Game #78- Portland Trailblazers

Portland Trailblazers vs. Dallas Mavericks Moda Center (formally and more famously the Rose Garden) December 8, 2013 Portland in December is cold. I mean, no joke cold. I had a free hotel night at the Marriott as well as a free flight, so I took a “me” weekend to the Northwest for a Trailblazers game. My initial idea was to come up with my golf clubs and get in a round of 18 at a local course, but I was tracking the weather the entire week and thought better of it. It snowed about three days prior to my arrival, and when I flew over the golf course it was still covered in the white stuff. When I exited the plane and was walking toward the trolley station people were looking at me funny…little did I know that shorts and flip flops were not appropriate attire when it is 25 degrees outside and in the teens with wind chill. Well the day of the game I decided to explore the city a bit. The last time I was up here was for a dudes trip in the summer, very different atmosphere. We did a lot of drinking and partying, this time I was looking forward to some sightseeing, food and possibly take advantage of the states non-sales tax law. First on my list was food. I got some amazing donuts from VooDoo Donuts (one topped with bacon, the other with Oreos) and for lunch I hit up the food trucks and scarfed down an amazing gyro before exploring the town. When I couldn’t feel my hands and nose anymore I ended up in Kel’s, a great Irish pub that I happened to go to years ago with Keli and her mom. Posted up at the bar I got a hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps and watched the rest of the MLS cup between Kansas City and Salt Lake City. Then headed back to the hotel to get ready for the game. I didn’t buy anything today, even with no sales tax nothing was worth the price at Columbia or Hardware. The best thing I did when booking the trip was picking my hotel. It was three blocks from the trolley stop and less than a half mile to the arena allowing me to walk to the game. This year the Blazers are one of the best teams in the league and have their most impressive start to the season since 1990 with a 17-4 record. With a high powered offense and a strong post up D they are the second ranked team in the NBA. When I got the ticket for the game about a month ago I was expecting a blowout by the home team, Dallas had not been playing well as there all-star roster is getting up there in age, but tonight the stars aligned. There was a lot of back an forth all night, Portland with LaMarcus Aldridge, Robin Lopez, and Damian Lillard were teamed up against Dirk Nowitzki, Shawn Marion, and Vince Carter for a down to the wire buzzer beater game. With less than two minutes in the game Dallas was holding on to a 104 to 100 lead, then Monta Ellis knocked down a 20 footer for a 6 point advantage. With 43 seconds left, the Blazer got two consecutive three’s from Batum and Lillard to tie it up. Finally with two seconds left in the game the Mav’s once again set up Monta Ellis for the game ending, buzzer beater to lift Dallas to the 108-106 win. It was really exciting and for a person who doesn’t support either team, I came away extremely satisfied. The one significant take away from the game was the good nature of the Portland fans. There were no fights, no screaming, no one bothering the Dallas fans. In fact, I saw a dude buy an entire pizza and on the way back to his car gave out slices to the local homeless people on the street. I don’t usually feel this, but seeing this extreme act of kindness really made my night.