A debacle at the Rose Garden

Spirits were high throughout the city and the anticipation of NBA playoff basketball couldn't have been greater when the Phoenix Suns came to town to take on the Trail Blazers.

As I stepped off the bus on the south side of the Rose Garden 20 minutes before tipoff, I could hear a local band (think the Shitty Beatles from "Wayne's World" doing a bad cover of "Livin' on a Prayer") entertaining the pre-game crowd and I could see lots of face paint and red jerseys all around me. Most were wearing No. 7, just like their hero, Brandon Roy (above), and there were smatterings of Aldridge, Webster, Oden and Przybilla.

Twenty minutes after the game began, the Blazers had begun to crash and burn. They trailed from start to finish en route to a 108-89 loss that wasn't even that close and put them behind in the series by 2 to 1. What's worse...I was seated next to a mom and dad and their young son, who just might have been the only three Phoenix fans in the whole arena. The parents were fine but the kid, wearing a Steve Nash jersey and a Suns baseball hat, started getting on everyone's nerves in the second quarter.

I mean, the arena was already pretty quiet with the home team getting blown out, so when the boy, maybe 10 years old, started making razzing noises in an attempt to rattle whichever Blazer was taking (and missing) foul shots, it felt like salt in the wound. Fortunately, his dad counseled him to put a lid on it.

All in all, a disappointing experience. I've never seen fans more pumped up -- or more frustrated -- than last night. If the Blazers hadn't dug themselves such a big hole, I'm certain the crowd support would have put them over the top.

Next game: Saturday. I'll be at work but I'm sure TVs will be on all around the office.

Photo of Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge: Bruce Ely, The Oregonian