NBA: Blazers’ stock plummets as Wallace goes mental in Portland

An NBA team is a terrible thing to waste. But left to their own devices this year's Portland Trail Blazers are going to divide and conquer themselves without any outside interference. With Bonzi Wells collecting fluid on his knee, Shawn Kemp redeeming comp-time for a drug-induced getaway and Rasheed Wallace going mental and collecting more T's than tattoos, it seems this once happy-go-lucky bunch is about to go down in an inglorious shroud of flame.

For all the glory that may lie in the fact that the Trail Blazers just made the playoffs for the 19th consecutive year and 24th time in 25 seasons, Portland guard Steve Smith put things in sane perspective recently saying, "There's a black cloud over us. Right now, no matter what we do, it's not right." And Rasheed Wallace going mental is not helping things one bit.

Wallace, seemingly intent on setting an NBA technical foul mark never to be eclipsed, collected his 39th and 40th and an ejection against Minnesota on Sunday. His absence proved the most volatile ingredient in a heartbreaking 99-95 'Blazer loss to the Timberwolves.

“It hurt us, no question,” said Portland coach Mike Dunleavy. “He's your leading scorer, so obviously, you need him in there. You want him in there.” Following the game the Timberwolves admitted with 'Sheed's absence, they were indeed presented with much better match-ups against the struggling Blazers. Well, duh! Who wouldn't? Thank you very much Mr. Wallace!

In collecting his 7th game ejection of the season Wallace obliterated the previous technical foul record of 38, held by none other than, himself. 'Sheed set that earlier record last season when he argued his way past Charles “Round Mound of Rebound” Barkley and Dennis “Cube's House Guest” Rodman who had meekly shared the “T” record at 32 for a time.

Now Portland is reaping its just rewards. This is a franchise built on a solid foundation of Willamette River mud. It is not a franchise overly concerned with team character. Not when your latest acquisitions have been Shawn “Who's your daddy” Kemp and Rod “Head Case” Strickland. These are not good additions to a chemistry challenged team like the Blazers.

Busy little beaver Bob Whitsitt, Blazer general manager, seriously bombed on his key personnel moves this season. Bringing in Strickland, dragging Detlef Schrempf out of the retired player's craft center and trading Brian Grant and Jermaine O'Neal for Kemp and Dale Davis was just like throwing kerosene on a forest fire. Smokey the Bear is turning over on a spit somewhere in the great northwest!

The only solid cornerstones of this team right now are the ever-steady Scotty Pippin and Steve Smith. Without the presence of these two, Portland would have blown up a long time ago. “We still don't have a feel for everybody,” said Smith. “We have so many guys, so many new guys coming in. I think we had a better feel last year.”

Pippin, who recently moved past Kevin McHale into 56th place on the career scoring list, feels that his team, and Wallace in particular, have a lot more to prove before they can pull some of the antics he's seen on the court lately. “It's frustrating,” he said. “We're not growing as a team. We're not starting to show that we're maturing and getting better. We're not playing smart out on the court.”

Maybe the Portland Trail Blazers just need to slow down a bit and breathe deep. “Maybe in some cases it was fatigue or whatever,” said coach Dunleavy, “but the oxygen wasn't getting to our brain as far as what we needed to do.” Pass the gas mask please. Something's beginning to smell!

Whatever Portland might come up with these last few games of the season it had better be good. After losing 10 of the last 16 and slipping from first to sixth seed in the Western Conference, the Trail Blazer's stock is plummeting, and if Rasheed Wallace continues to go mental there's no way this team avoids being sucked into the black hole at the end of the first round of the NBA playoffs.