Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge lead the Blazers to victory over the Warriors

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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.