I never get how NBA players can sit with their feet in a bucket of freezing ice water after a game, yet there was Houston’s Shane Battier late Saturday night fielding questions like he was wearing a pair of black Cole Hahn’s.

Maybe it's a mental thing.

Could it be a precursor to the Rocket icing Portland in Game 2 on Tuesday?

The toughest part of that Blazers Game 1 loss - at least for this this writer - was seeing the sulking reactions within Portland’s locker room as they wrestled with defeat.

Scratch that; a pummeling.

Travis Outlaw is typically the last man standing in Portland’s locker room, and he was again on this night. His postgame weight room workouts are well known.

But as I finished up interviews with both Shane Battier and Ron Artest and made my way down to see if Travis was still around, a security guard outside the locker room caught my eyes and ear on the way in.

“Really?” he said. “You’re coming down here just for Travis?”

That’s exactly why I was there – because it was Travis. And Travis is laughs. Travis is razzing. Travis is country. Travis is good peoples. But as I saddled up alongside Casey Holdahl and Jason Quick, Travis wasn’t Travis. He was down and who could blame him. No joy in Mudville.

He felt the bench needed to come in provide a spark. They didn’t.

He wanted to end with something good.

Said he hated losing no matter what. Doesn’t care what it is. He hates losing.

“I didn’t see a blowout coming,” Travis admitted, sitting at his locker in untraditional Outlaw duds – a grey pinstriped suit with white button down shirt and a tie.

“Veteran teams don't really drop their heads in the first half or the third. You could see we were kind of down and out and we didn't really keep pushing for it.”

Maybe Tuesday will be different.

Maybe the bench – and starters – will show up for Portland this time around.

Maybe it’s a mental thing.

pic via: oregonian/bruce ely

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