Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.
The Portland Trail Blazers are one of the most exciting teams in the NBA. They are more than ready to make a splash this upcoming season. In this FanHouse exclusive, we talk to Greg Oden, Rudy Fernandez, Nicolas Batum and Jarron Collins to see how training camp is going.
On this episode of the Young And The Cap Flexible...
In our last episode, we clued you into a potential deal that would send Carlos Boozer to Chicago, Kirk Hinrich to Portland, and Tyrus Thomas to Utah, among other moving pieces. The deal was refuted by several sources, but ESPN's sticking to their guns that the deal is on the table, but has hit a snag.
That snag? The Blazers insistence on keeping a phenomenal young player so that they can ... not play him?
But it ain't all rose petals and champagne amid the Hedo saga. According to ESPN's Chris Sheridan, the Portland courtship of Turkoglu has left one Mr. Rudy Fernandez feeling a bit ... hurt. Hurt to the point he is allegedly attempting to quit the Blazers.
In a lively Sunday evening edition of the RoundCast, Matt Moore and I discuss all of the action from Sunday's games, and neither of us were very happy about the results.
After talking about the victorious Celtics and Rockets, things got a little heated, when I suggested that the charge taken by Shane Battier -- you know, the one which sent Lamar Odom crashing to the deck and caused him to leave the game for good with a sore back -- might have been a reckless play by Battier. Reckless like the play that involved Trevor Ariza and Rudy Fernandez earlier this season.
Do I make any sense here, or is Moore correct in thinking I'm way off base? Only one way to find out, and that's to listen for yourself.
During the third quarter of the Rockets' Game 4 win over the Lakers, Shane Battier steps in front of a Lamar Odom drive, and Odom falls awkwardly to the floor on his back. He stayed down for a few minutes, and then left the game due to the injury, one that was still hurting after the flight home, and one that could keep him out of a pivotal Game 5 on Tuesday.
There's no question that this was a completely legal play by Battier, and the referee even believed he got to his spot in time to tag Odom with an offensive foul. But was it a reckless and dangerous play on Battier's part? I believe it was.
Cherry Picking recaps the previous day's NBA playoff action.
That was some Game 6 between the Celtics and Bulls, wasn't it? Kirk Hinrich and Rajon Rondo mixing it up early, Ray Allen scoring 51 points, and the two teams taking three overtimes to decide that they're going to need a Game 7 on Saturday to ultimately sort things out. An absolutely epic NBA playoff game.
Unless, of course, you're a fan of either the Houston Rockets or the Portland Trail Blazers.
The Blazers and the Rockets are both playoff teams that have their share of obvious flaws. In fact, neither one of them have any business getting out of the first round this season. But thanks to the way the seedings shook out, one of them will advance by default.
Unfortunately for Portland fans, that team is going to be the Rockets, and the reason is rather simple: This Blazers team is just not built for the playoffs.
The big question for the Houston Rockets as the playoffs began was if they would have a scorer that could take over a game the same way Portland has Brandon Roy.
It turns out you don't really need that if you hold the other team's pair of stars (Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge) to 12 of 33 shooting and your team takes advantages of the opportunities provided by a shady defense.
The result was an 86-83 victory for the Rockets that gave them a 2-1 advantage in their series. This one was kind of a chessmatch. Try and keep up.
We don't stop, cause we can't stop. Continuing our coverage of the 2009 NBA Playoffs, we'll be live blogging the first game of Portland versus Houston in Portland. Can the Blazers find an answer to the Dynasty? Can Houston maintain it's lockdown defense on arguably the best offense in the league? Will Ron Artest scream something that makes you yell "EARMUFFS!" at your children, grandmother, and/or visiting minister? Join us and we can discuss! Live at 10:30PM EST.
The Lakers will roil into Portland on Friday night, and attempt to win there for the first time since 2005. They will do so without Phil Jackson, who didn't make the trip due to soreness in his right leg, and will do so on not a lot of rest, considering their late home victory over the Nuggets the night before.
L.A. will also likely be dealing with a more-hostile-than-usual home crowd, one that no doubt wants some sort of retribution for Trevor Ariza's flagrant foul on Rudy Fernandez that occurred the last time the Lakers came to town.
But if Rudy Fernandez is over it, shouldn't Blazers fans leave it in the past as well?
The Portland Trail Blazers are one of the most exciting teams in the NBA. They are more than ready to make a splash this upcoming season. In this FanHouse exclusive, we talk to Greg Oden, Rudy Fernandez, Nicolas Batum and Jarron Collins to see how training camp is going. 
On this episode of the Young And The Cap Flexible...
Despite 
The big question for the Houston Rockets as the playoffs began was if they would have a scorer that could take over a game the same way Portland has 
We don't stop, cause we can't stop. Continuing our coverage of the 2009 NBA Playoffs, we'll be live blogging the first game of Portland versus Houston in Portland. Can the Blazers find an answer to the Dynasty? Can Houston maintain it's lockdown defense on arguably the best offense in the league? Will 
The Lakers will roil into Portland on Friday night, and attempt to win there for the first time since 2005. They will do so without 
