Live from the sold out Rose Garden, as the second place Portland Trail Blazers take on the first place Denver Nuggets. Usually this is the part of the blog intro where I use sarcasm to illustrate how sad it is that I live blog Blazers games, but after nine wins in a row, and some amazing basketball, there isn’t anywhere in the world I’d rather be then right here. Oh, here and the Blitzen Trapper + Malkmus show, but that’s later. And no, I won’t be live blogging that…

Pre-Game:
Had Denver lost last night at home against Houston, tonight's game would be a battle for first place. But they won (in double overtime, more on that in a minute), so tonight is all about pride. Denver has already lost once this week to Portland (on Sunday) and they don't want to fall twice in the same week. Meanwhile, if you have not heard, Portland has won their last nine games and don't want to stop their win streak at single digits.

Denver should be a little sluggish, seeing how they played a double-overtime game last night. Also, in the visitors locker room the Blazers management swapped their Gatorade and Red Bull for Sleepy Time Tea, and the usual pre-game T1 jams have been replaced by some Sigur Ros and a book on tape read by Wilford Brimley.

Oh, and I roofied Carmelo Anthony.

1st Quarter:
A high school vocal choir sung the national anthem. They were booed. God, I love a nicely sauced sold out crowd on a Friday night.

Evidentially winning means not shaving, as 4 of the starting 5 for the Red & Black are sporting a little Oregon winter stubble. Meanwhile Denver is facial smooth, but consistently ugly.

9:31 - LaMarcus Aldridge from 18-feet and despite some sloppy play, it's 7-2 Portland.

7:27 - Did Linas Kleiza just use a fancy behind-the-back move to scorch Brandon Roy? I think I heard him tell Roy, "Russia strong! I will break you!" 9-9 tie.

6:11 - Carmelo Anthony gets rejected by the greatest shot blocker of them all, the big orange rim. That rim is everywhere. Ouch, dude.

3:59 - Kleiza fouls Roy at the rim while whispering in his ear, "I killed Apollo Creed." That dude is intense. Dolph Lundgren with a flattop intense. 21-17 Blazers

1:03 - Martell Webster for three, BOOM. 26-20 Portland.

0:01 - Jarrett Jack from halfcourt, hanging in mid-air, sinks the shot. Repeat after me: HOLY FUCKING SHIT! At the end of the first quarter, the score is 30-22 Blazers.

2nd Quarter:
10:00 - Channing Frye, not once, but twice, drains a long distant shot. The Blazers need to be weary of the Nuggets offensive, considering that they shot 38% in the first quarter, and that won't last. 34-31 Blazers.

8:16 - James Jones for a three, it's good, and he's mugged on the shot. Will he get the rare four point play? Yes, folks, he does. 38-31 Portland.

4:27 - Carmelo Anthony mows over Aldridge, steals his watch and hits on his woman—so naturally, foul on Aldridge. 43-40 Portland.

2;59 - Carmelo Anthony mows over James Jones, steals his watch and hits on his woman—so naturally, foul on Jones. See a pattern developing here? 47-42 Blazers.

2:32 - Carmelo Anthony mows over... just kidding. Webster nails a three. 50-42 Blazers.

0:33 - Allen Iverson gets an early Christmas gift, a foul and bucket, but he misses the free-throw. Bad A.I., no more tattoos for you! But the bad news? Denver rallies and now has a halftime lead. 52-50 Nuggets.

Third Quarter:
15:00 - Iverson has 21 points at the halfway mark. That is sick. That is what I used to score when the ball was a Nerf and the hoop was on my bedroom door.

9:57 - Ugh. Nuggets look good. Blazers look bad. The score on the scoreboard reflects just that. 60-54 Nugs Nugs.

8:23 - The Vanilla Gorilla with the put-back dunk! 62-59 Nugz.

7:23 - LaMarcus with a tomahawk jam! If that doesn't motivate the team, lord knows what will. 64-61 Denver.

4:18 - Steve Blake with the bonehead foul on a wide open Carmelo Anthony and Denver might just pull away right here. 71-64 Nuggets.

1:50 - Dear James Jones. Keep shooting, buddy. Save this team. (He just hit a three.) 74 points for the Mile High City, 69 points for the City That Works.

0:00 - So here it is. 76-69 with one quarter to go. While the Nuggets team is supposed to look tired, they are far from it. And if the Blazers want a sweet 10th straight win, they better pep the fuck up. Otherwise Denver wins, Blaze the mascot cries, and Iverson gets some post-game ink. Knuckles dude, tat those knucks.

Fourth Quarter:
10:44 - Uh-oh, someone woke the baby! The NBA's youngest team just reeled off 7 straight points and ladies and gents, we have a tie game! 76 up!

8:59 - Jones for three! BOOM!!! 83-78 Blazers.

8:12 - Jones, again, but this time for a long two. Something got into this Blazers team and they look possessed. 85-78 Cascadia.

6:11 - The Blazers fall in love with the three-pointer, and if years of listening to emo have taught me anything, love will hurt you. Three straight misses, six straight Nuggets points and now the hometeam is clinging to a 85-84 lead.

3:51 - Iverson gets "fouled." And by "fouled," I mean, nothing happened to him at all. 92-88 Portland.

2:51 - Denver's Eduardo Najera (the pride of Chihuahua, Mexico) with a tip-in bucket and this game is all tied up at 92. Gulp.

0:52 - It's gettin' good. Still tied at 94 and less than a minute to go. Travis Outlaw had a HUGE block on defense than a running jumper at the other end. I'm a little scared of Iverson in games like this...

0:36 - Denver is now in the foul penalty. Jones on the line. Misses the first! Wow, his second miss of the entire year. And the second shot... rims in! 95-95 Portland. If they hold on, this would be the hardest game in the streak. If not, well, then fuck Denver.

0:16 - Carmelo is BLOCKED! BLOCKED! BLOCKED! Blazers ball with Outlaw on the line. He needs to hit these. Got the first. Got the second! 97-94 Portland.

0:06 - Iverson passes on the three for a driving lay-up. Now it comes to inbound passing and free-throws. Don't choke and you get win number 10 in a row. 97-96 Blazers.

0:04 - Jarrett Jack on the lines. Heart attack city, as he rolls one around and eventually in. Phew. Hits number two. Kleiza for three at the buzzer and... BLOCKED! BLOCKED!
BLOCKED!
BLOCKED!
BLOCKED!
BLOCKED!
BLOCKED!
BLOCKED!
BLOCKED!
BLOCKED!
BLOCKED!
BLOCKED!
BLOCKED!

Blazers win! 99-96. Folks, that is 10 in a row. Holy crap. I feel like this game took 10 years off my life, but it was kind of worth it.