Reporter defends officials

[Mark Padgett]

From this morning's Oregonian newspaper:

Ugly loss is no excuse for bad fan behavior
by John Canzano, The Oregonian
Monday April 20, 2009

The Trail Blazers were awful Saturday night. The Houston Rockets were not. And so the fans at the Rose Garden watching Game1 of this NBA playoff series did what fans sometimes do.

They booed the officials.

Then they chanted, "These refs suck!"

Call Saturday's Game1 loss abysmal, be frustrated, but know that the worst part of the evening was provided by Blazers fans who went small time in a big moment. And that shouldn't happen again.

This issue is bigger than basketball.

It's about how Portland is perceived across the nation. And since we live here, it's about you and me.

The Blazers didn't move on offense. They didn't match Houston's defensive intensity. Portland let Aaron Brooks get loose, looked surprised to be in a big-time game, and failed to effectively defend Yao Ming.

It was a breakdown on the basketball end by the Blazers, and it's understandable that you'd be frustrated. But crude chants, with NBA commissioner David Stern in attendance no less, re-enforce the worst things a TV audience can think about you.

You fight that little-brother syndrome when it comes to Seattle and Los Angeles. And maybe that's why making the playoffs with back-to-back whippings of the Lakers and with Mr.Sonic as your coach felt so good. And while I received more than 1,200 e-mails about Saturday's terrible performance, too many of them blamed the loss on the officials.

The officials didn't miss 10 of 11 three-point attempts. The officials didn't allow Yao to shoot 9 for 9 from the field. The officials didn't fail to compete.

The Blazers did those things.

The boos should have been for them, no?