Token Weekly Blazers Post: LA Beat

Another week gone and another two cards from the 50-ct. box have been scanned. Two more notches in the win column, with a disappointing loss to Dallas sandwiched between, snapping the Blazers home winning streak.

The big stories of the week were the huge victory over the Lakers Monday, the hard flagrant foul that sent Rudy Fernandez to the inactive list, and Greg Oden's continued absence. The Blazers annihilated the Lakers, but late in the 3rd quarter Trevor Ariza sent Rudy flailing to the ground in a clip that was seen all over the sports TV highlight shows and YouTube. I dont' feel like linking it, but I'm sure it won't be hard to find. It was Portland's 7th straight home victory over the Lakers, who have only won 6 games in the Rose Garden since it opened in 1995. Meanwhile, Oden is supposed to miss another week and Martell Webster, previously declared out for the season, is now "back in April"... whatever that means. Last night the Blazers rebounded from the Dallas loss to beat the New Jersey Nets, who are a lot worse than they should be with some of the talent (Devin Harris, Vince Carter, Brook Lopez) that they have. Portland made 39 of 45 (!) free throws in the game.

About the cards:

• Hmm, what to say about Danny Young... He almost made a game-winning half court shot in the 1990 NBA Finals. It was after the buzzer, however. They would have reviewed it these days, at least. Plus, I believe that was right before they implemented the tenths-of-a-second timekeeping, so who knows how much time really would have been on the clock in this day and age. The 1991-92 Fleer design doesn't really hold up well. I don't see how using nearly a third of the card space for border is good.
• The Stadium Club Drexler card came out in Drexler's final season as a Blazer, which is sad. I do like how the gold foil swoosh thing runs right into the Blazer logo on Drexler's shorts, though.

Bonus: I warned you there would be three bonuses if the Blazers beat the Lakers. These cards came courtesy of Eric from The Pettitte Pursuit. He sent me yet another box of Cardinals cards and threw in a few Blazers. The Sergio Rodriguez card is my first of his. I would like to get a Blazer card of each player on the current team before the season is over. I doubt there are Shavlik Randolph or Michael Ruffin Blazers cards, though, so I'll have to settle for what I get. (Bring back Franz bread cards!) For Brian, there's a card of Cliff Robinson, this time with the red spandex instead of the black. And then there's Clyde, soaring above the Portland skyline, circa 1993. Great stuff.

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