COVERITLIVE.COM

2:12	Joel Odom - Welcome, folks. I'm Joel Odom from The Oregonian, and I'll be your moderator today. Our thanks also to Chron.com for their cooperation in putting this chat together.

2:12	Joel Odom - Shootarounds for both teams just wrapped up a bit ago, so it might be a few minutes before both Jason and Jonathan are with us. In the meantime, go ahead and submit your questions. Please be sure to note whether your question is for Jason, Jonathan or both.

2:12	Joel Odom - We'll try to get to as many questions as we can in the hour we have with these guys.

2:12	Jason Quick - Hi. I'm here

2:13	[Comment From Akbar] Whats your prediction for tonight

2:14	[Comment From John] Jason, was fronting actually tried on Yao in the first game?

2:14	Jason Quick - I think the Blazers win a very close Game 2. Portland can't play any worse than it did in Game 1 and I don't think Houston can play any better.

2:15	[Comment From Brett] Jason, any possibility of Bayless getting minutes tonight?

2:15	[Comment From DaDakota] Thanks for doing this, my question is what is the mood of both the Rockets and the Blazers, are the Rockets celebrating or concentrating, and conversely, is the Blazers confidence shaken right now?

2:16	Jason Quick - I've noticed that Jonathan has written that the Blazers did try fronting Yao in Game 1, but if they did, I had a hard time seeing it. The Blazers and Nate were pretty adamant that they didn't, but should have

2:17	[Comment From rox2009] Jason, what progress Blazers made in the weekend?

2:17	Jason Quick - Nate was pretty blunt in saying that Bayless is not the answer. I don't expect him to play unless the game is out of hand

2:18	[Comment From Guest] What type of adjustments do you expect to see with regards to containing aaron brooks

2:19	[Comment From Longhorn Rocket] Jason- It seems like 100% of the blame for the loss has been put on the "nerves and jitters"... Was it really the Blazers playing bad more than the Rockets playing good?

2:20

Jason Quick - The biggest progress the Blazers have made is mentally. I think the two days allowed them to decompress from all the Game 1 tension. I think everyone outside of Roy was nervous for Game 1. Now, with Game 1 out of the way, I think everyone is back to basketball, not all the fluff surrounding the playoffs

2:21	[Comment From David] It seems to be conventional wisdom that playoff games are officiated/called differently than regular season games. If so, why is this the case? A foul is a foul is a foul - in exhibition games, regular season games, playoff games. The rules should not change.

2:21

Jason Quick - I think a great deal of credit should, and has, gone to the Rockets for Game 1. Yes, the Blazers were jittery, but the Rockets did what good teams do - they capitalized and put the game away early. The Blazers have done this before (season opener at LA, December matchup against Boston) ... in each instance they have responded

2:22	Jason Quick - As far as containing Brooks ... I think the Blazers' will hark back to their season-long issue of protecting the paint. They want to have four guys around the outside of the lane in order to discourage penetration. They didn't do that in Game 1

2:22	[Comment From blazinghot] Jason, shouldn't portland start Oden to make Yao work on defensive side plus this would allow more room for LMA to operate on offense with Yao not helping Scola as much.

2:24

Jason Quick - The idea of Oden starting is valid and has been considered by McMillan. However, the Blazers went 10-1 to close the season with Przybilla as the starter. Nate said he doesn't want to do something "crazy" after just one game. I think if Przybilla is ineffective guarding Yao and if the Blazers still have trouble scoring, we will see Oden start Game 3

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