Brandon Roy's 52 Leads Blazers to First Win Over Suns in 12 attempts

There is a simple process of determining what shots the Blazers should take. For example, this is a great shot attempt.



Any time he has an opportunity, Greg Oden should feel free to attempt that. It has a pretty good chance of going in. Note a few things; his erstwhile defender, Shaquille O'Neal, is outside the restricted circle having as much impact on the shot as the Ice Cream Vendor in the Alamo Dome. Which, for those keeping score at home, is in San Antonio, Texas, not Portland Oregon.

Second, the help defender A'mare Stoudemire is also spectating. Two other Phoenix defenders can easily see the power of Oden as they are just a few steps away.

In other words, this is a great shot attempt for Oden, LaMarcus Aldridge, or any other Blazer to attempt; an uncontested dunk.

Here is their second best shot;



As you can tell, Brandon Roy is off balance, going up on the reverse side of the rim, throwing up an awkward, just been fouled shot that still finds a way to tickle the twine. In truth, though, it doesn't really matter if he made the shot or not. The important thing, as any Blazer fan can tell you, is that any shot taken by Roy is, by definition, a better shot than any shot that is not an uncontested dunk that is attempted by any other Blazer.

Roy has been on fire for the last few games. First he went back to back to back 30+ point games, including a career high 38 point outburst. In the fourth game he was merely great, scoring "only" 29 points...of course, had he not sat out the entire fourth quarter, he probably could have crested the 30 point mark fairly easily.


So on a night when the Phoenix Suns came to town, Roy got ready to kick it up a few degrees.

One of those big scoring games saw the normally reliable, 90% free throw shooter Steve Blake almost single-handed give the game away as he missed four out of five free throw attempts inside the last minute, allowing the Clippers to tie a game Portland had completely in hand and then surprise the Blazers in double overtime.

On this night, it was Roy's chance to ice the game. Leading by 3 with just under 10 seconds left, he stepped to the line for a pair of free throws. He had every excuse to miss; he had played the entire second half, was all over the court defensively, was bringing the ball up the floor, and so forth. He was doing everything.

After the two recent shocking home losses, Portland fans were nervous. If Roy missed the first, everyone would have gotten that "here we go again" feeling, knowing Phoenix would somehow find a way to tie the game and then win in overtime.

The final box score tells you all you need to know. In the picture above, Roy had 50 points. For those who don't follow Portland, his jersey number is 7.




Roy does it all. On a night he poured in the second highest total in Blazers history, scoring more than even Geoff Petrie or Clyde "the Glide" Drexler ever did, he still managed to pick up six assists and five rebounds. Even more impressive, he turned the ball over exactly zero times. None. Nada. Zip.

There were some other fine performances. Travis Outlaw exploded for eight points in 2:23 to close the third quarter, completely changing the momentum of the game. With his drives, jumpers, and variety of scores he kept Phoenix from being able to double and triple team Roy.

LaMarcus Aldridge, facing his nemesis Stoudemire, scored 16 points on just 12 shots. Steve Blake added 22 points, providing a fourth scorer.

But this night, and this season, was all about Roy. He is the unquestioned leader of this team. Coach McMillan is on record as saying he goes to Roy when he needs to find out how the team is feeling. Roy provides that connection. He also identifies what needs to be done.

A couple days ago he was interviewed on the Jim Rome show. He made a point of saying the Blazers are a young talented team, but they need to become a young, TOUGH and talented team. He discussed how that toughness is shown by playing hard-nosed defense night in and night out. He mentioned the length of guys like Oden, Aldridge, and Nicolas Batum and how they needed to keep their feet moving in order to keep their man in front of them.

On this night, when the Blazers gave up 56.9% shooting (and a ridiculous, must be a mis-print 66.7% from beyond the arc), when the game was on the line he made a point of getting in the face of his young charges. Lo and behold, a Blazer team that seemingly could not get back to back stops all night long suddenly went on a mission, outscoring the Suns 9-2 over the last 2:56.

If they can turn on the defense like that when the game is on the line even on a night where they give up 119 for the game, they will make a lot more noise than people currently think they will come playoff time.

And if Roy has to keep putting up 38 or 52 points to get a few votes for the All-Star game, that will be an embarrassment for NBA fans. What "knowledgeable" fan would vote Manu Ginobli and his less than double figures games played ahead of Roy as an All-Star? Pathetic. Shame on you, fans. Get a clue, do the right thing, and put this guy among the top vote-getters.

I think Roy suffers a bit in that regard because he is too fundamental and not flashy enough. I think he had one dunk tonight, and that on a break-away. On the Blazers post-game show on 95.5 The Game, Coach McMillan referred to his game as a "quiet 52". Sadly, I knew what he meant.

At one point, I nudged my wife and said, "He is one point away from his career high." The guy on the other side looked at the scoreboard, gasped, and said, "Feels like he only has about 20." He had 37.

He just is so smooth, he scores within the offense, he doesn't force the action, he keeps his team-mates involved...holy smoke, I think I have a man-crush.

Just kidding.

But I do love his game. Every night he is worth the price of admission. On Tuesday, Portland retired Terry Porter's jersey. Tonight, they retired Brandon Roy's. If he keeps going like this, #7 will be in the rafters in about 10 years. It also will have an excellent shot at the Hall of Fame.

Whether he makes the Hall or not, he will provide Portland fans with some incredible memories in the meantime. Brandon Roy, former Rookie of the Year, last year's NBA All-Star, and this year's Most Improved. Think about it.

Terry Porter's Jersey Retirement: Miscellaneous Memories

His career numbers never blew anyone away. By the time he finished, Terry Porter's career average was only 12.2 points and a measly 5.6 assists per game. Those are not even All-Star numbers, much less Hall of Fame numbers when taken at face value.

However, there was a six year run in Portland when Porter was perhaps the second most important Trail Blazer. His second season in, 1986-87, was a huge year. It wasn't just that he contributed 13 points and almost nine assists every contest...it was his presence.

The most points he ever averaged for a season was 18.2 and the most assists were 10.1. In an era dominated at the point guard position by Magic Johnson, Kevin Johnson and John Stockton, those numbers often would not have gotten him into the All-Star game, though he was there twice in 1991 and again in 1993. 

Without Porter the Blazers would not have made the NBA Finals against either the Pistons or Bulls. He meant so much more to the team than mere statistics.

Porter seemed to always make the big play. Even on a team where Clyde Drexler was THE star, Porter was often the player the Blazers looked to in crunch time. He provided us with so many great, great memories.

For example, there was the game, I believe against the Spurs, where everyone in the building knew Porter would shoot the try, trying for the tie...but he instead cut to the basket, scored, and was fouled, tying a game the Blazers went on to win.

There were so many plays like that where he simply did the unexpected and it always worked out. He was not as flashy as Kevin Johnson, didn't have the Karl Malone for the pick and roll like John Stockton, and so forth. Yet he still meant every bit as much to the Blazers as those talented players did for their teams.

Portland fans will never forget the epic Suns-Blazers duel where it seemed like every game saw the Suns' Tom Chambers, Dan Majerle and Kevin Johnson go off for 20 or 30 points apiece, only to see the Blazers match with Porter, Drexler, and maybe Jerome Kersey one night, Cliff Robinson another. 

That series was epic. If the entertainment value from that series could be bottled and sold, Budweiser would go out of business. They were teams that could score, loved to run, and matched up well together.  

Likewise the series with the Utah Jazz. As Buck Williams and Karl Malone banged each other hard enough to leave the fans with bruises, Porter and Stockton put on clinics on how to play point guard. 

Again and again Porter found Kevin Duckworth on the pick and pop for that one-handed jumper Duckworth loved to shoot, or found Drexler driving to the bucket or, barring that, simply scored from wherever he felt like shooting.

Stockton was no slouch, either. With Williams and Malone all but canceling each other out, it was up to Stockton and Jeff Hornacek to provide scoring punch. Back and forth went the series until Portland pulled out an improbable Game 6 win in Utah, mostly behind the stellar play of Porter.

Who can forget his 6-for-8 three-point shooting in the first game? It was not as if Stockton did not know how to play defense...but it did set the tone.

In short, while his overall numbers may not be game-breaking, his impact was. 

And of course his Blazer numbers are better:He is their all-time leader in assists and steals, and second in points and steals. 

But it was also what he meant to the community as a whole that mattered. People outside the Portland area might not fully understand what that meant to Portland, but those who suffered through the Jailblazer era do. 

Porter was not only a great player, he was a great guy. In 1992-3, he won the NBA J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award due to his efforts in the community. For Blazer fans, that meant almost as much as, if not more, than his All-Star game honors. 

Blazer fans don't just want to win, they want to win "the right way" which means with players who are not rolling around the streets getting high, running dog-fighting rings, and so forth. Porter was a guy who definitely played the game the right way, both on and off the court.

Porter's numbers suffered a little bit because of the talent that surrounded him. It wasn't just Drexler averaging in the high 20s. Jerome Kersey, Buck Williams, Cliff Robinson and Kevin Duckworth were all capable of averaging close to 20 points per game. Porter found ways to make sure everyone got the ball, even at the cost of his own numbers. 

Playing alongside a passer like Clyde Drexler also hurt his assist numbers. During Porter's prime, Drexler averaged as many as 8 assists per game but never fewer than 5.8. When playing alongside that sort of passing talent, it makes it hard for a point guard to ring up huge numbers.

Clearly, when Porter has his jersey retired at the game tonight, it has a lot to do with his impact on the team far more than it does pure numbers.

Porter was a great player and a very good man. It is an honor to have been able to see him play basketball. Thanks for the memories, Terry Porter, and congratulations on seeing the #30 raised to the rafters. You are truly a deserving member.

What we learned about the Blazers in their loss to the Celtics

Blazer fans can remember back before the classic late 90s teams of Terry, Clyde, Jerome, Duck, Buck, and Uncle Cliffy when Portland was a "running team" that sometimes wouldn't run. 

They had some nice players and were built largely around Shooting Guard Jim Paxson. Game after game the Blazers tried to win via the fast break. But then something strange would happen. They would be matched up with the Showtime Lakers. 

Each time, the Blazers changed their philosophy. They correctly recognized they could not run with the Lakers. As a result, every time they matched up with Showtime, they changed their philosophy. 

Again and again they tried to turn the games into half-court slug-fests that would theoretically minimize the Laker advantage. Unsurprisingly, it never worked.

Since the Blazers were built around running, that is where their talents lay. They struggled to score in the half-court. Slowing the game down was intended to minimize the number of possessions which, in turn, would minimize the talent gap between the Blazers and Lakers.

The strategy had a serious flaw, however. The Lakers had a good half-court game where Magic could penetrate the lane at will, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was a great post player, and slowing the game down really only meant more shots inside by Jabbar and less shots for the fleet wings of the Lakers in transition. 

By contrast, the Blazers were giving up on the one thing they really did well. The talent gap between the Lakers and Blazers in the half court was larger than it was in the running game. The Blazers effectively defended themselves by taking their greatest strength out of their arsenal before the game even began.

I am sure it is just faulty memory, but it sure seemed like every match-up during those years was an easy Laker win, usually by blow-out.

Why bring up painful memories of losses to the team I despise most in the League?

The answer is simple. I was listening to the Blazer pre-game show. After interviewing Coach Nate McMillan, the radio personalities explained the Blazers game plan was to expend most of the shot clock, keep the score in the 80s, and win that type of game.

They scored 101 against the Hornets. They scored 96 against Detroit.  Those are a couple pretty good defensive teams and Portland won by 15 and 11 points respectively. Now, admittedly, Boston is a better defensive team than either of those, but the point stands. Against the Pistons and Hornets Portland played their best game and saw where they stood. Against Boston they deliberately planned to play Boston with less than their best game plan.

By deliberately taking longer in the shot clock, they made the Celtics defend for less of the shot clock. This just in, Boston is pretty good on defense even without that help.

The result was an ugly 78 point output for Portland. I suppose it is a bright spot that they "only" gave up 93 to Boston...as long as you ignore the "mere" 15 point spread on the scoreboard. 

Against the really good teams in the League, the best chance you have to beat them is to play your best game. When Portland set out to play less than their best game it made the game easier for Boston. Portland is going to get to the point where they don't have to play their best game to beat the top teams in the League, but they are not there yes and probably won't get there this year.

Meanwhile, Boston does not have to play their best game to beat most teams in the League. They are so good and work so well together that they can have half their team "off" on any given night and still pull out the win, particularly at home.

It seemed to me that the mistakes of the past were being repeated as Portland saw a team they were looking up at talent-wise and, instead of playing their best game, tried to play a strategy they were less skilled at in an attempt to beat a better team. It did not work. It will not work next time.

Portland's game has a lot to do with their depth. They go 10 deep in guys who can get them double figures on any given night. If LaMarcus Aldridge is struggling, they go to Channing Frye. If Nicolas Batum is not scoring, they can bring in Travis Outlaw. Rudy Fernandez is often a dynamic scorer who can fill it up from anywhere and in bunches. The beat goes on. 

By playing fewer possessions and effectively shortening the game, the Blazer game plan largely canceled out the depth advantage. Boston is so good that when an opponent helps them that way, a blow-out is a veritable certainty.

The real irony is that Portland is good enough to compete with Boston assuming a few things fall in place: 

1) They get over their psychological fear of Boston. Last year they said they felt "bullied" and intimidated. It showed this year, particularly in the 21-0 Boston run after Portland took a 36-35 lead.

2) They play their own game instead of trying to play styles they are not used to. That means maximizing the things they do well and minimizing they things they do poorly.

3) They play the tough, intense defense they are capable of instead of being intimidated and letting Boston do what it wants.

Overall, it is just one game in the loss column. However, it is one game that shows the difference between playoff-ready, potential Champions like Boston and teams that, at least at this point in the season, is not ready to face the top teams in the League in games of particular importance.

When a win isn't a win

With the new schedule at work I have not been able to listen to or watch the last few Blazer games.  I did catch the last 5 minutes or so of the New York game, but otherwise it has simply been post-game shows. On the bright side, those post-game shows have all been after victories. On the downside, I note a trend among Blazer broadcasters. They are showing disappointment at times over margin of victory. 

The difference between good teams and bad teams has never been margin of victory. Sure, your Boston Celtic type teams will have more big-margin wins than a Minnesota, for example. More importantly, however, is they find a way to win all the games they are supposed to, even when the opponent plays over their head.

There is not an NBA team that is not extremely talented from top to bottom. When you watch pre-game warm-ups, for example, you will see the 12th man on the glorified D-League team the Oklahoma (lack of) Thunder drill shot after shot after shot, demonstrate lateral movement that ordinary people can only dream of, and just generally show in every way, shape and form that he is a superior athlete.

Yet Oklahoma has won 2 games in nineteen attempts. Sure, the players on the Celtics are slightly stronger, faster, better shooters and rebounders, but not so much so that on a great night for Oklahoma where every Celtic has a horrific night, the Thunder could not win.

Yet if teams like Oklahoma have good games for 40 minutes, they will still lose because teams like Boston figure out ways to win. They come up with the big stops, find ways to put the ball in the bucket at the end of the game, and come away with the W. 

By contrast, mediocre teams like New York or Golden State often build leads but find ways to fritter them away and pull defeat out of the jaws of victory. 

And at the end of the day, they find a loss is still a loss just as the winning teams figure out a win is still a win.

Portland is a team moving towards being outstanding. They are winning at home and on the road. They are beating all the teams they should and a couple teams where the outcome might be surprising. However, sometimes that is not enough for their announcers or some fans.

Again and again after the Washington Wizard game I heard the phrase, "Well, they didn't win by as much as you might have expected but it was still a victory."

I would take a certain exception to that phrase. How can you say ahead of time that one team should win by x number of points? There are so many uncertain factors that come into play.

 Will young legs be unprepared for the second night of a back to back after playing New York the night before? Will Washington get jacked up about all the losing, come out and play over their heads all night? Will Brandon Roy see his shot off by just that tiny bit that turns 2 points into a fast break the other way?

One difference between the good teams and the bad ones is that even when they don't get the "expected" margin of victory, they still come away with the victory. It is not as if the game suddenly goes in the loss column after a team wins by less than they expected.

Last year's Memphis game provides an excellent example. Prior to the game, it seemed Portland should win by at least 10 points.  As it turned out, they didn't...they won inside the last second on a bucket that had to be reviewed for about 3 minutes to determine if it beat the buzzer or not. 

While it was not the double digit win that it should have been, it was still a key moment. Portland did not stop winning for quite some time, going on to win their next 12 games after the Memphis win. That last-second bank shot turned around their season.

Mostly, it turned it around because it was a win. Their final record of 41-41 counted it as just one game. If they lost, they would have finished 40-42. Obvious, right? Well, if they had won by 20, they still would have finished 41-41. Unlike the bizarre, Machiavellian machinations of the BCS system, in the NBA a one point win is as good as a 38 point win in the standings.

The main thing is to get that win. It doesn't matter if it is one point or 20, the point is to get the win. When the team has an off-night, whether offensively, defensively, or both, the good teams still find a way to win games against the teams they should beat. 

Right now, Portland is doing that. Sure, in a perfect world they beat both the Wizards and Knicks by double digits, but come playoff time when they are doing the seeding, a pair of wins by a combined 13 points will look just as good to Portland as the 2 wins by a combined 78 they had last week. 

So an open memo to Blazer fans; worry less about margin of victory and more about enjoying the wins. It hasn't been that long since winning seven road games in a season would have been a success, so enjoy winning that many in the first 13 attempts. A win is a win whether by one or one hundred and, far from being a reason to worry, it is a reason to celebrate.

Was the Portland Trailblazers not trading for Shawn Marion a good thing?

In the off season and pre-season, Blazer fans were wildly proposing trades to fill the two biggest problem spots on the Blazer roster. Conventional wisdom held that Greg Oden, LaMarcus Aldridge and Brandon Roy locked down the Center, Power Forward, and Shooting Guard locations but the Blazers were in big need of help at the Small Forward and Point Guard positions.



One of the most popular names circulating was Shawn Marion. Without bothering to see if it made sense from the Heat point of view, it was assumed Portland could pry him away for essentially the expiring Raef LaFrentz contract and spare change.

For the Blazers, it seemed to make sense. Marion is an excellent wing defender, a great transition scorer, and can drill the three. He would step into the starting line-up, provide them their key defender and some added scoring punch, act as the sinecure "veteran", and fill their second biggest hole.

This would allow Portland to move some combination of Martell Webster, Travis Outlaw, Channing Frye, Sergio Rodriguez and/or Steve Blake to pry loose a premier point guard from some other team.

Just 10 or 12 games into the season it is illuminating to see how much the landscape has changed. Nicolas Batum has been a nice surprise, Webster's injury had the rather ironic impact of whetting fans' appetites for his return, and Marion no longer looks quite the prize he once did.

Suddenly Portland fans are starting to realize what they should have known all along. This team is pretty hard to improve on already. The players mesh very well together and fulfill the roles needed on the current roster.

Webster is an above average long-range shooter who is rumored to have improved his defense. He was showing flashes last year of developing into a better than average wing defender and training camp reports this year had that much improved.

Travis Outlaw has taken a small step back offensively but is improving his defense. He can still create his own shot and at times does a nice job on the boards, though he does disappear occasionally as well.

Batum has been a revelation. His on the ball defense is already good and his help defense at times spectacular. He consistently hits the open jumper and three-ball and is good on the boards. His production is excellent for the time he gets but Portland is just too deep even at Small Forward for him to get more time.

Marion is no longer looked at as a huge upgrade by many Blazer fans. That may not be fair. Marion is still more versatile than any of the Blazer 3s is individually. He is also a better defender. However, he is not so far advanced of what we already see our guys doing that there is still an outcry to get him.

It is amazing what a little patience will do and how it changes the outlook of fans. There are still a few voices trying to get rid of Blake at all costs under the mistaken assumption he is not a good enough point guard for this team when in truth he is a great fit. He doesn't need a lot of touches but he is effective when he gets them. He provides the steady veteran leadership that keeps the team from panicking. He strokes the three pretty well. Sure, his defense is shaky, but then again, name 5 teams that are perfectly set up to defend the Steve Nash, Chris Paul, Devin Harris type of point guard.

I saw one comparison of Blake and Laker guard Derek Fisher. They have similar games and often seem like statistical clones. Yet I don't hear a lot of Laker fans yelling for Fisher to be traded, any more than I heard Bulls fans wanting to unload Ron Harper. I would have to say that style of point, the one that doesn't need the ball in their hands but can score when called upon is pretty effective on teams with guys like Brandon Roy, Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan. Properly built, that is a better choice than a ball-controlling point guard who has to have it in his hands.

So now that the season is starting to shake out, Blazer fans are starting to realize the move for Marion, while it may have been a good one, would ultimately have had too high a price. There is a reason this team is 9-6 and on its way up. That reason has a lot to do with the players Portland would have had to give up or not play if they acquired Marion.

This is certainly no slight on the Matrix. He is a very good player who helps any team he is on. Can you imagine him in Boston with their current crop? It would be a tough fit at first, but with hi versatility, they would be all but unstoppable. But as good as he is, looking back, the landscape has changed so much that at this point, Blazer fans should be ecstatic that trade was never a realistic possibility.

Sometimes the best moves you make are the ones you don't.

Blazers vs Kings; Can Portland Win Another Nail-Biter?

A few hours before game time we got the news; Greg Oden would make his first home start. Personally, I was a little disappointed. I believe he will be a monster and a key cog in the Blazers' Title runs in the next few years. However, at this moment in time, Joel Przybilla just fits better with the starting line-up.

As an aside, a fan at the stadium had a new nickname for Jole that I like even better than "The Vanilla Gorilla" or "The Thrilla", and that would be Joelzilla. Simply awesome. I hereby demand all references to Joelzilla retroactively be changed to reflect this new name which just might have people going deaf from overexposure to awesomeness.

When Joel starts, the Blazers like to start the game by pounding it inside to LaMarcus Aldridge. LA has really developed a strong post game over the past couple of seasons and this establishes him. It also gets Portland rolling with an inside out game that leads to open perimeter looks for Steve Blake, Nicolas Batum, and Brandon Roy. 

Joelzilla does a tremendous job in this line-up of setting picks and, almost as important, not clogging up the lane for LA or for Roy's drives. Oden, by contrast, too often plants himself down low and simply tries to overpower people. The offense bogs down, he picks up offensive fouls, and low scoring becomes the norm.

On this night, the low scoring did not happen. In the first 6 minute stretch, with Oden and Batum on the floor, the Blazers shot out to 14 points and a small lead. However, Oden did not look comfortable at all.

That is okay because this is a move for the long term. Joelzilla is a very good team guy but may not be the right starting center for a team planning to do damage in the playoffs. It will take time to get the new starting line-up acclimated together and what better time to do it than against a lower echelon team with a marginal inside game?

Early on, it looked like Oden or not, the Blazers were going to blow the Kings off the court. Then something strange happened. The Blazers forgot that Stephen Hawes and Brad Miller are atypical big men who can shoot from distance. And shoot from distance they did.

Over and over we yelled at Blazer defenders stuff like, "This just in. Miller hasn't missed a three this half!" as he bombed in another wide open trey. It was so bad that at one point the Blazer free throw percentage was 64 and the King 3-point percentage was 71. That is not a typo. The Kings, well into the fourth quarter, were shooting over 70% from deep.

That is one way to stay in a game when you are being out-rebounded 48-32, commit 22 turnovers, and give up 24 free throws. Credit the Kings with hanging tough.

And even more, the Kings deserve major credit for the defensive job they did in the last minute. Everyone in the building knew Roy was going to get the ball. But the Kings decided he wasn't. John Salmons played tremendous denial defense, forcing the Blazers to go to Travis Outlaw who mustered only an awkward looking drive that never really had a chance of going in and left the Kings with the last shot in a one point game.

Twice already Portland has had to score on their last possession. Well, three times if you count the Houston game as two. The Spurs got a last shot, but that was in transition with no time to run a play.

This was the first time this year Portland had to play defense against a set play with the game on the line. We know they can score to win games. Can they defend to win games?

Somehow, someway they completely disrupted the Sacramento play and Salmons heaved up a wild, tough shot against some pretty intense defense. There is a reason Portland is 9-6 and the Kings are 5-11; the Blazers finished the game stronger at both ends.

Along the way we had a few awesome moments. Roy added yet another highlight reel, spectacular drive. This one started left of the key with a behind-the back dribble to leave on King in his wake, a spin, a shift around one Kings big man and a layin over the late rotation of a second. Simply gorgeous. 

For the night, we learned a lot of things. We learned that one reason Portland will continue to be successful is because guys accept their roles without complaint, continue to do their job, and pull for each other. We learned that even on an off night offensively, Aldridge can contribute on the boards. We learned that even on nights when the bench struggles (14-34 from the field), Portland is going to win.

I guess you could say we learned Brandon Roy is spectacular...but I suspect most of us already knew that.

I expected Portland to win by double digits. They won by one. In a way, that is disappointing. They should beat even an inspired Kings team running without Francisco Garcia and Kevin Martin by more than one. Then again, in a way it is inspiring. As numerous players said in the post-game interviews, a couple years ago Portland would have lost this game. This time they showed poise, they showed maturity, and did what it took to walk away with the W. Ultimately, that is what it is all about.

Preview:Kings at Blazers

The Kings and Blazers are two teams heading in similar directions. The Kings, once an almost-respectable 5-8 have dropped their last two games, leaving them ahead of only about 7 teams, record-wise. Meanwhile, Portland is 8-6 and just one game off the pace set by Denver.

However, Portland has a tough schedule coming up while Denver looks to having six of their next nine at home and among the road games are teams such as the Clippers, Timberwolves, and Kings. In other words, while Portland is likely to be looking up at Denver by four or five games within the next couple of weeks as the schedule is favorable for Denver to have a big winning streak whereas Portland will be fortunate to go 3-3 in their next six, five of which are on the road in places like Detroit, Toronto and Boston.

That makes the home game against the Kings into a key game. Portland is coming off a disappointing performance in Phoenix. Defensively, the Blazers performed very well and did everything they needed in order to have a chance to win. Unfortunately, the offense disappeared.

Part of that can certainly be credited to the improved Suns defense. How much of it is credited to their defense as opposed to how much of it is credited to Phoenix being in the Blazers' collective psyche is an open question.

In the first half, Portland was raining open threes at the basket from all angles. Typically reliable shooters like Steve Blake and Rudy Fernandez had multiple looks so wide open that not only were the shots uncontested, there was not even a defender within five feet of the shooters. They combined to miss every open look.

Portland let the Suns off the hook. Had they hit the shots they normally hit, Portland would have been up by 10 - 15 points. The offensive explosion of the third quarter would not have mattered so much.

The Suns are much too good to not take advantage of such a gift. They took advantage and won a game that Portland had a very real shot at. That makes it perhaps even more unlikely that Portland will break through in Phoenix this year and also had adverse affects on the outlook of Greg Oden.

His match-up with Shaquille O'Neal drew a lot of attention. Frankly, Oden was not ready for it. He was called for some pretty questionable calls, particularly in light of the nonsense O'Neal gets away with. As typical for him, he got off a couple of cheap shots that would have gotten someone like Ron Artest of Stephen Jackson a multi-game suspension, but in his case only one of them even drew a foul call and a technical.

If I ever get around to it, I would love to write a piece about the dirtiest players in the League: guys who regularly take cheap shots, commit vicious fouls akin to unnecessary roughness type things, or just hack and grab. A front line of O'Neal, Tyson Chandler and Bruce Bowen, teamed with Rip Hamilton would be a pretty good start.

The difference between the Bowen/Hamilton type players and the O'Neal/Chandler ones is the first group do their work with their hands, primarily to keep their opponent from getting position or scoring well. The second group I have watched time and again throw elbows or other shots clearly designed to injure. I was shocked the first time I saw Chandler play live and saw all his after-the-whistle work away from the ball. He does not get noticed because he does it away from the play but I instantly put him on my list and watching him since, he is second only to O'Neal.

O'Neal of course has well-publicized tendencies in that regard which are passed off by his fans and defenders as, "Well, he gets fouled all the time." Uh, right. There is no difference between say...someone getting run over by a tank reaching around and trying to strip the ball, getting called for a foul, and the actions of O'Neal against Joel Przybilla.

Last year after he knocked Przybilla to the floor, O'Neal "tripped" and deliberately moved the ball, trying to drive it into Joel's face with all O'Neal's weight behind it. It was deliberate, malicious, and should have earned a long, long suspension. In the most recent game he again took an after the whistle shot that could easily have been construed as a punch. This one at least earned him a technical, but it also allowed him to grow ever more violent as the game progressed without further fouls being called.

I look forward to the day when, after his basketball career, he gets in the ring with guys who think like he does...Tito Ortiz, Randy Couture, Brock Lesnar...and we see how he does without the referees allowing him almost complete carte blanche.

But back to Oden; after the game, it was clear he knew he had performed poorly. He struggled to score and, more importantly, did not rebound or defend well. Portland will be just fine if he does not score a great deal but they desperately need strong performances defensively and on the boards from Oden if they intend to compete against the better NBA teams.

How will Oden respond to it? The Kings game might provide one answer. The answer has to do much more with Oden than it does the Kings. Physically, the Kings are way over-matched. Oden can gain position almost at will against guys like Brad Miller, Spencer Hawes and Mikki Moore.

The Kings big men play a different game, more inclined to snipe from mid or long range than they are to mix it up under the basket. They are the type of players Oden should put up fairly nice numbers against...if his head is in the game. If not, he could skip his rotation, be drawn to the perimeter where the Kings can use their superior speed and agility, and he could end up in foul trouble.

So item #1 on the Blazers agenda is making sure Oden is able to put the Phoenix game behind him. Everyone has bad games. The good players have bad memories and go out to play the game in front of them instead of worrying about yesterday's news. We do not know how Oden will react to that yet.

Item #2 is winning the games they should win. Home games against the Kings are definitely a game they should win. Even if Sacramento comes in with a chip on their shoulder after the beat-down Portland laid on them last week, Portland should win this game and win it handily.

They have a better inside game than the Kings, they have a better outside game, and better defense. For the Kings to win, they have to play well over their normal game while limiting the Blazers to playing a very poor game.

In the NBA, that is always a possibility but not a probability. Portland should follow the same formula they used in the second half at Sacramento. Start the ball inside and either let LaMarcus Aldridge go to work in the post or, if he is double-teamed, rotate the ball to the open shooter on the perimeter for the easy look at the three-ball.

This game should be a good confidence booster for Portland after the rough Suns game and give them a nice boost before heading on the road for their second long East Coast trip of the year. Look for a double digit win and some free chalupas for the crowd.

And lots of chances to do the "Thrilla" dance every time Przybilla dunks or blocks a shot.