Coach Mac on Courtside
posted: 12/18/2006 at 9:38 PM
Because of a conflict on our flagship radio station on Thursday, Trail Blazers Courtside, Presented by L.A. Weight Loss, was held last night, on its former night, on Monday. The conflict Thursday, is the Las Vegas Bowl, which has the Oregon Ducks taking on BYU. KXL will, of course, be carrying that game live, and being the Blazers take on the Houston Rockets on Wednesday, we moved the radio show to Monday.
Coach Nate McMillan made his usual, weekly appearance on the show, and was interviewed by Brian Wheeler and Mike Rice following Blazers practice on Monday at the practice facility in Tualatin. He updated the progress of Brandon Roy, talked about the team's win over the Clippers on Friday, looked ahead to the game against the Rockets, and even weighed in on penalties the NBA handed down following the fight between the Nuggets and Knicks.
We always have a national writer, or broadcaster on the show, and our guest on the show this week was former Trail Blazer Steve Kerr. Steve is, of course, the lead analyst on TNT, and also writes a weekly column for Yahoo Sports. He wrote his column this week on the fight at Madison Square Garden, and it was interesting to hear his views on the punishment. He talked about the differences between the way the league used to deal with fights, and the way it deals with them now. He also talked about Zach Randolph, and his chances of making the NBA All-Star Team.
The Trail Blazers practiced on Monday, and as coach talked about, Roy went through a full workout with the team. He looked very good, just as he did in Sunday's practice. Nate said he won't start Brandon on Wednesday night, but will work him back in slowly. According to the other Blazer players, Brandon hasn't missed a beat, and is practically back to where he was before the irritation in his heel caused him to be placed in a boot for over three weeks.
Zach Randolph didn't practice on Monday, after waking up with pain his ankle. There was no swelling, and a precautionary MRI was performed by team doctors. Zach couldn't recall how he injured the ankle, and it's just being termed as a very mild sprain. It isn't expected to keep him out of the lineup or limit his minutes against the Rockets on Wednesday.
After playing so many games, in such a short amount of time, we're in the middle of a very light stretch of games for the team. Following Friday's game, no team in the league had played more games than the Blazers. And, the team has played 14 road games, and only 11 home games. So, that will also balance itself out in the next few weeks. In the coming weeks, the Blazers will play 12 of their next 18 games at the Rose Garden.
The Blazers have just two games left before Christmas, but then play on the 26th at Phoenix, the 27th at home against the Hornets, then host Philly on the 29th, and play at Utah on the 30th. That's followed by two home games- Boston on New Year's Day, and New York on the 3rd.
Wednesday night's game is radio only, as we get a rare miss on the TV side. The TV schedule was made months ago, and we hate to miss this one, but Brian Wheeler and Antonio Harvey will have it for you on KXL-AM 750 in the Portland area, and on the Trail Blazers Radio Network.
RSS FEED
Hey MB,
am I the only one who seems to forget that Courtside is no longer on mondays?
I always forget it's moved to another night, and forget to listen.
As the All-Star game approaches, we are looking for Zach's name to surface to the top of the pile of potential allstars. But, eventhough Zach is putting up all-star stats, the team will be the difference,if he is an all-star or not.
Post a Comment
<< Home