Here's looking at you, hamstring. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

How does a three-way tie for 6th place in the Western Conference sound? Sound good? I’m sure it does. Only problem is we have no idea whatsoever whether that is a good or bad thing for the Blazers.

That’s because teams 2-through-4 in the West are also tied, with the Utah Jazz just a half game back of the pack. So if you want to play Dallas in the first round, it’s impossible to know where you want the Blazers to finish. If you don’t want the Jazz, again, it’s impossible to know. The only thing we know about the playoffs is that if you subscribe to the preference of playing the Lakers because it would be the most entertaining series, then you want the Blazers to pull out an eight seed.

So, I’m not worried about the standings. Not one bit. What we’re concerned with here is how the Blazers are playing, and tonight they played quite well. Marvelous, in fact, during some stretches. Dodgy in others. But it’s pretty clear that they’ve stopped played down to the level of their opponents as happened so very often in January and February and that should tell you plenty about where this team is with four games to go.

This win would be fairly easy to diagram using a bell curve — or whatever that chart is called you use to describe works of fiction — as they got into an early turnover fest with the Clippers, steadied the ship in the second, dominated the third and slipped just enough later on to allow the score to appear threatening. In some games this season this quarter-to-quarter pattern of runs would take shape because the Blazers would get away from what gave them success, be it feeding a particular player, moving the ball to the weakside or helping on D. Tonight, they sustained their style, even as the results varied.

That style meant a steady dosage of LaMarcus Aldridge (27 points on 26 shots, the latter a season-high) on the blocks and Brandon Roy (23 on 17) taking advantage of the many mismatches the Blazers could earn. It meant being aggressive even if it didn’t create a fast break and being steady with the defensive rotations, which were better than allowing 49 percent shooting as the Clippers outright earned some buckets with nice interior passing.

For some odd reason it also meant Marcus Camby and Juwan Howard shooting every mid-range jumper that said hello to them, but 42 points in the paint despite a low assist total due to isolation plays (mismatches, mismatches, mismatches) made everything OK.

The bench still worries you, because even though it was 8-of-16 overall, five of the makes and eight attempts came from Howard. Martell Webster had a nice two-man game moment with Aldridge early on (five assists for LA = Gold, Jerry. Gold) but only took four shots and Jerryd Bayless three in 22 combined minutes. Then you have Rudy Fernandez taking one shot in 18 minutes (two turnovers, two assists) and you wonder how much confidence Nate McMillan has in his bench if he’s not going to try to involve these guys more against a poor opponent.

The dark cloud hanging over this Eeyore was Camby straining his hamstring which, as you remember with the Roy debacle, could mean he’s back and fine in a day, he sits out a handful of games or that he’s just less mobile as the Blazers enter the playoffs. We’ll find out about him tomorrow, but remember, it’s the starters that are carrying this team right now, and once you begin diluting that lineup with bench replacements, what that group has going for them could disintegrate fairly quickly against a playoff defense.

Despite his 25 points, it was fairly shocking that Chris Kaman didn’t get the ball more on the block. Jeff Pendergraph and Juwan Howard did a nice job keeping him out of position, but the center position is not only one the Clippers should win statistically, it’s one they should ride all the way to victory. Marcus Camby and DeAndre Jordan aren’t going to score a ton of points, but they still represent size and length the Blazers just don’t have anymore. The three aforementioned bigs combined for three offensive boards last week and keeping that number below five is a victory for the very young and very old Portland frontcourt.

Probably for the best the Blazers don’t have to run into Blake Griffin yet, too. Just typing his name gives me horrific visions of tip dunks on Juwan’s head.

The Clippers also haven’t played since last Thursday, so they’ll be nice and rested, but being such an erratic team it’s impossible to predict whether that will help or hinder them.

Keys to the Game:

-Get up early: Just because a team has a low-ranked offense doesn’t mean they can’t occasionally play good team ball. The Blazers can lure L.A.’s ugly side out by grabbing an early double-digit lead, which might lead to the Clippers abondoning their big advantage inside, just as they did in the second-half on Wednesday.

-Don’t live off long two’s: There are going to be a lot of shot blockers camping around the rim, leaving lots of space for anyone who wants to operate off the ball. Jumpers aren’t going to kill the Blazers, but 17-foot jumpers will. The more shots they can take within 12 feet, the easier things will get. Hopefully Jerryd Bayless learned his lesson last game and won’t go driving head-first into the lane hoping to draw contract and instead getting his shot swatted into 2009. With the current roster, you can almost always check the percentages from 16-23 feet to see if they even had a shot at winning.

-Limit assists: The Clippers have the third-best assist-to-field-goals ratio in the league (about six assists out of every 10 baskets). There’s no special secret to stopping this. Stay mobile on defense, be ready to provide primary and secondary help, close out on shooters and deny the passing lanes. The more Portland can force the Clippers into isolation sets, the more the Clippers are going to fall into the mid-range trap.

-Get Patty Mills in the game: I have no idea how many points the Blazers will have to be up for Mills to play, but it would be nice to see what he can do against real competition while there are still some free minutes to grab.

At least that was the general consensus I gathered during and after the game at the Rose Garden, listening to other conversations like a 1977 Washington beat reporter. There was no eerie silence draped over the crowd when Aldridge left limping and only a few mutterings about his non-return. Not that you can read anything into that, but the fans seemed to take this injury in stride, helped along both by Pendergraph and the fact that Aldridge was (Edit: NOT) carried off the court by teammates or a stretcher.

We’ll hold off on further Aldridge talk until we know how long he’ll be out, which could probably be anywhere from one practice to three weeks. The important part, for now, is that the Blazers still managed to win with a Juwan Howard-Dante Cunningham-Pendergraph frontcourt, tying points in the paint 44-44 while staving off a late run from the Clippers.

As my younger brother so astutely pointed out afterwards, it was like a game of paddleball, with the paddle itself marking a zero-point differential (his words). Well said young fella. The Blazers never appeared to be in much danger, but they kept gaining 7-10 point leads only to fall victim to an L.A. surge and find themselves tied again. As much positive energy comes out of these against-the-odds victories, this type of game may well define Portland for now. A team that just doesn’t have the defensive talent to hold leads against squads with offensive ability, however squandered it may be.

Despite an efficient 25 points on 19 shots, it was strange Chris Kaman didn’t get the ball even more than he did. But that’s why they’re the Clippers — pardon the inane NBA generalization. L.A. didn’t have any trouble scoring, shooting 49 percent, and they may have pulled off the comeback had they not been dragged beneath the waves by Baron Davis’ lackadaisical 2-for-15 shooting performance. Nothing saves a depleted team like the opponent hoisting bad jumpers in droves.

That, and hustle, heart, energy, desire, or whatever you want to call it. Something is going right when you grab 12 offensive boards. Oh, and the Blazers shot 13-of-25 on shots between 16-25 feet. That stat has become a pretty strong barometer for how the night has gone.

Individual Thoughts plus Rose Garden observations:

This feels like one of those games where people are just going to look at one another and say “Roy was pretty good” and leave it at that. But 25-7-6 on 20 shots, including a couple “No you don’t” jumpers in the final minutes to seal the game, would be cause for celebration for a large portion of pro players. One thing I found amazing was that when Roy had been resting for some time and L.A. made its run, Roy checked in and immediately hit a tough jumper. Some guys need to work themselves back into the game, some guys are always in the game. Just one free-throw attempt seemed a bit odd, though.

Aldridge was having a good night with seven points on four shots before leaving the game. If you weren’t already numb, any significant injury to him probably completed the proverbial morphine injection of fandom.

Juwan Howard rebounded nicely from a slow Monday by, well, rebounding well. Nine boards, four of the offensive variety, and 10 points on seven shots. Imagine if a Collins brother was getting his minutes right now.

Almost 20 minutes flat for Andre Miller, or was that 20 flat minutes? Six points, three assists, a couple cringe-worthy jumpers and hardly anything else of note.

Minus the mid-range jumpers and plus a little more hop to his step, Pendergraph played remarkably like Howard. He tends to be in the right places, doesn’t make too many mistakes — you can see he’s pretty cautious with the ball — and he looked much more fluid crashing the boards than he has. A big game like this, in a win, will do a lot for Pendergraph, who is rarely lacking in confidence regardless. Let’s see what he does for an encore now that he’s earned himself a spot on opposing scouting reports.

Martell Webster had a quiet 15 points, at least to these eyes, but getting to the line for eight tries was nice.

Jerryd Bayless dropped five assists in the second quarter and at times looked like a point guard. At other times, he was following Baron Davis’ lead with bad jumpers and getting into trouble at the rim. His passing instincts are starting to impress, but the man needs a floater to give shotblockers something else to think about, just like a big man needs a counter to his favorite post move.

Steve Blake got his shot blocked into the Byzantine Empire, or at least the 37th row, on a fast-break play you could see coming from mid-court. I literally saw heads shaking in the crowd before he crossed the three-point line. Other than that, he hit some open shots, but it still looks weird when he is initiating the offense in the fourth quarter with Roy and Bayless on the floor.

Dante Cunningham made himself noticeable late in the game, but his jumper isn’t coming off his hands right. When he’s missing, he’s missing long.

Someone in Portland’s game operations crew had a real bad idea tonight. When the Blazers make a run and the crowd stands up on its own in applause, that is probably not the best time to play a Blazers-remixed “That’s G” video package. I’ve never seen an excited crowd so dumbfounded, nor one sit down so quickly.

PG-13 Alert: There was a rowdy Clippers fan in our section. He was standing, yelling, waving his arms about, all the regular buffoonery. After a particularly sweet Portland play, a concessions lady came to our aisle and handed a bag of peanuts to the gentleman and said it was courtesy of a man a few rows up. I think you can guess what the Blazer fan yelled once the Clipper fan looked behind him. The Clipper fan was soon ejected.

Not only was it great to catch two Blazer games while I was in town, but it was great to see both Ben Golliver and Casey Holdahl in person. With how much of our time we spend on Twitter and on blogs, sometimes it’s just nice to see people face to face and shake their hands. Cheers, fellas.

That’ll resume the Portland excursion segment of our coverage. Back to League Pass in a couple days. Hopefully we’ll find something out about Aldridge tomorrow, and hopefully that doesn’t lead to us writing a post analyzing the Blazers’ game-plan without him.