It’s hard to believe another season covering the NBA is in the books. That’s number five if you are keeping score at home. What a ride it was. But you haven’t seen or read anything yet.

Brandon Roy stood in the hallway down from the Blazers locker room talking to Jamal Crawford and holding his four-month-old daughter Mariah. Minutes later, he was swinging around his two-year-old son, Brandon Jr.  “Better get your feet off my sweater,” Roy said smiling at B.J.

Here we go. This may be the shortest post all season long. A few hours remaining to tip-off between Portland and Houston in Game 6. So it’s time for your predictions….

Hear any good stories about NBA refs lately? If you are like everyone else following the league, it’s pretty much open season on zebras. That goes for Portland, Houston, Dwight Howard, but apparently not Rajon Rondo.

In this first-time post at Beyond The Beat, I turned the keyboard over to a Blazers die-hard - John Robison in Los Angeles - to get fresh thoughts from a fan on a season saving win by Portland in Game 5 ....

The Blazers start-of-the-season motto 15 = 16 has boiled down to 1 + 1 = 2 as the series heads back to Houston for Game 6 thanks to an 88-77 win in Game 5.