When Portland Trailblazer rookie center Greg Oden suffered another unfortunate injury just 12 minutes into his first real NBA game, it was a punch in the stomach for Blazer fans everywhere.
But the injury proved to be minor and Oden is expected to be back in a few weeks. Phew. Another unfortunate twist of fate? Yes. Time to panic? No way.
You see, I had secretly been hoping for a slow start this season. I thought a nice four- or five-game slide might bring expectations back down into the atmosphere, which would allow the young team to grow, taking their lumps just outside the limelight.
But my reasons weren’t entirely with the team in mind. As a poor college student who can’t afford season tickets, I snatch up single-game seats for games when I know I’ll be in Portland. I figured those tickets would be much easier to come across if the Blazers started slowly.
So I guess I’m somewhat pleased by the 1-2 start. The opening night loss at Los Angeles was ugly and costly, but the win in the home opener Friday was a great one of the gut-check variety in the final moments over the San Antonio Spurs. Then they had to turn around and play in Phoenix the next night and were competitive, but couldn’t finish. That’s not an easy back-to-back, even for a veteran team.
But since his horrible 0-for-9 opening-night performance, Brandon Roy has looked like his old magical self. (Remember, we all agreed to collectively forget he was a Husky, right?) Travis Outlaw seems to have picked up right where he left off last year and I think we are all pretty damn pleased with how Rudy Fernandez is showing up to start his NBA career.
And when you really stop to think about it, Joel “The Vanilla Gorilla” Przybilla is every bit the center Oden is right now. Sure, Oden promises to be much better with time, but I’m a Przybilla guy and I love his game, always have. I’m more than happy with him as our starting center while Oden gets well, albeit again.
There’s no way anyone could be pleased Oden got hurt again, but I still find pleasure watching this team, despite the absence of Oden, and I hope he comes back for good this time. I like these guys. That’s the key.
Count me as one of those fans who lost interest earlier this decade. Not because the Blazers weren’t good, which I don’t mind, but because they weren’t fun to watch, nor were they easy to root for in the character department.
This team is different. It’s hard not to root for them, especially in the face of such random misfortunes as they’ve suffered during Oden’s young career.
The only thing dampening my spirits about this season’s start is not seeing Oden out there against Tim Duncan last Friday or Shaquille O’Neal on Saturday. I’m not one of those fans who thought the Blazers would take the world by storm this season. No, I’m one of those fans that was just excited as hell to see this young team develop together throughout the season and into the next several.
So although I was expecting them to lose a few early, I hoped it would be a learning experience. Right now it doesn’t seem they are learning much about their identity as a team – just how to find ways to win without the big man.
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