COVERITLIVE.COM

3:00

Joel Odom - Welcome, everyone. I'm Joel from The Oregonian, and I'll be moderating today's chat. It looks like Joe is already with us, and Jonathan should be along shortly. Please submit your questions, and specify whether they are for Joe, Jonathan or both. We'll get to as many questions as we can in the hour we have with these guys.

3:00	[Comment From Matt] Do you think McMillan's complaints about officiating were merited and do you think it will make a difference at all in Game 5?

3:02

Joe Freeman - I hate to talk about officiating, but since Nate made it an issue, I guess I have to ...
It's possible to singularly blame officiating for losses, but there's not doubt the Blazers have been called for more fouls ...
The numbers:
Blazers 101. Houston 83.
Houston free throws 106. Blazers 79.
Take from that what you wish.

3:02	[Comment From Steven] How is Brandon feeling? Can he go hard tonight and save us?

3:02	Jonathan Feigen - Well it did not take long to get into officiating talk, did it. I don't talk between games makes a bit of a difference when the game begins.

3:03	Joe Freeman - Brandon is not feeling great. He's got the flu and anyone who has had that knows how it saps the energy. That said, he will play and start tonight. By the way, in my previous post I meant to say it's impossible to only blame the refs ...

3:03	[Comment From mc] For both: Yao played extended minutes last game. Do you think it will have an effect on him tonight?

3:03	Jonathan Feigen - Probably not. It he played that long every night, it would have an impact. But I don't think it will right away.

3:03	Joe Freeman - I anticipate Yao being ready to go as usual tonight despite the big minutes...

3:03	[Comment From John] For Joe, do we know the officiating crew for tonight?

3:04	[Comment From Jake] This is for Jonathan. If the Rockets win tonight, what are the keys to beating the Lakers and what are their chances of upseting the Lakers?

3:04	Joe Freeman - I haven't checked, and to be honest, I really don't care who they are ...

3:04	[Comment From ParkCityBlazer] Joe, Win or lose this series do you think the Blazers have shown the mental toughness to be a championshio level playoff team in the next few years?

3:05	Jonathan Feigen - Bored with this series already? We'll have plenty of time for that if the Rockets win one of the next three games, but I would think the Lakers will be heavy favorites.

3:05	[Comment From dontforgettmac] JF can the disparity in free throws be attributed by the rockets more aggressive approach?

3:05	Jonathan Feigen - By the way, I saw Dan Crawford in the hotel, if you are still curious about officials.

3:05	Joe Freeman - Win or lose, this has been a good season for the Blazers and they have grown up a whole lot. 54 wins. Fourth seed in the West ... Yes, they have shown some mental toughness and will only improve in the years ahead ...

3:06	[Comment From eb] do you think the blazers lack of free throws has to do with the fact that they are mostly jump shooters apart from brandon roy and not an issue with the refs?

3:06	Jonathan Feigen - Generally, the Blazers are a jump shooting team. That doesn't usually get you to the line much. A lot of the Rockets free throws have come from Portland being over the limit, rather than shooting fouls. That comes with the defense on Yao.

3:06	Joe Freeman - I think a lot of the free throw disparity is on the Blazers -- they're not attacking the basket as much as they should. In part because of Yao and in part because of the Rockets' exceptional perimeter defense.

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