In case you didn't already know, you can scalp GREAT tickets to Timberwolves games these days. Skyner and I got $100 face tickets for $25 a pop; and that's including my negotiation-screwup fee.

The best summary I can give this game is that we looked solid overall, shaky at times, and then blew it in the 4th quarter. And it bear's mentioning that it was against a Northwest Division rival that we should expect to see quite often in the next 5 years.

Two bright spots (especially when scoping the box score were Rashad McCants and Craig Smith off the bench. Both played very productive games. Shaddy had a couple bonehead plays, but 85% of the time he was not the chucking, lax defender I had expected tonight. So, for that, I owe Dying To Be Loved a good deal of credit.

The real surprise of the box score was Al Jefferson's 20/10. That may look normal for Al, but he really didn't look like a player who put in 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Al turned it up in the early 4th quarter before fading away, but even before that he had a good deal of trouble passing out of double-teams. The Blazers are young, but they're smart and well-coached (Nate McMillan is still my COY candidate). Other than the whole "defense" thing, Al has to work most on his passing.

Randy Foye was another surprise in the box score. He looked calm and unspectacular, but the box score says he flirted with a triple-double (9/7/8) a on 40% shooting. And he wasn't forcing anything.

I'd feel good about tonight if we lost like this against the Spurs or Pistons. But instead we played a team that's only one or two years ahead of us in rebuilding and they looked five years ahead of us in the final period.

Wow, a whole lame Blazers recap without mentioning that we traded Roy for Foye?........ woops.