Blazers back to old ways

Good Sign: Having a heated, competitive practice.

Bad Sign: Having a heated, competitive practice that leads to one teammate punching another.

Welcome back, Portland Trailblazers. Oh, how we've missed you and your antics. Inside the NBA has also appreciated your ability to amuse us. You guys are the team that brought us spitting on opponents, threatening referees, and holding down half the drug charges in the Portland area. Now, you show us how an NBA team holds rugby practice.

First, it should be noted that on Mar. 29, rookie Qyntel Woods was pulled over for speeding (83 in a 55 zone) and cited for marijuana possession. Following the lead of veterans Damon Stoudamire and Rasheed Wallace, Woods is the third Blazer to be cited on such charges this year. However, all that seems like a walk in the park compared to what happened later in the week.

On Apr. 2, Ruben Patterson got into an argument with Woods at the end of a heated practice. Zach Randolph, Woods' best friend on the team, thought it would be a good idea to jump to his buddy's defense by punching Patterson in the eye.

Randolph was suspended for two games and fined $100,000.

Not surprisingly, the team came out listless on Thursday and lost 93-88 to the Utah Jazz. Patterson, with his left eye swollen shut, tried to play but was ineffective and scoreless in ten minutes of play.

So who are the victims here?

Well, I feel for Patterson, as much as one feels for someone who has been arrested for sexually assaulting his kids' nanny, beating his wife, and punching someone who accidentally scratched his car.

Mostly, I feel for Maurice Cheeks. When he was an assistant coach with the Philadelphia 76ers, he probably thought he had his hands full with Allen Iverson. However, that situation probably seems downright breezy to Cheeks now compared to his current troubles. After all, AI never punched a teammate, and there was only one of him anyway, not a whole team.

Cheeks was brilliant as an aide to Larry Brown in Philly, and definitely deserved a shot at a head coaching position. Unfortunately, when a position finally did open up and an owner did come calling for Cheeks, where was it but the NBA's own active volcano, the constantly erupting Trailblazers.

Surely Cheeks knew what he was getting himself into, but if you're an assistant coach aspiring to be the main guy, and a head coaching position opens up, you have to grab it. So Cheeks did, and currently holds the reigns to the enigma.

Of course, the Blazers are 47-28. If they can hold on to the fourth seed in the playoffs, grab home court advantage, and avoid facing the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round, they could do some damage in the playoffs.

And if this happens, their fans will forgive them, and ESPN will write a story on how they overcame all the adversity and trouble to come together as a team and make something special happen. Right.

Quote of the Week: Jalen Rose actually said this two weeks ago and it slipped under the radar, but it was just too juicy to pass up. Rose, the former Indiana Pacers point guard whom the team traded to the Chicago Bulls last year, on its recent pickup of retired PG Tim Hardaway, noted that the Pacers must have been regretting their decision to trade Rose. And he said this right before the two teams clashed on Mar. 28.

The Pacers defeated the Bulls 140-89. In 21 minutes on the floor, Hardaway shot 5-9 for 14 points to go with seven assists and three steals. Brad Miller, who came to Indiana in the Rose trade, had 22 pts and 11 rebounds. Rose shot 5-14 from the field. And the Pacers didn't seem too regretful.