Post game both Marcus Camby and Kurt Thomas described Andrew Bynum as a load.

I have to admit that on my way over to the Rose Garden tonight I started to feel a bit apprehensive about this one. Not because I didn’t have faith that the top team in the Western Conference wouldn’t be able to follow up on what was their most impressive and most important win of the season. And not because I don’t think that this Blazer team has the kind of tools and attitudes to make this an amazing season. I was starting to have doubts because of the circumstances of this game.

Yes, Portland always plays well, and usually wins, against the Lakers at home regardless of what’s happening at the time with either team, but Thursday it felt a little different. Never before, or at least not for a long time, have the Blazers been the favored team in this match-up. And not for a very long time has Portland been the number one team in the Western Conference when they faced the Lakers in the RG. Those factors–not to mention the fact that this is the kind of team that Kobe Bryant always wanted, one that doesn’t mind hanging out on the perimeter and watching him attack the hoop all by his lonesome–combined made me think that there was a chance we as Blazer fans had taken the first step towards expecting too much from our team. And you know what happens when you expect too much? You get that much more angry when you’re proven wrong.

So I came in guarded. Hoping for the best, but expecting that things could go wrong at any second. At first it looked like I might be right. Kobe drilled his first three shot attempts, Portland’s first field goal was an own goal, and Andrew Bynum could not be stopped by anybody. The home crowd was delirious with Blazer pride and Laker hate, but Kobe is still Kobe. If he gets hot early it can be a long night.

But there was something going on with the home side too. To start, Wesley Matthews was matching Kobe shot-for-shot. Gerald Wallace was attacking the rim. LaMarcus Aldridge was hitting his jumper and putting on a show of spins and fade-aways. The end result: Despite allowing the Lakers to shot 62% in the first 24 minutes, and giving up a combined 31 points on 15 made field goals to Bryant and Bynum, Portland trailed by only four points at halftime. That’s the definition of taking a team’s best punch and not caving.

Thursday’s second half was the story of the game, and could very well be the story of this season for the Blazers given the way their last two contests have gone. Basically the Lakers stopped scoring and Portland didn’t. Say they ran out of steam, say they stopped giving the ball to Bynum in the post, say they started missing shots they were making. Whichever reason you choose is fine. They’re all right. Here’s the facts. With 6:27 remaining in the third quarter, Pau Gasol tied the game at 66 with a pair of free throws. With 2:43 left in the same quarter, Wesley Matthews drained a three giving Portland the lead 76-66. The Lakers wouldn’t get much closer than that the rest of the way.

A similar thing happened in Oklahoma City, only a little later in the game. In that game, Portland took their first double-digit lead of the night late in the fourth quarter. Getting your biggest lead of the night, or taking a two possession game to a five possession game, in the second half shows a commitment to game plan. It shows a drive to keep scoring even when you’re getting stops on the defensive end. And most of all it shows that killer instinct that everybody is always talking about the best teams and players having and that from time to time in the recent past has seemed to stay just a touch out of Portland’s grasp.

One stat is going to stand out when you take a look at the final box score, as it should, and if you aren’t already over the moon on this team it might be just the thing to put you there. Thursday night, Portland turned the ball over four times, and no Blazer had more than a single turnover to their credit. Remember all the way back to a week ago? When the win against Denver was tempered by an unsustainable amount of turnovers, and it looked like there might be some major flaw in what was starting to look like a very solid team? Well if back-to-back games with less than 10 turnovers doesn’t mean progress–and progress in a very short amount of time with little to no practice–than I just don’t know what to say.

“Tonight we did a good job taking care of the ball,” coach Nate McMillan said during his post game remarks. “That gives you opportunities at that basket. We’re starting to get a feel for each other, and I expect the execution to continue to get better.” That’s the thing, this team can get better, and they’ve shown that they are willing to make the adjustments needed to keep getting wins.

A lot of people have jumped on the Portland bandwagon in the last 24 hours. Even though the Lakers aren’t the same team they were a couple of years ago, they are still the biggest draw in the league, so expect there to be more people interested in Portland tomorrow. My question is, when is this team going to lose again? Phoenix should be a win. Cleveland should be an easy win. That means that next week the Blazers get another shot at the other team from LA. I find it hard to believe these Blazers think there’s a team out there that can beat them two times in less than a month.

Portland is back in action tomorrow night on the road against the Suns, even if they lose the worst they can be is tied for first in the Western Conference.

Just a couple of quick things:

• Jamal Crawford and Wesley Matthews are becoming a nice combo. Wesley getting it done on offense early, and then Jamal coming in in the fourth quarter and hitting big shots. Wesley knocked down four of his first five shots, including both of his three-point attempts, in the first quarter, scoring 10 of Portland’s 27 points in an up-and-down 12 minutes. Jamal closed the game with eight points in the final quarter and 13 points in the second half. At this point minutes are pretty close to equal between these guys, with Wesley getting a few more each night. As long they both stay content with their roles, these guys should be reliable offense the whole season.
• Gerald Wallace was the star of this game, finishing with a game-high 31 points. It’s a tough task guarding Kevin Durant one night and Kobe Bryant the next. Gerald made it look relatively easy. Wallace is on the All-Star ballot, as is LaMarcus Aldridge, and if he continues to have nights like the one he had Thursday, there’s no reason Portland can’t send two guys to Orlando.
• Speaking of LA. He turned in another impressive game, finishing with 28 points and 10 rebounds. In his post game remarks, Nate McMillan mentioned that he thinks LaMarcus should try to get his average up to a double-double each night. LA is going to be an All-Star this year (he should have been an All-Star last year) but if he gets his rebounding numbers up it is going to be hard to keep him out of the discussion for best power forwards in the league. Thursday he showed an array of moves in the post, both spinning away from the hoop for jumpers and attacking the hoop for lay-ups, and at the end of the game his top of the key J looked so effortless that you knew as soon as it left his hand it was going in.
• Minutes watch: 11:01 Craig Smith. Rhino has appeared in four of Portland’s six games, getting mop up minutes against Sacramento and 2:35 against the Clippers. In the last two nights, Smith has played in the neighborhood of 11 minutes, and they’ve been productive minutes. Thursday with his time, Craig grabbed five rebounds, had an assist, and scored. That might not seem like much, but it helps. Portland has suddenly become deep at the four and five, yet another feature that makes this team different than those that came before.
• Ron Artest Metta World Peace had one of the worst games I’ve ever seen from a professional basketball player. At one point he traveled while trying to pump fake Gerald Wallace, got away with it, and missed a point blank lay-up at the rim. He really didn’t look like he knew what was happening on the court. Although, I have to say it is fun to read a final stat book that says SUB: BARNES FOR WORLD PEACE. Who knew Matt Barnes was such a humanitarian. Also, how long until making jokes about World Peace gets you banned from the Internet?

Box Score

Standings

Lake Show Life

email me: mike.acker1@gmail.com

Twitter: @mikeacker | @ripcityproject

I wanted to take pictures of this all night long.

Metta "Ron" World Peace "Artest" brings the Lake Show to the Rose Garden for their one and only Portland showdown with the Blazers.

Blazers: 4-1 (1st Northwest Division)

Lakers: 4-3 (2nd Pacific Division)

Game Details: Rose Garden Arena, Portland, OR. 7:30 PM. TV: TNT. Radio: KXTG (750 AM)

Projected Portland Starting Lineup: PG Raymond Felton (#5, 6’1”, North Carolina), SG Wesley Matthews (#2, 6’5″, Marquette), SF Gerald Wallace (#3, 6’7″, Alabama), PF LaMarcus Aldridge (#12, 6’11″, Texas), C Marcus Camby (#23, 6’11″, UMass)

Projected Los Angeles Starting Lineup: PG Derek Fisher (#2, 6’1”, Arkansas Little Rock), SG Kobe Bryant (#24, 6’6”, Lower Marion High School), SF Matt Barnes (#9, 6’7”, UCLA), PF Pau Gasol (#16, 7′, FC Barcelona, Spain), C Andrew Bynum (#17, 7′, St. Joseph High School)

I didn’t pick Thursday night’s game with the Lakers as the game of the month when I previewed January basically for one reason. I thought the Oklahoma City game was going to be a bigger, and more important test. Having said that, this is a huge game, and because of the way Portland won my pick for game of the month, I’m revising. Portland versus the Los Angeles Lakers is now the game of the month.

Here’s why. As I predicted to myself, the national media has started to get wind of what’s happening in the Rose City. People are going to watching this game. The Blazers need to win because they need to prove that on a night in night out basis they can beat the best teams in the league.

And a second reason: This is the Lakers. Sure they aren’t the Lakers of old, far from it in fact, but that doesn’t make them any less dangerous. In fact, it might make them more dangerous. Portland is supposed to win this game. They are the tops of the Western Conference for the first time in a decade. They are playing good team basketball. And for once they are the favorite in this match-up. All those things combined, and you have a recipe for overlooking a team that can still play.

Losing at home is not something Portland can afford to do if they want to stay hot beyond just the opening weeks of the season.

So what do they have to do? Well, watching game tape of the OKC win would be a good place to start. Go inside early, get the bigs in foul trouble, get to the free throw line, limit Kobe. Sounds easy, but it won’t be. One thing Portland should try hard to do is attack LA when their bench is in. That’s the best way to limit Kobe. He can’t beat you when he’s not on the floor.

I’m keeping my preview brief. The RG is going to be jacked up. After tonight we’ll know if Portland is going to be at or around the top of the conference, or if beating one of the best teams in the league at their house was just a fluke.

Here’s what I’m watching for:

• How the Blazers handle the moment: No doubt these dudes have been hearing the rumblings, and have looked at the standings. This is a big moment. First national televised game of the season, first and only meeting with the LA Lakers in Portland. If the Blazers can avoid getting starry eyed they’ll be in good shape. If they can feed off the raucous energy of the home crowd, they should have a huge advantage.
• Rebounding: Smack in the middle of all the pace talk is the fact that Portland has rebounded at a much better rate than they have in a long time. Andrew Bynum collected his first 20 points 20 boards game of his career in LA’s last game against the Houston Rockets. The Blazers need to attack the offensive glass, and they need to protect the defensive boards. The best way to beat Bynum in the rebounding game will be to get him in foul trouble early.
• Jamal Crawford: I have a feeling that Jamal is going to be an x-factor most nights. In OKC Jamal was not much of a factor. If what happened with Gerald Wallace between the loss against the Clippers and the win in Oklahoma City is any indication of how Crawford might adjust, look for him to have a good night tonight.
• Dealing with Kobe: Kobe’s going to shoot. A lot. Portland’s got to let him when he’s cold, and stop him if and when he gets hot. Figuring that out will be how the Blazers figure out this game.

email me: mike.acker1@gmail.com

Twitter: @mikeacker | @ripcityproject

Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks have been unbeaten in the Playoffs since losing to Portland in game four of the first round. Photo courtesy of the AP.

I know that the Rip City Project is a Blazer blog, and I also know that the Blazers’ season is over. But since last Sunday was a historic day for basketball, I felt like I had to add my two cents to the story that is the Dallas Mavericks’ sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers. And to be honest, Portland was the last team to beat the Dallas Mavericks in these Playoffs, and every Blazer fan’s second favorite team is who ever is playing LA, so the Mavericks/Lakers story is at least somehow Blazer related.

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