Darth Weasel and the Blazer Blog

Kendrick Perkins and the "Icy Stare"; The New Overrated

2012-01-09T20:40:00.000-08:00

The Oklahoma Thunder have one of the most enjoyable rosters to watch in the entire NBA. From the high-scoring Kevin Durant to the defensive talents of Serge Ibaka, they bring something to almost every facet of the game.

I would argue it largely starts with Durant. Sure, he scores a lot. Arguably he even could be considered someone who shoots a lot. It just does not SEEM like he shoots a lot during the course of the game. He lets the game come to him and it does not feel like he is forcing shot after shot.

For that one must look no further than high-scoring guards Russell Westbrook and James Harden. Any time the ball is in their hand the right place to look is at them because they are more likely to take the shot (or, in Westbrook's case, make the turnover) than pass. Yet by the end of the game they both have more than respectable assist totals, thus demonstrating the depth of their talent.

Serge Ibaka is one of the most entertaining defenders in the game. His defense does not consist largely of clutching and grabbing as some noted defenders seem to do. Instead he uses quickness, agility, and some spectacular timing to tip balls, deflect passes, alter shots, and wipe away other shots with some pretty stellar blocks. I am surprised that, considering his first name, the more spectacular blocks have not started earning the name "Serge Protectors".

Less flashy but still a very solid defender, Thabo Sedolosha is a rarity among Thunder players who play significant minutes. He played in another uniform to start his career.

Well, okay, so Durant and "glue-guy" Nick Collison wore Supersonics gear for a couple years...point taken.

The other big-minute guy for the Thunder who played a significant part of his career elsewhere is Kendrick Perkins, the perpetually scowling defense-minded tough guy who was brought in to bring the trophy to Oklahoma City.

He is also the guy who almost single-handedly renders the otherwise entertaining Thunder unwatchable.

Let us start with the good. Very few people question his abilities as a defender and rebounder. His rebounding numbers are not eye-popping, but that is partially because the other Thunder players are all decent to good at board work for their position.

Now lets look at the bad. Unfortunately, that happens to be pretty much everything else. For some inexplicable reason the Thunder have been trying to establish him on the low block this season. There have been stretches in several games where they needed a bucket and eschewed the obvious ideas of Westbrook or Harden doing their drive and kick, putting Durant in a pick and roll or other actual attempts to score and instead pounded the ball inside to Perkins.

In completely unrelated news, the points per possession in those times drop precipitously compared to times the ball leaves the hands of Durant, Westbrook, Harden, Ibaka, or even Collins in an attempt to add points to their total.

Worse yet is his perpetual tantrum throwing. He routinely mauls the opposition in ways that shame mother bears separated from their cubs and, when whistle, proceeds to launch his "icy glare" at the official with the temerity to notice the obvious.

When he makes one of his futile post-up attempts and launches the ball in the approximate direction of Mecca, only to find his prayer rejected, another glare to the official for failing to see the obvious foul committed against him.

If the opposition forgets they are on the other team and grabs a rebound, here it comes; the famed icy glare.

Except it does not exactly look icy, like a glare, or intimidating.

It more closely resembles the petulant child who believes they should have anything they want denied the unattainable. I half expect to see him jumping up and down flailing his arms, tears streaming from his face, screaming, "I want it, I want it, I want it!" until, red-faced, he passes out from holding his breath in the vain hope he will get what he wants.

There have been players in the NBA who could give an intimidating glare. Charles Barkley comes to mind. Of course, Sir Charles could back it up. Who can forget him going after Shaquille O'Neal after that noted intimidator took a punch at him?

Perkins is not one of those guys. His constant whining undercuts any intimidation factor he may have once had with his petulant pout.

I am reminded of some wrestler I once heard referenced in one of the all-time great quotes in broadcasting. I was at a friends house when some wrestling show came on. At one point one of the 'roid-monsters threw the other to the mat and proceeded to drop and do some little girl push-ups. You know the ones I mean; drop about 3" per push-up and do 4 or 5 real fast.

Anyway, this ridiculous scene turned into the instant awesome-sauce of doom when the broadcaster's over-wrought voice informed us, "There he goes with those intimidating push-ups".

I still laugh at that line today. Those push-ups were many things; sad examples of a proper exercise, pointless, time-wasters. But intimidating? Yeah, like a fluffy bunny is intimidating.

I put the Perkins Pout right down there with those intimidating push-ups. If there is a player in the NBA who is intimidated by that look he should not be in the league. And the league I am talking about is the pre-pubescent 4' and under pee-wee nerf-hoop league.

There are a lot of things to love about the Thunder. This would be a great year to see a 7 game Finals between them and the Heat. There would be some epic and awesome basketball played. I just hope while enjoying that I do not have to watch a pouting child be praised for his "icy glare" even one more time.

Introducing a new performance metric; the Rudy

2011-02-12T13:41:00.001-08:00

During the 4th quarter of the Blazers victory over the Toronto Raptors there was a moment that drove Blazers broadcaster Mike Barrett absolutely crazy. Ex-Trailblazer Jerryd Bayless drained consecutive threes and hit four of them in about a four minute stretch of game time.

After the second one Barrett had his patented disgusted tone of voice as he said something along the lines of, "A 29% three-point shooter and he hits another one."

Improbably, after hitting two more without a miss, Bayless would have been surprised to hear Barrett lament, "A 28% shooter and he cannot miss." It is not often someone makes four consecutive shots and has their percentage decline.

Naturally, it had not. The issue was a player having a short stretch of game that reflected a statistical outlier. As a general rule if Bayless attempts three 3-pointers he will miss two of them. However, that is an average, not an ironclad statistical truth.

Bayless was illustrating a basic truth about basketball players. Averages reflect their results over time, not in any particular stretch. Who can forget Ray Allen hitting eight triples in Game 2 of the Finals last year? Or going oh for eight on the same shot the next night?

Neither result was truly representative of what could be expected but neither was either outside the realm of believability. Players like Allen, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Kevin Durant, and so forth are stars because performances of high scoring outputs, usually on a relatively low volume of shots, are expected and taken as a matter of course.

When Carmelo Anthony scored 50 a few nights ago it was notable but not outside the realm of what we might expect from him. Anthony is a very capable scorer who puts up a large volume of shots. Scoring totals in the high 20s, 30s, 40s or even 50s are not infrequent. A night when the ball bounces just right a couple of times turns those high 20 point night into a high 30 point night, and if he averages out a night where he missed more shots than expected with a night he gets to the foul line and makes more shots than expected we see one of those magical nights where one player puts on a transcendent performance.

Blazer fans surely have been enjoying this with LaMarcus "LaMarvelous" Aldridge as he has recently exploded for a pair of 40 point games sandwiched around games tipping into the mid thirties.

It is becoming regular enough that as one individual recently noted, his career high 42 was "just" a "quiet 30 point night" until the last four minutes of the game.

I would not go so far as to say we expect big scoring outputs but I would say we are not surprised when superior offensive players put up big numbers.

What surprises us is when lesser players have those same explosions. For example, when Bayless, carrying a robust 9.5 points per game average, entered the fourth quarter with no points the other night, who expected he would finish the night with 18? It was a huge quarter.

Of course, any Raptor fan who watched the game might easily be justified in pointing to Rudy Fernandez and saying, "What about him?"

Fernandez had a tremendous first half Friday. He was everywhere. Tipping passes. Jumping into the lane to redirect drivers. Flying out to the perimeter to contest formerly open shots.

Knowledgeable Blazer fans are nodding their heads. We have seen those nights when Fernandez controls a game in every area except scoring. Recently, however, he has been scoring very well.

This is a refreshing change, as he was expected to contribute more than nine points a game. He has been in essentially a season-long slump interrupted by occasional brilliant outbursts.

Friday was such an outburst. In the first half he absolutely erupted, burying all eight shots he attempted en route to 23 first half points.

Raptor fans who are only casually aware of his playing style were probably shocked and devastated, expecting more of the same in the second half.

Unfortunately for Blazer fans, that is the difference between players such as Rudy and someone along the lines of a healthy Brandon Roy.

It is unreasonable and unlikely to see this sort of production continue over the course of a full game. Indeed, after taking and making eight shots in the first half (including six threes) he attempted but three shots in the second half and made none. His total at the end of the game matched his total at the end of the first half.

Now, on the one hand, his play in the first half was everything and more a Blazer fan could ever want. He was active, effective, and deadly. He more or less carried a Blazer team so lethargic they managed 3 turnovers in their first three possessions to a half-time lead.

He was so effective his contributions made up for Nicolas Batum, Wesley Matthews and Andre Miller combining for more turnovers than points in the first half. He was so effective a Raptor fan could be excused for assuming the game was over at the half time.

His second half was, from a scoring standpoint, so ineffective it is nigh on unbelievable the Blazers found a way to win.

But that is just the point. Good teams often have players like Fernandez. They plod along game after game providing their comfortable single digit points, a couple rebounds, maybe throw in an assist here and there.

Then there comes a game where they have one of those outliers, statistically speaking, where they score a weeks worth of points in a quarter, game, or half.

I am reminded of the night Martell Webster scored 26 points against the Jazz. Of those 26, 24 came in the third quarter. This was in a year in which he averaged 10.7 points per game. The Jazz never saw it coming and unexpectedly lost a game when a role player had a star-level night.

Most often when players like Fernandez, Webster, and players of their ilk have big nights, they come over the course of a single quarter or half.

A case in point would be the night DeJuan Blair of the Spurs had last Tuesday. He was absolutely dominant in the first half, leading the Spurs to a five point half time advantage with 14 points and eleven rebounds.

The rebounds were not unexpected. It is a pace any NBA fan might expect him to continue. He is a smart player who uses his knowledge and timing to grab large numbers of rebounds. The points were a bit unexpected, however, and it was reasonable to assume he would end the game with maybe 15 - 16 points.

As is so often the case with role players who have star quarters or halves, however, he was even less effective in the second half, dialing up a whopping zero points and collecting just one rebound.

Therein lies the problem, if there is one, with second line players taking on major and unexpected scoring loads in the first half.

If the stars are having an off night, how they respond to the outburst often determines the outcome of the game.

Talented, winning teams like the Spurs accept it for what it was...an unexpected and much appreciated bonus...and continue to run their offense to get their best players more attempts.

Teams with less stellar records seem to be more prone to trying to replicate the first half success in the second half, only to find that guy who typically scores ten a game is not going to have the same second half success as he did in the first half.

Unexpected success is difficult to maintain. But it sure is fun while it lasts.

There are some players who seem to specialize in it. Rudy Fernandez might be the king of impressive explosions followed by extreme disappearances. He seems to regularly have a double digit scoring quarter only to not score again for a game and a half.

So in honor of Rudy and with a nod of the head to the home of such great basketball terms as "The Voskuhl", "the Mario", etc., I propose we begin using the term, "a Rudy" to describe an outburst wherein a player scores double their average or more in a half, but is non-existent statistically speaking for the other portion of the game.

As a Blazer fan, let me say I hope to see many more Rudys from Rudy and his running buddy Patty Mills this year. They sure are fun to watch.

Are the Blazers more fun to watch without Brandon Roy?

2011-01-26T21:04:00.000-08:00

There is an oft-cited saw among Blazer fans that, for many, has become an article of faith. It is repeated often and loudly.

The Blazers are more fun to watch without Brandon Roy.

This is typically followed by a recitation about how they have better movement, more fast breaks, share the ball more, and thus are more entertaining.

It is stated as a basic, unalterable, indisputable truth.

The Blazers are more fun to watch without Brandon Roy.

It is so ingrained in the psyche of many Blazer fans that on a local radio show, legendary broadcaster Bill Schonely attested to the truth of the statement, making it himself almost verbatim.

The Blazers are more fun to watch without Brandon Roy.

Seemingly everyone has bought into that statement.

Well...everyone but me, that is.

I see basketball differently than the guy next to me. I understand that, accept that and even embrace that truth. At the same time, it is an open question how anyone enjoys the game. There are probably as many ways to enjoy watching basketball as there are fans and that is a good thing.

Some people enjoy watching post players bang. Others like watching a transition-heavy game. Others appreciate the beauty of a jump shot while still others get very engaged in checking out defensive rotations, shot blocks, steals or other defensive endeavors. Still others enjoy a well-run pick and roll or pick and pop.

Some fans follow individual teams for the entire run of their fandom. Others follow specific players. Still others follow whichever team or teams are playing the best in any given year.

There are even some people, such as Basketbawful, who take a certain perverse and highly entertaining joy in watching the incompetent side of basketball.

All of these are valid ways to enjoy the game.

Arguably, those who prefer watching the Blazers play without Roy to watching them play with Roy have a surprising amount in common with the writer of Basketbawful.

As of January, the Blazers ranked 5th in shooting. That is...5th from being the WORST shooting team in the entire NBA.

They are 25th in shooting percentage. 25th in 3 point shooting percentage. They make up for it by letting the opponent out shoot them, being just over half a rebound per game better, and having the third fewest possessions per game of any team in the league. (Admittedly these are not sorted pre-and post Roy. They were low in most categories before he shut it down and have not markedly raised them.)

In fairness to one defense against the rather twist able "pace" ranking, they do have several long possessions due to garnering numerous offensive rebounds. Rebounds, I might add, that are available due to their pathetic shooting.

The Blazers, as constructed without Brandon roy in the line-up, center around LaMarcus Aldridge on the block and a number of streak shooters.

When he gets hot Wesley Matthews has shown he is capable of making seven consecutive threes. When he is cold he will miss the same number. The same holds true for his mid-range shooting.

The same could be said of Patty Mills, Rudy Fernandez, or Nicolas Batum. Andre Miller is traditionally not going to shoot a high percentage.

They have no mid-range or outside shooter who consistently shoots a decent percentage night in and night out where the 1-for-15 debacles are unusual rather than something you expect at least once every two or three games.

The Blazer shooting is so abysmal that Real GM posited they are in fact a lottery team as opposed to a playoff team.

With that said, watching an under talented team work extremely hard to defeat more talented teams can be very entertaining. There is certainly a satisfaction to be garnered in watching a team fight and scratch and claw to snatch a victory away from a team that deserved to win.

I would key in on the nearly insignificant article in that sentence, "a", when considering how much fun it is to watch the Blazers currently.

I personally find more satisfaction in watching a game where the players are able to put the ball in the basket relatively often. I find far more enjoyment in watching a game where both teams show enough offensive skills that a three possession string of baskets does not feel like an anomaly.

The current Blazer team does provide some pleasure to watch. They work hard, they have some excellent defensive stretches, some incredible streaks of shooting, and LaMarcus Aldridge is changing his game in front of our eyes.

This season, they even have managed a better record without Roy than with to the tune of 14-8 without Roy and only 11-13 with the shell of Roy we saw on the floor this year.

Overall, however, their record without Roy is much worse. Even the majority of those saying the Blazers are more fun to watch without Roy acknowledge the team will never escape the first round without Roy.

Thus, in the current construction of the team we see a poor-shooting, mediocre team that consistently has long scoring droughts.

The argument then becomes that this team which shoots over 2% worse than last season, scores nearly 3 fewer points, and wins fewer games than they did last season with Roy in the line-up and healthy is more fun to watch without Brandon Roy.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I just do not buy it.

Personally, I would much rather watch an talented player who scores efficiently, has averaged 4.9 assists per game for his career, and leads his teams to wins than watch a team that is out-talented more often than not.

It does not mean I find other people wrong when they say "The Blazers are more fun to watch without Brandon Roy". They are more than entitled to enjoy the game their way.

But it does mean that I struggle to understand it. This edition of the team, sans Roy, has all the hallmarks of a mediocre team playing mediocre basketball, unlike the team that had a real shot to advance to the second round two years ago with a healthy Roy.

An NBA Fan; Fond memories, Great performances, and Legends Passed

2010-11-05T00:13:00.000-07:00

Maurice Lucas had more or less moved on from the Blazers by the time I became what i would call an "aware" fan.

I was too young when the Blazers won their only Championship to fully comprehend what was going on. I knew the names and felt the excitement, but was not yet a basketball fan.

As I grew older and got heavily involved in every aspect of basketball, I grew to know the players and appreciate what a special moment 76-77 had been.

Men like my Dad who were at best casual fans had been swept up in the momentum and would talk about the passing of Bill Walton, the intimidation of Maurice Lucas, the speed of Johnny Davis and so forth.

By the time the tremendous Portland teams of the late 80s and early 90s rolled around, I knew a great deal about the Blazers and, unlike my parents and their friends, was passionate about the game.

Few and far between were the games I got to attend, but in those few, I got to see some spectacular games. I was there the night Larry Bird, bad back and all, closing in on the end of his career, reminded us all why he was Larry legend, dropping 49 on the Blazers including a ridiculous, getting hammered trey to send it into overtime.

I remember buying a family four-pack, going to watch the Suns with my Dad, my best friend, and one of my brothers, Dad leaving to feed the parking meter while the rest of us saw Arvydas Sabonis, Tom Chambers and Rex Chapman hit stupendous shots to extend the game again and again.

There is something about seeing a spectacular performance or moment that makes sports worthwhile.

On the night the Blazers honored the memory of Maurice Lucas, early on it seemed we were in the presence of the makings of such a moment, of a memorable gem of a game.

LaMarcus Aldridge was firing early and often. He scored in the post. He scored on his patented mid-range jumper. He scored on alley-oops.

And then the Blazers forgot he was on the team, almost completely freezing him out for nearly three quarters.

And despite sometimes stifling, always harassing defense, Kevin Durant showed how he will leave millions of NBA fans with some great memories, including one moment when he scored from behind the basket against a triple team.

There was a time that shot and the overtime thriller played between the Trailblazers and their Northwest rivals, the Seattle Supersonics, would have been one of those special moments for many fans.

And, one might argue, even as what is really not a rivalry game between the Oklahoma City

Thunder and the Blazers was taking place, it has the foundations of a rivalry between two franchises that will long be tied together via both the Greg Oden or Kevin Durant draft as well as their status as exciting young, up and coming, hope to soon be contenders teams.

The thing is, great moments are not only had between classic rivals. To the best of my knowledge Portland and Boston have no reason to be part of any sort of rivalry...but that did not take away from my enjoyment of Bird going all Larry Bird on them.

And while Portland and Oklahoma City fans might not argue about which city has more rain or more expensive gourmet coffee, they can argue over who is better, Nicolas Batuum or Thabo Sefolosho....and enjoy the next few years of watching Brandon Roy and Kevin Durant launch some spectacular games at the other team.

Which brings me back to the Lucas thing. It is great that the Blazers will wear his #20 all year. It was a nice moment after the moment of silence when many of us performed the "Lllluuuuuukkkkkeeee" chant without the later prompting from announcer Mark Mason.

But looking around it was also obvious to me that for the majority of the crowd, the memories of Lucas were handed down, not our own. Our memories are of seeing Kevin Duckworth return to the court for game seven, of seeing Buck Williams battle Karl Malone, of Clyde Drexler launching those scud missiles that passed for three point attempts and throwing down dunks.

And for the new generation the special moments are building with things like the Marcus Camby chant from last year, the acrobatic teardrop runners of Armon Johnson, the Roy last-second heroics.

And ultimately, that is what makes being a fan not just worthwhile, but something special. Yes, it would have been great to see Portland hold on and win a game they had in hand for most of the night.

But for Thunder fans, how long will they be talking about some of those tough, heavily contested threes Durant hit to keep their early season from turning into a disaster in a game they desperately needed against a division rival?

It was a special night with some great moments that reminded me why it is cool to be a basketball fan.

Reason 1,676,475.2 I am glad I am not a Clipper fan

2010-10-31T21:56:00.000-07:00

One of the best parts of the first couple of weeks of the NBA season is watching game after game that has something to intrigue me.

It could be comparing the new looks of Dirk Nowitzki and Andrei Kirilenko to see what is worse.

It could be watching the Bulls, Hornets, Nets, and Celtics to see exciting, talented young point guards.

It could even be watching glorified NBDL teams to see high draft picks...like the Washington Bullets/Generals...whatever you want to call them...to see John Wall and LA Clippers to see Blake Griffin.

Griffin is indisputably a stud and I wish him a long, healthy career with numerous highlight reel plays because he is quite enjoyable to watch.

But it says a lot about the Clippers that the following exchange, or very close to it, took place between the Clippers television announcers.

"Those shots by Kidd and Cardinal really hurt."

"Yes, take away those two shots and it is only a 10 point game."

This just in...if you are losing by double digits, it really is not all that close of a game. When your goal is to lose by nine or less, or when you bemoan shots that do not even double the deficit...your team is in for a long year.

I happen to work with Chris Kaman's cousin, and now face a serious conundrum. Should I repeat this comment to him at work tomorrow or keep my mouth shut and hope for the seat upgrade next time the Clips come to town?

I think we all know the answer to that one...

Go Away, Rich Cho; on the nature of fandom

2010-10-23T21:35:00.000-07:00

Growing up one constant was listening to "the Schonz", Bill Schonely, call Blazer games on the radio.

Players like Jim Paxson were celebrated not for their stunning talent but because they were Blazers, drafted and developed by the team. Anyone who followed Paxson's career know he was a decent but not spectacular guard...but Schonz loved him anyway.

When the Blazers made their big run in the late 80s/early 90s, they had a fount of home-grown players; Clyde Drexler, Jerome Kersey, Terry Porter, Cliff Robinson and Kevin Duckworth were not only the bulk of the line-up, they were drafted or acquired extremely early in their careers by the blazers and felt like they had never been in another organization.

Admittedly Buck Williams was a key member of those teams and I am sure Nets fans still think of him as theirs, and rightfully so.

But most of the team was acquired on or around draft day.

That is what used to make the recent talented editions of the Blazers exciting. Brandon Roy, Lamarcus Aldridge, Travis Outlaw, Martell Webster, Nicolas Batuum, Greg Oden, Rudy Fernandez, Jerryd Bayless, Jeff Pendergraph and Dante Cunningham were all acquired on draft day, some via draft and others by trade.

Steve Blake and Joel Przybilla made conscious choices to come to Portland for less money and felt like they were part of the organization.

Unfortunately, basketball is a business. Sometimes, it is possible to get lost in fandom and forget that.

Thus Drexler, Porter, Kersey, Robinson moved on and finished their careers elsewhere after the run was over.

And now, the run I was looking forward to watching has taken yet another blow.

It started with the trade of Blake and Outlaw for Marcus Camby. While it filled a need, it started a decline in my interest.

As talented as Andre Miller and Camby are...they are mercenaries. Hired guns. Guys with no ties to the team or my heart.

Yes, okay...so all players are really mercenaries. It is doubtful many of them would show up for these games if they were not getting ridiculously overpaid to play a game for a living. bear with me.

Now Webster is gone and Bayless has been sent packing, Fernandez may be on his way out...bit by bit, the little things that make this "my" team are moving on.

It is interesting that such a minor trade...Bayless for a draft pick...would bother me. His presence or the lack thereof will not make or break the Blazer season from the standpoint of victory totals. He is a nice second line player with potential to be a Vinnie "Microwave" Johnson type who can spark the second unit.

The thing is...if Ido not care about the players I am watching, Portland is NOT the team I would choose to watch.

I vastly prefer 120 to 115 track meets to the 80 possession grind games the Blazers put on the floor. I root for them because of A) proximity and B) likable players.

Compare that to the pseudo-local Seattle Seahawks or Seattle Mariners. They have proximity..but rotate players so quickly that I can name maybe 2 starters on either team. They do not have players I have affinity for and play boring brands of ball. As a result, my entertainment dollars are not exercised in going to their games.

When it comes to basketball, if I were to root for a team based on style it would be teams like the Suns, Warriors, and Knicks I would probably have jerseys for.

Well, not the Knicks...I cannot remember the last time I rooted for anything about New York. Not even a fast-paced style could change that.

The point is, if my reasons for rooting for the local team is more due to affinity for the players than how they play the game, then am I obligated to stop rooting for them when those players move on?

A lot of Blazer fans have an inexplicable, misinformed hatred for LaMarcus Aldridge and are constantly coming up with trades to improve the Blazers that have to do with moving him for "upgrades" with less talent and less productivity. This I do not understand.

It is not as if 17 and 8power forwards are falling out of the sky, nor is it as if the Blazers get more likable by trading a stretch forward who has never worn any other pro uniform along with more players for a head case like A'mare Stoudemire as I often saw suggested last season.

If I had my druthers, there would be no more moves for the Blazers. I despised the Fabricio Oberta signing. Yes, they are thin up front. But bringing him in does two things.

One, it adds a marginally talented import to the roster who again will make no positive impact on number of wins they pull in.

Two, it takes yet another step towards having retreads and thus makes the roster less home grown and more about "follow us because the team name is Blazer, not because you have built any attachment to the players".

I can call to mind great moments from so many of the players who have been sent packing; the Sergio Rodriguez to Fernandez alley-oops, the Outlaw game winning shot against Memphis that started the Blazers on the path to greatness, the record setting assists in a quarter for Blake, Bayless taking over when Roy went down.

While Miller and Camby have had memorable moments...Miller's dunk against Denver, his 52 against...was it Dallas? and Camby getting the "Marc-us Cam-by" chant after coming over from the farm club in Los Angeles...those moments are few and far between.

They are not organic.

All the sending off of familiar players in favor of short-term rentals has me far from excited about the season.

It should be a very good season, with 55+ wins and a run at the Western Conference Championship as the low end of where they should go. It starts Tuesday.

And this is only the second piece I have written about them in four months.

Back before the players I liked started getting sent packing, I would write four part previews of the season. Now I would rather write about teams I am starting to like more than the one I grew up rooting for.

So far Rich Cho has made two moves; signing Oberta and trading Bayless. I hate both moves.

They bring about the question; if he does make a "big move", like the once rumored Batum/Oden/Bayless for Chris Paul...a pipe dream many Blazer fans were sure was going to happen...I would pretty much be done with them.

Let us watch the players we have some history with. If it is just about watching winning teams, we would all be Laker or Heat fans. If it was about style, we would be watching the Suns.

It needs to be about more than that. Enough tinkering. Release Oberta and call it a day. Your slogan is "Rip City United". How about showing some loyalty if you expect us to unite with you?

Apathetic Blazermania

2010-08-20T11:06:00.000-07:00

As the various packets that come with being a season ticket holder arrive in staggered increments, there has been a very confusing emotion attached.

Apathy.

This is rather stunning. Usually I am quite juiced about the forthcoming season. I am chatting about prospects, arguing over how many wins, win margin, which players will improve, and reliving past glory moments.

This year...instead I am wondering if I should sell a quarter season, a half season, or the entire package. Not only am I counting down the days until the first pre-season game, I am actually wondering if I want to go to any games.

With a curious reaction like that, I sat down to work through what the problem is.

I still love basketball. I like to play it, watch it, discuss it, think about it, read about it. I spend time at many of the hot-spots...True Hoop, Basketbawful, Bleacher Report, Blazers Edge, Hoop World, and numerous others I could list.

But I do not currently love BLAZER basketball.

It is singularly odd because they are arguably the best team they have been since the late 80s/early 90s glory days of Clyde the Glide Dexler, Terry Porter, Jerome Kersey, Kevin Duckworth, and Buck Williams.

The optimist in Blazer fan believes Greg Oden will stay healthy, LaMarcus Aldridge will take a step forward, Brandon Roy will be Brandon smurfing Roy, and the wins will pile up in rapid fashion.

I believe anything short of 56 wins or more, a Division Title, and a trip to a minimum of the conference series would be disappointing considering the talent level.

The problem is...I just do not care.

The team I had grown to love has been dismantled slowly but surely.

The first to go was Travis Outlaw. That one hurt.

Yes, I am well aware of the flaws Blazer fans over-emphasize.

I am also aware that he was drafted by Portland, we watched him develop, and he hit arguably the most important shot of the last three years when his buzzer beater against Memphis helped the young team realize they could overcome adversity.

While Steve Blake was not drafted by Portland, he fit the team and culture well and was instrumental to the turnaround. He also took less money to come to Portland because he liked the team.

Bringing in guys like Marcus Camby and Wesley Matthews unarguably make the team better and with Oden and Camby, fan favorite and long-time stalwart Joel Przybilla is admittedly dispensable from a basketball standpoint.

The problem is...the character of the team has changed.

Now, instead of being excited about Blazer draft-day acquisitions and treasured veterans who carried the team through their growing pains, we are looking at "import-heavy" teams.

It changes my interest level.

I am not a blind Blazer fan. The organization holds a certain portion of my loyalty, but so too do the players.

It does bother me how the Rudy Fernandez situation is playing out.

It bothers me that guys like Outlaw, Blake and Przybilla are not merely considered dispensable but are basically run out of town in the eyes of some Blazer fans.

It bothers me all the negativity thrown at LaMarcus Aldridge because he plays the new millennium style of game, with a great mid-range game and developing post game instead of being the new Karl Malone...a player, by the way, I always despised for his substitution of strength and charging without getting called for it in place of skill.

It bothers me that new General Manager Rich Cho is talking about another "major move" which presumably would mean Aldridge, Nicolas Batum, Jerryd Bayless or some rumors even say Oden would depart in favor of another import.

Now, on the one hand, as a Blazer fan, I am happy about seeing the team improve.

On the other hand, they are no longer as compelling a story in my opinion.

Instead of watching a two to three year period of acquiring young, talented players with the expectation of watching them play together for a decade, now we have a mish-mash of some of those players, some guys brought in for just a year or two, and a lack of continuity.

The net result is the more they change the team...the less I like it.

And the end result is that as the season approaches, my customary excitement and thrill-expectation meters are completely gone, only to be replaced by one thing.

Apathy.

If I stay lazy and fail to list the tickets, I will probably go the games. I will almost assuredly even enjoy them.

But it will be the enjoyment of going to a movie that turns out to be a serviceable comedy rather than a memorable laugh-inducer, in box office terms.

That makes me sad.

It also makes me wonder...how can a team with rising expectations bring lowered anticipation?

Is Portland returning to the Jailblazer days?

2010-06-26T13:40:00.000-07:00

There was a time when the Portland Trailblazers were a good, verging on great, team. They were good enough to hold a 4th quarter game 7 double digit lead.

It is a revisionist lie to say they did not have fans. The Rose Garden still sold out with regularity.

But it is also not a truth to say they were loved.

It was hard to like a lot of these guys. Damon Stoudemire and his famed "aluminum foil to hide my marijuana" escapade. Rasheed Wallace and his technical fouls. Scottie Pippen and his famed public boorishness. Ruben Patterson and his domestic issues. These are just the tip of the iceberg.

Great team, top-notch players, unlikable guys.

It was with this in mind the franchise rebuilt. Gone were gun-toting Sebastian Telfair, self-absorbed Zach Randolph, and in their place were guys like fresh-faced, laid back Travis Outlaw.

Even as the team climbed from abominable to mediocre to the respectable 41-41 record of just three seasons ago, the idea of who the franchise was readjusted itself.

Back was the pride in the franchise. No longer was being a Blazer fan like being a professional wrestling fan...a dirty secret, a "guilty pleasure".

Once again it was cool to watch the games, wear the gear.

Brandon Roy proved better than expected. LaMarcus Aldridge, Martell Webster, Rudy Fernandez, and Greg Oden were popular players whose talents promised not just a return to greatness, but a return to greatness with the "right" kind of team.

This was a roster full of engaging, likable guys who happened to be able to do things on the basketball floor that mere mortals merely dreamed of.

Fast forward to today.

There was the bizarre open threat to any franchise that played Darius Miles.

There was the trade of Travis Outlaw and Steve Blake in mid-season.

The awkward, unexplained firing of Tom Penn.

The curiosity over what would happen with Kevin Pritchard.

The disgruntled antics of Rudy Fernandez.

The draft day send-off of Martell Webster...

...and the even more bizarre hour-before-the draft firing of Pritchard.

Suddenly, many of the features that led to the Jailblazers era were returning.

Here were the back-stabbing office politics. Here were the other hall-mark...the importing of talented players at the cost of home-grown guys.

Not even I would argue the trade of Outlaw and Blake for Marcus Camby did anything but improve the team.

Arguably, as much as I like Webster, the drop-off from him to Luke Babbitt is not really a difference maker over the course of the season.

The problem is more based in the nature of fandom.

I am mostly a Blazer fan, with the nature of the team taking second place. A few examples seem to fit here.

Back when Jim Paxson was the Blazer "star", the team was, frankly, pretty blah. They played a modestly quick but not exceptional style of ball.

By contrast, the years when Clyde Drexler was the main gun, they were a very fun, run-&-gun, high scoring machine.

The Arvydas Sabonis/Wallace/Pippen ensemble got by with some great passing and team defense.

Styles and players change. Honestly, if my primary rooting interest lay in styles, I would probably be a devoted fan of the Suns, Nuggets, Warriors and Knicks as they play a lot of up-tempo ball that I personally find very aesthetically pleasing.

However, I have proximity to the Blazers, and that impacts my fandom. I am first and foremost a Blazer fan when it comes to the NBA. I make no apology for that.

However...I also want to have a reason to follow the players.

It is one thing to watch a talented but imported ensemble. It is another to watch home-grown guys.

I never turned my back on the Paxson editions. I did, however, turn on the Wallace-Pippen-Patterson embarrassment and spent my sports dollas watching junior league hockey.

When Portland again had players who spent most or all of their career in Portland who were engaging guys, I came back.

And hoped they would stay together. I wanted to see what type of run Greg Oden, Aldridge, Webster, Outlaw, Roy, Nicolas Batum, Fernandez, and Jerryd Bayless could make.

I have openly rejected the idea of enjoying trades some Blazer fans have fantasized about, such as Aldridge/Webster/whatever was needed for Chris Bosh.

Apart from the utter implausibility of such a deal, I would hate it. Not that I have anything against Chris Bosh or improving the team...I don't. I think Bosh is personable, funny, and have enjoyed his Youtube materials.

But he is established. He is well into his career.

I want to see the players Portland acquired on draft day. I want to enjoy thrilling wins and suffer the requisite defeats with the team I have followed from acquisition to the present.

In story-telling terms, these are the characters I have watched develop. I do not want to see cross-overs from another series suddenly become the driving force.

Nor do I want to see a franchise suddenly turning on the people who work for it. I did not care for the massive layoffs of office staff. I do not like the way Penn and Pritchard were given their walking papers.

Even if they deserved it...which is an open question due to how it was handled...it was done the wrong way and left a bad taste in my mouth.

So what we see is a franchise drifting away from the things that restored my enjoyment of Blazers basketball.

The "culture" is changing from the one that saw employees valued. The stability of having players I could watch from beginning to end is on shaky ground.

Hopefully, the player movement is about at an end. I would love to see a healthy season from Oden, Aldridge, Batum, Fernandez, and Roy.

What I would hate to see is continued tinkering with the core and the core ideas that brought me back.

Brandon Roy: The Kevin Duckworth moment of the current Blazers Generation

2010-04-24T20:51:00.000-07:00

Preface: For Portland Trailblazer fans like me the 2009-10 season started with tremendous optimism. Every season we were told to lower our expectations, that the team was too young and inexperienced to make much progress. Yet season after season the team added double digit totals to the win column. They made it to the playoffs last year. They even won a couple games in the playoffs.

But then the season got off to a rugged start. Nicolas Batum went down to injury. No problem, Martell Webster is the better offensive player, and his defense has improved so we all thought it was a minor set-back. Greg Oden moved into the starting line-up and Andre Miller arrived.

Soon we had three new starters in the line-up with Oden, Webster and Miller replacing Joel Przybilla, Batum, and Steve Blake. Nobody doubted it was an overall talent upgrade, but all the new faces and roles had the team struggling.

Ugly home losses to teams like the Grizzlies, where the home team got wrecked by a massive 21-0 run, had us wondering how long it would take for this team to gel. Then, just as they started coming around, players started to go down.

Key 4th quarter performer Travis Outlaw went down. Oden went down. Przybilla went down. Rudy Fernandez went down. LaMarcus Aldridge and Brandon Roy both missed games.

Somehow, the Blazers kept chugging along, winning plenty and losing more than we expected in the preseason. Everyone stepped up from time to time. Eventually, a trade was made to bring Marcus Camby to the Blazers for Outlaw and Blake, both shoring up the center position and lightening what would have been a major playing time crunch.

The Blazers closed the season strong, achieving the 6th seed...lower than it would have been if they were healthy, but six slots higher than it should have been. We as fans were pumped, excited, ready to win a series against a team that many NBA fans still believe is soft and therefore exploitable in the Phoenix Suns.

As an aside...the Suns have changed. Beware, whoever faces them in the second round...these are not your Daddys' Suns.

We were ready for this series to start.

Sure enough, even with Roy out for at least the first round of the playoffs, the Blazers came out in game one and played a classic Blazers game. Tough, inspired defense, bit step-up games from second-line players like Batum and Webster, and a will-not-quit attitude. This was the team that over achieved by over a dozen games.

But then something happened. The new Suns attitude reared its ugly head. They came out in game two and kicked the Blazers' teeth in, dominating them in every phase of the game. No problem. I actually had predicted it at work (though to be fair, my exact statement was, "Am I the only one who thinks the Suns are going to blow us out by 20?" If I had said 30, it would have been impressive).

That was not a big deal. The Blazers won their one game in Phoenix. Everything was set up perfect. Portland would win a close-fought game three, lose game four, then take games five and six to score the upset.

Except the Suns did not realize that was the plan. What they did to Portland in game three bordered on felonious assault. They not only kicked in the Blazers teeth, they added a few groin shots as the Blazers lay on the ground wondering what hit them. The Suns came into the Rose Garden and showed everyone the late-season road blow-out wins in Utah and Denver were n flukes, that they are a team that can not only win any time, any place, against any team, they can win those games handily.

The atmosphere leading into game four was somber. The series score might be only two games to one, but Blazer fans were wondering not just if they would not win another game, but if they would avoid getting blown out two more times.

Rewind:
1990: Kevin Duckworth, the Blazers' center, broke his hand in the first round against the Mavericks and was unavailable to the Blazers for Game 7 against the Spurs and their amazing David Robinson. Then, with everyone on the floor warming up, the fans were treated to a surprise and one of the greatest moments for fans...the unexpected entry of Duck.

Just thinking of that moment brings chills. It is the Blazers' version of Walt Frazier for the Knicks.

The Pre-game.
My friend and I get to the game about 25 minutes early, settle into our seats. Their is a subdued atmosphere to the place. It is almost as Blazer fans have been completely demoralized by the back to back spankings the Suns laid on us.

13:00 to game time.
The familiar music hits. The Blazers are about to be shown getting ready to leave their locker room for the playing surface. We casually glance at the Jumbotron as it pans over the Blazers...and suddenly the mood, the atmosphere, everything changes. The panning stops on Brandon Roy. And he is not wearing a suit...he is wearing warm ups.

Really? Can it be? Is there any chance he could...play? No way...no way...not possible...what the...the scoreboard now shows Fernandez on the bench and Roy starting!

The Garden is maybe a third full when they hit the floor for warm-ups, but suddenly the crowd is on its feet, applauding the players...well, okay, applauding the unbelievable, unforeseen entrance of Roy in playing gear.

Now there is energy in the building. Now we know he might play. And if he plays, then we win. Not might win. Not will keep it close. We win.

It is that feeling that defines why Roy is great. If you look at his numbers for the game, they were anything but phenomenal. 10 points on 10 shots is pedestrian. But his presence, that changed everything. It changed the way the game was played.

In a post-game interview, Aldridge was asked what it changed and you could hear the smile in his voice as he said, "He came in the game and I got the first open shot I have had all series."

A lot of Blazer fans have been down on Aldridge because defense like that pictured above has made his numbers minuscule. Personally, I think a lot of the blame goes to guys like Fernandez who have not made themselves available for his passes and/or have not made their shots. If three guys are guarding one, two guys should be open.

Be that as it may, with Roy back in the line-up, Blazer fans had hope. And when he entered the game for the first time, suddenly you just knew it was going to be a real series.

The Suns are still the favorites. They have two games left at home, the Blazers just one. But this was a moment worthy of memory.

I was not there when Duck made his unexpected return, but the impact that moment had on those great Blazer teams of the late 80s and early 90s went far beyond his modest stat-line against the Admiral.

Roy coming back from surgery in eight days to life the spirits and morale of an entire organization and sports town will have the same effect.

Obviously I hope the Blazer pull off the improbable and replicate the '77 run, though I more reasonably expect them to be done long before the finals. But the heart shown by Roy, the mind-set to come out and play...that will be there when this team is healed and whole and holding up the trophy a few times.

Thank you, Mr. Roy, for giving me my own Duckworth moment.

Can half a team defeat the Suns? Check out the Blazers

2010-04-17T09:10:00.000-07:00

The Phoenix Suns are prohibitive favorites to defeat the Portland Trailblazers in the first round of the playoffs.

Lets get that off our chest first thing. The players who will be on the floor throughout the series have produced more effectively and more cohesively for the Suns than the Blazers.

In Amar'e Stoudemire and Steve Nash they have the two best players who will appear on the court. In Grant Hill and Jason Richardson they have guys who are above average secondary players that can light up a score sheet.

In Channing Frye, Louis Amundsen, Leandro Barbossa and Jared Dudley they have guys who know their roles and take pride in them.

The bottom line is the Suns record is no accident. They got the three seed on the last day of the season, but they put themselves in a position to get that seed by winning tough, important games in tough situations like Utah on the road when both teams were fighting for high seeding.

Any Blazer fan who looks at this series as anything other than a very probably second consecutive first round exit is delusional.

At the same time, any Blazer fan who does not have at least some hope that the upset is likely enough to induce them to purchase tickets for the playoffs and have a fair amount of optimism they will get to see the Blazers in Game 6 has not been paying attention.

The NBA season is a learning experience. It takes time for players, no matter how talented, to learn to play together. This was evidenced early in the season when a Blazer team that was more talented than last seasons' 54 win edition was struggling, giving up bad losses on their home floor.

20 games in, I had this to say:

Yet 20 games into the season Portland has already lost four home games, including a blow-out loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, has trailed for 11 consecutive quarters, and worse yet, looks like they are a team that does not care. What happened?

Part of the answer was they were struggling to adapt to a different playing style, to a different mix of players on the floor.

Entering the playoffs, that is happening again. The addition of Marcus Camby turned Portland into a better team. The loss of Brandon Roy makes them worse...but presents an opportunity.

Lest anyone misunderstand what comes next, let's get this out there. The Trailblazers with Brandon Roy are vastly better than the Blazers without Brandon Roy.

With that said, arguably the best line-up the Blazers currently possess does not necessarily include Roy. Camby, LaMarcus Aldridge, Nicolas Batum, Martell Webster and Andre Miller is a team that can give any team in the NBA fits.

Defensively, they are quick, agile, aggressive, and interchangeable. Camby calls sets, has the agility and willingness to cover everything from a post-up center down to brief periods of at least contesting the small, quick guards. Under his tutelage, Aldridge is showing flashes of being a superior defender who plays off the Camby style and has, with the exception of the shot-blocking, the same set of capabilities, though not at the same level.

Batum and Webster both get up on their man, switch with little to no drop-off, and this season have shown a consistent dedication to defense.

This unit is capable of putting out stretches of defensive coverage that can hold even explosive offensive teams to sub-20 quarters or multiple minute stretches of scorelessness. Nor are they hapless offensively.

Blazer fans regularly label Aldridge as soft because he does not post up as often as they would like. I reject that assessment. He knows his strengths, plays to them, and has been working at his post game, showing improvement from season to season, month to month, and at times game to game.

Last year, I would have said trying to run the offense through him against Stoudemire would be a disaster. This season, he has improved to the point where it is something Portland can do. Aldridge has improved to the point where he commands the double team which opens up Webster and Batum to stretch the defense with their very capable outside shooting.

The problem is, that line-up cannot play 48 minutes. So what are the Suns weaknesses the Blazers can exploit over the course of the game?

Frye, Amundson, Dragic and Dudley. Please note; I have respect for their games. I am a big Channing Frye guy to the point where I encourage you to check out his blog. I want him to tear it up against every team except Portland.

But they are the weak link for the Suns. They do not have a history of producing in the playoffs. (The cynic might point out Hill has as many second round appearances as this Blazer team, but I have too much respect for his game and do not think that is his fault.)

They are exploitable. Dudley and Amundson are not the type of players who dominate a game so much as fill a role. Those roles can be stifled which creates an opportunity for the Blazers to steal a game here and there. When they are going good, they make the Suns great if not unbeatable, but they are less likely to show greatness game after game after game like Stoudemire, Nash, Richardson, Hill and Barbosa.

Of course, the problem for the Blazers is that all the negatives I just pointed out about the Suns point to some pretty important guys for the Blazers; Batum, Webster, Rudy Fernandez, Jerryd Bayless...

All of which means the Blazer need several things to break right in order to pull off the upset.

Aldridge needs to have the oft-cited "breakout series" where he dials up 25+ points a night, as does Miller. The second tier guys like Batum, Webster, Bayless and Fernandez need to be the players they are in flashes rather than the players they are that keep them fighting for time and recognition.

Webster, Fernandez and Batum in particular are vital. These are three guys who, when hitting their shots, make the Blazers nearly unbeatable when combined with the stifling defense the Blazer line-up referenced above is capable of playing. When they are engaged in the game, hitting their shots, and involved there is no team in the NBA that they are not capable of beating or even blowing out.

That defines the series. Not necessarily the play of Nash, Stoudemire, Richardson, Hill, Aldridge and Miller...but the play of guys like Frye and Fernandez.

If the second tier players of one team are more consistent than the production seen by the other, that decides the series.

As a Blazer fan, I dearly want the upset. I want to see the Blazer defense slow the Suns, guys like Webster to have those scoring explosions we sporadically see, and the Blazers squeeze into the second round.

They have the talent to do it. they have the will.

At the end of the day, whichever team wins this series is the one I want to see in the NBA Finals. I am fully aware it is a long-shot for the Blazers. I am just grateful that they have a team talented enough that, even if it is unlikely, it is at least a remote, remote, remote possibility.

I hope this series goes seven games in a call-back to the classic battles of the Kevin Johnson/Dan Majerle Suns verse the Clyde Drexler/Terry Porter Blazers. I want to see 7 games decided in the final minute with clutch shots from unlikely players. I want to see the upset.

The recipe for the Blazers is simple. Pound the ball inside to Aldridge and play off the double teams to generate open looks which their role players must convert. Dominate the boards, play stifling defense, and hope Nash, Stoudemire, Richardson and Hill forget that is who they are and play like mortals.

Good luck and good health to both teams.

Defending the Enemy; Don Nelson Was Right

2010-04-15T21:03:00.000-07:00

Throughout his long and very successful career Don Nelson has received a lot of criticism from time to time. Much of it has been directed at his unorthodox use of smaller line-ups. Some has been directed at him for never winning a title.

This past Wednesday, Blazer fans directed a lot of criticism at him for wanting to put Devean George back into the game.

In many ways, it was a silly argument.

Portland had long demonstrated that winning this game was of at best tertiary importance...their starting line-up was primarily sick, injured, or playing a modest nine minutes (except Nicolas Batum who got a lot of run.)

At one point Portland had a whopping four years of NBA experience on the floor; Rudy Fernandez with two years and Nicolas Batum with another two. Joining them on the floor were rookies Jeff Pendergraph, Dante Cunningham, and Patty Mills.

If Portland was not taking the game serious, why should Nelson?

It is to his credit that he did take the game serious. More important, he took the health of his players serious.

When Devean George fouled out, he (rightfully) argued that it was dangerous to the health of his bench players to insert them.

He whined. He begged. He pleaded. He had the veins on his neck popping out as he yelled at the referees.

He ignored the raucous and prolonged booing of the crowd. He ignored the rather sarcastic music selections played by the Rose Garden sound crew. He ignored the insistence of the referees. And he did it all for the right reason.

He was trying to protect his players.

It was no different than Coach McMillan yanking Marcus Camby from the line-up moments before tip-off or playing Andre Miller just nine minutes...enough to maintain his consecutive game streak, no time for injury. No different than him riding players like Dante Cunningham, Jeff Pendergraph, Patty Mills, and Travis Diener for heavy minutes in a game that was meaningless yet undecided.

Wait...yes, it was different. It was easy to tell that Chris Hunter could barely walk. Ronnie Turiaf looked better...but not much. And any but the most casual fan knows Anthony Morrow is far too talented not to use unless he is legitimately injured.

Nelson was doing what more coaches should do. He was trying to protect the health of his players.

I am going to also somewhat defend the referees in this situation, too. They were bound by rule to do what they did. Fair enough, one could...and perhaps should...that this would have been a fine time to bend the rules and not make the ridiculous three foul sequence take place. But that is neither here nor there.

What the referees did that I appreciated is they did not assess Nelson technical fouls for his arguing. This was not an objection to the officiating or showing them up. This was a man fighting hard not to win a game but to protect his players.

I am not going to lie. Meaningless though the game may have been in the standings, I still wanted to see a Blazers victory.

But not at the cost of a serious injury to another team's player.

So here is hoping the fans give credit where credit is due. Love him or hate him, people should recognize that Don Nelson is a guy who genuinely, legitimately cares about his players. And that is something worthy of a cheer.

There are moments it is great to be a fan

2010-04-12T23:00:00.000-07:00

The last couple games have been pretty rough for Portland Trailblazer fans.

First, there was the debacle of the Dallas game where the referees had a huge impact on the game. They did not decide it, but they were a major, major factor with a huge number of blown calls that certainly put the Blazers in a difficult position they could not overcome.

We were aghast when, as we debated whether the call was flagrant one or two and they ruled it was merely out of bounds...or the way we debated which of the fouls committed against Andre Miller was going to be called only to see the Mavericks awarded the ball instead...or how Jason Terry twice elbowed Nicolas Batum in the face and Batum was called for the foul...or the way...well, I could go on for a long time.

Then there was the Laker game where Derek Fisher put a shoulder block on Martell Webster to free up Kobe Bryant for a three...no call, then Andre Miller got HAMMERED, no call, then Bryant charged into a clearly set LaMarcus Aldridge and Aldridge got called for the foul.

It becomes frustrating to be a fan when you feel like not only are you not getting the breaks but that Tim Donaghy was a far better, more accurate official than the jokes you are seeing play the part in important, franchise destiny affecting games.

Tuesday against the Thunder it started much the same. Aldridge was fouled by not one but two Thunder players, no foul was called, and at the other end a far less egregious violation put the Thunder on the free throw line.

It can cause a lack of interest in a sporting events to believe it is being dishonestly officiated. Things are or are not called fouls not based on whether they are a violation but rather based on who would be affected.

An example would be late in the game when Kevin Durant, with four fouls, clearly commits a foul and it is called on Serge Ibaka because he is nearby and they do not want to put it on Durant.

Flatly stated, that is cheating.

It affects the game's outcome. Ibaka may have a nice career...but Durant can and does win games with his talent.

When you experience an extended series of plays or games where it looks and feels like your favorite team is getting shafted, it can make it more difficult to enjoy the game.

Until that special moment.

With Brandon Roy out with yet another injury, there was quite a debate over who needed to step up. Aldridge, Webster, Rudy Fernandez, Batum were all mentioned. And to some extent, all of them did.

But it was import Marcus Camby who did something I have never personally experienced.

I have seen more impressive statistical games than his 30 point, 13 rebound performance. I have seen games where players have had more impact than their statistics show. But I have seldom seen one alter the course of a season.

There is little doubt the officiating of late has been in the heads of the Blazers. After picking up virtually no technical fouls all season, they combined for six in the last three games. They were barking at the officials, showing frustration, and facing a hole against the Thunder in a key game.

A win here put the Blazers in the driver's seat to finish in sixth place, a loss put them pretty firmly in the eight hole.

A first round date with the Lakers is a recipe for a first round exit. And regardless of reasons...last year's inexperience, this year's injuries, etc., a history of first round exits soon becomes the proverbial 500 pound gorilla.

The Nuggets, Mavericks, or Jazz will not be any cakewalk, either...regardless of who they face the Blazers will be an underdog long shot to win the first round. But they have a better chance against any other possible opponent than they do against the Lakers and they also needed to win a big game on their home floor for confidence reasons.

And Marcus Camby made it happen. He scored early. He scored late. He passed well. He directed the defense. he hit the floor.

It was such an impressive performance that in a late time-out the crowd did something I had not seen in Portland before.

The entire time-out had the Rose Garden rocking with a "Marcus Camby (clap) (clap) (clap) Marcu Camby "chant. It was loud. It was long. It was heart-felt.

It was a show of appreciation for a guy who, on a night Roy was out with injury and Aldridge on the bench with foul trouble, with Fernandez disappearing and Miller not getting any calls despite mass contact every time he penetrated the lane, showed the heart and dedication to winning that make this team, if an underdog, a reasonable one.

This is a team that, if it defends like it can, and shows the heart Camby showed, the scrappiness and dedication, has the potential to get out of the first round.

If players like Webster and Aldridge and Fernandez play with the heart, fire and passion that had the crowd screaming his name, the Camby could be the move that moves Portland from also round "team that nobody wants to play...oh, wait, they bowed out in five" to a team that has at least a chance.

And it also is the type of moment that shows us why we watch the games. His performance and that of Durant across the aisle were a genuine pleasure to watch. They created memories that last long after the near-inevitable bitterness of another early round exit from the playoffs has faded.

Chris Bosh or LaMarcus Aldridge; Not who is better, but who really fits?

2010-03-20T07:39:00.000-07:00

In response to a recent post explaining why I elected not to renew my season tickets largely due to the trade of Travis Outlaw, I was asked what I thought of the LaMarcus Aldridge for Chris Bosh trade rumors.

In some respects, it is an intriguing question and one that is difficult for me to be objective about. I freely admit to being a huge LaMarcus Aldridge mark. I am tired of the oft-cited and remarkably inept criticisms that Aldridge is "soft", that his post-up game is not good enough, that he relies too much on his jump shot, that his defense is inadequate and his rebounding borderline incompetent.

I also recognize the skill Bosh brings to the table. There is a lot to compare in their games.

Both players have silky smooth mid-range jumpers. Inside his range, I actually think Bosh is the superior shooter, though that is merely anecdotal evidence. Due to his playing in Toronto, I have only ever seen a handful of his games and as a result I must base most of my opinion on statistics, which often lie.

Based on statistics the team of Tom Chambers, Xavier McDaniel and Dale Ellis was awesome when in truth, they scored a lot but gave up a lot of points too. Their scoring numbers say nothing about their individual or team defense, their cohesiveness, or those little things teammates do to improve each other.

So I must base my analysis of Bosh on the games I have seen live in Portland for the most part.

Bosh is a genuine pleasure to watch in warm-ups. His jumper is silky smooth and sometimes you wonder if he will ever even hit the rim. Shot after shot brings that delicious snap of the net as the ball comes through on the precise trajectory to demonstrate the purity of a perfect shot.

Step-back, side-shuffle, face-up. Shot after shot after shot goes swish, swish, swish. His movement is crisp, his motions sure and effortless. He is a skilled player indeed, and this does not change when the game starts.

If a defender gives him the slightest space he rises up and two points go up on the board for the Raptors. Crowd him and he puts the ball on the floor and gets inside. I have rarely seen him do back to the basket post-up moves, but that does not say he is not a post player. I actually cannot honestly answer that question due to the paucity of coverage the Raptors get in Portland. I can say I have repeatedly seen him face up his man, get to the rim and finish strong.

On defense, Bosh appears to me to be better than average. He is strong enough to avoid getting run down, quick enough to help out when his guards get beat, and is an excellent rebounder. He has a very well-rounded game and would be an instant upgrade to almost any team that acquired him. You can count on two fingers the number of power forwards who are anywhere near his production and skill level.

Aldridge, meanwhile, has slightly better range than Bosh and, while not as high a percentage shooter, is still very good. He does have a post -game which is oft-maligned, and there is some merit to that. Of course, part of the problem with the criticism is it represents a poor analysis of Aldridge's game.

He is still developing his post play and, while it has shown vast improvement in the last couple of years, it is not yet the strength of his game. There are certain defenders against whom Aldridge simply has not yet been able to develop an effective move against. He recognizes this and, instead of continuing to put himself in a bad match-up, he drifts out to the perimeter where he has the advantage.

Not continuing to force up tough, contested shots in bad situations is an intelligent basketball play. Unfortunately, too many fans give the knee-jerk "Aldridge is soft" answer. I have a suggestion to those fans. Stick a sock in it and watch his game.

Aldridge plays down low against the big guys and, while his rebounding numbers are not huge, take a look at the timing and manner of them. Game after game I watch him come away with key rebounds whenre seven, eight, maybe nine guys are clustered inside the key trying to get the board and somehow Aldridge rips down what I like to call "man-boards".

He is not afraid to match up with players like Amar'e Stoudemire, Carlos Boozer, Chris Bosh, Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki and so forth night after night. He works hard, stays in the team concept, and does his job.

I genuinely believe part of the reason his rebound numbers are quote "low" is due to the guys next to him. Joel Przybilla, Greg Oden and Marcus Camby are all superior rebounders. An example would come from the Portland-Washington game of March 19th, 2010.

There were precisely 100 available non-free throw rebounds available. Camby came away with 19 of those, a staggering number that means nearly one of five times there was a ball caroming off the rim, Camby snagged it.

Assuming teams will garner approximately one half of the available rebounds and each player will contribute, that means the remaining nine players have roughly thirty rebounds to share among themselves. Guards are generally good for two to three apiece and the Blazers run four. Forwards should get roughly four to five apiece in the Portland system, and the Blazers essentially have three forwards other than Aldridge, so there are roughly forty-nine of the rebounds available accounted for. That is without Aldridge.

Naturally, part of the statistical analysis is average, and on any given night a guy who averages five boards might go without while a guy who averages two might get seven.

Aldridge checks in at a fairly steady seven to eight a night. He seldom has less, but often has more such as the dozen he tallied against the Wizards.

Even more notably, when the Blazers were starting Methuselah... err, Juwan Howard at center, or even rookie Jeff "Li'l Bit" Pendergraph, Aldridge was dialing up double digit boards seemingly every night.

His deflated rebound numbers are partially a product of the players he plays with is the short form of the statement I am making.

As Aldridge's biggest defender, I also think his defense is unfairly maligned. I am not nervous when he gets caught on the perimeter against smaller, quick players because he is quick enough, agile enough, and long enough to contest their shots. Of course, sometimes they score because that is what the Chris Pauls and Tony Parkers of the NBA world do...they score against bad defense, average defense, and good defense.

Aldridge is at his best coming off his man to contest a shot, but he is also a decent man to man defender. He is often accused of lacking intensity, and this is accurate. He also likes to slap at the ball low a bit much for my liking, but he also pokes away a lot of balls.

He is definitely not an All-NBA defender, but he is improving every year.

Off the court, there is little to complain about for either player. In many ways, Bosh has certain advantages in that regard. Chris Bosh has a great sense of humor, though it is flawed...he seems to find Will Ferrell funny despite stuff like Semi-Pro. 3

Bosh is also noted for his work in the community and has a lot going for him as a potential player.

Let me emphasize again that I am a huge Aldridge player and, since everyone else jumped on the Roy bandwagon, he is probably my absolute favorite player.

With that said, I believe Bosh is the superior overall player. Bosh is better defensively and offensively, he seems to get along with his teammates better than Aldridge, who is oft criticized by local media for being standoffish (which may have more to do with media perception than actual truth...I am not privy to the internal workings of the Blazers organization).

He very well could improve the Blazers to the point where a Championship goes from being a realistic but somewhat long shot possibility next season to a favorite if he were traded for some package such as Aldridge, Martell Webster, and whatever spare parts were needed to make the salaries match up.

Of course, there are several problems with the above scenario, and just to save the people who hate my article time, let me present a couple; Bosh may not want to leave Toronto, he may not want to come to Portland, the deal might not make sense from Torontos' standpoint as they may not feel the value in return is sufficient.

I, of course, feel Aldridge and Webster would be far too much to give up. And this has nothing to do with their respective ability.

I love Aldridge's game, I love that he has been a Bloazer since draft day, and I hope that he retires a Blazer. I do not want to see him in a Raptors uniform. In fact, you can replace the word "Raptors" with any team in the league not named "Blazers".

I hate any trade that sends Greg Oden, Aldridge, Nicolas Batum, Rudy Fernandez, Brandon Roy, Jerryd Bayless, or Martell Webster away. Shrewd drafting has given the Blazers a roster that was "born" together, has grown up together, and it is time to watch them roll the League together.

I want to see the home-grown, home-developed players take their shot. Yes, I know about the problems...I know that Batum's development is limiting Webster's role. I know that Fernandez wants more playing time, a bigger role, and more money. I know the criticisms of Bayless as point guard and Oden as injury prone, of Roy as a weak defender and Aldridge as a soft player.

I also know that I love watching these guys play together, I love knowing they started their NBA PLAYING careers as Blazers and they are good enough to take a run at a couple of titles.

No, I am not a complete and total homer. I recognize how much acquiring Marcus Camby has improved the team this year, regardless of how much I hate the cost of losing another personal favorite, Travis Outlaw. I recognize that with all the injuries and the surprisingly poor play before the injuries started, Portland is not as good this season as the Cavaliers, Magic, Nuggets, Celtics, Lakers, and maybe even teams like the Suns, Hawks, Spurs, Jazz and maybe one or two others.

But they will be if and when they get healthy.

The fact that the Blazer teams of Clyde Drexler, Terry Porter, Kevin Duckworth and Jerome Kersey never won a title never made me love watching them any less. If Portland could have traded Kersey for Pippen in their primes and won multiple titles, I would have loved them less because Pippen would be an import.

Yes, I grew to love the game of Buck Williams, but he was never as cool to me as our home-grown guys.

Yes, I love watching Andre Miller play, and his expanding game...two dunks this season, which I believe is probably a career high, and possibly a career TOTAL, is entertaining. Watching Camby block shot after shot and pull down rebound after rebound is cool. But I still like watching "my" guys more.

And the same would hold true for an Aldridge-Bosh trade. On a basketball level, depending on who they gave up, I think it would be an improvement for Portland. But on a personal level, I hate it.

And that gets to the root of fandom. Am I a fan of the player or the franchise? The real answer is both. I admit I turned on Drexler a bit when he more or less quit on Portland when it became obvious their run at a title was over, only to rejuvenate his career in Houston. I did not want to see him win a title there.

Kersey in a Laker uniform is a crime against humanity I will never get free from. I was sad to see him in Warriors, Spur and Buck gear...but I might have shed a tear when he wore that hated uniform. Porter played with the Timberwolves, Heat and Spurs. that also makes me sad.

Not because I did not want Drexler, Porter, Kersey, Cliff Robinson and so forth to have long, meaningful careers or that I did not want the Blazers to move forward. It was more because my development as a basketball and sports fan coincided with the careers of the players.

One reason I do not particularly follow college basketball is because of the rampant player change. Great college players are typically there for one or two years, good ones for three, and pedestrian players for four. Yes, there are exceptions, but that is pretty common.

That means to follow college basketball and have any real in-depth knowledge of what is going on, I have to learn four, five, six new players and their styles every year.

By contrast, even before this season ends and off-season moves take place, I have a pretty good idea of how the Blazers will play. For that matter, I can tell you what the typical Spurs, Nugget, Clipper or Warrior game will look like next year.

I know their offensive concept and where players should be on any given play. I know who should get the most shots and where those shots should come from. Sure, there will be adjustments. Of Patty Mills, Dante Cunningham, Jeff Pendergraph, Marcus Camby, Martell Webster, Andre Miller, and Rudy Fernandez there are likely to be anywhere from three to six new names in those places.

But I also expect the opening night Blazer line-up, barring injury, to have Oden, Aldridge, Batum and Roy for sure (and most likely Miller, but who knows?). I expect Aldridge to be posted up on the first two to three possessions, with Oden getting a couple of those and Roy driving at some point in the first five minutes or else taking that gorgeous pull-up jumper foul-line extended.

I would hate to see that broken up too soon even for a player such as Bosh. That is personal preference...but it is a strong one.

Travis Outlaw and Marcus Camby: How a Trade Cost the Blazers a Season Ticket holder

2010-03-15T22:09:00.000-07:00

Some of my earliest sports-related memories revolve around the Blazers. Of course there was the seminal moment when I was six years old that saw the Cinderella team knock off the 76ers to win their first (and to this point only) championship.

My Dad, who is at best a casual sports fan, still gushes about the passing of Bill Walton, the speed and unselfish play of Johnny Davis, and so forth three decades later. That leaves an impression on a kid who idolizes his father.

Then there were the years of listening to the Schonz on the radio as I played along on my Fischer-Price hoop with the tennis-ball sized “basketballs” as guys like Kermit Washington, Calvin Natt, and Fat Lever fueled my imagination. Phrases such as "lickety-brindle, straight up the middle" became part of my vocabulary along with "you've GOT to make your free throws" and the still ubiquitous "rip city!"

As I began playing basketball more and more seriously myself, I modeled myself after “Mercy, Mercy” Jerome Kersey, even going so far as to adopt his jersey number.

During the Finals appearances by the Clyde Drexler/Terry Porter/Kevin Duckworth/Jerome Kersey years, for many of my friends and myself it was our pride and joy that, except for trade acquisition Buck Williams, the players had all effectively started their careers with the Blazers.

There is a reason the “Jailblazer” teams of Rasheed Wallace, Damon Stoudamire, Scottie Pippen and Steve Smith were never quite as popular as the other versions. Revisionist history would have us believe they were unpopular, but they were selling out the Rose Garden. They were still popular…but the energy that carried the whole city was lessened. There was less of a casual following.

These were not the players Blazer fans listened to as they developed from seldom-used rookies into a cohesive unit that coupld play with anyone in the NBA. Instead, they were a motley assortment of other team's cast-offs, fading veterans looking for one last chance, malcontents other teams traded off cheaply, and players with talent that was exceeded by their contracts.

No doubt they were still good or borderline great...and possibly even good enough to win a Championship had they not choked in Los Angeles...but there was just something missing. The connection was not there. They were popular and enjoyed, but not on the level the Drexler-Porter teams were.

The organization did the right thing, though. They went out, acquired on draft day good, solid citizens who also happened to be good, solid players. Instead of guys like Ruben Patterson, Damon Stoudemire, Darius Miles, Scottie Pippen and Zach Randolph we got guys like Travis Outlaw, LaMarcus Aldridge, Brandon Roy, Martell Webster, Rudy Fernandez and Nicolas Batum.

I have been there for their rise and part of the enjoyment I have derived from following them has been the “grow with us” nature. The projected starting line-up of Greg Oden, Aldridge, Batum, Roy and Steve Blake with key reserves Joel Przybilla, Outlaw, Fernandez and Bayless featured seven of nine players who had never played an NBA game in any other uniform.

Of course, bringing in Andre Miller fundamentally altered this. And make no mistake…Miller is a significant upgrade from Sergio Rodriguez. He is a talent upgrade and brings several valuable assets to the team which are valuable and he is enjoyable to watch.

He is still a hired gun, though…Pryzbilla and Blake had been around so long they seemed like part of the family. Miller might be remembered as a Cavalier, Clipper, Nugget or 76er. His career is not and will not be defined by his time in Portland. This is nothing against Miller...he is a fine player and goes about his job in an admiral manner. I even have a certain affection for him.

Just not as much as I have for Jerryd Bayless, for example. Miller is, at this point, the superior player in every facet of the game that matters. But Bayless has been a Blazer since day one. I cannot stress enough how much that matters to me personally.

At this point, I think my bias has been clearly demonstrated. I like good players developed by the franchise much more than I do guys brought in from outside. Pippen, to me, will always be a Bull, just like Drexler will always be a Blazer, not a Rocket. (Yes, I realize Pippen won multiple Championships with the Bulls whereas Drexler won his outside Portland. Thanks for rubbing salt in the wound :-))

My own personal preference would be to watch these guys mature together, play together, and take their run at a title or two. I would rather see them try and miss than see a bunch of guys brought in via trade and free agency win it all.

It was one reason I absolutely despised the trade that sent Outlaw, Blake and cash to the Clippers for Marcus Camby. This is nothing against Camby. He is an obvious and immediate upgrade over Juwan Howard, Jeff Pendergraph, and Dante Cunningham at the center. He makes the team better this year.

In fact, I love what he brings to the team. He puts up prodigious rebounding numbers, his interior defense might be even better than that of Przybilla and Oden, and his passing with Aldridge is becoming a thing of beauty.

Nor is it a complaint about unloading Steve Blake. Blazer fans never warmed to him, he took a huge step backward in quality of play this year, he had been supplanted in the starting line-up by Andre Miller and was seeing his other minutes taken by Bayless, Rudy Fernandez, and Webster.

It is really about Outlaw. Here is a homegrown guy who provided some things the Blazers needed. He could create his own shot, he is a willing shooter in the fourth quarter and at crunch-time, and he is a genuinely likable guy.

Many Blazer fans looked past what he provided and saw only his limitations. He is oft criticized for his basketball IQ, his hit-or-miss commitment on defense and rebounding, and his pedestrian passing skills. What they overlook is the way Coach McMillan used his strengths while hiding his weaknesses…and that he was homegrown.

You can count on one hand the number of players who do not have huge holes in their game. Focusing on the negative at the expense of the positive would have Aldridge, Roy, Oden…the entire Blazer roster, in fact…exiting town rather quickly.

But the point is, the Blazers sent a guy out of town I loved in favor of a short-term rental. Sure, many people felt Outlaw would not be resigned…but to me, that was never a certainty. He brings things to the table McMillan loves, and GM Kevin Pritchard has repeatedly shown he is on the same page as McMillan. So maybe Outlaw would be gone, maybe not…but now he definitely is.

And with him went my heart. Not that he was such a favorite player…Roy and Aldridge still have that shared distinction, and have since they were brought in on draft day. It is more what he symbolized to me. The Blazer team that I have grown to love every component of is starting to disintegrate.

Fernandez is rumored to be unhappy about playing time. Webster played all of five minutes the other night. The starting line-up has Miller and Camby in it. Rumors have floated that Aldridge might be shipped out in a sign and trade for Chris Bosh (in the unlikely event Bosh agreed to this...maybe). The pre-season pursuit of Hedo Turkoglu demonstrated the Blazers are not averse to unloading Batum or Webster...or both.

This is still an exceptional team that, if it avoids further injury and manages to make reasonable and natural improvements in the players they have will be a threat to win the title in any given season for a decade to come.

And I will still be enjoying the ride. I just will not be doing it at the game. I will watch when they are on TNT, ESPN, or the local NBC affiliate. But I chose not to renew my season tickets.

It was not because they are not trying to win. The acquisition of Camby is demonstrable evidence to the contrary. It is not because I do not enjoy the games.

It is strictly because the exchange of Outlaw for Camby signifies a shift in thinking from “lets let our core develop together” to “let’s ship out a guy who has been a core player and key contributor out for a short-term fix”.

My interest in watching imported “veterans” is not high enough to justify paying rising ticket prices, outrageous concession prices, invest time, energy and fuel to see a team I am markedly less involved in emotionally. That, in a nutshell, is why seeing the Blazers improve led me to decide not to renew my season tickets.

I should emphasize that I hope I am a minority. I hope the Blazers sell out every game for decades to come, that their string of Championships spans past the Roy/Aldride/batum glory years into the years my children play on the team.

But every fan has to enjoy a team in their own way. For me, part of that way involves watching players that are homegrown. What is it for you?

Trip City: What is wrong with Brandon Roy and the Blazers?

2009-12-01T23:02:00.000-08:00

Prior to the season there was a lot of optimism in Rip City. It made a lot of sense because the team was clearly much improved.

The most glaring problem spot, back-up point guard, had seen a major upgrade with near-All Star Andre Miller coming in at the addition-by-subtraction cost of the departure of Sergio Turnover machine Rodriguez.

The second most glaring problem was resolved by the return of Martell Webster. While Nicolas Batum is clearly the best Blazer defender, Webster presents them with an offensively dangerous option.

Furthermore, team strengths were also improving. Greg Oden looked to have regained his speed and agility and was looking so improved that a guy who should have gotten some consideration for team MVP last year, Joel Przybilla, became a reserve.

Yet 20 games into the season Portland has already lost four home games, including a blow-out loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, has trailed for 11 consecutive quarters, and worse yet, looks like they are a team that does not care. What happened?

In some ways, it is a team effort. The players who have improved this year from last can be limited to two; Greg Oden and Martell Webster.

Oden is doing more than asked; he controls the boards, blocks shots, stays within himself offensively and shoots at a high clip. He plays hard and has a huge impact at the defensive end of the floor.

Webster had a shaky start but has come on to look like the Blazers best player much of the time. He has taken on Batums' role as defensive stopper and does a creditable job. He is not a premiere defender yet, but there have been moments and stretches where he has been.

So if those two are improved, who has gotten worse?

Naturally, since credit starts at the top, so does blame. And Brandon Roy unfortunately deserves much of that blame.

Unlike past seasons where he has been an efficient scorer, this year his offense has been disruptive and low percentage.

Part of that is due to the officiating. My bias is obviously pro-Blazer, but I genuinely believe he is poorly officiated. It is very frustrating to see him drive the lane, be bounced off three defenders, and no call, only to see a Blazer pick up a hand-check foul on players like Dwayne Wade, Carmelo Anthony, or even Rudy Gay.

Roy should be going to the line over 10 times a game with the way he plays, but he is not officiated the same way other slashers are and regularly takes a great deal of contact without drawing the foul.

As a result, he becomes frustrated, knowing no foul will be called, and overcompensates with some wild drives that result in ugly shots and worse turnovers that lead to fast-breaks going the other way. This does not excuse his play, but certainly makes it understandable.

Nor is he playing well defensively. He gets torched repeatedly on the occasions he makes it down the floor at all.

But his disappearance pales in comparison to that of Steve Blake. Blake somehow forgot who he was. Gone is the steady point guard who hits the three and doesn't turn the ball over. In his place is a guy who makes unbelievably bad turnovers, makes them at the worst time possible, plays worse defense than Jeff Pendergraph is playing* to the point where I have labeled it Blake-fense.

Even my favorite player, LaMarcus Aldridge must share some of the blame. He has lost a lot of the aggression he showed in the past two seasons. He does not demand the ball on the block, does not dominate defensively the way he should, has looked lost and out of place all too often. He is far more talented than he has shown.

Przybilla has seemed disinterested, no longer the defensive force he used to be. He is not moving his feet, not blocking out, not blocking shots, and not bringing the attitude he used to.

Now, to be fair the Blazers miss Travis Outlaw a great deal, and more than many Blazer fans realized they would. His explosive scoring potential and game-changing athleticism, along with his clutch fourth quarter play show up again and again.

Yes, Portland lost two key rotation players in Outlaw and Batum. Yes, they have played a hectic schedule.

These are not valid excuses. They have also played a cupcake schedule and there are several inexcusable losses on it. If they want to be a playoff team, much less a contender, then they need to show the heart it takes to be one and win the games they should without making excuses.

For example, they choked away home games to the Nuggets and Hawks. They lost to a Warriors team playing seven guys. They lost at home to Memphis, giving up a 31-4 run on their home floor. They did not even try against the Heat.

The amazing thing in that game was that the Heat shot 53.3%. What is amazing about it is that the number was so low. All night every shot was wide open with no Blazer in the picture. Nor is that a one-game phenomenon.

The Blazers are out of sync right now. When there is a pick and roll, often the Blazers elect to defend neither player. Nor do they defend well one on one, and when the big men provide help defense, no Blazer provides rebounding coverage.

Defensively, they are discombobulated and lack any sense of cohesion. Offensively they are only marginally better.

Yet for all that, I think there is one more huge element that deserves some blame for the question, "What is wrong with the Blazers".

That is people like me. Fans. Fans who love this team. Fans with expectations for this team.

When the team was built around Zach Randolph, we expected to lose. We knew we would lose to the Clevelands of the League, struggle against the Utahs, and try to eke out wins against the weak sisters like the Warriors, Clippers, and other NBDL teams masquerading as NBA teams.

We knew who those teams were because we were one of them.

But we got spoiled. We got used to seeing Super-Trout (Travis Outlaw in super-stud mode) and B-roy dominate games, in seeing Portland win every possession, even if the other team scored, by putting out superior effort, functioning as a cohesive unit, and winning virtually every home game.

We got spoiled by watching Roy and Aldridge go from good draft day picks to cornerstones of the franchise. We got spoiled by a meteoric rise from irrelevance to 54 win team.

And we got used to it.

Instead of coming to the game planning to enjoy the action and have a win be icing on the cake, we now show up expecting a win and being upset if the Blazers struggle. Sure, not all of us do that, but we fans are a team just as the Blazers are and must all take responsibility for what we do.

That includes the poor taste in booing the home team in each of the last two home games. It includes the raucous booing whenever a Beaver or Duck shirt is shown.

Yeah, I know, Beaver fans hate the snobbish, arrogant Duck fans. And Duck fans hate their also-ran little cousins and make a point of booing loudly...and often.

So often they have made little kids cry when the kids were shown on the big screen wearing Beavers gear and been booed mercilessly. So obnoxiously the Duck fans drowned out the music because it was the OSU dance team on the floor, a favor the Beaver fans did not reciprocate when the Duck Dancers hit the floor.

The point is the fans are more frequently found silent or booing or complaining than cheering the team on, possibly because we became complacent before we won anything.

Now, it is much too early to panic. This is a very talented basketball team with a lot of good wins in front of it. Roy will get it figured out. Blake and Miller will get past their little unspoken feud. Aldridge will find his place on this team. And they will win plenty of games by the end of the year.

The question is whether Blazer fans will be patient while that happens.

So buck up Blazer fans. You are still winning at a .600 clip. You are still fine. The team will find itself. You just need to go back to being optimistic team supporters, stop ripping them at every opportunity, and enjoy the trip.

And yes, I realize the irony of saying that after writing this. But thanks for noticing.

* For those unaware of Pendergraph, he is currently on the Injured Reserve. Hopefully now that joke (?) makes sense

Can Brandon Roy and the Blazers Defeat Steve Blake and the Pistons?

2009-11-19T02:23:00.000-08:00

The excitement in the air was palpable. These Blazers were coming off a 4-1 road trip that included a road win over the Hornets. In some ways, that brought relief.

After all, the season got off to a rugged start with two home losses that both ended in heart-breaking fashion. Unlike last year where every close game was closed out by Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, Travis Outlaw, Joel Przybilla and Steve Blake in victorious fashion, the losses to Atlanta and Denver felt like chokes.

That is not a word associated with Brandon Roy's Blazers and the murmuring had been getting loud. This year's Blazer edition was expected to contend, not give away games. With Roy and Aldridge coming off major contract extensions, Greg Oden expected to be more the player drafted than last year's surgery-slowed big man, and the return of Martell Webster from injury, all the pieces were in place.

The road trip went a long way towards the fan base thinking this was the team we thought we had. Time for the tip-off.

Suddenly, everything was clicking. Detroit was staying in the game, but once more we saw Aldridge asserting himself.

Detroit briefly took the lead, only to see Portland go on a 13-0 run. The fans settled back, ready to watch the Blazers take advantage of their superior skill and home court advantage to reel in a blow out victory.

There were fast breaks, some premier defense, and a heavy dose of Blazer Stars with Aldridge and Roy scoring with regularity.

By the end of the third quarter, it was a comfortable 20 point lead. Time to sit back and enjoy the show.

And there we find the difference between this year's team and last year's. This team has expectations. This team knows how good it is. They know they are favorites to win almost every time out.

Unless, of course, they stop working.

Suddenly the guards could not keep the ball. Andre Miller and Rudy Fernandez took turns making turnovers that were highly uncharacteristic. Then Steve Blake went to work.

His four turnover 4th quarter was the antithesis of expectations. The book on Blake is "steady point guard, doesn't make mistakes". The reality, at least for this game, was he looked panic-stricken, out-matched, and incapable of holding on to the ball.

Then Andre Miller managed to miss four consecutive free throws as the Pistons inched ever closer. It left him feeling lonely.

By the time the Pistons got within one point with about a minute to go, Blazer fans were stunned and fearful. Were they about to see a third consecutive come from ahead home loss? What happened to this team that for two seasons thrived on pressure and tight games?

It did not help when Blake clanked a rushed open jumper there was a vast in-drawn breath from the entire stadium...only to see the ball bounce straight back to Blake who then drained a three that all but sealed it.

So what is happening with this Blazer team? Even with Nicolas Batum and Travis Outlaw out with injuries, this is a team even more talented than the 54-28 team we watched last year? How did a team that thrived under pressure degenerate into a turnover making, free throw bricking, error-prone bunch of vulnerabilities?

It starts in an unexpected place. Not with two-time All-Star Brandon Roy. Not with new starter Greg Oden. And, despite some murmurings about his "slow start", not with LaMarcus Aldridge.

It starts with Steve Blake.

Often maligned by Blazer fans for his Blake-fense deficiencies, his lack of ability to penetrate, and his modest assist totals, the more dedicated basketball fans understand what Blake brings to the team.

He relieves Roy of the tedious chore of bringing the ball up court. He gets the team into its offensive sets and keeps the team rhythm going. He gets out of the way when it is time for Roy to handle the ball. He hits key shots, stretches the defense with timely and efficient three point shooting and does not turn the ball over.

Until crunch time.

For the first time in his career, Blake is a bigger liability on the offensive end. It is possible he is feeling the pressure of sharing time with Andre Miller. It is possible and indeed even probable he will get his groove back.

But it is also a fact that he is not performing the role we are used to see him performing.

Exacerbating this is the fact the Blazers second best...and being second best is not by much...4th quarter player for the last three years has been Travis Outlaw. Game after game he struggles for three quarters, then turns into Supertrout in the fourth. He scores at will. He makes huge defensive stops. He scores again. And again.

Except now he is on the shelf for the next few months. Aldridge has never been a big-time late game player, at least to this point. Oden is still trying to shake off two missed free throws that he (incorrectly) feels meant a Blazer defeat. Miller is a train wreck at late-game pressure shots.

That means the games rest on Roy's shoulders. It would be fine if he had that second guy the opponents had to key on such as he had with Outlaw last year. That means other teams can double and even triple team him, taking the ball out of his hands.

That puts it in the hands of Miller, whom teams foul expecting him to miss one (and instead watching him miss both) or Blake who seems to be trying to be Miller, driving into trouble, panicking, and passing it to the nearest fan.

It is easily correctable. First, Blazers need to be ready to shoot when they get the ball. Fernandez provided a glimpse of that with his trey that extended the Hawk game to overtime. But outside of Roy and Fernandez, there is a noticeable reticence to shoot.

That must be corrected.

Until it is, Blazer fans will not need nail clippers....their teeth will be doing their fingernail grooming for the foreseeable future.

On this night, the fans went home happy, but if the Blazers keep giving back comfortable leads, they might be in for some rough nights.

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2009-11-04T23:16:00.000-08:00

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2-3? Reeling Blazer Fans wonder what happened

2009-11-04T21:42:00.000-08:00

Going into the season, my hopes for this year's Blazer team were sky-high. Coming off a very fun 54-28 year, having upgraded the three weakest positions, and entering the fourth year for the heart and soul of the team to be together, I optimistically suggested 60+ wins, a Western Conference Finals or better appearance, and an opening month with a record as sparkling as 15-4.

Just a couple weeks later the team seems to be in disarray. They almost gave up a home game to the out-manned Rockets then did lose at home to not only the Nuggets but also to the Hawks.

This is not a shot at the Rockets, Nuggets, or Hawks. The Nuggets look to have a good shot at giving the Lakers a run for their money for best record in the conference based on their play without J.R. Smith. The Rockets have been playing unbelievably well. And the Hawks are one of my dark horse teams in the Eastern Conference with a roster somewhat similar to the Blazers.

But the plain and simple truth is I truly believed that this edition of the Blazers was set for a run vaguely reminiscent of the 77 Title team. They are not expected to contend by most experts but have the talent to play a superior brand of basketball.

The pre-season injury to Nicolas Batum was disappointing as the defense he provides the team is certainly an important element but hardly something the Blazers could not overcome. The return of Martell Webster would provide a major offensive upgrade at the price of a slight decline in defense.

Meanwhile, more minutes would open up for Travis Outlaw and Rudy Fernandez.

Yet five games into the season, Portland has looked...well, let us not mince words. They have looked bad.

Playing competitively but losing home games is what teams with losing records do. The Blazers have done it twice.

The Nugget game in particular hurt because most Blazer fans expect the Blazers to battle the Nuggets for Northwest Division laurels. Losing a home game to your chief rival, particularly a home game you thought you should win, is just the sort of thing that comes back to haunt you late in the season.

So what exactly is happening here? Unfortunately, I have been out of town since the Nugget game, so primarily what I have has been anecdotal evidence. But those anecdotes have been telling.

Following the games on my mobile phone with the auto-refresh set for every 15 seconds has been brutal. The Blazers would close to within a bucket, it would refresh, they would be down six points. I would look at the last couple plays, and all too often, the plays were opponents dunking. And dunking again. Then, for something different, getting an offensive rebound and dunking.

Yet opponents are only shooting .429% against the Blazers. So for the game, their defense is adequate, it is only when the game matters that they go into matador mode and let the opponents have a layup drill.

Compounding the problem, the Blazers themselves are shooting a very mediocre .422%. They are winning the rebound and 3-point shooting percentage battles and losing the turnover game by just .6 turnovers per game.

Thus the statistical story tells us that seven hundredths of a percent in shooting is not going to kill Portland in the long run as better three point shooting and four extra rebounds should cover that in the long run.

What they really need to do is find the killer instinct to put teams away. Portland has been outscored 137-121 in the fourth quarter, more than offsetting their 112-103 third quarter advantage. They are losing the second half by over a point a game.

This is troubling since the Blazer bench is supposed to be a major strength. With guys like Andre Miller, Fernandez, and Outlaw the bench looked like a potent weapon capable of having three guys in double figures nearly every night.

Yet if the bench was producing, the starters and closers would not be so worn down that they give back huge leads. Based on minutes, they should not be worn down anyway as only Aldridge and Roy are playing over 30 minutes a game and Aldridge is only playing about 31 minutes a game.

Worse, the players are showing signs of pressure in close games. Against Denver the Blazers bricked five free throws that would have either tied the game or given Portland the lead in the closing minutes. It was a team effort with Roy, Aldridge, Miller, and Oden all contributing to the key misses.

The team has been searching for answers. The local Portland paper referenced a Roy interview where he discussed the malleability of the rotation which indicates a certain lack of cohesion. This would point to a strength actually being a problem.

Let me say in advance that I think Nate McMillan is an excellent coach and will get that problem sorted out. Yet I would be remiss in not saying that one thing the Blazers certainly need is for him to settle on roles for each player and more or less stick to them which will go a long way towards clearing up rotation questions.

In High Above Courtside: The Lost Memoirs of Johnny Most, the late Most was quite clear on what he believed caused the collapse of the Celtics in the late seventies. For Most, it was not lack of talent but rather too much talent where players refused to accept roles and the coach therefore lost control of the rotations. As players began struggling to find roles, Jo-Jo White lost the team, the record went south, he ended up fired and the players ended up in other uniforms.

That is a very real danger for this Blazer team. Just take a look at some of the potential conflicts:

Brandon Roy. He just signed a max deal and may feel pressure to prove his worth. Yet his style of play demands to dominate the ball, which is more difficult because;

Andre Miller. A near All-Star starter his whole career, a pace-pushing, penetrating point guard, he now has to interact with Roy, who is playing the role Miller is used to, in a slow-down offense that is at or near the bottom of the NBA in pace, all while backing up;

Steve Blake. An underrated distributor who never dazzles anybody with his numbers, but relies on hitting the open trey off penetration by players like Roy. His suspect defense, nick-named Blake-fense, and lack of ability to penetrate the lane causes problems for the Blazer big men.

Meanwhile, Rudy Fernandez wants to expand his game. He wants more minutes. He wants to dominate the ball a bit more. Unfortunately, he is backing up Roy, who leads the team at over 38 minutes per game. Furthermore, whether Fernandez is paired with Roy or Miller, that player is going to have the ball in their hands far more often than Fernandez.

Travis Outlaw wants to get paid. He wants to start. However, on this team, his game does not mesh well with the starters which means Portland needs him to come off the bench, play energetic defense, create his own shot, and be a dominating sixth man...a role Outlaw is adept at but rumored to resent. This is a contract year for Trout, and he wants to use it for that big-money deal. Can he get minutes?

LaMarcus Aldridge, like Roy, is coming off signing a huge deal that will keep him in Rip City for several years. He wants to show he is worth it. He is on record as wanting to be an All-Star. He is also on record as being confused about when to go down on the blocks and when to defer to Greg Oden. Thus he sometimes gets lost on offense and, instead of improving his numbers from last year, has seen his scoring dip noticeably while his fouls have increased.

Greg Oden, meanwhile, wants to start. He wants to erase the memories of an injury plagued college career, a missed rookie season, and a much-maligned actual rookie season. He wants to score. He wants to prove he is worthy of a number one pick. But he is at best a third option, and probably more like a fourth option among Blazer starters behind Roy, Aldridge, and Martell Webster. Being a fourth option does not jibe well with wanting to show he is a worthy number one.

Which brings us to Webster. He wants to show he is back and better than ever after missing all but six minutes of last season. Yet he alone has shown he is willing to do what it takes to make the team work. Start, come off the bench, concentrate on defense, shoot the three, drive to the rack...it can be argued he has been one of the most effective all-around players the Blazers have so far this season. Yet he knows that McMillan is on record as saying Batum will be the starter when he returns. How will that sit with Webster? He needs to show enough now to get minutes later.

Thus we clearly see it is possible the Blazers are playing with a bunch of personal agendas at the cost of team chemistry, cohesion and effectiveness.

It is still very early in the season. It is way to early to hit the panic button. This is a team capable of getting hot, going on a run akin to the Rocket 20+ win streak of a couple seasons ago, seizing the Northwest Division in a death grip and not letting go.

It is also a team capable of degenerating into a mix of players trying to get theirs, chasing personal agendas and regressing to a .500 team.

It is instructive to note where they sit right now. Tonight I was idly watching some Hornets-Mavericks action and every so often a score would catch my eye. The Celtics were losing to the Timberwolves by six late in the third or early in the fourth. The Lakers were losing to the Rockets by a few points.

I pretty much laughed when the commentators talked about the Celtics being in danger of losing their perfect record in the game, or about how the Rockets were handling the challenge. The thing about Championship contenders is you just have a feeling they will pull out those close games, particularly about inferior teams.

This again is no knock on either the Rockets or T-Wolves. The Rockets play as hard as any team in the league and Rick Adelmen should get Coach of the Year consideration if they continue to play this well. And the Wolves are building something promising.

But neither team should be confused with a Championship quality team, and any time the Celtics or Lakers lose to either of those teams, regardless of what floor it is played on, it is an upset.

THAT is the level the Blazers are aspiring to get to. As it stands now, they are definitely not there. In fact, they are so far from there, I am ready to contradict myself.

One of my brothers asked me if the Blazers were favored against the Nuggets prior to the Blazer home game last Tuesday. I said they were ALWAYS favored at home, regardless of the opponent, that they would lose a couple games over the course of the season, but any home game should favor the Blazers.

I take it back. As it sits, I think it would be a mild upset if they beat the Spurs tomorrow. Far from being the level they need to be, the Blazers have regressed that far, that fast.

Fortunately, one great thing about being a fan instead of a player or coach is that hope springs eternal. I can sit here and believe that Roy will say the right words, McMillan will find the right rotation, the players will find cohesion, and the early season struggles will end tomorrow as they take on the Spurs.

That is the best part about the NBA. Knowing what I know, I can still believe that.

Oh, and for the record...yeah, the Lakers and Celtics both won. Sometimes I hate it when I am right.

Nuggets to Blazers: We are still better

2009-10-30T00:07:00.000-07:00

At the 7:19 mark of the fourth quarter, LaMarcus Aldridge found a red-hot Rudy Fernandez open beyond the arc. He made the extra pass, Fernandez drained the three, the Blazers led 81-74, the Rose Garden was rocking, George Karl called time-out, and the fans just knew the Blazers were off to a 2-0 start.

The win over the Nuggets would be especially sweet as Brandon Roy had arguably outplayed Carmelo Anthony, they were overcoming sub-35% shooting and a non-existent presence from Aldridge, and hey...it is the Nuggets. We hate the Nuggets, particularly their arrogant, strutting, inked up Birdman Chris Anderson.

Furthermore, even though the crowd was really out of it all night, possibly due to the combination of brick-laying shooters and fouls being called on average one per minute, this felt like a playoff intensity level game. Martell Webster and Carmelo Anthony were going all Marty McSorley on one another, Nene, Kenyon Martin, Greg Oden, and Joel Przybilla looked like they were having a WWE tag-team match, and every basket felt like a huge, vital event.

But then something happened. Anthony went all Anthony, scoring 17 points and adding an assist. Portland, who had been solid on the boards and at the free throw line all night, suddenly could do neither.

Anthony hit two free throws to give Denver the Lead. Roy hit the first...and missed the second.

With Portland down two inside 1:40 of the 4th, Nene got not one, not two, but three offensive rebounds in the same possession before scoring.

Aldridge missed one of two to keep the Nuggets ahead by one.

Anthony made two free throws.

Miller missed a free throw.

Greg Oden, down 1 with 4.6 seconds left, somehow missed both free throws, and then the referees...who whistled 60 personal fouls on the night...inexplicably could not call the 60th foul of the night for 2.7 seconds. It was not for lack of hacks by the Blazers.

Be that as it may, Portland had their chances. It was their inability to pull down key rebounds or make free throws that sealed their fate. The Nuggets, meanwhile, never panicked, ran the ball through their best player, and deserved to win because of it. What a huge disappointment for Blazer fans.

Back the truck up, though. This was a very entertaining game with plenty of grist for the rivalry mill. With Denver holding a 2 point lead and with the ball, Brandon Roy made a terrific defensive stand against Anthony, forcing him into a baseline fade-away contested jumper. It is a measure of how good Anthony is that I thought it would go. It is a testament to Roy's clutch defense that it was so tough and missed.

Ultimately, Denver still won, but that iconic duel was worth the price of admission.

So was watching Oden continue to flower. Despite being saddled with foul trouble all game long, he helped Portland control the boards for the majority of the game, including pulling down 9 in under 22 minutes. He also had an impressive block on Nene in that 3-offensive rebound possession the Nuggets scored on. His offense looked better with some nice spin moves instead of the turn-over plagued mess he turned in Tuesday.

It was also thrilling watching Martell Webster bring it at both ends. He moved fluidly, getting to the rim and throwing down a couple of tremendous dunks. His defense on Anthony was at times excellent and at others Caspar-like. He is improving game by game and it is great to watch.

I would be remiss in not mentioning Rudy Fernandez and his offensive explosion. It was so good, so impressive, so awe-inspiring that for a minute you could almost forget some guy named Roy was in the midst of a 30 point night...or that ace 4th quarter guru Travis Outlaw never hit the floor in the 4th quarter. I do not remember the last time the Blazers had him for a game and he was never on the floor in money time.

Nor can I figure out why. It is not like Steve Blake and Andre Miller were irreplaceable, combining for eight points (all by Miller) on 3-14 shooting with just 8 assists. I believe strongly in Coach Nate McMillan, but I did wonder out loud why Outlaw did not replace one of them with Fernandez or Roy handling the ball.

Perhaps it had to do with Outlaw following up his Super-trout night with a horrible 1-8 shooting night. Perhaps he just got lost in the mix.

Regardless, on this night, Denver wanted it more, and did what it took to get the win.

That hurts to write. I make no claim to being impartial. I love this edition of the Blazers team. I think it is good enough to win the division, win the Conference, and compete for a title.

Nor am I alone. Nicolas Batum pointed out on his blog that McMillan called out the team and said anyone who did not think they were ready to compete for a title should leave, that is what they are playing for this year.

Roy called out the players for their practice habits, telling them it was not a championship contender level practice.

McMillan knows. Roy knows.

But on this night, the Nuggets showed that, whatever the Blazers and I believe about their chances, they still need to take another step.

My hat is off to the Nuggets. Portland will not lose too many more home games this year. In a Division race as tight as this one, now they have the huge, unenviable task of winning a game in Denver. The problem there is that by then, the Nuggets will get back JR Smith and be even tougher.

It is way early in the season to over-emphasize one game. In fact, if this serves as a wake-up call that gets the Blazers to act as a cohesive unit, to bear down and start dominating games instead of playing close and counting on Roy to win in the 4th quarter, it could turn into a good thing.

But at the moment, it really, really hurts.

Oh, is it Houston? We have no problem.

2009-10-27T23:49:00.000-07:00

Change came early with the opening tip. That was not Joel "the Thrilla" Przybilla with the opening tip. Greg Oden did enough in the pre-season to earn the starting job.

The first quarter was pretty rugged as the Rockets did what they do and their defense, combined with Portland turn-overs, kept them tied at 23-all.

The numbers are ugly.

26 turnovers.

42.9% shooting.

42 points in the entire second half, including being outscored by a 31-21 margin in the crucial 4th quarter.

Greg Oden picked up 5 fouls, had just 3 field goal attempts, no free throws, and 7 turnovers.

Joel Przybilla played just 16 minutes and fouled out with only 2 points of his own. Thus the centers combined for 4 points, 9 turnovers and 11 fouls against a team playing a 6'6" center.

All-world Brandon Roy...who got his first "MVP chant during pre-game introductions...went 5-18 while projected All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge dialed up 4 points in the final 3 quarters and 9:32 of the first.

This is not good. Against an out-manned, out-gunned, out-talented Houston team depleted by injuries, those are some scary numbers.

What is scary about them is even on a night where Oden, Aldridge and Roy had extremely sub-par games, the Blazers blew out the Rockets. Oh, sure, the final score did not look bad and the Rockets even managed to pull within 6 with 1:47 left, but starting with the 12-0 run in the closing seconds of the first quarter and 3:25 of the second, this game was never really in doubt.

That speaks well of the talent the Blazers have this year. Travis Outlaw was in full Super-Trout mode, scoring seemingly at will.

Despite being detriments on offense, Oden and Przybilla controlled the boards and the paint, combining for 7 blocks and 22 rebounds...while Houston had just 33 as a team.

Martell Webster looked great, scoring 14 points on 7 shots in 25 minutes. But it was not just the points he scored, it was how he scored them. Instead of hanging out in the corner bombing threes, he took it into the paint, created havoc for the defense, and threw down a crowd-pleasing posterization on Chuck Hayes.

Aldridge got Portland going early, took arch-nemesis Luis Scola completely out of the game, and played cheerleader for his team while saddled with foul-trouble.

Rudy Fernandez looked much improved. He was hitting his beloved step-back threes, but also was doing a great job of crossing the lane and forcing Rockets defenders out of position. While his own defense gave up a lot of easy possessions, he also managed to knock a few balls loose and interrupt the flow of the Rockets offense.

There were certainly problem areas. Steve Blake continued to play Blake-fense on Aaron Brooks. Oden again looked stilted and confused on offense. Roy and Aldridge were the only two Blazers to finish with minuses in the plus-minus category.

But all those things show why the Blazers should be given a healthy dose of contender talk by the end of the year.

On a night when so many things went wrong, they still man-handled the Rockets and coasted to an easy win.

There will be plenty of nights when quick, agile point guards like Brooks, Devin Harris, Chris Paul and so forth create havoc for Blake and Andre Miller. But they can no longer penetrate the lane with impunity.

Several times Oden slid over and blocked shots after Brooks beat Blake and Miller. Przybilla did the same. They are moving their feet, going straight up, and getting clean blocks...including one that Oden did not get credited for because Brooks got called for an offensive foul.

In other words, this Blazer team can deal with set-backs. Even major ones. They are so talented, so deep, and most importantly, so cohesive as a group that they work together, follow the plan, and reel in the victories.

Even when their superstars have off nights, they know the team will pull them through.

Brian Wheeler likes to say, after a win, "Once again we can say,'it's a great day to be a Blazer'". He should get used to saying that a lot.

T is for title: The Blazers Season Pre-view

2009-10-26T21:57:00.000-07:00

Last season, the Blazers tied with the Nuggets for the best record in the Northwest Division, 54-28. they then gave back all the hard work in the first game of the playoffs, getting rolled up at home by Utah. Once that game was over, they quickly showed they had what it took to win in the playoffs at home and competed in almost every road game, but never broke through and ended their season early and in disappointing fashion.

Yes, a team that most observers last pre-season thought were still a season away from playoff contention found disappointment in exiting in the first round.

They then went out and got significantly better in several ways.

First, they upgraded at their weakest position, point guard. Gone is inconsistent, disgruntled Sergio Rodriguez, replaced by the durable and skilled Andre Miller. Second, gone is erratic good guy Channing Frye and in his place is the steady Juwan Howard.

But it was not just free agents that changed the face of this team. Another year of experience has turned this team from young, hungry and talented into battle-tested, hungry and talented. Aside from that, they are essentially getting two guys back from injury.

The first is Martell Webster. He is an under rated defender and lights out shooter. He could have provided the offensive spark the Blazers sorely needed against the Rockets. While he is not as good defensively as Niclolas Batum, he usually does a creditable job.

Second, they get back from injury a guy who played in 61 games last year. But none of those games were at full strength. It is well known that microfracture surgery slows guys down for nearly a full year after their return, as Kenyon martin, A'mare Stoudemire and others can attest. So welcome back, Greg Oden.

Gone is the hulking mass of muscle that was Oden last year and in its place is a quick, agile guy who moves his feet, has good lateral quickness, has shown explosive leaping ability and excellent timing.

This is a guy who will defend the paint, clean the glass, and has shown some rapid improvement offensively. He turns the center position from above average defensively but non-factor on offense into decent offensively with the potential to be spectacular defensively.

Adding Oden, Webster, Howard and Miller to a roster that earned 54 wins last season shouts potential. This is a team that has everything it needs to win and win now.

The starting line-up looked set until Nicolas Batum went down with a shoulder injury. Fortunately, this team is so deep that his absence until possibly February should not slow this team down at all...and might even help it. The 18 or so minutes he played last year will be taken up by Webster and possibly allow a few more minutes for Travis Outlaw and Rudy Fernandez.

Now the starting line-up will probably see Oden at Center, LaMarcus Aldridge at power forward, Webster at the 3, Brandon Roy at shooting guard and Steve Blake at the point.

This is a team that has great interior defense and suspect perimeter guarding skills. At the other end of the court, with Blake and Webster manning the 3-point line, teams will have to pick their poison. Do they want to double team Aldridge on the block or let him wreck their interior? Oden is a threat to throw down some ferocious dunks off offensive boards.

Alternatively, they can double Aldridge and Oden, only to see Webster and Blake kill them from distance. All of this does not even take into account Roy, the best offensive player the Blazers have.

There is not much of a let-down off the bench, either.

Joel Przybilla is not going to score much, but he will block shots, rebound, and generally provide a physical presence.

Juwan Howard will play in short stretches and provide steady, veteran leadership...if he gets minutes at all. Those might go to Outlaw, who has played very well at the power forward spot. His length and speed make him a match-up nightmare. Not strong enough to bang with starter-quality big men, he is more than capable of taking on second unit players from almost every team in the NBA. Furthermore, he provides the second unit with a guy who can create his own shot at will.

Outlaw will also see minutes at small forward, but will share those with swing-man Rudy Fernandez. Coming off a year where he set the rookie record for 3-pointers, he provides dynamic offense. He kind of reminds me of Vinnie "the Microwave" Johnson from the Bad Boys days. he can light it up in a hurry. when his shot is not falling, he has shown the capability and willingness to drive the lane and put up points there. His defense is somewhat suspect, but he fills the passing lanes very well.

That brings us to Andre Miller. He will start the season coming off the bench. With this line-up, there is some potential for him to do what he does best, which is to run the floor and play an up-tempo game. Fernandez and Outlaw look to benefit from this style of play.

So Portland is stacked. There second team would compete for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and their starting line-up is as good as any in the league.

The only thing that can keep them from doing serious damage in the playoffs is not believing in themselves.

This is not to make light of teams like the Spurs, Lakers, Mavericks and Nuggets. the Spurs have an incredibly potent starting line-up, the Nuggets have the potential to be one of the most explosive offensive juggernauts not named the Suns in the last few years, and the Lakers, coming off a title, only got better with Ron Artest replacing Trevor Ariza.

But the Blazers are actually that good. Yes, I might be looking at them through rose-colored glasses...but I do not think so.

Starting the moment they drafted Brandon Roy and got Aldridge in a draft-day trade, they have gotten better and better. They got to 41 wins quicker than (almost) anyone thought possible. They got to 54 wins when most people thought 47 or 48 wins would be a great year. And now we are hearing a form of the same thing.

"The jump from 21 wins to 32 was one thing, but getting to .500 is a lot harder." was the assessment after 2006-07.

"It is one thing to get to 41 wins, but the jump to 50 wins is a lot harder," was the belief after 07-08.

"Getting to 54 wins is great, but getting to 60 from 54 is a lot harder than getting to 54." is a pretty common pre-view this year.

Maybe. But this team has not only shown steady improvement, they have shown they know what the next step they need to take is.

Roy, time after time last year, in post-game interviews would discuss the next thing the Blazers needed to do rather than gushing about the things the team had accomplished up to that time. And one thing after another fell. They beat San Antonio. He almost single-handed ended the long losing streak to the Suns when he poured in a "quiet 52 points". He was not going to lose to the Suns on that night.

This season, the Blazers will have Roy's drive, the return of improved Oden, the natural progression of Aldridge and Fernandez, the steadying veteran influences of Howard and Miller, and the hunger to take them higher than people believe possible.

This is a team that should finish north of 60. "It is harder to get to 60 than 54". Only if you do not have the talent. This team has the talent to win well over 60 games.

It is a team that has the talent to win any series they encounter in the playoffs. They have seen it now, they know what it takes. They have won in Utah. They have won in San Antonio. They need to get Denver out of their heads and get a win there.

Their goal this year should be one thing. It is not, "getting to the playoffs". It is not "getting home court". It is not "getting out of the first round". Their goal, plain and simple, should be winning it all.

They need to start Tuesday night against Houston. They need to come out and set the tone for the season, taking it to a decent but over-matched Rocket team. Then, Thursday, when Denver arrives, they need to serve notice the Northwest Title is staying in Portland this year, but this time it will not be shared. Then, on Halloween, they need to go into Houston and accomplish that which eluded them in the playoffs; a win.

No excuses. No saying, "it is a tough place for us to win". Plain and simple, they need to come out and show they are the team to beat this year.

Unlike last year, when they started with a schedule so brutal it ranked as the toughest start since the 60s, Portland has a relatively soft schedule this year.

I am going to come out and flat out say it would be a choke job to lose to Houston on opening night. Denver is good enough to win in Portland, but that is what sets great teams apart from the very good; defending home court. So I will say Portland should win that one, too.

They then have road games at Houston and Oklahoma City. Both are eminently winnable.

They then have a 3 game home stand in which only San Antonio should be tough. then 5 road games, with only the Hornets and Hawks being games Portland should not be favored in. Home versus Detroit, a game at Golden State, then 4 more at home before closing November out at Utah.

It would not be a huge shock for Portland to be 15-4 by the end of November. They are that good.

So yeah, I am going to go out on a limb here. The low end expectation for the Blazers is Conference Finals and it is not out of the realm of possibility for them to win a title. Not next year. Not three years from now. Not after they start losing guys because they cannot afford to keep them around.

This year.

60+ wins, at least Conference Finals is my prediction.

Partying in the streets is my hope. I think they are probably about 5-1 against winning a title, but that is not beyond reasonable to see. Lets get this party started.

Preseason Melt-down; How the Jazz wrecked the Blazers

2009-10-21T13:27:00.000-07:00

Last night was the first pre-season game I have been able to attend this year. I settled comfortably into my old home, took a picture with my camera phone of the Rose Garden and sent it to a couple co-conspirators under the title, "I'm Home!" and got ready to watch the game.

About the time they announced the first starter, I went, "Uh-oh!"

Now, make no mistake about it. Juwan Howard will be a very, very valuable player for the Blazers as he has already shown. His veteran leadership, much ballyhooed, has already proven its value as he has gotten Greg Oden several touches, he has shown players little moves they can do to enhance their effectiveness, and so forth. His teaching has been extremely valuable.

He also can still play a bit. There is a reason he is the last man standing from the Fab 5.

But that is the problem, too...he was part of the Fab 5, a reference that is probably lost on a great number of NBA fans. In basketball terms, Howard is old. His value now lies in practice, in teaching veteran type things, and in short stints off the bench against second line players. He is not, at this point in his career, a starter-quality player.

By the time the stating line-up was read off, it looked like another poor start. Joel Przybilla, Howard, Nicolas Batum and Steve Blake all get their points by playing off other players. Only Brandon Roy is really a point producer in that line-up.

At the same time, while Przybilla and Batum are strong defenders, the other three are not strong enough defensively to match up with a high scoring team like the Jazz starters.

It did not help when 54 seconds into the game Batum went down with an injury and would not return. In came Travis Outlaw. this was both good and bad.

When he is in Super-Trout mode, Outlaw can carry the team. He is very capable of 10-15 point quarters. Scratch that, he is capable of 10-15 point 5-minute outbursts. He is also capable of going 3-9 and having 10 points for the night...as he did on this one.

Nor was Roy on his game in the first half, ending the first quarter with more turnovers than shots attempted.

This just in; Deron Williams, Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur, Ronnie Brewer and Andrei Kirilinko are good enough to destroy a Blazer team that is without LaMarcus Aldridge, Greg Oden, and Rudy Fernandez unless Roy, Outlaw and Andre Miller score in bunches.

It did not help watching Blake try to defend Williams. I would not really call it defense. Maybe Blake-fense. And his Blake-fense on Williams showed why Williams is going to put up some huge numbers this year.

It is not just that Blake is not fast or agile enough to keep up with Williams. Honestly, how many players in the NBA are? Short answer; not very many. The problem is, he does not have the anticipation skills to impede Williams in any meaningful way, yet he consistently tried to body up on Williams, only to get torched again and again and again.

While on the subject of defense, this just in; Jarron Collins against Boozer is a mis-match, and not in Collins' favor. Strongly dislike him or hate him, there is no denying that Boozer is a beast on the court and he clearly showed the Blazers will need Aldridge to step up his defensive game if they want to stay ahead of the Jazz this season.

There is not a whole lot of point to dissecting this game. The players both teams threw on the floor for significant sections of the game clearly illustrated this was not a meaningful game. If Portland has Jerryd Bayless, Dante Cunningham, Jarron Collins, and Juwan Howard on the floor together for more than 30 seconds at a time this year, it means either the game was won quite early by the Portland studs or else the Blazers are headed for the lottery.

And while I do not follow the Jazz all that closely, I would say the same thing about Matthews, Fesenko, Dupree and Koufos. Nothing against them as players, but they are not the guys Utah wins with.

What this game was valuable for was as a study tool. The Blazers have a tremendously talented roster. Roy, Aldridge, Outlaw, Andre Miller, Fernandez, and Martell Webster all have the ability to score well into the teens. Oden might be added to that mix if his pre-season play is any indication.

Przybilla and Batum provide above average defense, Aldridge is getting there, and Oden looks like he has a chance to be a game-changer on defense this year.

Yet with all that talent, Portland can still put combinations on the floor that are not going to be effective.

Look again at the starting line-up; Przybilla might get you 5 points in a game, Howard another nickel, Batum another nickel, Roy 20+ and Blake roughly 10 if they are full-time players. You are not going to win many games with a team that is going to score 45 points but is not tough enough defensively to hold the team to 44 or less.

Yeah, I know...pre-season, blah blah blah.

The point stands. With all the talent at their disposal, Portland is capable of putting line-ups on the floor of players who regularly play that will lose games. In bunches.

Of course, they are also capable of putting out line-ups that will win games in bunches.

And that is where we get to Coach Nate McMillan.

As important as Roy, Aldridge, Oden, Miller, Webster, Outlaw, and Batum are to the Blazers chances this year, the defining factor might be McMillan.

Somehow, some way, he has to find the right combinations of players to provide enough scoring punch combined with solid defense. He has to find that combination not just for the starters but also for the bench.

People have been talking about Oden having earned the starting job with his strong play and lingering antipathy towards Blake combined with the exciting tools Miller brings to the table have led to the same argument there. But I am going to argue that starting the same guys as last year is a better move.

They have built some chemistry together. Never underestimate the sum being greater than the parts when you know how a teammate will react to any given situation. With Roy and Aldridge creating, there are enough shots created for Blake from distance, Batum from the corner, and Przybilla off pick and rolls. Put Przybilla, Blake or Batum on the bench and their inability to create their own shots limits their effectiveness.

At the same time, Aldridge and Roy are going to dominate the shots in the starting line-up. Putting in Oden or Miller is going to minimize their potency.

It is not that they are better or worse as players, it has to do with how they fit together. Steve Blake hanging out by the 3-point line keeping defenders from sagging on those spectacular Roy drives is a good thing. It makes Roy better and makes Blake better.

Blake hanging out by the 3 point line with the ball in his hands while the other players try to figure out how to get open? Not so good.

By the same token, Miller has a similar game to Roy but does not have the distance shooting capabilities, which allows his man to sag and clog the lane. So despite being a better offensive player than Blake, playing in the starting line-up could potentially make Miller, Blake, and even Roy worse even while playing with greater talent.

As has been pointed out, there are ways around this. Drop Webster on the side of the court with Roy and nobody is sagging off Webster. Yet this still does not seem to make the best use of Millers talent.

It is figuring out how to maximize the tools at his disposal that will determine whether McMillan guides this team to the dizzying heights they are capable of or produces a disappointing season.

Having watched him for several years, both with the Sonics and now the Blazers, I have little doubt that he will do a great job. McMillan is a tremendous coach who has always seemed to get more from his players than seemed possible. I look for that to continue.

Now to get the taste of the Jazz game out of my mouth...

What can you learn in the pre-season?

2009-10-08T14:20:00.001-07:00

Lase season, the Blazers were done in by two things in the post-season; first, they were not physical enough and second, when they absolutely had to score they could not do so.

So as this pre-season gets rolling, they have several questions to answer. Will LaMarcus Aldridge turn into the dominating defender that showed up in flashes? Will Travis Outlaw find a home as a back-up power forward? Will the Greg Oden Portland drafted return or will we still see the walking wounded coming back from micro-fracture surgery?

Obviously there are more questions, but there is a mantra that you hear over and over from good teams.

"There is only so much you can learn from pre-season".

There are things you can learn, however. Here are some examples.

Oden spins on Spencer Hawes, leaves him searching for his jock strap, and throws down a thunderous jam. Now, deep in the regular season, you will still be excited, but it is in pre-season you learn to suppress the "YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssss!" scream accompanied by a double fist pump.

It can be quite awkward trying to explain you truly are thrilled by the opportunity to step up and do more than your share due to the staff reductions just announced that you missed because you had a radio headphone discreetly tucked into your ear.

So pre-season is a good time to get your surreptitious listening skills fine-tuned.

Do the Blazers need to bring in outside players?

2009-07-13T13:07:00.000-07:00

When last season started, I was considered unreasonably optimistic. Respected sites with good reputations pointed out that the jump from 41 wins to 50 wins was much more difficult than the jump to 41 wins had been, yet I confidently predicted a 53 win season which was itself exceeded by their 54 wins.

Looking at next season, I feel confident that 60 wins is not only reachable, it is on the low end of what we can expect to see from this young, talented, exciting Blazers team. Even now, most of the same sites are saying holding steady at 54 wins will be difficult enough but a couple of wins more might be attainable if the Blazers make no new acquisitions.

That is flawed thinking. The Blazers did have flaws last year, and the Rockets exposed two of those in their upset of Portland in the first round.

First and foremost, the Blazers did not display the defensive reputation or intensity they needed to. The Rockets had the reputation and were very intense and as a result were allowed to hack, clutch, grab, push, and shove their way to a marked advantage.

Secondly, the Blazers starting line-up had only two primary scorers and one secondary scorer. Neither Joel Przybilla or Nicolas Batum was any scoring threat at all. As a result, when Blake missed shots he normally made, it allowed the Rockets to focus even more attention on Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge which limited their effectiveness.

This off-season is an opportunity for the Blazers to correct both of those short-comings, and they do not need any other players to do that. Before I go further into this analysis, I should point out a couple of things.

First, one reason I really, really love this edition of the Blazers has to do with the make-up of the team. Both Roy and Aldridge have been Blazers since draft day. So have Greg Oden, Rudy Fernandez, Travis Outlaw, Nicolas Batum, Jerryd Bayless and Martell Webster. Though neither Joel Przybilla or Steve Blake started as Blazers, they both made a conscious choice to come here when the team had a poor record and have spent enough time here that they "feel" like they have been career Blazers.

Second, one of the joys for me of watching a team is watching the development. I remember well watching Clyde Drexler, Jerome Kersey, Terry Porter, and Kevin Duckworth go from (other than Drexler) essentially unknowns into a team that twice in three years got to the NBA Finals. Now, in contradiction to this post, that was in no small part rue to the import of Buck Williams, but I will address that shortly.

The first and most dangerous short-coming was the defensive intensity. My bias is clear, so it is obvious that in that series with the Rockets it was very, very frustrating to watch Luis Scola body-slamming Aldridge at one end without getting called for a foul, then watch Oden get called for a touch-foul outside the free throw line at the other end. It was even more frustrating to watch Ron Artest hand-check, clutch, grab, and shove Roy all over the court and never get called while Blake was getting called for doing much less in trying to contain Aaron Brooks.

And topping that off was watching Yao Ming hack anybody in sight, yet the call go against the defender. Again and again Przybilla or Oden would get to the defensive spot first, Ming would come down, give them a full-out two-hand shove, and when they tried to get back in position the referees would whistle a foul on the Blazer big men.

It was not fair officiating, it had a huge impact on the outcome of the series, and it illustrates the first thing the Blazers need to do. Th Rockets got away with fouling as defense because they have the reputation of doing that. So the Blazers need to get that reputation.

In every game they need to come out over-aggressive. They need to learn to push and shove, to clutch and grab and foul until the referees decide "that is how they play defense" and stop calling it on Portland, just as they have done for the Rockets, for Bruce Bowen, for Dahntay Jones, and so forth.

By establishing a reputation as "rugged, physical defenders" they will begin to get calls that are more in line with what other teams get.

That is a horrible thing to say because it is not good basketball. If I want to watch men clutch and grab and push and shove each other, I will go watch wrestling. One reason to love basketball is for the athletic prowess they display. Their agility, leaping ability, and speed are far more entertaining that watching people foul each other and see who gets the calls. But if you aren't going to be allowed to play a skilled game, then go with what you have to do. So foul early, foul often and start getting the "respect" you deserve.

The Blazers already have a few players that would benefit mightily from this new attitude and at least two of them would cover one of the biggest deficiencies they faced last year.

First, Jerryd Bayless. He has a reputation as a "defensive bulldog" who plays tough, in-your-face defense. He got called for a lot of touch-fouls last year which limited his effectiveness but if he were allowed the same leeway that Artest, for example, received then he would be able to more than adequately defend the Aaron Brooks type point guard that was an Achilles Heel all year for the Blazers. He has the speed, agility, and mind-set to be a top perimeter defender.

Nicolas Batum would be another. He was already the best perimeter defender the Blazers had. He did an excellent job on even Chris Paul and Dwayne Wade while still matching up with small forward like Carmelo Anthony. He would only get better if instead of using his feet and skill to defend he just started hacking and grabbing anybody who beat him but not getting called for fouls.

Inside, Greg Oden would be even more effective if he got time on the court instead of the bench. There is no doubt he commits fouls. Well, let me rephrase that. According to THE RULES there is no doubt he commits fouls. But if he were called the same way Ming or Shaquille O'Neal were officiated, he would be a defensive menace and far more effective offensively as icing on the cake.

If Portland had players such as Bayless and Batum to anchor the perimeter and Oden and Aldridge to anchor the interior, they would quickly become one of the very best defensive teams in all of basketball. That is by using the same players they now possess.

The second issue can also be addressed with the same players they now have. Lets start with perimeter scoring.

Going into last season, Martell Webster was the starting small forward. He was coming off a third straight season of improvement and had upped his scoring average to 10.7 per game. More importantly, he had watched James Jones for a year and was learning things he could do to make himself more integral to the Blazers offense. More often would he ball fake from his corner post and drive into the lane. It created a whole extra element to the Blazers offense. Had he played last season, it is not unreasonable that he could have added 2 - 5 points to his average and provided that third reliable scorer somewhere in the middle teens.

A Blazer squad with Roy scoring 22, Aldridge 18, Blake 11, and Webster 13 points looks a lot different than that same line-up where Batum and 6 points replace Webster and 13. Too often this season Batum passed up wide open shots and was such a non-factor in the offense that it allowed teams to sag off him and double-team Aldridge or Roy.

That is one reason Coach Nate McMillan tried starting Rudy Fernandez late in the Rockets series. However, it fouled up all the rotations and reduced the once-formidable scoring punch of his bench without providing a commensurate spike in their defensive ability.

This season, with the return of Webster, he will have the ability to provide that scoring punch in the starting line-up. Either Webster will start or, should they choose to keep Batum in that role, the pressure of having Webster and Outlaw behind him will force Batum to look for his shot more aggressively. When the small forward position is scoring, the Blazers are a much more potent offensive team.

All of which leads to the most important point. The Blazers will be much improved this year due to natural development and they have an excellent roster to ensure that. Let me explain.

Larry Bird has often been quoted (included in his autobiography Drive:The Story of My Life) as saying players such as Greg Kite were instrumental to the Celtics Championships. Now, those of you who recall those Celtic teams may recall that Kite saw little to no playing time. Those years saw guys like Kevin McHale, Robert Parrish, Dennis Johnson, Austin Carr and so forth take the bulk of the playing time.

But right behind them were talented players who pushed the starters to continue to excel lest they lose their spot on the floor. Now look at the Blazers.

Joel Przybilla will never be an offensive force but he is certainly a stalwart defender and rebounder. Greg Oden wants that position. Those two will push each other hard and the result can only be that both players will improve.

Additionally, Oden should now be almost completely recovered from micro fracture surgery. With all his prodigious speed and agility, he will be much improved from last year and thus create yet one more issue for opposing coaches when game-planning for the Blazers.

Aldridge continues to improve. The last month or so of the season saw the light click on for him defensively. There were stretches where he controlled games defensively and other times he dominated offensively. Look for those stretches to become more frequent and for him to be an All-Star very soon. His improvement alone should be worth a couple extra games for the Blazers.

It is Small Forward where we might see the greatest improvement. Martell Webster, Nicolas Batum and Travis Outlaw will battle for the starting role. I believe Webster is the odds-on favorite to win it, but regardless of which player comes out on top, the battle will force all to improve.

The triumvirate of players gives Portland tremendous flexibility. They can go Batum for defense, Webster for long-distance shooting, or Outlaw for someone who can create his own shot at will. And should Batum develop an offensive game or Webster a defensive mentality, this position could shift from weakness to strength in a heartbeat.

Shooting Guard is of course the strongest position the Blazers have. Roy continues to improve every year. He knows what needs done and works on that aspect of his game. He knows defense was a weakness last year so should be improved there.

Behind him is Rudy Fernandez. Rudy will be hard-pressed to improve on his numbers from a year ago and indeed seems the most likely player to slightly regress. Yet even if he should slip a bit, the Blazers know they have options; Bayless and Webster both are comfortable in the role.

Which brings us to Bayless, perhaps the most potentially important improvement for the Blazers this upcoming season.

Last season he got caught up in his own press clippings from Summer League. By his own admission, scoring 30 a game there was the worst thing that could happen to him. This year he is focusing on applying the things he learned last year watching Steve Blake, one of the most under appreciated players the Blazers have.

Blake is not fast, is at best an adequate defender, cannot create his own shot and really doesn't create good looks for other players. He is not flashy and does not score a lot, nor rack up a lot of assists. As a result, many Blazer fans put a lot of the blame for last years playoff collapse on him.

That is not knowledgeable basketball criticism. Blake performs his role very well. He gets the Blazers into the correct offensive set, gets the ball into the hands of the people who should have it, stretches defenses with his normally reliable shooting, and most important, accepts and embraces his role.

This year will be key for Blake. Bayless will push hard for playing time. He is a superior defender who can penetrate the lane seemingly at will. With a year under his belt, he should finish more effectively and, if he sticks to his plan, will be a better distributor this season. That improvement alone will help the entire team and take strain off of several players.

The bench should be a strength again regardless of who ends up there. Lets assume the starting line-up is what many people thought it would be last year: Oden, Aldridge, Webster, Roy and Blake. That is a line-up that can score and rebound. Defense might be a problem.

That would leave a bench of Przybilla, Outlaw, Batum, Fernandez and Bayless. Depending on how Batum and Bayless develop, they can catch up with massive firepower or hold/extend a lead with a defensive focus. They are very versatile; Outlaw is often best when playing power forward but has also been featured at small forward and spent time as shooting guard. Batum and Fernandez both slide between small forward and shooting guard. Bayless can play either guard position.

This is a team with three primary weaknesses; defensive toughness, experience, and injuries. Natural improvement should handle the scoring issue discussed earlier and teams tend to improve defensively as they grow together. This roster is deep enough to absorb some hits injury-wise, even to key players.

And all of this is without adding a Paul Millsap, Andre Miller or other player. Yes, McMillan wants a "veteran" player, but it could be argued with Przybilla and Blake, they already HAVE the type of players they would be bringing in. Why not stick with an essentially home-grown team that is good enough to start winning championships soon?

The Blazers as they are, with natural improvement, are a talented, versatile team that can score and rebound and, soon, defend. That is a pretty good recipe for success.

Why Jason Kidd Would Ruin the TrailBlazers

2009-07-01T13:41:00.000-07:00

A few years ago the Trailblazers were making a run at the title. They had a very talented roster with players such as Rasheed Wallace, Scottie Pippen, Arvydas Sabonis, Brian Grant, and Damon Stoudamire leading the charge.

Many Blazer fans believe only a 4th quarter collapse against the hated L*kers prevented a second championship from coming to Portland...yet even during that run there was a distinctive lack of excitement around the team.

That lack of excitement has regularly been attributed to the character of the players on the team. The Rasheed Wallace technicals....the Qyntel Woods dog-fighting, the players cursing out Coach Maurice Cheeks, Damon Stoudemire choosing tin-foil as a masking device for the marijuana he was trying to smuggle through airport security, Ruben Patterson and his sex offender problems, Zach Randolph being Zach Randolph, and a host of other issues.

The team was winning but nobody really cared.

Along came GM Kevin Pritchard and the famed draft that saw the acquisition of LaMarcus Aldridge and some guy named Brandon Roy. Travis Outlaw was already on the scene.

Suddenly the character of the franchise changed. These are guys in the Brian Grant/Terry Porter mold who are visible members of the community. Roy has a lot of notable charities going, Channing Frye does (did? in light of his not receiving a qualifying offer) and so forth.

These are guys who are of good reputation off the court to go along with their talents on the court.

And the fans have responded. Attendance is up. TV ratings are up. Merchandise sales are up. There is heavy discussion in the off season about what the Blazers will do.

And one name comes up over and over that just crushes me every time I see it.

Jason Kidd.

Kidd should end up in the Hall of Fame when his playing days are done. He is among the best passers of our generation, a tremendous ball-hawk with fast hands who played the passing lanes very well, a superior rebounder for a guard, and a guy who got the Nets to the Finals.

He is also a guy who should never set foot on the court in a Blazers uniform.

Part of the interest in the current incarnation of the team is the nature of the guys. Gone are the days when players with great talent but horrible personalities were a welcome part of the team. Scottie Pippen nearly brought a Championship to Portland while turning off fans with his boorish behavior in restaurants, for example. But he was a good guy in comparison to Kidd.

No need to detail here the incidents that led to Kidd being jettisoned from a very good Suns team to New Jersey, nor to go over the things that came up during his divorce. Suffice it to say, he is not the type of good-character guy that makes up the current Blazer roster.

He would be a return to the win-at-all-costs mentality that led to the Jail Blazer era we all still suffer shame for.

Sure, the Blazers need some defensive help at the point which Jerryd Bayless may or may not provide this year. And nobody questions that Kidd would be an improvement over Steve Blake from purely a talent aspect. But he would be a huge step back in the character department and is not a guy I would ever want to see in a Blazer uniform.

How positive am I about that? Should Kidd become a Blazer, I would sell my season tickets and not renew them, nor would I purchase tickets again for some time after he was gone.

No Kidd in Portland. Not now, not ever.

Keep the team the way they are; fun, likable, and good guys. Let other teams take flyers on guys like Kidd. There is a place for him in the NBA. It just isn't Portland.

Baseball Steroids and Sports Officiating:The Myth of the Level Playing Field

2009-05-26T11:34:00.000-07:00

It is time to say what should have been said a long time ago. The complaints about baseball steroids are ridiculous, nonsensical, and disingenuous.

The most-cited argument is that since steroids are performance-enhancing, their use intrinsically creates a playing field that is not level. Players who use them receive a distinct advantage over players who do not which destroys the integrity of the game.

Fair enough. Except for one small thing; the field is already not level. The officiating makes it a very slanted field, particularly in baseball and basketball.

Several years ago I was watching the Baseball Game of the Week. Greg Maddux threw a pitch a couple inches off the plate which, by the rules, is a ball. It was called a strike at which point the commentator said something very similar to this:

"Because he has such great control, when Maddux throws the pitch there it is more likely he meant to throw it there so he will get that call whereas a pitcher with less control won't."

What? He deliberately threw a ball, but since he intended to throw a ball it is a strike?

That creates a competitive advantage for him. Hitters who lay off pitches out of the strike zone lose that advantage and Maddux gains one without the use of steroids. I later heard a similar comment regarding Barry Bonds.

That comment said that if a pitch was close and he laid off, umpires were likely to call it a ball because Bonds was known to have such a good eye for the strike zone.

Forgive my ignorance, but is it not the job of the umpire to determine whether a ball is in or out of the strike zone rather than interpret the intent of the pitcher or rely on the good eye of the batter? The name of the player does not matter according to the rules, why does it matter according to the umpire?

The same concept holds true in the NBA. Just a couple nights ago in a key NBA Eastern Conference Finals game in the last minute LeBron James took 3-1/2 steps, one of the most egregious travels I have seen this side of the average Magic Johnson move in his heyday.

The announcers were aghast. "You are going to call traveling on LeBron James in this situation?"

Well, yes. As a matter of fact they should. That was a good piece of officiating in an otherwise horribly officiated year. The playoffs have been very hard to watch because they are being heavily affected by very biased officiating.

In the interest of full disclosure, let me make clear my biases before continuing. I will be quite happy with either a Magic or Cavaliers Finals appearance. I would be ecstatic for the Nuggets to make their first Finals appearance. If the Lakers lost every game they play from today forth by over a hundred points apiece and Kobe Bryant never made another shot I would be ecstatic.

With that said, every team is suffering from the officiating.

Last night I watched Dahntay Jones deliberately trip Bryant. I watched him give him a shove in the back. I watched him clutch and grab and hack and foul again and again with nothing being called. That creates an unfair advantage when he is allowed to play dirty and break the rules in what is called "defense".

At the same time, I watched Bryant fend off with the off arm, push off from the defender to create space and not get called. Ask any Utah Jazz fan or Cleveland Cavalier fan if the offensive player gains a distinct competitive advantage from that maneuver.

Again, I wanted the Bulls to win their Finals match-up with the Jazz. I never want to see the Jazz win a game as I always despised the offensive foul-machine Karl Malone. With that said, when Michael Jordan illegally shoved Bryon Russell and was not called for it, he created a distinct competitive advantage. By missing that call the officiating heavily influenced the outcome of that series.

Watching Hedo Turkoglu fend off with his off-arm the entire time while watching the defender get called for placing a hand on his hip is disgusting. Watching Dwight Howard set an illegal moving screen that knocks the defender into Turkoglu and causes the defender to get called for a foul is dis-heartening.

Watching James initiate contact with a stationary defender and having them get called for the foul is obnoxious. Watching him run over people to block their shot and not being called for a foul is borderline ridiculous.

Make no mistake, Turkoglu, James, Howard, Bryant and so forth are tremendously talented players as were Malone and Jordan, players I addressed earlier.

But the advantage they receive when the games are not called honestly and fairly impacts the game. Fair, impartial officiating should be the hallmark. Instead we regularly get commentary along the lines of, "You are not going to get that call on the road," or ,"You are not going to get that call against a player of his stature" or the most idiotic statements of all, "They are letting them play" and "they are letting the payers decide the outcome".

The last two are usually brought up when fouls are being committed willy-nilly with nary a call or when a key foul is committed but not called in the final moments of the game.

In truth, by breaking the rules by not calling the game according to the rules it is the officials who are heavily influencing the outcome by allowing one player to gain a prohibitive competitive advantage over the other.

Jordan was clearly a better player than Russell. But on that play in 1998 where he gave Russell a shove in the back at the top of the key in plain view of the officials and was not whistled for a foul he gained an illegal advantage that led to an easy shot opportunity.

There was no level playing field. Jazz fans probably still feel the sting of that one just as anyone who ever watched their power forward get called for a foul for sticking his head in the way of Malones' elbow feels wronged.

Anyone who has watched Shaquille O'Neal run over a stationary defender and watched the defender get called for a foul knows that pain. Giving superstars calls that break the rules gives them an even bigger competitive advantage and one for which there is no redress.

You can work to make yourself faster, stronger, more agile. You can study people's tendencies to learn how to defend them better. But you cannot in any way personally affect rule-breaking officiating. There is no way to level that playing field yourself.

As a life-long and die-hard Blazer fan, I fully realize the following comments will be taken with a grain of salt. With that said, I truly believe the officiating had a huge impact on the outcome of the series.

Throughout the series we watched as Ron Artest clutched, grabbed, impeded progress, and knocked to the floor Brandon Roy. We watched as Luis Scola pushed, shoved, clutched, grabbed, hacked, and fouled LaMarcus Aldridge repeatedly without getting called for a foul.

At the other end of the floor only Joel Przybilla and Greg Oden did anything even remotely similar. There can be no doubt that much of what they did against Yao Ming was a foul. They should have been called for fouls just as Ming should have been called for fouls when he would come down the floor and give Oden a double-hand shove to gain position.

Sure, play gets more physical in the playoffs. But if you allow one team to play physical and not the other it creates a distinct advantage for one team.

There was a key moment in Game Five where Scola was shooting to the top of the key past a Ming pick. Aldridge was clear of Ming so Ming jumped out and hip-checked Aldridge. It was a gorgeous hip-check that any hockey fan could be proud of. It was also a moving screen and illegal contact. It knocked Aldridge into Scola. When Aldridge hit Scola, that certainly should be called a foul...except the correct call was on Ming. Instead they called Aldridge for his 5th which forced him to the bench for critical minutes.

It was very frustrating as a Blazer fan to watch Ming, Scola, Artest, and Shane Battier commit fouls by the armload without getting called while at the other end the Blazers were called for much less contact. There was no competitive balance.

The series can pretty much be summed up in the following sentence. Brandon Roy fouled out of a game while Artest and Battier never encountered foul trouble a single time in the entire series.

Now, even I am not going to claim that the Blazers were going to the Finals this year. I will not even argue they were definitely going to win the series against the Rockets. What I am going to argue is that as a fan it was heart-breaking to watch bad officiating create a competitive advantage for one team.

For one team to receive an advantage it must, by definition, create a disadvantage for the opposition. That is one reason I find the hysteria over steroids so ridiculous.

If the complaint is truly that steroid use creates a competitive advantage and creates a playing field that is not level, what does that say about sports officiating that ignores rule-breaking, gives the "benefit of the doubt" to the more famous player, allows one player to break the rules but not the other, and so forth?

Bad officiating creates more of a competitive imbalance than all the steroid use in the world ever could.

While I very much want to see the Nuggets beat the Lakers, I do not want to see that win occur because Jones is allowed to play dirty and break the rules in what is charitably called "defense" against Bryant. If they cannot win it fairly they should not win at all.

I do not have a strong preference for who wins the Cavaliers/Magic series but I would really, really like to see it decided by a level playing field that allows the better team to play within the rules rather than gaining an advantage through officiating that favors one team or another.

It is time to stop officiating that favors certain players and create a level playing field. Once we clear that up, perhaps then it will be legitimate to complain about "performance enhancing substances". Until then, such complaints are the height of hypocrisy.

The Legend Grows: Roy leads the Blazers past the Rockets in game 2

2009-04-22T09:03:00.000-07:00

Prior to the game I was shocked at how demoralized Blazer fans were. For example, at work there were 4 co-holders of season tickets. Two of them assumed the series was over to the point where one of them actually bet five bucks the Blazers would lose game two against the Rockets.

All season I have had a very solid read on this team, from my pre-season prediction of 53 wins down to how they would fare in each month. As a result, they sometimes turn to me for my take on the game.

Blinded by my man-crush on LaMarcus Aldridge, I said, "L.A. will come out and have a huge game, Roy will have a better game, and the Blazers will win this one. It will probably be pretty close, but they will tie the series.

Got to the game and was talking with the guy who convinced me to get season tickets on my own, a good friend and poker buddy. He also thought the series was basically over. I told him the same thing but he remained discouraged, even going so far as to say, "I don't even really want to go to a game 5 if they are down 3-1."

Nor was he alone in his sentiment. The buzz in the crowd was very similar. That game one crushing had the fans completely demoralized.

About five minutes into the game I turned to my wife and said, "They were right. Portland is going to lose."

She looked at the scoreboard which showed the Blazers tied at 15. "Why would you say that?"

I pointed out that home teams which get humiliated in the first game typically come out super energized, build a nice lead, and then end up needing to hold on in the end. Visiting teams typically try to withstand the opening blitz without losing contact and then take over the game. Yet Houston not only withstood the blitz, they had led most of the way.

Furthermore, I had expected Aldridge to come out strong, looking for his shot, and take over the game. Instead, he was playing tentative, not taking the shots he normally took, and was a complete non-factor on offense.

Still, this team was so much fun to watch all year that we settled back to enjoy the ride. And what a ride it was!

Some how, some way the Blazers overcame every obstacle. They overcame the demoralization from game one. They overcame being outnumbered eight to six on the floor. They overcame having scored 100 pints or more just once in a jaw-dropping 29 attempts against the Rockets. They overcame Ron Artest hitting some ridiculous, ridiculous shots.

Artest, by the way, deserves a lot of credit. He has rightly taken a lot of grief over the years for some of his actions, both on and off the court. But he has also done some things people ignore or do not know about. For example, during the down time between games one and two he searched out and performed some charity work. This was not well publicized.

He has also toughened up Houston and given them an edge that they did not have in prior years. More importantly, he saw this game was up for grabs and he did everything he could to grab it. Nicolas Batum is far and away the Blazers' best wing defender. He did a really great job on Artest. Several times he forced Artest into falling away to the left fade-away jumpers at or even beyond the three point line.

And Artest hit them. Sick, sick shots. He was destroying the Blazers. Roy was trying to match him but Portland needed someone to give Roy some help. As the early years of Michael Jordan showed, no player, no matter how good, can single-handed win a playoff series. It takes a team.

Sometimes two players can. At the 8 minute mark of the second quarter we finally saw the Aldridge I expected early in the game. He hti a couple of post moves which opened the lane for Roy to score five quick points. Then he went back on the block and scored on four consecutive possessions.

That forced the Rockets to double and triple team him, to focus their defense on him which then allowed Roy to go back to work. Together they had 36 of Portland's' 53 first half points. Aldridge shot 8 for 10 in the first half. This was the guy I had expected to see.

Instead of passing the ball off and letting Luis Scola control him, he was imposing his will on Scola, on Yao Ming, on anyone who came near him. With the Rockets forced to divide their attention, Roy was carving them up inside.

The Rockets were also relying on two guys. In the first quarter it was Artest with 15 points. In the second quarter it was...well..unexpected. Yao Ming? I would believe that. Aaron Brooks? Yep, we have seen what he can do. But it was Von Wafer scoring 12 points of his own that kept Houston in the game. He simply could not be stopped.

At half time several things were obvious. First off, the Blazers were at a severe disadvantage. This was one of the worst officiated games I have seen in a long time. As in game one, the Blazers were getting into the paint with regularity. The Rockets were staying on the perimeter more except for Wafer. Yet the Rockets had a marked advantage at the line.

Unlike game one, this was not because they were playing solid defense. This was blown call after blown call. The real reason the calls were blown was because it was not being called the same way for both teams. Artest, Shane Battier, Scola, and Ming were allowed to knock people down without being called for fouls whereas the Blazers were being called for a lot of pretty questionable calls. A couple of second half examples demonstrate it pretty well.

Scola ran off a screen on the left block. Aldrdige was getting by Ming, so Ming hip-checked him with a screen that moved about 3'. This hip check threw Aldridge into Scola, knocking Scola to the floor. We started celebrating that Ming would be picking up his fifth foul. Instead, it was called on Aldridge. Now, sure, he DID foul Scola...because he was fouled by Ming. This was Aldridge's fifth foul and would play a big role.

Greg Oden was under the basket on the defensive end. Brooks drove to the basket and Oden, seeing he could not stop him, stood there with his arms raised just as Ming had done at the other end. Moments later Brooks was at the line and Oden had fouled out. Had they made that call against Ming he would have fouled out in the first five minutes.

If the games are officiated this way in Houston, look for two blow-outs because Portland cannot continue to compete five on eight. They were only able to in this game because of Roy and Aldridge. IN the second half, it was primarily Roy.

He scored 11 of the first 13 points in the second half, keeping them in the game until the rest of the team was finally ready to join him. The Rockets were scoring with regularity and only Roy kept this game from turning into a blow-out.

All game long it was Roy who kept the Blazers in contact when the rest of the team struggled except for the mid to late second quarter when Aldridge took over. Roy scored from inside. He scored from mid-range. He scored from outside.

At one point late in the fourth quarter the Blazers were clinging to a tenuous 93-90 lead. Roy was given the ball at the top of the key with very little time left on the shot clock. Defending him one on one was Artest, a guy who is certainly one of the better wing defenders in the league.

In fact, it was the ability of Artest and Battier to defend that had many Blazer fans convinced the Blazers would be unable to pull off a win in this game. And now, in a key moment, here was the match-up Blazer fans feared. There was a real feeling this possession could decide the game. And here was Artest via Roy with all the advantage to Artest:little time to work, no screens to free Roy, and officials who were unlikely to call a foul. Yeah, I know...he did shoot 12 free throws in the game. He should have had 20+.

Be that as it may, Roy did what All-Stars are supposed to do in these situations, even when matched up with top defenders. He found a way to score. He ball faked, got Artest moving and hit a contested three to give the Blazers a six point cushion.

This game was about several things. First, it was Aldridge stepping up and having a big game. He did that. It was about Roy dominating, which he did with 42 points while adding seven rebounds and coming up with a key late block.

And it was about Joel Przybilla, Greg Oden, Aldridge, and everyone else focusing on not letting Ming dominate as he did in game one.

They fronted, they double-teamed, they switched up on him, they came at him from a variety of angles, and just generally kept him from scoring. Certainly,. that opened things up for other Rockets to score as evidenced by six Rockets scoring at least 10 points apiece. However, instead of shooting 60% plus when the game mattered, in this one they shot 50%. Still too high, but much more manageable.

By the time Roy hit a free throw with five seconds left to give Portland a 105-100 lead it was apparent that Portland had learned a lot of lessons from the first game. They grew up fast.

They never got down on themselves even when Houston took a five point lead early in the second. Roy hit all the right notes to keep the Blazers in the game. Przybilla provided some veteran leadership and Nate McMillan did a fantastic job of coaching to get their heads back in the game.

Even when normally reliable Steve Blake started to melt down, missing open shots and making uncharacteristic turnovers that led to dunks for the Rockets, the Blazers refused to cave in. They fought and battled their way.

Nor was it just Roy and Aldridge. Travis Outlaw showed us flashes of his Super-Trout persona, Greg Oden had a key follow-dunk, Rudy Fernandez had a crowd-inspiring steal and dunk, and the Blazers showed that yes, Roy is far and away their best player, but they are still first and foremost a team.

Roy could not win this game alone and the Blazers showed why they have been so good all year, turning in a team performance that resulted in overcoming an incredible final minute by Aaron Brooks in the final minute to hold on for a 107-103 victory.

Brooks is way more talented than advertised. His first desperation three was awesome. His ankle went about seventeen different directions as he tried to hold back from crossing the line, he went up for a desperation three that was well contested and somehow found the bottom of the net. Much as I hate any former Duck, that shot was simply spectacular.

In the end, it was everything we had expected from the first playoff game. The crowd was raucous and into it, even when the Blazers got down by a few points. They recognized the greatness they were seeing from both Roy and Aldridge, recognized the calls but did not get so caught up in hating on the referees that they forgot to enjoy the game, and in large part controlled the methods of cheering.

What I mean is instead of chants starting with the announcer or Blazer mascot, they started organically with the crowd. "Lets go Blazers" was probably the most popular one, though the ubiquitous "MVP" with Roy at the line and the "These refs suck" made a brief return when Oden fouled out. The point is, these chants did not start from electronic admonitions but from the fans getting juiced and rolling with it.

It remains to be seen if the Blazers have grown up enough to do what they need to do which is go into Houston and reclaim home court. Make no mistake, the Rockets did exactly what they needed to do in Portland which was get a split. Now the onus is on the Blazers to prove they deserved the higher seed by winning in Houston, which is no easy proposition.

They have only won once in the new Rocket arena and that was two years ago. It is tougher to win in the playoffs, but the Blazers have the talent to do it. Do they have the mental toughness? Perhaps I am blinded by my unapologetic love of the Blazers, but I think they do and will win one of the two.

Then again, Houston is an excellent team that has the home court advantage. Games three and four should be a real war. Let's go along and enjoy the ride.

Game 1 Requiem:What does losing a home game mean to the Blazers?

2009-04-19T21:45:00.000-07:00

I was looking for the right word to describe the first Blazer playoff game in six years. Destruction? Annihilation? Crushing? Ah, wait...I have it. Humiliation.

Make no mistake, Houston came out and pummeled the Blazers beyond all recognition. They started with a punch in the mouth. When Portland got up Houston got serious. They started the renewed assault with a kick in the groin followed by another punch in the mouth and then, as the Blazers lay there bleeding, they dropped a few elbows and followed those up with a piledriver that put the Blazers through the floor. They then started to walk away before returning to kick the prone body once more for just one measure.

The Blazers, for the first time since the first game of the season when they Lakers humiliated them in similar fashion, looked young, inexperienced, and unprepared. They also looked like a team that felt they had accomplished all their goals just by making the playoffs.

The Rockets, by contrast, for the first time in recent playoff memory, looked like a team that not only wanted to make the playoffs, they wanted to get out of the first round.

It all started on the first Blazer possession. LaMarcus Aldridge posted up Luis Scola on his strong side, the low left block. This allows him to either spin baseline or come across the lane with a sweeping hook that is pretty tough to defend.

Unless, of course, you are 7'6", come off your man and swat it away as Yao Ming did. He executed a shot block so spectacular and intimidating it took Aldridge out of the game for the rest of the half and part of the third quarter. By the time Aldridge recovered, it was too late as the game was out of reach.

It was not only Aldridge who struggled, though. Early on it looked like Nicolas Batum might be a force. He ball-faked on the perimeter, drove baseline and hammered home a dunk. That opened things up. Brandon Roy started driving aggressively to the hoop and scoring regularly.

Unfortunately, that would be the last points for Batum, no other Blazer was scoring, and Houston started collapsing on Roy every trip inside and he stopped shooting.

Meanwhile, Houston went inside to Ming early and often and he delivered. Barring injury or a precipitous fall-off in talent level, Ming will be in the Hall of Fame some day and in this game it looked like that day should be now. His 9-for-9 shooting in the game (all in the first half) was more than enough to put the Blazers in a hole too deep to ever climb out of.

The good news is there are perhaps two Blazers who did not have the worst games they will have in the entire series. Those two were Greg Oden and Brandon Roy, though Roy is unlikely to play that poorly either.

Oden did what you are supposed to do against shot blockers. He used ball fakes to get them in the air and scored virtually at will. Roy also scored well. But they were nowhere near enough in light of the team approach taken by the Rockets. Aaron Brooks was every bit as demoralizing to the Blazers in the second half as Ming was in the first and go plenty of help from Ron Artest.

At some point in the third quarter the fans decided this was the fault of the refs. Admittedly there were a few rather questionable calls, such as Roy fouling the air three feet behind Shane Battier and Battier going to the line for three free throws. Problem was...that had no effect on the outcome.

Had the Blazers benefited from every call they would have still lost by 20. They did not get hosed in this game.

True, they outscored Houston in the paint by 24 points (56-32) yet were out shot at the free throw line by 12. However, that had more to do with Houston's defensive prowess than it did any brutal refereeing hatchet job as the fans seemed to believe with their recurring, "These refs suck!" chants that threatened to rival the boos they lavished on Darius Miles when he returned with the Memphis Grizzlies..

That was partially fan disappointment at watching their team get absolutely drilled by a team that, on this night, was simply better.

Post-game comments by the players acknowledged as much. Ming talked about how the Blazers looked the way he had felt after his first playoff game. Roy talked about how many Blazers succumbed to the pressure, did not take the shots they normally take, and how little energy they played.

The good news for the Blazers is three fold. First, this was just one game. Yes, they lost a home game, but that was likely to happen at some point in the playoffs. They are quite likely to win one in Houston, thus recapturing the home court advantage.

Second, outside of Greg Oden (who may miss the next game) and Roy, every player had what will probably end up being his worst game.

Third, the entire Rocket starting line-up had unbelievable games. Ming did not miss a shot of any kind. Luis Scola shot an improbable 7-9 and added 8 rebounds. Aaron Brooks had 5-8 from beyond the arc and 10-17 total. Ron Artest was a solid 7-12.

In any given game you might see one of them repeat that, but it is unlikely they can repeat it as a group over the course of the series.

Sure, it was disappointing and discouraging, but it was also just one game. The Blazers have the right coach and players to recognize this and deal with it. Watch for the Blazers to come out more focused, relaxed, and ready for game two.

Look for Aldridge to come out strong as he generally does after a poor outing. He will come out focused and ready and not allow himself to be taken out of his game again. Roy typically makes a point of establishing himself early in must-win games, which game 2 unquestioningly is.

When those two are on their games, the Blazers are very, very tough to beat. Game two will be a nice bounce back, and after the Blazers take either game three or four in Houston, it will help us see that, though disappointing, the loss was just a bad start to a good run. It will start with a game two win.

It is unlikely to be a blow-out and indeed is quite likely to come down to the final few minutes, but they got their stinker out of the way early and are now ready and primed for a long playoff run. Much as the situations with the Spurs, Celtics, Heat, and so forth, the series is just getting started.

In a seven game series, the better team generally wins. This series should be no different. Houston has a very good team that can win any game but the Blazers, as this series will bear out by the end, should prove to be better.

Series Preview:Why the Blazers Will Knock the Rockets out of the Playoffs

2009-04-17T11:28:00.001-07:00

Over the course of the season, the records of the Houston Rockets and Portland Trailblazers were very similar. The Blazers checked in with a 54-28 record while Houston finished 53-29. Both records are spectacular in light of some of the trials the teams faced.

Portland spent the entire season without starting Small Forward Martell Webster. Webster had been showing improving defense on the perimeter but was more important in his role as defense-stretching 3-point specialist. His outside shooting forced teams to stay at home on him which would leave teams forced to help on the Blazers post men from other quarters.

Without Webster the starting job fell to Nicolas Batum. This was not an anticipated move since as recently as summer league it was felt Batum was at least two years away from being ready for even a reserve role in the NBA.

The Rockets suffered an even more key injury, losing Tracy McGrady for 47 games.

Fortunately for both teams, they are deep enough and talented enough to mask the loss of key players. In Houstons case, McGrady is obviously far more important overall than Webster and their ability to vie for a Division Championship speaks well to their talent level. They are a very, very good team.

I would go so far as to argue the one game difference in overall records in meaningless. It is a mere statistical anomaly over the course of a long season. These teams are very closely matched.

Early in the season, a Rose Quarter game illustrated that. Portland and Houston battled all game long with the Blazers holding 5 to 7 point leads until they took a 10 point lead with about 10 minutes to go. But Houston took it into overtime, setting up a Brandon Roy jumper, Yao Ming and-1, and Roy miracle trey in the last 1.9 seconds. The game was so tight it saw 3 lead changes in that space of time. They series might be that tight as well.

Except the Blazers are a much better team now than they were at that point in the year. One of my complaints about the team at that time was they had not yet developed a "killer instinct". They would often build comfortable leads only to see those leads melt away and the game decided in the closing seconds.

That is no longer true. They now know how to apply the pressure that turns comfortable leads into blow-outs. They know how to come back on teams, even very good teams as their recent double digit win in San Antonio after being down by 18 illustrates.

More importantly, they finally know how good they are. Prior to the season they thought they were good enough to make the playoffs. As of a few weeks ago, they knew they were not only good enough to make the playoffs, but also to win some games and that they should at the least win a series.

In a series this close, the advantage lays with the home team. With that in mind, it is wise to look at the way teams closed the regular season. Both the Rockets and Blazers had chances to win games that would guarantee them home court. Houston was playing for a Division Title and Portland to maintain the tie-breaker over the Spurs.

Houston had a lead in Dallas but was unable to close it out, eventually falling to drop one game behind the Spurs on the last day of the season. Portland led the Nuggets all game and put the hammer down, blowing them out.

I am sure Rockets fans will correctly point out the Rockets were on the road against a team also fighting for seeding. Fair enough. In a game both teams desperately wanted...they did not get the job done. Call it the McGrady effect.

For whatever reason, recent Rockets teams have had a pattern. They are great regular season teams that find ways to lose series they should win in the playoffs. Of course, this will be their first time with Ron Artest, a talented wing defender and good scorer. He unquestionably makes them a better team.

He is also illustrative of one of the keys to the series. The Rockets are an excellent defensive team. Luis Scola is a very physical defender, Shane Battier is an above average defender, and the shot-blocking of Yao Ming can sometimes close off the paint.

They are no slouches on offense, either. They have seven guys who score over or near double figures. They can score inside or out. They rebound well. There is a reason this team won 53 games.

But the Blazers are pretty solid as well. It starts with their improved power forward.

LaMarcus Aldridge started the season as a good help defender who sometimes got torched by less skilled post players. As the season progressed, however, he developed his game more and more. If the All-Star game were held today and he were not on it, that would be a mistake because he has come that far this season.

He has developed a very strong post game. He is at his best on the left post where he can spin inside or come across the lane for a sweeping hook. If needed, he can step out to the perimeter for his silky smooth jump shot.

At this point, people wonder why it did not start with Brandon Roy. Anybody who does not know what Roy can do yet is just not a dedicated NBA follower. He is the engine that makes the Blazers go. He can penetrate the lane seemingly at will, either to dish for open looks or to score on hapless defenders.

His defense is all over the board. At times he is a lock-down defender but at other times he can be exploited. Fortunately for the Blazers, there is nobody on the Rockets who will be able to regularly explode on Roy from the guard position.

Joel Przybilla is a solid interior defender and above average rebounder. He is limited offensively, but the other starters for Portland cover up for that. Well, sometimes they do.

Nicolas Batum will in many ways be a key to the series. Defensively he brings it every night. He is the Blazers best on the ball defender and best help defender. He gets into the passing lanes, he tips balls, and harasses talented scorers into sub-par nights.

However, it is his offense where he needs to become more consistent. On some nights he is very aggressive. He takes the open shot, drives the lane with abandon, gets out and runs, and turns the Blazers into a deadly offensive unit that very few teams can stay with. When he is taking his shots, the Blazers are a cohesive, talented offensive unit.

The final starter is oft-maligned Steve Blake. Blake is a weak perimeter defender. Fortunately, the Rockets do not have Tony Parker or Chris Paul. Aaron Brooks is a fine player but he is not going to torch the Blazers night after night, thus covering one weakness for the Blazers. Offensively, Blake is a perfect fit.

He has gotten better about creating havoc for opposing defenses by getting into the lane more often and is able to play off Roy's penetrations by staying home and hitting the open three. He is generally good about not turning the ball over. He is a very steady player who can score when needed.

Off the bench the Blazers bring a lot of firepower. Rudy Fernandez and Sergio Rodriguez have excellent chemistry. Rodriguez finds Fernandez for so many open looks that Fernandez set the Rookie record for most threes in a season. Defensively they can be exploited as they focus too much on playing the passing lanes and sometimes forget to defend their man. Still, they should outscore former Blazer Von Wafer and Kyle Lowry.

It is in Travis Outlaw that the Blazers really shine. Outlaw has been overlooked by the rest of the NBA but should have been considered both this year and last for the Sixth Man of the Year.

Defensively, he is an enigma. At times he is dominating. His agility and length can cause problems for even a Kobe Bryant or LeBron James. At other times he gets lit up by D-League scrubs. He is at his best coming from off the ball to block shots or getting spectacular blocks in transition.

It is on offense that he really shines. He has improved his shooting from deep but is at his best slashing to the hoop for highlight reel dunks or using his jab step and incredible leaping ability to create clean looks at the hoop, often against double teams. He gets so high so quick that defenders not named Dwayne Wade have no hope of reasonably contesting his shot.

Additionally, if he is not the Blazers best fourth quarter player then he is at least in the conversation. When you consider the fact the Blazers have Brandon Roy playing for them, that is quite a statement but one Blazer fans recognize.

Again and again Outlaw has provided a spark for the Blazers. He explodes in huge bursts, often racking up double digit points in two or three minute spans. The more the Blazers need a big fourth quarter, the more likely they are to see Outlaw turn into "Super-Trout"*.

All of this does not even address rookie enigma Greg Oden. He can be awe-inspiring and game changing or in and out of the game so quick you almost do not even notice he was there.

Defensively he can be outstanding. When he is feeling it, he is a premier shot-blocker. He has developed into a well-above average rebounder. He has regained his quickness and agility to the point where it is not as big of a mis-match as you would suspect when he gets caught on the perimeter. He moves his feet quick enough to stay with all but the quickest of players. It is offensively where his game is unsteady.

Oden is somewhat limited. He has an increasing repertoire of post moves but for the most part he wants to be Shaquille O'Neal. He likes to back people down and run over them. Unfortunately for Oden, the offensive fouls O'Neal committed for years that were called on the defender actually get called on Oden.

The playoffs should help that. For whatever reason, playoffs see things that were fouls in the regular season become "no-calls". This helps guys like Bruce Bowen, Luis Scola, Ron Artest, Joel Przybilla, and Greg Oden. Yeah, I know Bowen isn't in this series, but he illustrates the points.

When players are allowed to be more physical, it benefits players who have the ability and desire to be more aggressive. That means Oden should see fewer calls against him which will lead to his being a greater presence in the series.

Overall, this series should be very close and entertaining. I would not even be surprised to see both teams get a game on the opponents home floor. But in the end, the improvement the Blazers have shown combined with their overall slightly higher talent level and having the home court will make all the difference. Portland should win in either five or seven games.

*(Outlaw's nickname is "Trout" for T-Outlaw" and when he has one of his patented explosions some people refer to him as Super-Trout).

What the Blazer demolition of the Oklahoma Thunder Tells us about their Playoff Readiness

2009-04-14T21:39:00.000-07:00

This just in. Brandon Roy is pretty good. That is not news. But what is news to a lot of people is the entire Blazer team is pretty good as well. The 113-83 destruction of the Thunder showed that in many ways.

Early in the season Portland struggled against bad teams. They gave away games to the Thunder, the Clippers (at home, no less...one of only 7 home losses all season) and twice to the Warriors. Even in the games they won, frequently the score was close. If the final score was lopsided, it was generally because of a late run.

Lately, however, things have been different and the Thunder game was a prime example. The Blazers set the the tone early, letting the Thunder know this would not be a good night for an upset. After the first quarter they had nearly doubled the Thunder at 29-15 and the game was every bit as lopsided as the score.

Portland scored inside and outside. They made great passes, moved without the ball, and executed their offense to perfection. Of course, they have done all that several times this year. The difference was two-fold.

First off, as they have done during their recent hot streak, they ratcheted up the defense. The 15 points the Thunder managed in the first quarter was no accident. When they tried to pound the ball inside, the Blazer defense collapsed or, in the terms of Coach Nate McMillan, "built a wall".

When Oklahoma City was reduced to shooting jumpers over the top it was with a hand in their face and frequently late in the shot clock in scramble situations.

Second, many times this year the starters would build a lead only to see the reserves fritter it away. Conversely, at times the starters have struggled only for opponents to see the Blazer reserves put on runs that changed the games. For much of the season, however, it was one or the other.

Lately, both units have been hitting on all cylinders at the same time. Ironically, it has coincided with the return of Greg Oden to a reserve role.

Oden is still working his way through the learning curve and tends to dominate weak competition while struggling against better competition. This is no knock on Oden. He has shown steady improvement and has improved against even the top centers in the NBA. But the truth remains that, at this stage of his young career, he plays much better against younger centers and against teams with little interior defense.

Or, in the case of the Thunder, no defense whatsoever, interior or exterior.

With the starters and reserves scoring seemingly at will lately, there is only one thing even slowing the Blazers down and that is their defense. Lately, that has not been an issue either. In this game they did not let up in the second quarter, holding the Thunder to just 16 points. Their 62-33 half time lead was no mistake and no fluke. Portland has improved that much.

Early in the season the reason would have been Brandon Roy.

Roy can score from inside or out. He passes well. He rebounds well. And when the mood strike, he defends well. More importantly, he sets the tone. Over and over this season, in post-game interviews, he would spend mere moments talking about the game before detailing the next goal the Blazers had. More often than not, they would then deliver on that goal. They broke long losing streaks against the Suns, Spurs, and Pacers, for example. They had six consecutive winning months. They made the playoffs.

But the real key has been LaMarcus Aldridge. Over the last month or two of the season he has become a dominating player. Some...okay, most nights, it is his offense. But his defense has improved by leaps and bounds as well. He has developed into an above average interior defender. He can also do a credible job when he gets caught on the wings.

With Roy and Aldridge playing at All-Star levels and the team as a whole turning into a defensive machine, they are truly an awe-inspiring sight to behold when they face a weak team such as the Thunder.

They also are more than ready to face the pressure of playing against the best teams in the league as their recent home win over a frustrated, whining Laker team and their surprising road win over the Spurs demonstrate. Yes, the Spurs were short-handed. But they also built an 18 point lead at home. Seeing the Spurs give back 18 points to lose by double digits is not something we are used to seeing against ANY team, Manu Ginobli or no.

Portland has improved by leaps and bounds in all these ways and more. As they approach the playoffs, looking for home court in the first round, it remains to be seen if they have come far enough to get out of the first or second round. They have the talent. They have the coach. They have the desire. But do they have the mental toughness to beat veteran, talented teams on the road in win or go home situations? Can they deal with facing the same players night after night when those players get under their skins?

As one of the earliest 50 win predictors for this team (my pre-season review had them finishing 53-29), it would seem natural to see me predict a deep playoff run. And, in truth, I believe this team has the talent to go a long way. It would be a long shot, but them reaching or even winning the Finals is no longer a pipe dream. They should do no worse than winning at least two games in the first round regardless of whether they get home court for the first round. If they do end up with home court, they should win the first series. If they do that, it will be interesting to see how far their new found confidence can carry them.

They have realized it all starts at the defensive end. They come out with aggression. They play hard beginning to end.

Of course, I do realize they are more likely to lose in the first round than get to the Finals. But games like the Thunder game show how far they come and how it is no longer out of the conversation.

Wake up Blazer fans:The Suns don't matter

2009-03-30T09:21:00.000-07:00

The other night during the Blazers' matter of fact destruction of the hapless Memphis Grizzlies, a score flashed up on the scoreboard showing the final score in Jazz-Suns game. Utah won a close game in overtime. The fans went nuts. That was a very dumb reaction.

The Suns are many things. Under Alvin Gentry they have returned to being one of the most entertaining teams in basketball. Their games generally include several exciting plays, numerous emotional peaks and valleys as both teams put on runs, high scoring, and a few spectacular defensive plays as their frenetic style leads to some very entertaining shot-blocking.

One thing they were not, are not, and will not be is a threat to the Blazers' play-off position. Oh, sure, the Blazers "magic number" deals with how many games Portland must win or Phoenix must lose to guarantee a Blazer playoff entry. So from that standpoint, watching Phoenix lose could be considered a good thing. But it is a mistake.

The Jazz are a different case entirely. Deron Williams is very entertaining to watch. They put up a lot of points, score inside and out, and have some solid defenders. They are also a team that is one-half game behind the Blazers in the race for playoff positioning.

With nine games left to play for the Blazers it might be tough to run down Denver or Houston, the two teams that are a game and a half ahead of the Blazers. Running down either of them would get Portland home court advantage in the first round, something they desperately need in order to advance to the second round.

Of the two, Houston is the more likely. Denver has the easiest schedule of any of the teams fighting for the two through seven seeds and has shown all year that they are a worthy team. Houston has also shown they can play without Tracy McGrady and is the odds on favorite to retain the fourth playoff seed. That means if Portland stays in the fourth or fifth playoff slot their likely opponent will be either the Nuggets or Rockets.

Portland has struggled against both teams, but it is the Nuggets who seem to have the greater dominance. Thus it would behoove Portland to stay in the fifth position in order to have the more favorable match up. In order to do that, they must stay ahead of two very talented teams:the Jazz and Hornets.

As a result, whenever Phoenix plays the Jazz or Hornets, the best interests of the Blazers are clear:a Phoenix win. Blazer fans need to wake up and realize their team is not only good enough to make the playoffs, it is good enough to put a good scare into any of the teams they are likely to face and even a first round win, while an upset, would not be on the level of the Mavericks-Warriors series a couple ago. Instead, it would be a minor upset at best.

But to enhance the likelihood of that, they need to worry about improving their playoff seeding, not about merely making the playoffs. Making the playoffs is not enough. They need to win a couple of games.

With that in mind, one thing is clear. As far as Blazers fans are concerned, the Suns don't matter. Finding ways for the Jazz and Hornets to lose games...and if possible, the Rockets and Nuggets as well.

Is it likely Portland will run down either team ahead of them, get home court, and win a playoff series? Nope. But it is certainly more likely than the Suns coming back and knocking the Blazers out.

Instead of worrying about teams 6-1/2 games behind them in the playoff race, Portland fans need to wake up and realize the real goal. Finding a way to sneak into a home court advantage for the first round.

Brandon Roy is better than (insert name of whoever takes the last shot for the opponents here) Part 25

2009-03-07T23:15:00.000-08:00

Another home game against a sub-par NBA team. Another game won or lost inside the last minute. Another game where a shot is taken in classic buzzer-beating fashion. Portland has seen a lot of these this year.

Against Houston Brandon Roy sandwiched two insanely awesome shots around a nice and-one by Yao Ming to win. Against the Knicks he evaded the foul-to-give and beat three defenders to win the game. Against...well, short form; when Roy takes the last shot in a game decided by the final shot, look for the Blazers to win.

Yet in their last three home games, Portland has watched an opponent take a potential game-winning buzzer beater twice. Against Indiana, it was returning Jarrett Jack. His trey at the buzzer was much harder than people have made out; after pump-faking Travis Outlaw, he shot an off-balance, short-armed three thinking he was out of time that never really had a chance.

Tonight, against Minnesota, it was Randy Foye of the Minnesota Timberwolves taking the last shot. Ironically, it was a failure on Roy's part that made the shot a potential game-winner.

With eight seconds left, Randy Foye fouled Roy. He stepped to the line with a chance to give the Blazers a three-point lead. This would allow them to give up the two while defending the three and force the Timberwolves, who were down to their last time-out, to make a three against a defense designed to prevent just that.

He missed the second free throw, however, and thus Minnesota could use the entire court. A two would tie, a triple win. They designed a beautiful play that got Randy Foye a great, wide-open look at a three.

Every knowledgeable Blazer fan knows what I am about to say. If Brandon Roy or Travis Outlaw gets that look with the game on the line, the results are very, very favorable. Foye is the guy Portland traded to get Roy. Here is why.

In the post-game interviews, Roy was asked if he was nervous when Foye put that shot up. He gave a little chuckle and said something along the lines of, "Not really. I was close to him and could see it was off-line."

I'll take that answer. From where I was sitting, I thought it was in and, like the thunderstruck fans around me, held my breath as it sailed toward the rim, fearing it would drop. Of course, Roy had a better look at it than I did, and his analysis was correct.

It also demonstrated why Roy is one of the premier closers in the game today. If that ball left his hand, there is a chance it would miss. But it would be unexpected. He is clutch and generally makes the shots that count.

The game should never have gotten to that point, though. Minnesota was coming off being thrashed by the Lakers the night before. Portland should have come out early, put them in a hole, and thoroughly demoralized them. Instead, it was Portland that came out looking like they were on the verge of being ready to fold and Minnesota that was loose. How loose?

Kevin McHale, the coach of the T-Wolves, was caught on the big-screen singing along to the pre-game introduction background music. (John Denver? Beatles? Some horrible song. Don't remember exactly what it was...but seeing him humming it as his players were introduced was hysterically funny.)

Four minutes into the game we had to double-check and make sure the shot clock was functioning as the score was an embarrassing 6-4. It was a ragged game with a lot of whistles. Technical fouls for Defensive three seconds, fouls, turnovers, fouls on out-of-bounds plays...it was ugly, ugly, ugly.

A nice stretch towards the end of the quarter was entertaining and it looked like Portland was ready to run away with the game except for one small problem; Steve Blake was assigned to guard Sebastian Telfair.

You remember him? Star of a documentary, Blazer future at point guard, guy caught with guns in bags to start his problems and with no jump shot in his bag to exacerbate them in stops in Portland and Boston before going to Minnesota to throw up bricks?

Good defenders have been known to play several feet off him because the only way he is a threat is penetrating the lane to dish to open teammates. He shot close to or below 40% for years.

But Blake has a way of making pedestrian guards look like All-Stars, All-Stars look like first-ballot Hall of Fame players, and Hall of Fame Players look like the greatest of all time.

18 points on 7-of-13 shooting, seven assists and just one turnover. Telfair looked like an All-Star on this night. Time and again he blew by Blake to either create a great look for a team-mate or simply float it in to score himself.

That penetration forced Blazer defenders to help which, in turn, forced them to pick up fouls. The need for mobile interior defenders led to long minutes for LaMarcus Aldridge, Brandon Roy, and Travis Outlaw while limiting the minutes of Joel Przybilla. He is a superior rebounder and good interior defender, but is not mobile enough to cover the lane when quick, agile guards penetrate with regularity.

Coach McMillan saw this early and altered his rotation. He moved Aldridge to center, Outlaw to power forward, and Roy to small forward. This gave Portland a team that was undersized but long, agile, and quick.

It was also a fairly effective team. Aldridge did a great job of rotating to cover the lane, as did Outlaw. Time and again the Wolves found themselves heaving up off-balance, contested shots against the shot-clock buzzer.

And hitting them.

Over. And over. And over.

They were hitting impossible shots. This was a night they played well over their heads. Portland played some of their best defense of the year. Every shot was contested. Every possession was a dog-fight. If Minnesota had any fast-break points at all, it wasn't over maybe two to four points. They had to scratch and claw for everything they got.

And to give them credit, they did.

On this night, the Wolves played over their head and the Blazers played an average game. It showed as the game was decided in the final two possessions.

There were several take-aways from this game. Let's start with Nicolas Batum.

On this night, he returned to the early-season form he displayed. He was aggressive in looking for his shot, getting up seven shots and going to the line four more times in a shade under 23 minutes, also picking up six rebounds, three assists, and adding a blocked shot.

Scoring 12 points on seven shots was nice, but more importantly, his willingness to shoot changed the complexion of the game. When Batum gets the ball and instantly rotates it to the next player it forces the Blazers to play four on five offense. Conversely, when he is willing to shoot it forces the opponents to defend him. This covers the inside hole when Przybilla is in the game.

The Blazers have reliable, talented scorers in Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge and a nice third option in Steve Blake, but the game becomes too difficult when those three have to do all the scoring. Przybilla is a solid defender, above average rebounder, and very limited offensive player. If the Blazers field two non-threats in their starting line-up it often leads to low-scoring first quarters that in turn lead to double-digit deficits. That has to change.

One way to make that change is to look for Martell Webster to return next year. He should score 12 - 15 points a game and his willingness to take the open shot occupies a defender.

The other way is for Batum to look for his offense a bit more. That doesn't mean he should start jacking up 20 shots a night, but he does need to mix in a few drives and take the open deep ball when he has it. On this night he was doing that. Without his contribution, it is likely the Blazers would have lost to a sub-.500 team for the seventh time this season.

Having a small forward who scores 10 - 15 points a game does not mean the Blazers are suddenly going to shoot up to a 108 point per game average or anything crazy like that. But it does mean they will have to expend less energy on offense to get good looks which will in turn allow them to work harder on defense.

They will need to because they are now unstable at the back-up point guard position. Sergio Rodriguez has been struggling for the last few games since Blake returned. He feels the pressure of Jerryd Bayless sitting on the bench behind him. Rodriguez plays best when he is comfortable. Right now he is playing very poorly.

Bayless is hugely popular with the fans but is only effective in spurts. He tends to dominate the ball, generate a lot of offense for himself, stifle the team efforts, and pick up fouls in bunches as he gets over-aggressive on defense, puts his body into them, and picks up bunches of fouls.

He can be a game-changer at times. He can change the pace of the game, he can score in bunches, and at times is an intense, effective defender. At other times, though, he is an offensive foul machine who brings the Blazer offense to a screeching halt.

In time he has the potential to be a lock-down defender with explosive scoring capability and even run the point somewhat effectively. At the moment, however, he is best suited to a pace-changing role.

With so many things unsettled...will Oden return to the line-up, will the small forward position be a threat on offense, who will play back-up point guard, can Portland find a way to defend the three...it remains to be seen if Portland can stay ahead of Dallas and Phoenix and, more importantly, run down Utah, Houston, Denver, New Orleans, and San Antonio.

Don't laugh...they are within a half game of the first four and only 2-1/2 games behind the Spurs. They have a very favorable schedule that could see them going 14-6 the rest of the way while the Rockets are without Tracy McGrady, the Jazz have most of their games on the road (where they are only 11-17), Denver has shown vulnerability, and as a Blazer fan I can hope the Hornets and Spurs stumble a bit the rest of the way.

The Blazers are sitting exactly where I had them pegged, 39-23. They have the potential to go on a big, end of season run. They are going to need to in order to improve their play-off seeding. This is a Blazer team that with or without rookie Greg Oden, with or without Rodriguez getting his head on straight, with or without the small forward position regularly producing, this team has the talent to make a nice run, get a decent playoff seeding, and gain their experience by getting out of the first round, not just being satisfied with getting into the play-offs.

The only question remaining is to see if they perform to their potential. Winning games 95-93 over teams like the Wolves is not the way to do it but at least it is a win. Better a bad win than a good loss.

What Travis Outlaw and Brandon Roy Showed the Fans against the Knicks

2009-02-10T15:10:00.001-08:00

There are lessons to be learned from every NBA game. For example, anyone who doubted the ability of Mike D'Antoni to coach should learn from what he has done with the Knicks. Under Isaiah Thomas, this was a roster in disarray, capable of scoring 120 on any given night...as long as they were willing to give up 140.

For all the criticism of D'antoni teams playing so little defense his name should be Mike 'Antoni since there is no D, he has completely changed the complexion of the Knicks team in just a few short months. Sure, you are still going to score against them, but not like last year. He has this team heading in the right direction.

Greg Oden showed he has learned some things, too. The first two Blazer possessions went something like this; pound the ball in to Oden, watch him travel. Pound the ball in to Oden, watch him travel.

Typically this season, that has meant it will be a long night for Oden. He will pick up fouls in bunches and play 10 - 15 minutes, being no factor at all. However, he has been showing improvement and on this night, he would not let his errors take him off his game.

The Blazers started slow, getting up a ridiculous two shots in their first six possessions. This is a Blazer team that plays more mature than its experience, which is one reason the cries of "bring in a veteran!" are so ridiculous.

Portland HAS the James Posey-type veteran presences on the team in guys like Joel Przybilla, Steve Blake, and Brandon Roy. Yes, Roy is only in his third year but he plays bigger, as does Outlaw.

Once the Blazers stopped turning the ball over 67% of the time, they easily outmatched the Knicks. Travis Outlaw and Roy combined for 19 first quarter points and the Blazers were rolling.

When they get big nights from any two of the Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, Travis Outlaw and Greg Oden foursome they are going to put up some big numbers on the board. This frees the second unit to relax and play their game. It does not always work, as the very sub-par performance by Jerryd Bayless would show.

There are nights where Bayless is a difference maker in a positive way. He can change the game offensively with his aggressive moves into the lane or his tenacious, harassing defense.

But he can change it negatively, too, by being over-aggressive and picking up fouls in bunches, turning the ball over in bunches, and taking the Blazers out of their offense. A lot of Blazer fans are blinded by his glitz and don't see the way he hinders the team. On this night, there was a fine example.

The two guys next to us spent the entire fourth quarter whining about how the Blazers needed to put in Bayless for Sergio Rodriguez. Meanwhile, Rodriguez was getting the ball to the right people at the right time. Even when the actual assist went to Roy, many times it was the result of Rodriguez maneuvering the defense into places where Roy could receive the ball in a position to find Aldridge or Outlaw open. When the defenders stayed home on Roy, Rodriguez himself picked up the assist.

If Bayless was in the game it is unlikely Outlaw would have gotten the ball when and where he needed it to bring back the Blazers to where Roy could perform the heroics that sent the Blazers fans home happy with another improbable buzzer-beater win.

But that is what has this Blazer team on the edge of greatness. There are so many players who can dominate the game in so many different ways.

Start with Oden. Forget his offense, it is still raw and unreliable. Oden can completely change the game defensively. He was a huge force in the third quarter. In a shade over two minutes he blocked three shots and forced Chris Duhon to travel, essentially creating a four possession advantage for Portland that allowed them to extend out to a nice lead, but more importantly, it moved the Knicks out of the paint.

Then, playing with five fouls, the Blazers down 108-103 and just 1:43 left in the game, he blocked a dunk attempt by David Lee. That block gave Portland possession, ignited the crowd, and let the Blazers wing defenders get a shade more aggressive knowing they had insurance behind them.

With Oden controlling the glass and the paint, in theory that will allow Portland to better defend the wing. That is just a theory, and we will come back to that a little later.

Up front, LaMarcus Aldridge can also be a game changer, but in his case he can dominate at either end of the floor. Offensively, he is a match-up nightmare for any defender. His post game has developed nicely to where he is a threat to score from either block and his feathery 18 foot jumper is a genuine pleasure to watch. Woe betide the team that sags off him.

But defensively is where he is making huge strides. More and more often the Blazers are turning to him when they need a big stop against an opposing big man. Against the versatile Al Harrington, Aldridge was an easy choice. He moves his feet well enough to actually be one of the Blazers' better perimeter defenders, a fact the unobservant have not yet picked up on. But he also can defend the basket, as his emphatic block on Harrington in the third quarter demonstrated.

With Aldridge able to change a game on both ends, there is not much to say about Brandon Roy. Obviously NBA fans in general are not all that aware of him as evidenced by him finishing behind Rafer Alston (!) in the All-Star voting...there were other egregious examples, but that one is bad enough. Roy is having a better season than most of the guys who finished ahead of him...nobody in their right miond would argue with Kobe Bryant or Chris Paul, but other than that, the things Roy brings to the table compare very well with any of the others and NBA fans should be embarrassed at their collective incompetence in voting for so many guys having inferior players. Of course, the coaches and players know...but it does speak volumes about the lack of knowledge too many ballot-stuffers have.

Coming off the bench the Blazers can bring Travis Outlaw, another guy who can change the game at either end. Offensively, he can create his own shot, hit the three, and dunk on the big guys. Twice in the last two years I have seen Dwayne Wade block an Outlaw shot at the apex of his release. Otherwise, I have yet to see anyone who can even contest it. This is perhaps one reason he is a team-best 6 for 7 shooter with the game on the line...better even than Roy's 7-19.

The clutch nature of Outlaw is not well understood by many Blazer fans who frequently clamor to see him put on the trading block. This would be a huge, huge mistake. Take Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, or Travis Outlaw off the team and you have made the team instantly and noticeably worse in a way that is true for no other person.

Despite my praise for Oden earlier, Joel Przybilla is, at this point, a better rebounder and defender, even if more limited offensively than Oden. Rudy Fernandez is exciting to watch with an eye for the flashy pass and moving three-pointer, but a Steve Blake or Martell Webster is, at this point, at the very least his equal. Bayless and Rodriguez are nice back-up point guards but there are several in the NBA who are, at this point, better.

Nicolas Batum is an above average defender who does a lot of things to help the team that don't show up in the box score. For example, at least three times against the Knicks he tipped balls to teammates who were credited with the rebounds. Without his tips, those rebounds would have gone to the Knicks every time.

Despite these things, he can be replaced with little or no drop-off and in most cases even with an improvement in the Blazer performance. As much as I believe the deep shooting of Steve Blake complements the interior games of Aldridge and Oden and the penetration of Roy and Outlaw, even he is basically interchangeable with several players.

In essence, then, what sets the Blazers apart from most teams are Outlaw, Roy, and Aldridge. These three guys win more games for the team than the rest of the players combined. They have a sense for when to explode offensively and when to step up the defense.

The Knick game was a fine example. When the Knick lead crested at 13, Outlaw, Roy, and Aldridge took over. They combined to score 23 points, dish out 3 assists, and in other words dominate during the 25-11 run with which the Blazers pulled out the win.

The phrase "pulled out the win" should have been unnecessary. They out shot the Knicks 53.7 - 50.6%. They dominated the boards 43-29 and outscored them at the line 14-12. In every way, shape, and form they dominated the game...except two.

First, the free throw disparity should have been greater. The Knicks shot 100%, thus maximizing their opportunities while the Blazers missed seven free throws. But the more important disparity was beyond the arc.

Three teams in the NBA are worse than Portland at defending the three; Sacramento, Washington, and New Jersey. The only other teams defending at worse than 38% are Golden State and Miami. Of those, only Miami is above .500.

This is a dangerous Achilles heel in the regular season where a team can get hot over the course of a game as New York did in the third quarter, hitting treys on four consecutive possessions at one point. For the game they hit 14 threes, including five apiece during the third and fourth quarters.

If Portland does not learn how to defend the three and runs into a hot-shooting team in the playoffs, it will be a short playoff season for them. Fortunately, they have time to work on this. It will be much easier to work with when they have talents like Roy, Aldridge and Outlaw who can rescue them when an inferior team gets hot at the wrong time.

LaMarcus Aldridge and Jerryd Bayless lead the Blazers past the Charlotte Bobcats

2009-01-28T23:39:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago Portland shot 51% from the free throw line and gave up a game to Charlotte they should have won easily. Now Charlotte came into Portland fresh off a double overtime win over the Lakers.

The Bobcats should be tired, the Blazers rested, and the Bobcats were missing key components in Gerald Wallace and D.J. Augustin. All signs point to an easy Blazer victory.

Early on it looked like it would be an easy win. Portland built a 32-18 lead after one quarter, largely behind LaMarcus Aldridge and Jerryd Bayless.

It started with Aldridge. He got out and ran, he scored from inside, and he scored from outside. Actually, scratch that...inside was the location where the first 22 Blazer points were scored. They established early on that the Bobcats simply could not stop Aldridge on the blocks, Brandon Roy was scoring on his nemesis Raja Bell, and Greg Oden was cleaning up every rebound in sight that Nicolas Batum did not get to.

The paint belonged to Portland and it was in no small part due to the hot start of Aldridge. Then, when Portland needed a second scorer, in came fireplug Jerryd Bayless.

Bayless had a particularly impressive stretch where he seemed to be in the middle of every big play on both ends of the floor. He scored, he dished for easy buckets, he tipped balls, he defended, and just generally controlled the game. During that section Portland beat a lead that went as high as 18 points at 36-18 that was never threatened.

A look at the numbers shows how easily Portland dominated an outgunned Bobcat team. Portland out shot the Bobcats 45% to 41%, made more free throws than Charlotte attempted, crushed the rebounding battle 45-26, and won the game 88-74.

It was such a convincing win that forgotten man Channing Frye made an appearance (to a nice ovation) and moments later Shavlik "the Human Victory Cigar" Randolph made it to the floor, too. Unfortunately, Frye ended up with a suck differential of -1 and Randolph ended up with a Mario but at least they made the floor. But they were also indicative of a problem; they were not the only Blazers who struggled to score.

Think about it for a second. After a 32 point first quarter the Blazers could only drop in 56 points in the next three quarters against a Bobcat team playing without two starters. That is not even 19 points per quarter.

There are a lot of reasons that could be given for the poor offensive showing. The game became extremely slow-paced; the Blazers shot just 73 times and the Bobcats were even more anemic, just jacking up 70 shots.

But the upshot is, Portland stopped imposing their will on the Bobcats and allowed that slow, methodical, dare I say plodding pace to gain dominance in the game.

They can get away with that against a tired, short-handed team. They can't get away with that against the better teams in the league.

They are entering a key stretch of the season. They have an opportunity in the next couple weeks while the Nuggets are entering a tough stretch that sees them play 16 of 20 games on the road. Portland needs to not just catch the Nuggets in the standings but actually pass them and put some distance between the two teams.

This is a Blazer team that is more than good enough to win a playoff series or two, particularly with the continued improvement being shown by Bayless and Oden. However, to do that they will need the benefit of the home floor. The best chance to do that is to win the Northwest Division.

They currently trail the Nuggets by a game and a half. Over the next couple of weeks they need to make a move, take over first place, and never look back.

That is easier said than done; Portland is home against the always-dangerous Jazz, then goes on the road to face the Hornets and Mavericks; after that, the schedule gets easier with a home game against the Knicks, a road game against the Warriors, and then home games against the Grizzlies, Hawks, and Clippers.

A 7-1 or 6-2 record over that stretch is not too much to ask and would go a long way towards establishing Portland as a real playoff threat.

However, if they are going to have that sort of success, they must learn to impose their will on the opponent. If they build a big lead against the Jazz, Hornets, Mavericks or Hawks and relax as they did against the Bobcats, they will not make their move and that will perhaps be disastrous.

Meanwhile, any double digit win is something to enjoy. Speaking of which...

Brandon Roy:Thief Extraordinaire wrecks the Wizards

2009-01-25T01:14:00.000-08:00

Brandon Roy went nuts against the Washington Wizards, picking off a franchise record-tying 10 balls while scoring 22, adding seven assists and five boards. He was all over the place all night, blocking shots (two), defending, passing, penetrating, scoring, and generally doing whatever he wanted.

Of course, it didn't hurt that he was playing a dis-interested team. The Wizards clearly did not want to be hear on this night. It was easy to tell. Just three incidents will demonstrate that quite clearly.

Exhibit A) DeShawn Stevenson missed the game due to lower back pain. He then was a regular feature on the Blazer's Jumbo-tron dance screen as he shimmied to the music in each time-out...including the celebratory time-outs in the middle of big runs when the cheerleaders run out and shake their groove thang. Yes, his shimmy was more interesting to the camera than the girls. Just sayin'

Exhibit B) A Wizard knocked the ball out of bounds into the lap of a mildly attractive woman, spilling her drink on her. He ran to his bench to grab a towel and ran it over to her before the Rose Garden staff could get there.

Yes, he spent more effort on getting random fan a towel than he did on the game itself. Apparently he is unaware that the staff at the Garden is trained for these situations. While his courtesy is appreciated on some level, his lack of focus on the game pretty much says all you need to know. but I will tell you more anyway...

Exhibit C) During a third quarter time-out, the Blazers gathered around their coaches to listen to strategy. The Wizards stood around watching Blaze the Trail-Cat bounce numerous attempts at a half-court over the head backwards heave towards the basket.

Think about that. They were more interested in watching the at best mildly entertaining, uninspired antics of a pedestrian mascot than figuring out how to win a game.

This game was over early. The only thing keeping the Wizards in the game in the first half was the Blazers' horrific shooting. They checked in at 30% for the first half. It would be nice to say it was because of the ferocious defense the Wizards were playing. However, anyone who has seen them play this year would know I was lying.

Portland looked lethargic to start the game. They heaved up shot after shot that barely even grazed the rim. The normally reliable LaMarcus Aldridge was short on his money shot, the feathery mid-range jumper. The should-be All-Star Brandon Roy missed several point-blank lay-ins. Rudy Fernandez would have struggled to hit the broadside of a barn even if he were inside it.

Several times the Blazers scored on their third shot of a possession when all three shots were in the paint and virtually uncontested. At one point we had a debate over whether Greg Oden had blocked Roy's shot.

Fortunately, the Blazers were able to right the ship and dropped in 61 second half points including a dunk parade in which they had at least 4 dunks that were better than any of the dunks in their "five best dunks of the first half of the season" highlight reel.

Even against a poor team the game had its entertaining moments. Oddly, among the most entertaining was a missed shot. Some Blazer bounced a ball long off the back rim. Travis Outlaw elevated over everyone, extended one hand as far as he could and nearly made the put back. Even his missed shot had the crowd roaring to their feet.

Meanwhile, Greg Oden had another outstanding game. I don't mean his scoring or rebounding, though his 18 points and 14 rebounds were certainly nice.

No, the parts of Oden's game that mattered were his continued development. Defensively, he moved his feet. Several times he got caught on the perimeter. Using his returning quickness, his length, and returning agility he was able to cut off the path to the basket and force a pass without being whistled for a foul.

On the boards he was very, very active. He does not just occupy space, he is getting better and better at chasing down rebounds that are bouncing away from him. He is so big and getting so quick that he can be a real handful for anyone trying to keep him off the boards.

He is not active every night yet, but we are seeing those nights more and more often. True, on this night it was against Andray Blatche and Darius Songaila...but he was active. He has not always shown that energy against sub-par competition. It was very nice to see.

On the downside, an old glitch reared its ugly head with a vengeance. The Wizards dialed up 10 three pointers. Even more telling, they did it in a mere 16 attempts. For those keeping score at home, that is 62.5% three-point shooting.

Portland is talented enough to get away with that against bad teams. When they play the Suns or Celtics, the Cavaliers or Jazz of the NBA, they will end up looking up at a lot of big numbers on the score board. Somehow, they simply have to find a way to defend the perimeter better.

Overall, it was an entertaining game that had the expected result; the Blazers coasted to victory.

I feel for the Wizards fans. Yes, they have lost several of their better players for significant portions of the season. However, they deserve better than they are getting. The Wizards show no heart, no interest in putting a quality product on the floor. They ignore Coach Ed Tapscott. They lack focus.

Yes, it is a long season when you are playing for the lottery long before the mid-point of the season. But that is no excuse. The fans deserve better. Here is hoping the Wizard fans start seeing some progress soon. If not, the 100-87 Portland win will look like a great game for the Wizards really soon.

LeBron James and Mo Williams torch the Blazers

2009-01-22T00:04:00.000-08:00

Portland started the game off well. They went in to LaMarcus Aldridge and he responded, scoring seemingly at will. But then something happened; they forgot he was having a really, really good night and elected to look for offense elsewhere.

Or, more accurately, they heaved up wild shots, gave the rebound to the Cavaliers and let them look for offense.

The formula the Blazers selected for the night seemed pretty clear; figure out who is scoring for you and make sure they don't get the ball. Meanwhile, double team LeBron James and let the other Cavaliers take open shots from wherever they want. If they should miss, don't bother getting the rebound, you will get the ball back soon enough.

That is not entirely fair; two Blazers tried to rebound. Joel Przybilla snagged 15 rebounds in 21 minutes and Greg Oden added 8 in 25 minutes. The other seven Blazers who played combined for a whopping 12 rebounds.

Meanwhile, since they weren't going to rebound, defend the three point line (Cleveland went 11-19 from three point range), make free throws (under 60% until late in the third quarter), make lay-ins, or open jumpers, the Blazers looked for something truly epic to demonstrate how they were playing. The answer is 15-14.

15 would be the number of assists the Portland Trailblazers had for the night. 14 would be the number James had to go with his 34 points. With the Blazers double or triple teaming him at times, James took advantage of the rules and passed the ball to open team mates.

Portland, however, found that cheesy and elected to hold the ball, try to create their own shot, and not use their teammates as outlets. Why pass when you can toss up a brick yourself?

The results were predictable. Cleveland controlled almost the entire game. Portland kept it close, but any time they got to close the Cavaliers would go on a run of anywhere from five to 10 points and regain control.

There were some bright spots, as usual. Nicolas Batum continued his development as defensive stopper. True, James had 34 points but he shot just 14-30 and even many of those 14 makes were just pure, unadulterated talent.

Again and again Batum, Brandon Roy or Travis Outlaw would stick right with James, force him into a tough shot and watch the ball bottom out in the net. When great players make plays like that, sometimes there is nothing you can do. This is particularly true when they get help as James did from Mo Williams, who dropped in 33 points of his own.

Batum also looked for his shot a little more. This did open the offense a bit and gave the Blazers even more open looks. Unfortunately, they would not take advantage of those looks on this night. This was a night when Steve Blake and Martell Webster were sorely missed for their shot making abilities.

Another bright spot was Greg Oden. His statistics hardly overwhelm. He had just 10 points and eight rebounds before fouling out. But he was 3-4 from the field and 4-4 from the free throw line. Additionally, his points came almost exclusively off offensive rebounds and put-backs with the exception of I believe one play the Blazers posted him up on. Otherwise, it was just Oden working to get the rebound and put it back in.

As an aside, I would be interested to see the officiating marks from this game. This appeared to be an exceptionally poorly officiated game. For example, at one point Mo Williams grabbed a rebound. Jerryd Bayless was a couple steps behind him, immobile. Williams stumbled a bit, fell backwards into Bayless...who still was not moving...and Bayless drew a foul.

This, meanwhile, was NOT considered a foul on Anderson Varejao.

Those are just a couple of examples. Cleveland plays a very, very aggressive brand of defense with a lot of clutching, grabbing, shoving, and bodying up on people.

The Blazers, on the other hand, often fear to touch the opponent. As a result, they get called for a lot of touch fouls.

As a result, the calls reflect these respective methods. Credit the Cavaliers for adjusting to the officiating while the Blazers got involved with the officials. I do not believe the calls changed the outcome; the Cavaliers were the better team on this night beginning to end. But there were a lot of calls that had some head-scratching going on. Well, head-scratching and crowd profanities...

Be that as it may, it was entertaining to watch a great player put on a very good performance. I wish it had been Roy, but since James comes to town just once a year until the Blazers meet the Cavaliers in the Finals next year, well done King James. You deserved this one. 104-98 was a sad score, though. Just two more Blazer points would have "earned"us a Chalupa.

Can Greg Oden make Joe Freeman shut up?

2009-01-19T23:34:00.001-08:00

The morning Oregonian, the local poor excuse for a newspaper, had an article by Joe Freeman on the Blazer progress at mid-season, with the game against the Milwaukee Bucks being their 41st of the season.

They had four pictures spread across the front page, including Nicolas Batum as the surprise

and a picture of Greg Oden. That picture was labeled, "The Disappointment."

Harsh.

Uncalled for.

Inaccurate.

That was as far as I made it into the article because I consider it a cheap shot. Oden is still an NBA rookie and a basketball neophyte. He is in his first year playing after microfracture surgery, a surgery that established All-Star A'mare Stoudemire took over a year after returning to the floor to get right from.

And with all that, he is averaging eight points and seven rebounds in just 22 minutes a game. Those are some pretty nice numbers, but they don't tell the whole story. He has had a huge, game-changing impact on the Blazers.

Last year they were a poor rebounding team. This year they win the battle of the boards by almost five rebounds per night. That change can be laid at the feet of Mr. Oden. It is not just the boards he gets, it is the way he draws opponents and allows other Blazers to get rebounds that would have gone to the opponents last year.

It would be easy to point to his 24 point, 15 rebound night against the Bucks and make hay with it, but that is just one game. He has had bigger impacts on games where he has scored less.

More importantly, he has also showed continual progress. He is getting better about putting the ball on the floor before taking his first steps, thus reducing the traveling calls against him. He is showing some hook shots and has even shown some nifty up and under, finger-roll type moves. His offensive game is developing nicely.

Additionally, he is showing much improved lateral movement and quickness. There were moments against the Bucks where he was caught against wing players on defense. He did not make any steals, but he did a great job of controlling the space and forcing them to pass off.

His quickness is starting to really change the nature of the game for Portland, allowing them to stay closer to the opposing three-point threats, a real weakness early in the season.

But Freeman doesn't seem to see any of that. His low-blow against Oden would be enough reason to cancel my Oregonian subscription had I wasted money on one previously. I guess you can tell my low opinion of the rag and extrapolate how likely it is I would have a subscription to cancel...not very.

Meanwhile, this game was about far more than just Oden having an outstanding, dominating game. He had help on the inside from LaMarcus Aldridge who seemingly scored at will, including a 6-for-7 first half.

He had help on the wings from Rudy Fernandez and Travis Outlaw. It was particularly gratifying to see Outlaw have another spectacular night. He is a game-changer when he is on.

Outlaw is one of the most maligned Blazers at a lot of Blazer sites. Calls for him to be traded are matched or exceeded only by calls for Steve Blake and/or Sergio Rodriguez. The fans simply do not comprehend how valuable Outlaw is to the Blazers.

He is so talented athletically that he is one of the few guys outside of Brandon Roy who can create offense for himself off the dribble. He can elevate so high that double teams are irrelevant as he simply rises above them. Rising it what he does best, such as rising to the occasion in the fourth quarter of close games when teams are able to put the clamps on Roy.

Against Milwaukee, he did not often need to. The Blazers completely controlled the boards, winning the battle by a total of 58-30. The extra possessions let them pound the ball inside to Oden and Aldridge which created open looks for everyone else. All night the Bucks were simply overpowered, staying in the game due to 12 first-half Blazer turnovers and far superior free throw shooting.

Once Portland stopped turning the ball over, they took control of the game and most of the second half was spent with a double digit lead, though the Bucks made a few runs to get within about eight points before Portland took control again.

Overall, a very entertaining game, but I always have something to complain about, so here goes.

LaMarcus Aldridge had a tremendous game. He shot 8-13 from the field (one of them an end-of-quarter half court heave, so really he shot 66% on reasonable shots), 6-6 from the line. He dialed up another nine rebounds. He played defense. '

He just didn't play for the final 9:16.

Part of that was because Oden was controlling the inside and his post-up game wasn't needed. Part was because the out-manned, foul-plagued Bucks were playing small-ball. But as a huge Aldridge fan, it was hard to watch.

Fortunately, the Blazers franchise provides diversions.

And wins, 102-85.

Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge lead the Blazers to victory over the Warriors

2009-01-11T19:00:00.000-08:00

It felt like the Blazers were reeling. Brandon Roy had missed four consecutive games with a mid hamstring injury. The Blazers had scored hardly any points in the second half against the hated Lakers and gotten blown out. They lost at home to the Hornets.

Of course, somewhat overlooked by many fans was they also beat the Celtics and Pistons. Going 2-2 against those four teams would have been a huge week last season. This season it was disappointing. What a positive step!

With Roy returning and facing the hapless Golden State Warriors, all signs pointed to an easy Blazers win. But then something happened...the ball went in the air, Don Nelson's system went into action, and the ball wouldn't go in the hoop for the Blazers.

They jacked up a respectable 21 shots in the first quarter but only seven bottomed out. Additionally, they dialed up three turnovers and missed half their foul shots. The Warriors are noted for great offense and a complete indifference to defense, yet Portland had but 16 points after the first period. They needed someone to step up and put the ball in the bucket. Enter LaMarcus Aldridge.

He scored on the blocks. He scored with a mid-range jumper. He scored on follow dunks. When Portland got the ball in his hands, good things happened.

Indeed, that has often been one of the flaws with the Blazers this year. Too often they forget about Aldridge and the only points he gets are from offensive rebounds and broken plays. When they dedicate to pounding the ball in to Aldridge, good things happen.

First off, he draws the attention of his defender who cannot afford to leave Aldridge to help on double teams. Second, he commands double teams. When this happens, Aldridge has the court vision to rotate the ball to the open man. When this continues, it results in numerous open looks for the Blazer perimeter players.

Fortunately, with the return of Roy, Aldridge was going to get his looks. He got 18 shots and scored 26 points. This is not a coincidence. When it comes to Blazers you want to see putting up shots, the pecking order is pretty clear; Roy should have the most shots, Aldridge the second most.

Of course, they cannot carry the entire load themselves. Fortunately, the Blazers are developing some excellent secondary options. In the starting line-up, there is a surprising answer.

Early in the season Greg Oden possessions were terrifying things. They consisted of Oden getting the ball on the block and then traveling or running over his defender in an attempt to throw down a power dunk. It was all brute strength.

Lately, however, he has been working with Portland favorite Maurice Lucas and, much as Aldridge has done, has started to develop a post game. Oh, to be sure, it is not there yet. He is not a David Robinson by any means, but he shows flashes.

He has a jump hook as shown above. In his back downs, he now gets his defender moving left to right which opens up the baseline or key for moves that show a bit of finesse. He is also showing more and more quickness and agility.

When he is effective like that, it gives the Blazers a second solid post option which again opens the offense up and gets them points in the paint.

That is a huge step forward. Early in the season the Blazers fell in love with the three-pointer. The problems with that strategy were masked by them hitting a huge percentage but lately there have been nights where their shot was not falling but they kept launching from downtown.

On this night, against a Warriors team that encourages you to jack threes, they took just 17. That is largely because with Oden and Roy working the blocks and Roy penetrating, they get numerous opportunities in the paint.

Portland also has nice scoring options off the bench. Rudy Fernandez has been well-documented, but another player who deserves a great deal of credit is Blazer 6th man Travis Outlaw.

Outlaw is a gifted offensive player. He has the ability to create his own shot at will. When he gets into the lane and elevates, it takes someone with the unreal athleticism of a Dwayne Wade to even contest a shot.

With the excellent scoring options they now possess, Portland has the firepower to outgun a team like the Warriors and that is exactly what they did over the next three quarters. Following their embarrassing 16 point output, they dialed up 39 second quarter, 28 3rd quarter, and 30 4th quarter points.

The Warriors pretty much only win when they score more efficiently than the opponent. They tried on this night, but simply could not stay with the waves of scorers Portland threw out there.

After trailing by as many as 12, Portland came back to lead by as many 14. The Warriors made a few runs, but every time they did a Blazer would step up; Aldridge with six consecutive points, Roy with five consecutive points...and ultimately, they ended up outscoring the Warriors on a night when defense was all too often "let him shoot so we can hurry down court" or trying for steals.

In the past, Portland might not have had enough offense. With Roy back and Aldridge getting the ball, that would not be the case this night and all that was left was the celebration. Now, if only we had someone to celebrate with...

Travis Outlaw reutrns to 4th Quarter Role as Blazers defeat Pistons

2009-01-07T23:26:00.000-08:00

The names are impressive. Brandon Roy. Rasheed Wallace. Richard "Rip" Hamilton.

And those are just the guys who did not play in this game. The guys who did play weren't half bad either.

Allen Iverson has had a Hall of Fame career and isn't done yet. LaMarcus Aldridge is doing damage down on the blocks to go with his silky smooth mid-range jumper. Rodney Stuckey has shown enough to make trading away Chauncey Billups seem like a good idea. Tayshaun Prince and Travis Outlaw are outstanding role players who fill key functions on their respective teams. Greg Oden is showing some flashes of developing an offensive game to go along with his defensive presence.

With all that talent, it seemed like a pretty good game might break out.

Instead we were treated to a slow-paced game that looked much worse in person than the shooting percentages of 50 and 48.5 would indicate. That had a lot to do with the Pistons getting off just 72 shots and the Blazers going six better....worse? by hoisting just 66 shots.

It got worse. From the charity stripe, the Pistons managed just 56% while Portland was marginally better but still embarrassing at 63%.

The third most entertaining portion of the game occurred outside the confines of the shot clock.

One one possession late in the second quarter, Joel Przybilla attempted a lay-in and missed. He got the rebound and went up again...but missed. This is newsworthy since he is shooting 75% from the field for the season. Fortunately, he was fouled on the second attempt.

He grabbed the ball as the players shuffled around and flipped it up...only to watch the ball rim out. So he did it again...and missed again. So he did it a third time after the whistle...and fifth time counting the two attempts during actual play. When the ball went in, the Rose Garden erupted with cheers.

And then he missed the free throw. It caromed to Channing Frye who promptly laid it in to "take the lid off the basket' before handing the ball to the official to allow Joel's second free throw. This also drew a cheer.

These types of moments are spontaneous and highly entertaining.

Entertaining and memorable describes the second most entertaining portion of the game. That would be the Jerryd Bayless show.

Prior to the season, Blazer fans were in love with Bayless. He can get into the paint seemingly at will, has the defensive tenacity of a bulldog, and a driving, forceful personality. Then, however, the season started and he could not penetrate the guard rotation of Steve Blake, Brandon Roy, Sergio Rodriguez, and Rudy Fernandez.

When Roy went out with injury, he started getting his chance. It has not been a smashing success. He has struggled offensively, including shooting 1 for 14 in his last three games.

In this game his line was little better...he dialed up six shots and hit just two. But what a game he played en route to a career high eight points. In a key second half sequence, he was everywhere. He was stealing the ball on defense, passing to LaMarcus Aldridge for dunks on the fast-break, and providing his signature moment of the year so far.

A steal defensively saw him leak out. A long pass was stolen by Iverson. Somehow Bayless stole it right back and in one smooth move went up for a two-hand dunk that electrified the crowd.

During that section of the game, lasting about five or six minutes, he provided the spark that took Portland from a seemingly unovercomable deficit into the most slender of one point leads.

But the most entertaining portion of the game was the end.

When Portland went down by three at 83-80 with only 1:19 left in the game, it was crunch time. Normally this year, Portland in this situation puts the ball in the hands of Brandon Roy and wins. They are pretty good at it...9-1 in games decided by five points or less. However, with no Brandon Roy, Portland would need scoring from somewhere else.

Enter Travis Outlaw.

He was being defended by Tayshaun Prince, the Piston's do-it-all stud.

All night Prince tortured the Blazers on both ends of the floor. He had harassed everyone he defended into tough shots. This time, Outlaw managed a tough, rolling hook shot. Portland was within one.

But then came a crushing possession as the Pistons ran the shot-clock down and got a contested three attempt from Prince. It missed, but Antonio McDyess grabbed the offensive rebound. There were only 46 seconds left.

The Pistons are a smart, disciplined team and they did what good teams do. They ran the shot clock down and got a shot from their best offensive player, Iverson. Fortunately, it missed and Fernandez knocked the rebound out of McDyess's hands to gain possession.

After a time-out, Portland looked back to last year when Outlaw was hitting so many key 4th quarter buckets that Blazer fans fell in love with him. Once more he got the ball, foul line extended. He drove on Prince, spun into a double team, spun back, elevated, and over the outstretched hands of two defenders put the Blazers back up by one with just eight seconds left.

It was deafening in the Rose Garden for the entire ensuing Pistons time-out. Yet there was nervousness, too. Roy, the best wing defender, was out. Batum, the second best wing defender, was on the bench. Iverson, the Hall-of-Famer in waiting, had the ball and the last shot.

Aldridge came off his man at the last second and forced the shot to arch higher than Iverson wanted. Blake grabbed the carom and eluded the Piston's attempts to foul him long enough for the clock to run out on their improbable win.

How did they do it? Inside, inside, inside.

Aldridge was a beast on the blocks. When he set up on the right block, he punished everyone sent against him with sweeping hooks across the lane or spins top the baseline.

Greg Oden scored just four points, but they were authoritative.

And everyone else pounded it inside. Despite having success from long range, Portland did not fall in love with the three pointer. They took just eight on the night, hitting a ridiculous six of them.

Despite going inside, they were badly outrebounded on the night, 40-28. I am still shocked they won this game. But I am also highly entertained.

Sometimes, the slow, plodding game works. Hard to watch, but the game goes in the W column just the same. And no matter how ugly the game, wins always look good.

Hornets overcome Cheap Shot Chandler's Ejection to beat the Blazers

2009-01-02T22:53:00.000-08:00

Coming off their big win against Boston, the Blazers had every right to feel confident. Instead, the pre-game show, pre-game blogs and so forth were all talking about the danger of a let-down, calling this a trap game.

How does a game with a team that should be your rival for years to come become a "trap game"?Looking at the Hornets and Blazers, there are a lot of similarities. LaMarcus Aldridge and David West are both excellent power forwards. Aldridge has a slightly better back to the basket game but West is slightly better from mid range. The differences on that end are pretty negligible. Defensively Aldridge is a little bit quicker but West is a better post defender. No team would be disappointed to have either player on their roster.

Both teams have defensive liabilities who can crank up threes at a high percentage. For the Hornets it is Peja Stojakovich and for Portland it is Steve Blake.

Both teams have potentially explosive 6th men who provide energy and scoring punch off the bench. For Portland it is Travis Outlaw and for New Orleans it is James Posey.

Both teams have offensively limited centers who score mostly on dunks and offensive rebounds but who provide solid defense and rebounding. For the Hornets that would be Tyson Chandler and for the Blazers it is two guys, Greg Oden and Joel Przybilla.

Both teams have superstars who can score, create, and who make their team better. For the Hornets it is Chris Paul and for Portland it is Brandon Roy.

Both teams are young, talented, and on their way up. Based on last year the Hornets have the advantage and are not going anywhere. They are too good defensively and too good at creating their preferred pace to play at. They seem to have been built on the San Antonio model.

Looking at either the Spurs or Hornets roster, there are only maybe 3 players that scare you but somehow they crank out victory over victory over teams that appear, on paper, to have vastly superior talent.

The first quarter largely set the tone. After throwing a 13 point first quarter at the Celtics, the Blazers followed up with a 16 point first quarter against the Hornets. But the signs were there that this was going to be a difficult game indeed.

The Blazers were struggling to score. David West was bodying up on Aldridge and keeping him from getting to the spots he wanted, Oden was encountering the same thing in Chandler, Steve Blake seemed non-existent, Rudy Fernandez is uncomfortable in the starting line-up, and Nicolas Batum last shot sometime in pre-season, or so it seems. For whatever reason he has lost all confidence in his shot and when the ball comes to him, he looks to pass it as quickly as possible.

When you give top defensive teams like the Hornets the opportunity to play 5-on-4 defense, your results may vary. Sometimes they will be awful and other times they will be horrific.

Meanwhile, the Blazers defense was...well, to be polite, we will say porous. The entire first half seemed like one continuous loop of open Hornets launching three pointers. The amazing thing was they were missing so many.

It isn't often you can see a team shoot 47% from three point range for the game and still think they had an off night. They were that open. Only their poor three point shooting was keeping Portland in the game.

It is no accident the Blazers give up such high percentages of three point shots. It has to do with their defensive philosophy. They are willing to drift away from their man if he is on the side of the court away from the ball.

The problem is, they then do not close that gap when the ball rotates to the top or baseline. This presents the offenses with clear passing lanes and a quick-releasing shooter will have the ball in the air long before the Blazers can close out. As a result, they give up numerous open looks. NBA shooters with open looks have a habit of knocking those shots down.

Take teh above picture. Batum is defending Stojakovich. It will take him too long to close out on Peja to prevent an easy open look which, in fact, is what happened on this play. Yet this is where every Portland defender plays his man. Clearly, this is how they are being coached. Just as clearly, it is not working.

Somehow Portland limped into half time in better shape than they did against Boston, trailing by just two at 45-43. This was their chance to overcome the "trap game" start to the game.

The start of the second half was bizarre. Typically, Coach McMillan goes with his starters for at least 6 minutes a half. Somewhere between the seven and four minute marks he replaces Batum with Travis Outlaw and then spaces his substitutions out about two minutes apiece. On this night, Joel Przybilla started the second half in front of Greg Oden.

With the injury history Oden carries with him, this had the Rose Garden crowd buzzing and nervous. There were several reasons it might have been the case, however.

On occasion, when a starter is having a particularly bad game, he has shown a willingness to replace that player for the first few minutes. Normally it is Batum who suffers this fate. On this night, however, it was Oden who was replaced. That would prove key to the events to follow.

With the game moving along at a pace best described as somewhere between methodical and glacial, it led to some interesting conversations in the stands. The conversation between Josh and myself had to do with who was the dirtiest player in the NBA.

I always come back to about three players and one of those is always Chandler. He elbows, grabs, pushes, and just generally takes a lot of away-from-the-play cheap shots. In this game, he would get caught.

After an Aldridge dunk at the end of a 30 second, three offensive rebound possession, the Hornets took the ball down court trailing 54-51, their biggest deficit since early in the first quarter.

Chandler was in the middle post area, away from the action when Przybilla extended a hand to put on his back as post defenders regularly do. Now, a little background on Przybilla.

He was listed as questionable for the game due to an avulsion to the scapula on his left hand. To protect it as much as possible, he was wearing a wide wrist band.

Chandler, ever the classy gentleman, saw his opportunity to severely injure Przybilla and took a massive, intent-to-injure hammer blow at it. What happened next is debatable.

One of us thought Przybilla responded with a shove, the other thought it was a swing. There was no question about Chandler's response; he took a massive roundhouse left hook at Przybilla''s head.

After an official review, the foul on Przybilla stood, Chandler received a Flagrant 2 and an ejection.

I kind of thought Przybilla should have been ejected as well. From where I sat it looked like he threw a punch, albeit a soft one. Either way, Chandler had to go for that humongous swing. And the referees did spend quite a while looking at the monitor whereas I saw just one replay. Even ESPN pretty much glossed it over.

By the end of the third quarter, Portland had tied the game. Sadly, it was tied at 61. That is the downside of good defensive teams. The games tend to be a bit boring to watch for those who enjoy scoring.

This one was a slug fest. Portland spent a lot of time trying to pound the ball in to Aldridge or Oden. It was not a hugely successful strategy as Aldridge shot just 5-for-18 and Oden just 2-4.

That is right...on a night Portland more or less featured him on offense for most of the second half, Oden got off four shots. Four.

Meanwhile, the backup for Chandler, Hilton Armstrong, went off with 6-for-6 shooting. Armstrong was NOT the feature of the Hornets offense, by the way. Just in case you were curious.

The problem with the Aldridge possessions had a lot to do with position. He is far better on the left block. He can spin either way, but when he spins right it gives him a big, sweeping, virtually unstoppable right-hand hook.

Instead, he kept finding himself on the right block which limits him primarily to turn-around jumpers.

On this night, with Aldridge struggling, Oden invisible, Blake quiet, only Rudy Fernandez and Travis Outlaw were scoring. It wasn't enough. For the second time in the game Portland dialed up a 16 point quarter. For the third time in the game they scored 18 or less.

Meanwhile, Chris Paul was showing why every other team in the NBA is jealous the Hornets have Chris Paul. CP3 was having a rough night for three quarters. The fourth quarter was all Paul.

He scored on drives. He scored on a trey. He dropped pretty passes to Armstrong for dunks. He dropped a gorgeous pass to Stojakovich for an open, crippling three. He had nine points and three assists for the quarter and they all mattered. He personally ripped out the Blazers heart, stomped on it, then wrapped it up in a ball, tossed it to Armstrong, and watched Armstrong dunk it uncontested.

Blazer fans are used to seeing that in the fourth quarter. Problem is, they are used to seeing it from Brandon Roy, the sharp-dressed guy sitting on the Blazer bench watching the team implode.

Portland simply needs Roy to have any consistency. He can create the shots the other Blazers sometimes cannot get. He can motivate the team, guide them past the rough stretches, and when they need a stop of a point guard, he is usually the guy Portland counts on.

There were some bright spots to be sure. Outlaw had his second consecutive strong game. Fernandez had one of his best games of the year. Bayless shows flashes of promise.

But overall, this game was about watching a superstar take over a game and having no answer. On this night, the Hornets were simply better. The onus is now on the Blazers to find a way to win in New Orleans, to show them that the Blazers can compete with them.

And next time, to keep an eye out for Chandler.

How can the Roy-less Blazers compete with the Boston Celtics?

2008-12-31T23:51:00.000-08:00

Going into the Boston Celtic game on the 30th of December, it looked very bad for Portland. Even with super-stud Brandon Roy, they managed a franchise record low 78 points against the Celtics earlier this year.

In that game, they looked good until late in the second quarter at which point the Celtics showed why they are the defending World Champions with a 21-0 run that essentially decided the game.

During that run they were hapless to either score or stop the Celtics. Additionally, they looked intimidated. Certainly the Celtics are an intimidating team, and at times they have acted the bully, particularly Kevin Garnett.

So with the intimidation factor, the recent lack of success against the Celtics, and no Roy, it looked grim indeed for Portland.

They were faced with a tough choice; who to start in place of Roy. The three primary choices were Rookie Rudy Fernandez, rookie Jerryd Bayless, or 6th man Travis Outlaw.

Bayless has barely played this year. All reports out of Blazer camp have him working very hard but being caught in a numbers crunch behind Steve Blake, Sergio Rodriguez, Roy and Fernandez. He is probably the best defender of the group but the worst at getting Portland into their offense.

Outlaw has looked very uncomfortable in a starting role and is far more valuable providing scoring punch off the bench. That left Fernandez. This would, of course, seriously alter the effectiveness of the second unit but it was ultimately the choice Coach McMillan made.

Early on it looked like a very poor choice. The Blazers could muster but 13 points in the first quarter. All of those came from just three players; Blake had five and LaMarcus Aldridge and Greg Oden chipped in four apiece.

Only Rookie Nicolas Batum seemed to be keeping Portland within shouting distance as he vacuumed up every board in sight. His play both on the glass and defensively was enough that he played the first 10 minutes, one of the longest consecutive stretches he has played all season. Typically he is replaced by Outlaw at anywhere from the eight to the six minute mark.

But even with his stellar defense and rebounding, the Blazers already trailed by 10 after the first quarter, 23-13. From the stands the Blazers appeared intimidated and the Celtics seemed to be deep in their psyches.

The second quarter was the Blake and Outlaw show, however. Blake hit a couple treys and scored nine in the quarter and Outlaw came alive to add seven. Portland slowly began to claw back into it.

A lot of that had to do with someone who was not scoring a great deal. Greg Oden was everywhere. He was drawing enough double teams to end the first half with three assists and five rebounds. A lot of his points were coming at the line; he was drawing fouls and forcing double-teams.

This allowed open looks for the remaining Blazers and by half time they had pulled to within five at 45-40. The impressive thing is there were no big runs. They plain and simple were outplaying Boston in every facet of the game but one. They were shooting a better percentage from the field and three point range, they were controlling the boards, had more blocks and more steals.

In fact, the real difference was at the line. For the first half they shot a disappointing 7-for-12 while the Celtics also took 12 free throws but hit them all.

Those five extra points from the line were the difference in the game in the first half. Nor was Boston due to cool down for quite some time. They ended up hitting their first 21 consecutive free throw attempts.

Meanwhile, the Blazers were scoring as a team. Aldridge got going a bit early in the quarter, Oden had a couple buckets, Outlaw had a couple buckets, and so forth. Everyone (except Batum) who set foot on the floor for Portland was scoring.

Faced with that sort of balance, the Celtics defense began to falter. By the time Oden completed a three-point play to give Portland their first lead since the 6:04 mark of the first quarter, the Rose Garden was rocking and the Blazers looked not just the equal of the Celtics but actually even better.

Paul Pierce hit a pair of free throws to send the game to the fourth quarter tied at 64, but it was too late. The Celtic mystique was gone. No longer were the Blazers accepting their bullying; far from it.

In fact, going back to the 5:11 mark of the second quarter, the bullying was no longer having any effect. Again it was Oden at the center of it. He had been being ridden, shoved, and hammered by a stream of Celtics with no calls. So when he hammered Ray Allen, he put a bit extra into it and really got his money's worth.

When Allen flew into the crowd the referee gave Oden a technical. Sadly, he hit Allen little harder than Pierce was hitting Outlaw all night without even drawing a foul, but it had an effect.

After Allen hit those free throws to give the Celtics their largest lead of the night, Portland went on their biggest run of the game, 9-4. The point was, they were not taking the cheap shots and dirty tactics without giving some back any longer.

Now, in the fourth quarter, there was no chance they would cave in. Bayless hit a pair of free throws, Aldridge hit a jumper and then dunked. In fact, the 4th quarter was largely about Aldridge. Going into the 4th quarter he had just eight points.

For the last couple of years, Portland fans have grown used to watching Brandon Roy enter the fourth with eight or 10 points and finish with 20 or 22. He is the money man in the fourth. Last season Outlaw helped but he has gotten off to a slow start this season.

Against the Celtics, Aldridge became the man. He hit shot after shot, scored 12 points in the quarter, and finished with 20.

But it was Outlaw who put the exclamation point on the fourth. Pierce had hit seven of eight free throws to pull Boston within a deuce. Portland was struggling to get the ball to Aldridge and the ball ended up in Outlaw's hands in the left corner. Pierce closed out on him.

Whereas breathing on Pierce is a foul, he was allowed to body up on Outlaw, reach, push, clutch and grab. Somehow Outlaw got past him, exploded to the basket and threw down a thunderous dunk in the face of Kevin Garnett.

It was a seminal moment. Perhaps it signals the return of Outlaw. He scored "just" six points in the quarter, but they all came at key points. Furthermore, they were the type of points Portland needs from him. Instead of hanging out in the corners settling for contested threes, he was driving to the hoop and drawing fouls or scoring on dunks. This aggressive Outlaw is the guy Portland had last year.

If he continues to play this way after Roy returns to the line-up, Portland will elevate its game yet again.

Already there are signs they are improving game by game. First, there is the improvement of Oden. He is more aware on defense and is picking up fewer fouls. On offense, he is starting to show a few moves that are not just back-them-down-and-try-to-dunk. In this game, he started that move, switched it to a soft finger roll and scored. Just a small moment, but one we did not see earlier in the year.

That elevated their game. Roy becoming more aggressive elevated their game. Having outlaw return to the high level play he showed last year would move Portland further yet up the ladder.

After his dunk it was just free throws. With both Fernandez and Serigo Rodriguez hitting pairs, the Blazers held on for a 91-86 win.

It was a big win. It is the first time in years they have had winning records the first two months of the season. They finished the first two months exactly where I predicted they would: 19-13.

(Ninja edit: I was wrong. They are a game better than I thought, 20-12. So I actually was not optimistic enough! Something must have distracted me...)

Some wags have pointed out this is only one (Correction:two) game(s) better than their pace from last season and claim the team has not improved. Those people need to do a little better research.

The Blazers played the toughest opening schedule any NBA team has faced since 1982-83. They had very few games against the Minnesota/Memphis/Oklahoma City type teams and have had plenty against the likes of the Suns, Hornets, Celtics, Magic, Nuggets (two apiece), Spurs, Pistons, Mavericks, Rockets, Lakers and so forth. And they are winning against all of those but the Lakers and Mavericks.

Furthermore, they came through a schedule where after 18 games they had averaged a game every 41 hours, where they had a five game road trip, were home for the second game of a back to back to close that out, then went on the road for three more.

Last year their record relied on a 13 game winning streak. Take away that streak and they were three and thirteen. This year they have been much more consistent and won in a lot of different ways.

The early January schedule is tough as they have home games against the Hornets and Pistons sandwiched around another trip to the Forum to face the Lakers. After a soft home game against the Warriors, they then head back East for another five game road trip.

The momentum and confidence gained from beating Boston without Roy should be the shot in the arm they need to keep improving their record. It won't be long before the NBA has to take notice. The Blazers are back, and they are coming hard.

They are no longer a team that can be intimidated. They are not a team who fears any other team. Night in and night out they know they have a better than average chance to win the game.

It is extremely possible that at the end of the year when they are sporting a nice 53-29 record (or better) they will point back to a handful of moments that defined the season; Roy's 5 point 1.9 seconds against Houston, the Phoenix win, and two moments from the Celtics game; Oden's foul on Allen that let the Celtics (and the NBA) know it was time to stop pushing the Blazers around and Outlaw's dunk on Garnett and Pierce. This was truly a memorable game.

Roy-V-P! Brandon Roy carries the Blazers past the Raptors

2008-12-28T16:47:00.000-08:00

Early in the Raptor-Blazer game, it was all about the big men. The Blazers, as they often do, went to LaMarcus Aldridge. In a statement that will be summarily dismissed by Raptor fans, I will argue Aldridge has a similar skill set to Chris Bosh, though of course Bosh is the better rebounder. Bosh scores more, but that has more to do with how many opportunities he gets than a massive disparity in ability.

For example, on this night Bosh got 17 attempts from the field and a further 11 trips to the free throw line as opposed to 13 field and 8 free throw attempts for Aldridge. This is true on a consistent basis. The Blazers have so many valid scoring options that Aldridge does not get enough attempts. And on this night, he would not even be the best inside option for the Blazers. That honor belonged to oft-maligned rookie Greg Oden.

Jermaine O'Neal and Oden were going at it tooth and nail while the referees kept their whistles in their pockets. It resulted in some pretty spectacular plays. First O'Neal got Oden with a spectacular block that demonstrated many of the issues Oden has had this season. He first tried to simply overpower O'Neal. When that did not work, he put up a surprisingly soft jumper. O'Neal held his ground and delivered the excellent one-on-one shot block.

Normally, that would have settled the possession as Oden tends to get out of position when taking shots, and this is particularly true when his defender blocks his shot. On this night, however, Oden would not be denied. He demonstrated an aggressive streak and position awareness that has sometimes been lacking, got the ball back and demonstrated a little more authority as he then dunked on O'Neal.

With Aldridge and Oden scoring inside, that left Portland wings wide open for shot after shot. Unfortunately, as the game progressed, those shots clanged off the rim with regularity. Travis Outlaw and Rudy Fernandez bombed away for trey attempt after trey attempt, most of them wide open. Unfortunately for Portland, those bombs were exactly that. They exploded left and right, threatening to shatter the backboard, rim, or floor, whatever they hit first.

Meanwhile, Toronto found a few holes in the Blazer defense, mostly outside the three point line. At one point Blazer fans started a "Defense! Defense!" chant. Judging by the 80% the Raptors were shooting from beyond the arc, perhaps they should have been chanting "Three-fense! Three-fense!"

By half-time, the Raptors' three-point percentage had descended to a more believable 75%. Only a 3/4 quart off-balance desperation trey by Outlaw kept the Blazer deficit in single digits. Fortunately, as Blazer fans can attest, there are still elements of the game that can be enjoyed even when a team they should defeat handily is kicking their tail up one side of the court and down the other.

We could also enjoy the start of the second half as a 10-3 run pulled the Blazers within two early in the third and a late 8-0 run put the Blazers up by four. The Raptors were reeling and ended the third quarter trailing by a deuce.

It is now time for a digression. I read a fair amount of NBA-related material and over and over see "MVP Candidate" lists. Those lists contain the usual and deserving suspects; LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Chris Paul. It is hard to argue against any of those choices. I am also seeing a few people talking about Chauncey Billups and Tim Duncan.

Blazer fans can attest, however, that there are very few players who do for teams what Brandon Roy does for the Blazers. This man is amazing. Every night he provides three or four spectacular, mind-blowing, acrobatic drives that somehow produce awkward, off-balance shots you know are going in.

More importantly, he provides whatever the team needs. If his running mates are scoring well, he dishes out assist after assist. If Portland is struggling on the boards, he suddenly starts coming out of big-man pile-ups with the ball. If they need wing defense, he takes on the tough assignment.

On this night, Portland needed scoring. They were sitting on only 69 points after three quarters. Chris Bosh was scoring seemingly every time he touched the ball. So Roy did what Roy does; he turned in an MVP caliber performance.

he scored nine of 11 Portland points in one stretch and then, when the offense faltered again, scored another nine straight. After scoring only 14 points over three quarters, he poured in 18 in the fourth.

He made it clear to all his teammates, to all the Rose Garden fans, and definitely to the Raptors the game was going to end in favor of Portland. He simply would not be denied.

He hit jump shots. He hit free throws, he drove to the rack and dropped in teardrops and lay-ins, he hit a pull-up three with a hand in his face. If Mike Tyson in his prime had been there, Roy might have hit him, too. He simply could not be stopped.

It was so impressive my brother and I actually started a "Roy-V-P" chant. This was the first game this particular brother has seen since Arvydas Sabonis was rolling around the Rose Garden court. You did not have to know much about basketball to know you were seeing yet another amazing performance.

The thing about it is, Rose Garden attendees are spoiled. We have come to expect this from Roy and are surprised when we don't. Roy is just that good.

So are the Blazers. By the time the final horn sounded they were up 102-89, a comfortable 13 point win but the game was closer than that. The differences in the game were two-fold;

First, the Blazers shut down the Raptor three-point attack. By the final buzzer they only had a 36.8% score from outside the arc.

Second, the Blazers rode Brandon Roy. On offense, the ball was in his hands for 3 assists on top of his 18 points. On defense, he directed traffic, boxed out, and forced the ball away from where Toronto tried to get it.

In the end, Roy will probably get at best very marginal consideration for MVP. After all, NBA fans think there are nine guards in the Western Conference better than Roy. Intelligent fans, however, will know; Roy belongs in that conversation.

Next time the Blazers come to your town, show you know. Start the Roy-V-P chant. For all of us. And whatever you do, when he is on the floor with the ball, keep your eye on him. You are likely to see something you would regret having missed.

Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks Ruin the Blazers' Christmas

2008-12-26T00:31:00.000-08:00

When Dallas took an early time out, down 10-2, the Rose Garden was rocking and it looked like the Blazers might be on their way to another home rout of a pretty good team. After all, since their disastrous 2-7 start, the Mavericks have gone 14-4 to get back in the middle of the hunt for playoff home series.

Dirk Nowitzki is playing at close to an MVP level, Jason Terry has embraced the vital sixth man role, Josh Howard is playing at a high level, and the rest of the team is contributing in different ways on different nights. Nor can you discount the contributions of Jason Kidd, acquired in last season's disastrous trade that divested the Mavericks of young stud Devin Harris in favor of a declining troublemaker with a history of problems with coaches, teammates, and off-court behavior.

Ironically, Kidd was a favorite target for trade-mongers at the popular Blazer fan site Blazers Edge. Clearly, the individuals suggesting he was a good fit for Portland have not followed his history of domestic abuse accusations for starters and team chemistry destruction to continue.

Additionally, he is a noted poor shooter who opponents love to see take the big shot because they know the odds are with them.

This is not to say Kidd is not a good, even a great player. If he is not a first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee there should be an ivestigation. His passing skills, ability to penetrate the lane seemingly at will, and undeniable record of regular season success should ensure that. He just isn't the type of player Blazer fans would be likely to embrace.

Indeed, he would be a regression towards players like Rod Strickland, Rasheed Wallace, Damon Stoudemire, Bonzi Wells, J.R. Rider and so forth...guys who played at a high level in Portland but wore out their welcome with off-court shenanigans.

Note the "play at a high level" portion of that comment. This was another night where Kidd did that. Though he could not put the ball in the basket, he did a great job of finding the guy who could and getting him the ball.

Coming out of the time-out, Kidd made sure Nowitzki got to shoot and shoot he did, taking six of the next seven Mavericks shots. The only shot he did not take was a Josh Howard lay-up off a nice feed from Kidd.

So with Nowitzki scoring nine points between the 8;33 and 6:46 mark, the Blazers' possessions included turnovers on an offensive foul by Nicolas Batum, Nowitzki stealing the ball from Greg Oden, a Steve Blake turnover, and a pair of free throws by Brandon Roy.

Everyone in the building could feel the tide turning. Once more we saw the difference between a playoff-experienced team that can win in tough places and a team seeking to get there. Dallas identified their best scoring option(s) and got them the ball.

For the night Nowitzki took 18 shots, Jason Terry took 14, and Josh Howard 13 shots. That is pretty good. Those are the primary guys that should be volume shooters, and the 13 shots Jose Barea took made sense even though he only made four. Most of the Barea shots came during a stretch where Portland was playing a bizarre zone that repeatedly ended up with LaMarcus Aldridge isolated against Barea 24 feet from the rim and resulted in Barea drives that produced good scoring opportunities.

Portland would like their volume shooters to be Roy, Aldridge, and Rudy Fernandez. On this night Roy took 20 shots, Travis Outlaw 13, Fernandez eight, and Aldridge just three shots.

Let me repeat that last stat.

LaMarcus Smurfing Aldridge got three shots. Add the free throws and he had seven possessions to attempt to score. That was a rotten job by Portland of getting him the ball. His first post-up opportunity came in the third quarter. Once he got those chances, he took it to Dallas and got Nowitzi into foul trouble. He scored seemingly at will or got to the line. He was unstoppable. He just didn't get enough shots.

Meanwhile, Steve Blake racked up four turnovers. For those not good at math, Blake ended up with more turnovers than Aldridge took shots. That is not a good sign when the coaches rave about how Blake takes care of the ball.

His stat line ended up looking better than it should, too. He made some horrific passes that should have been picked off but Blazers outworked Mavericks to get the ball and maintain possession.

The sad thing is that even with all the flaws, even with allowing 48.8% shooting for the Mavericks, even with getting out rebounded by 10, Portland still should have won this game. During the third quarter they had the Mavericks on the ropes.

Nowitzki picked up a technical foul and his fourth personal at the 10:25 mark of the third. Coach Rick Carlisle picked up a technical. Josh Howard picked up a flagrant and followed it up with a second technical to get himself ejected. It was clear to everyone that the Mavericks were melting down.

Yet with all that, the score was only tied at 70.

The fourth quarter was pure ugliness. Showing no killer instinct at all, the Blazers could only muster 14 points. When you go in up just three, that is not going to win many games whether at home or on the road.

The Mavericks played better down the stretch and took the game away. Two turnovers and five missed shots by Roy ensured that outcome. But in a sense, this game was lost earlier.

For whatever reason, Portland struggled at the line all night, ending up shooting just 65% from the line. If they shot a reasonable percentage they would have had probably another four points which would have completely changed the character of the gaem.

This has been a recurring issue for the Blazers. When they miss free throws they tend to miss them in bunches. When they leave as many as 11 points on the floor they are going to struggle against the top NBA teams and this night was no exception.

Still, it was an entertaining, back and forth game that gave us a good look at one of the teams Portland is looking up at and trying to take their place. The day they do is not so far away, but on this Christmas, at least, it is not here yet.

Give credit where credit is due. Jason Kidd, Dirk Nowitzki, Josh Howard and Jason Terry all showed up. The same cannot be said about LaMarcus Aldridge, Travis Outlaw, or the Blazers centers. The result was a 102-94 Mavericks win.

It therefore falls on the Blazers to simply say, "Next time, Gadget. We'll get you next time."

What the Blazers need to do in preparation for their first Playoffs

2008-12-24T08:17:00.000-08:00

The 18-11 First Place Northwest Division record of the young Trailblazer team has surprised most expert observers, particularly when you consider they had the toughest opening schedule of any team since the early 1980s, including being the first team in history to play their first five games against teams that won 50 or more games the previous season...three of those games on the road.

Blazer fans are delighted. Blazermania has been deemed to have returned, the Rose Garden is selling out every night with rabid, noisy fans, and we have already been treated to several blowouts.

Nor were all the blowouts against soft, weak teams. Portland crushed the Hornets, holding them to just 86 points while dialing up 101 of their own. Beating a quality team like the Hornets by 15 is something not seen around here since the middle part of the Jailblazer era and this time it is being done by great character guys.

They are also being done by a very focused team. Every Blazer knows the goal is not to get into the playoffs but actually win at least one series once there. This is a team with enough talent to do that, but after 29 games there are a few areas that have shown flaws in the Blazer game plan that can be exploited.

It starts on defense. Against the Suns, Blazer fans were screaming, "This just in...Matt Barnes can shoot!" as he rained down open trey after open trey. Against the Kings, Blazer fans were screaming, "This just in... John Salmons can shoot!" as he rained down open three after open three. Against the Nuggets, Blazer fans were screaming, "This just in...Linas Kleiza can shoot!" as he rained down open trey after open trey. Hmm. I think I am noticing a pattern here.

Portland has a bad habit of drifting too far into the lane to help out on post players. The result is they give up numerous wide open looks from downtown. Only five teams are worse at defending the three: Memphis, Minnesota, New Jersey, Golden State and Sacramento. If you are a Blazer fan, don't look at the combined record of those teams...it isn't pretty:New Jersey is .500 and none of the others has won more than nine games.

Last season Portland did an excellent job of staying in front of their man and forcing contested jumpers or treys that at least had a hand in the face. Against Phoenix they did this so seldom that they gave up 66.9% shooting from beyond the arc. If that happens in the playoffs it will be one and done.

Another key issue is free throw rebounding. Again and again the Blazers give up free extra possessions to the opposition as they fail to pull down the defensive board after free throws are missed. Inexcusably, this is often after noted poor free throw shooters such as Shaquille O'Neal hoist bricks. Portland has to figure out a way to protect the lane and get those rebounds.

Conversely, on offense the Blazers must find better spacing. Against the Nuggets, Portland often allowed four defenders to converge on Brandon Roy without creating passing lanes for him. They mostly stood static. In the picture above, they show what can happen with movement:Roy rotated the ball to Rudy Fernandez, forcing Linas Kleiza to rotate out on him. When he did so, Steve Blake floated to the corner for an open trey as no Nugget could pin down to the corner to contest it.

If they remember to create spacing with movement when opponents double or triple team Roy, particularly 30 feet from the basket as is becoming commonplace, they will continue to create open looks from deep or create driving lanes for their wings.

It then becomes vital that players like Nicolas Batum, Travis Outlaw, and Martell Webster (when he returns) move without the ball and then cut towards the basket for dunks until Roy is given space to operate. But it is not just Roy who can create offense.

Portland habitually starts the game by going to LaMarcus Aldridge on the low block two or three times. This is an excellent start to the game.

Once he has shown success, opponents are forced to double him. With rapid ball movement they can create open jumpers and sometimes dunks when small, quick Blazers flash to the post.

Unfortunately, the Blazers often forget Aldridge. He will provide four, six, eight, maybe 10 points of offense, and then not get another entry pass for two or three quarters. Portland needs to do a better job of identifying and exploiting areas of offense like this one that can create easy buckets. Aldridge should be getting at least 15 shots a game in a mix between post-ups and the nice mid-range jumper he possesses. That will require the Blazers to do a better job of staying with him rather than establishing him and then forgetting he can score.

There is at least one other area of concern that will become more and more important as teams are able to prepare exclusively for the Blazers. For some inexplicable reason, they struggle mightily with inbounding the ball.

One sequence late in the Nugget game illustrates the problem. Earlier in the game Nene picked off a soft inbound pass and broke away for a solo dunk. Late in the game, with every possession key, Portland took a time out. Rudy Fernandez was then forced to call a 20 second time-out as no Blazer got open. Coming off back-to-back timeouts, he then made an entry pass to Brandon Roy, but the pass was tipped, Roy picked up a loose ball foul, and the Nuggets were presented with 2 free throws as the Blazers could not even get the ball inbounds.

This is not an isolated incident. Portland has struggled all season with getting the ball inbounds in key situations. As the season extends and teams get better looks at what the Blazers are doing, this situation will only be exacerbated. If it continues to be an issue in the playoffs, close games will be won and lost on "small" things like this.

Portland simply has to find ways to free up players to receive the inbounds pass. They need to alter the back screens and angles they move to receive the ball or they will find themselves losing close games without even being able to get a shot off.

These things are all fixable. On defense, Portland has the length and agility to cover those open spaces without leaving their big men without help. Rebounding is a matter of timing and effort. Spacing on offense is a matter of awareness and coaching. Inbounding is something that training and creative plays can fix.

It remains for Coach Nate Mcillan to address these issues. Make no mistake about it, McMillan is a superior coach who will find ways to get these issues addressed. It is a matter of time and coaching. The only question is if he has enough time to get the message across to his players this season before the playoffs.

LaMarcus Aldridge and Brandon Roy lead Blazers to First Place Tie with Nuggets in Northwest Division

2008-12-23T23:30:00.000-08:00

Fan is short for fanatic. This aptly describes many NBA fans. For example, Portland is currently experiencing what is, for us, a record snow fall. My chariot clearly was not making it to the game tonight, nor was that of my wife.

Fortunately, the mass transit system is an easy mile and a half walk away so off to the game I went, managing to fall just once on my way. After all, if the Blazer Dancers can make it, so can I.

The game started poorly for Portland. The Nugget defense seemed to be everywhere. For the second night in a row they seemed able to get deflections whenever they wanted, force the ball away from Brandon Roy's hands and still get back in their rotations, and outside of LaMarcus Aldridge, no Blazer could score.

Worse yet, Portland could not seem to get their hands on a rebound. When Greg Oden picked up his second foul, the Nuggets held a commanding 9-3 edge on the boards. Rebounding is where Oden is most useful for Portland right now.

Enter Joel "The Thrill" Przybilla, aka Joelzilla. This was a Joelzilla night. He must have had stickum on his hands or something because every ball found its way into his mitts.

At one point he even had over half the Blazers' total rebounds. By the time the night ended he had 19 rebounds in 40 minutes. Every one of them was needed. With foul trouble limiting Greg Oden to eight minutes, it was left to Joelzilla to patrol the paint. This he did, while also contributing a better than average (for him) 10 points on an efficient six shots.

His offense was necessary because it was a slow night for Brandon Roy. Going into the fourth quarter he had only seven points and that had a lot to do with the Denver defense. Every time Roy got the ball in a scoring position, he found himself confronted with multiple defenders.

Even if he got past the initial double team, he would find Nene and Kleiza or some similar combination confronting him, making those lane shots he is so good at into virtual impossibilities. The Blazers helped Denver out with poor spacing. They would stand in the corners, immobile as statues, and by so doing not penalize the Nuggets for triple or quadruple teaming Roy.

That is unfortunate because Portland has the firepower to make teams pay. Early in the season they were getting help from unexpected sources. Nicolas Batum is an excellent example. Early in the season he would float to the open spaces on the floor , either forcing his defender to clear the lane or making them pay with a corner trey or baseline drive.

However, as the season has progressed he has become timid about shooting and essentially become a non-factor. Additionally, his defense has suffered a great deal.

Early on, he was tipping at least four or five balls every game. He was also staying in front of his man, even the small, quick guards like Steve Nash, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Paul. Now, however, he is having trouble staying in front of his man and his tipped balls are way down.

Batum doesn't need to provide a lot of offense, but he does need to provide some, and the more his defense suffers, the more necessary it will be for him to provide some offense. With his tailing off, Portland is looking more and more anxiously for the return of Martell Webster who, even if he is not one of the NBA's top defenders by any means, at least is prepared to shoot.

If Batum doesn't lose his timidity soon, his role could be relegated to teaching us all French.

Meanwhile, the Nuggets built an early 21-14 advantage and with just a couple minutes to go in the first quarter, the Blazers were on the verge of losing contact with the Nuggets and being blown out. Nene was dominating inside, Linas Kleiza could not miss, and the entire Nugget team looked amped up.

Enter Rudy Fernandez.

He had a personal seven point run in about a minute of game time to change the complexion of the game. Suddenly, it was obvious that even if Roy struggled offensively, the Blazers were not going anywhere.

It was not as if Roy was not contributing. On one memorable possession, he scored a fast-break lay-in that carried him a couple feet out of bounds. The Nuggets sprinted back up court with a man advantage...only to watch Roy take a charge and force a turnover. I had to watch the replay to make sure he had made both plays. That showed tremendous hustle to return up court that quickly after being furthest down court by a couple feet.

With Roy not scoring, Fernandez scoring only in a short burst, and Oden playing all of 8 official minutes with foul trouble, it was up to the Blazers third star, LaMarcus Aldridge to carry the offense.

All game long, when Portland went to him he produced. He shot 7-12 from the field and 8-9 from the line. That shows both the strength and weakness of the Blazers.

On the bright side, Aldridge is worthy of praise for his inside-outside game. He has shown an ability to score down on the blocks with a variety of moves and is also a very good shooter from 15 to 18 feet. Again and again he creates offense for the Blazers. If there is no double team is he a high percentage shooter on post moves. When the double does come, he is excellent at finding the open man. Typically he does not get an assist because the Blazers typically prefer to rotate the ball one more time for an even more open shot, but the success of those possessions goes back to Aldridge identifying the double and making the correct pass out of it.

The thing that needs to be explained is why he is getting only 11 or 12 shots per night on nights when the Blazers are struggling from the field. This is a reminder the Blazers are a young team overall. They do not always do a great job of identifying their advantages and riding them.

They really need to focus more on plays for Aldridge when they need consistent high-percentage possessions and Roy is being kept under control.

Of course, Roy is still Roy and when the game is on the line, Portland is wise to find ways to put the ball in his hands. As he is wont to do, he took over in the 4th quarter, scoring 12 points in that frame alone. He also played some tough, intimidating defense.

That was impressive because of the flow of the game. Chauncey Billups gets away with a lot of pushing and grabbing. So does Kenyon Martin. All night, Blazers were getting called for touch fouls while the Nuggets were mauling them pretty good.

This is not a critique of the officials; they were calling the game the way it was being played. Portland was often tentative, reaching in a lot, playing defense with their arms extended while Denver was bodying up. Yes, the Nuggets play probably should be called as fouls, but the reality of the NBA is that when teams establish that style of defense, the officials do not call fouls on them.

In the fourth quarter, Roy began fighting back. Now it was him in the face of Nuggets guards, breathing their air, making it all but impossible for them to see the floor or generate any movement towards the basket. It was the Nuggets who melted down, with both Chris Anderson and Chauncey Billups picking up technicals for complaining about calls...including the one on Anderson coming after he had scored.

Following Roy's example, Aldridge became more active as well. When the long arms of Aldridge start waving around the paint, it really helps close it down. On top of that, Travis Outlaw had a couple of spectacular blocks. Ironically, a Chris Anderson after-the-foul slap out of bounds of a Sergio Rodriguez shot made ESPN Sportscenter while neither of Outlaws' did. For the record, both of Outlaw's were credited, the highlight "block" that showed up on ESPN was not an official block.

The game was great fun to watch. Both teams built leads of seven points or more. Both teams came back from those deficits to take the leads. Without Carmelo Anthony, this is perhaps more impressive for Denver, but it does speak to why they are a dangerous team. They have several players who can score, great energy from Nene and Anderson, and an above average defender in Billups.

But they don't have Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, Joelzilla, or Fernandez. Tonight, those players made the difference. It was great to watch. Even on a night where Roy "struggled" to 19 points and six assists, Portland had what it took to get the job done and pull back into a tie with the Nuggets.