Ron Artest Is Now Better Than Tracy McGrady

Closing out the Association's business in the ho-hum West were the Rockets at home against Portland, in a game that wasn't very close or interesting. At least now we can stop hearing about how wonderfully athletic Portland is, because that's almost always your shorthand for Can't Shoot, Pass, Or Understand Team Defense. On the plus side, hopefully this makes Paul Allen cry, because that's just a good thing all over.

The Blazers are said to have been killed by the lack of a third scoring option beyond Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge; they need a real point guard immediately, and it would also help if Greg Oden didn't stink so bad. I'm not feeling the rise of Blazer Nation after seeing too much of them recently; I get that the Rockets make people look bad when they beat them, but that's also what happens in the playoffs from all kinds of teams. For a team with all kinds of young talent, I think they have to blow up this team; I just don't see how this group is ever going to go deep in the playoffs.

The Rockets survive and advance for what should be a fun but brief series against the Lake Show. Houston does have more and better bodies, in Shane Battier and Ron Artest, to throw at Kobe Bryant. But they also have a huge problem in stopping Pau Gasol, no big that can score against the spidery weird arms length of Lamar Odom, and not enough at the point to truly punish the Lakers for their Derek Fisher / Jordan Farmer rotation. There's a reason why the Lakers were 4-0 against the Rockets in the regular season.