
He's played tough before -- he angrily went at Phoenix forward Amare Stoudemire earlier this season and stood chin-to-chin, ready to go to blows, with the Lakers' Lamar Odom last season. But nothing compares to the 39 minutes of grit, toughness and shove-it-where-the-sun-don't-shine at ude Aldridge showed Tuesday against probably his most despised opponent, Kevin Garnett.
And it started on the game's second possession.
As Boston came down the court on its first offensive possession, Aldridge met Garnett below the three-point line with a hearty shoulder, knocking the big talker off kilter. Garnett retaliated, slamming back into Aldridge, causing Aldridge to barely ripple. Aldridge simply reloaded and banged back.
For the first time in his career, Aldridge brought the fight to Garnett.
"It's what I had in mind," Aldridge said. "I was going to hit first. I was going to come out physical and let it be known I wasn't going to be pushed around."
Keep in mind, this is the same player who spoke up first in the Blazers' postgame locker room on Dec. 5 in Boston when coach Nate McMillan asked how the team felt after the Celtics bullied their way to a 93-78 victory.
"Punked" is the word Aldridge used to describe what the Celtics did that night.
On Tuesday, the Celtics and Garnett once again were up to their antics. Some of the Celtics' bravado is legit -- they play harder and tougher than any other NBA team. But some of it -- mostly from Garnett -- is bush league. The talking in the opponent's ear. The cheap elbows. The getting down on all fours and acting like a dog.
This time, Aldridge was prepared. When Garnett tried to intimidate with his flapping lips, Aldridge did his own lip action.
"The head games of Garnett ... he smiled at him," McMillan said after the game.
McMillan called it part of Aldridge's growing process. But it very nearly became a painful lesson. With 22.6 seconds left and the Blazers leading 87-86, both teams headed to the sidelines for a timeout. Garnett elbowed Aldridge from behind as he passed. So Aldridge slapped Garnett in the back of the head.
Luckily for the Blazers, referee Mike Callahan saw both infractions. He called a double technical.
"You can only take so much," Aldridge said of Garnett's elbows.
How many elbows did he take before that?
"Many of them," Aldridge said. "But that was going to be the final one."
By the end of the game, Aldridge had finished with 20 points, seven rebounds, two blocks, two assists and two steals. When the final buzzer sounded, the Blazers rushed the court and confetti fell from the rafters. Many of his teammates hugged Aldridge, knowing that he carried them on a big night.
But Aldridge for many moments ignored them. He stood rigid as his teammates wrapped around his torso, and stared intently down the court. He was staring at Garnett, ... wanting, hoping, needing eye contact. He got none, as Garnett, with his head bowed, walked off the court, fiddling with his jersey.
Aldridge shrugged off the final scene.
"Just two compe ive players going at it," Aldridge said. "He goes his way, I go mine."
I will forever remember that scene. For many, they will look back at this night as the game the Blazers beat the NBA champions without Roy. I will look back at it as the night Aldridge shed a label.
"Don't even say it," Aldridge said sternly after the game, knowing I was going to bring up the word soft. "If you do, I won't talk to you for another week."
See, before the first Boston game on Dec. 5, I asked Aldridge whether he felt he was soft. He abruptly rose from his chair and walked away, saying things over his shoulder like, "Was 27 points against Detroit soft? Would you say Utah is soft? Then why did I score 36 against them (last season)?"
It was safe to say that the relationship between Aldridge and me -- which had grown substantially this season -- had deteriorated. Thing is, he never understood I have defended him on the radio, and in conversations with other beat reporters.
So Tuesday night, I asked him again: Why does that word bug you so much?
"Did I play that way tonight?" he asked curtly. "Then case closed."
I agree. The way they shrank from LA in the season opener was shameful. I was at a bar with my boss, a Laker fan...
Blazers are acting like a different team now then before. It's time to perform like a different team too.
Winning at Boston or L.A. will be the final step in our maturation process. I don't know if they'll be ready on Jan. 4th, but it will come soon.
oden has to figure out you can only have 5 guys on the court at a time first.
i dunno man, real guys wouldve thrown a punch at KG, instead of running up breathing in his face doing jack , thats soft.
um the Nuggets won in Boston, and they are far from mature
u gotta bully Garnett. Just like what Lamar did to hi on xmas days. Knocked him over and walked away.
Kudos to Aldridge. It's high time someone gave it back to Garnett. Like most bullies, they back down when their opponent retaliates.
I'm no fan of odom or garnett but I was surely rooting for lamar that day I was glad to seem him not taking his .. same with aldridge last night and oden. Gotta be real physical with boston. Especially down low where perkins is he's a puss. Oden set to the tone real early with the backing down on garnett, and also when he got his tech.
people are talking about KG like he is actually tough. He is a skinny 7'0 guy that is overrated. Just coz you yell, it doesnt make you tough, just ask kmart
KG is a freakin' fraud. I rooted for Boston to be the Fakers, but it doesn't change the fact that now KG is flaunting himself as some fake-ass, tough-guy.
but he didnt do crap to KG, odom only shoulder charge into ray allen
Yea but he sent a message that he's gonna be physical also to garnett.. if aldridge would of punched him that's taking it to a whole nother level and would of probably cost the blazers the win.. aldridge and odom both showed garnett they weren't going to take his crap.... still wanna see someone pull a anthony peeler on his starvin marvin ass haha
Do you want the guy hurt his team by getting ejected and suspended for a game or two? No. He struck first, got in his share of elbows and shoves in within the game, got his numbers and more importantly, his team won.
alpha males would do it
Duncan has won 4 rings and still behaves with class on the basketball court. KG wins one, and suddenly he's the biggest bully and cheapshot artist in the league. It amazes me how much he gets away with. Kudos to Aldridge.
It is amazing isn't it? But, ANYTHING'S POSSIBULLLLLL!
since no one is going to put KG in his seat, then his going to continue with his antics....
Owning his team is putting him in his seat. Make him lose, and he will be leaving the court with his head down.
Exactly. KG may be an asshole, but he's an asshole with a ring. You want to shut him up, beat him. It's that simple.
Exactly.
And why do you think the blazers look up to a team like the spurs and the not the celtics? With the exception of bowen the spurs are a classy team led by a classy duncan. The celtics with the exception of allen are the douchiest if s led by capt garnett.
Why are sport journalists so self-absorbed?It was safe to say that the relationship between Aldridge and me -- which had grown substantially this season -- had deteriorated. Thing is, he never understood I have defended him on the radio, and in conversations with other beat reporters.
Actually Aldridge got him from behind...it was a cheap shot from behind as Garnett was turned the other way.
I want Garnett to be smacked as much as anyone else, but Aldridge's hit was a cheap shot.
But it's Portland, so we shouldn't have expected anything else.
Obviously their lives are the most important part of the story, the fact that they talk to NBA stars is just icing on the cake for readers.
This wasn't a coming-of-age story about LaMarcus Aldridge. Rather, this was the story of how one courageous journalist dared to challenge a young, dumb basketball player, and how his challenge inspired the team to victory. If it wasn't for this guy bashing Aldridge, the Blazers never would have been capable of beating Boston.
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