It’s a league wide event when blowouts occur.

Knowing one team is headed to the playoffs while the other is likely draft lottery bound only complicates matters.

Tempers flare. Guys talk junk. Refs “T” them up. It’s part of the game. Wednesday night between Portland and Indiana was no different, even if you blinked and missed it.

Just ask Rudy Fernandez and Jeff Pendergraph.

With mere minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Blazers were up handily building upon their 27 point lead over the Pacers. That’s when Fernandez hit a three-pointer in front of former Blazer Josh McRoberts to put Portland up 98-72.

As Fernandez backpeddled to the cheers of the Rose Garden with a smile on his face, McRoberts apparently took exception to the look and began talking at Fernandez. Rudy just kept smiling.

“I didn’t say anything,” Fernandez said afterwards.

It was a night when he showed flashes of the old Rudy – minus an alleyoop toss from Sergio Rodriguez – as he finished with 16 points, 5 assists and 5 three-pointers.

He looked loose. He made Portland look like a tough draw come the postseason.

“I smiled and he started saying something. I didn’t say anything. It’s over.”

But it wasn’t over amigo. That spat probably went unnoticed by most. The exchange between Indiana’s Roy Hibbert and Pendergraph did not however. For Blazer fans, it’s an altogether familiar scene for Portland’s rookie power forward that isn’t afraid to mix it up with anyone in this league, regardless of the game situation.

“He (Hibbert) hit me in my throat on our end when Rudy shot it. I crashed the boards and he chucked me in the throat,” an animated Pendergraph explained.

Both players received technical fouls.

That marks Pendergraph’s second technical on the season, with his first coming against veteran Antonio McDyess of the San Antonio Spurs.

For the last couple games, Pendergraph has fallen into a postgame routine, drawing shades of Travis Outlaw before him. Instead of getting so fresh and so clean and doing interviews, Pendergraph heads to the team weight room for a workout. Without playing heavy minutes in Nate McMillan’s rotation, he wants to stay in shape and splits his workout time up: 15 minutes on the treadmill; 15 minutes on the upper body.

As he was the last Portland player to hit the showers after the 102-79 win, Pendergraph was still upset over the incident with Hibbert.

“I met him at halfcourt and told him to hit me again and he started laughing. He thought that (stuff) was funny. I told him to hit me again. He said, ‘let’s do it then’. But as soon as I heard a whistle, I backed up.”

Pendergraph forgot one minor detail.

Like Rudy seconds earlier, Jeff also had a smile on his face as he backed away from the scene of the crime.

And right now, Portland has a lot to smile about.

photo: o-live

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