More to come when it drops.

"Didn't expect me huh? Did you drink your Sprite? What do you mean it's not 1995?" (Source: YardBarker.com)

Second verse, same as the first. And breathe.

Unlike in Game 1 where you breathing after an exhilrating win, this time you need to take a deep breathe and be ready to take this for what it is. The Phoenix Suns, with their backs against the wall, in a must-win situation beat up on the Blazers to the tune of 119-90.

Yes, there was nothing pretty about this one. As a matter of fact about the only good news about this blowout was that I indeed did get to rev the DVR up a little earlier and start up Glee (kidding). Yes, Portland got blown out. However, please, despite the nasty loss I beg of you do not begin with the ‘sky is falling’ type.

This is the playoffs, this type of wins happen all of the time. Remember, this is a 50-win team, minus their franchise player who own home court advantage in a playoff series. The Blazers did their job which was to win one in Phoenix, do not forget that. Now ask yourself this: would you feel worse if the Blazers lost a close one, or if they had a game like this? These are the kind of games you can put behind you. Think back to last year and remember how all the onus was on Portland to win a game in Houston. Phoenix, as great as they played, still has to win in Portland. The control still remains in the Rose Garden.

The real bummer in this game is not the outcome, but instead the injury to Nic Batum’s right shoulder. As I write this it has been reported that is a right shoulder strain with an MRI to follow. That absolutely has me more bummed than anything else. Losing Batum would be like failing a test, having your girlfriend dump you and then getting in your car to go home but it won’t start and now your phone is dead. That bad.

Now all of what I said in the first paragraph is great and true but it does not take away from the fact that Portland got their teeth kicked in, Bully Beatdown style in the desert tonight. And I know that will sting with a lot of you, it’s never fun to see you squad get beat up like that under the bright lights. I just don’t feel like this was a momentum-swinging type loss.The playoffs are like a chess match with every team making their next move. Phoenix made their move and now Portland has to counter.

The one thing we talked about coming into this game was adjustments. Phoenix, after losing, simply made the right adjustments. They zeroed in on Andre Miller and were effective in taking him away. They put Grant Hill on him, applied ball pressure on him from the start and for the most part it was a great move. It never really felt like Dre was able to get into any sort of rhythm. Miller was held to 12 points (off 11 shots), 3 assists and only 4 free throw attempts. We sad for Portland to have a chance to win, they need Miller to be effective. He was not. Nod your head to Alvin Gentry for this. Offensively, the Suns also opened the floor up a lot more, using more movement off the ball–whether that be cuts away from the ball, or setting downscreens. It worked. Also, they made a slight tweak in the pick and roll where the man in the weakside corner would cut to the basket. Subtle, but now that guy who was able to help so much on Amare and only have to worry about closing out to a three pointer, had to worry about something different. They ended up with more options and more space for Nash to attack or dump it off to Amare.

Before I get too far…have to get to Grant Hill….goodness gracious. 20 points, 10-of-11 shooting. He definitely turned the clock back to 1995 or had some Sprite and some Chicken Nuggets or something. Also, anyone find it funny that in Game 1 we dusted off our old relic to lead the way and in Game 2 Phoenix said ‘Oh yeah, here’s Grant Hill…he’s older’. Will Juwan Howard drop 17 in Game 3? At this rate….you never know.

From the start you could tell something was different from the home team. Phoenix looked to impose their tempo on Portland, and succeeded. As expected the Suns were in attack mode from the jump. One of the big questions coming into this one was would Portland be ready for the increased focus and intensity? Not so much. When Phoenix is running like that and making shots like that it’s hard for any team, let alone this Blazer team to keep up with them. It was a completely different Phoenix team. They were getting layups, dunks and getting to the free throw line…all things for the most part we couldn’t say after Game 1. Of their first 14 points, 10 of them came from free throws or dunks/layups. The tone was set early and once that Suns train gets rolling it’s hard to stop it.

The Suns just put the Blazers in a hole that they couldn’t get out of. If you look at the guys who struggled in Game 1, they sure did not struggle in Game 2. Steve Nash was in attack mode and was able to get into the teeth of the Blazer defense, something he did not always do in Game 1. 13 points and 16 assists is what Phoenix looks for out of Nash. When that Canadian gets going watch out. Amare got to the line 8 times and shot 50% from the field. I already mentioned old man Hill and how his performance probably made Christian Laettner raise his hands in the air and Thomas Hill cry. Jason Richardson bounced back like Juvenile, dropping 29 points on 11-of-16 shooting and hitting 4-of-5 from deep. They are tough to beat when Richardson plays like that: counting tonight on the season Phoenix is 27-3 when Richardson scores 20+ and 9-1 when he scores 25+. So now we know a major key to this series is not letting Jason Richardson go bananas.

(One positive I would point out, is that Phoenix’s bench did not perform nearly as well early as they did in Game 1. I’m searching right?)

Individually, there is not as much need for a complete breakdown as in Game 1. Offensively as a team there was never really a sense of rhythm or flow. It never felt like Portland was getting the same kind of easy looks they got in Game 1. Of course as the lead grew, things only got more out of hand. LaMarcus Aldridge had a real tough go of it. 11 points may cause some to say ‘uh-oh he’s disappearing again’. In his defense he got into foul trouble in the second quarter and never got his rhythm going. Phoenix was determined to get Andre Miller out of his. Jerryd Bayless showed that he can still get to the rack which is a good sign. The bad sign was his 6 (RAWR) fouls. Martell Webster showed some attack and actually *gulp* drove to the hoop and finished, which scared me because I’m not used to it.

The big story: Rudy Fernandez disappearing like Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz after they made Deja Vu (seriously where did they go). At this point it is just baffling. In 28 minutes, Mr. Fernandez shot the ball just 2 times. It would be easier to swallow him struggling if he went 2-for-11, but just 2 shot attempts? That’s two more shots than you, me, Travis Diener and one more than the Immortal Jarron Collins. Unacceptable considering he is being depended on for so much with Brandon Roy out of the lineup.

I wish I could say I was surprised by the outcome, but I’m really not. Like I said, it’s hard to see Phoenix not having success when they are making shots like that. They just had a sort of desperate determination that is tough to match, champions over the years have struggled to beat teams with their backs against the wall. The same breaks that Portland got in Game 1 were non-existant. Phoenix had a completely different look defensively, looking to push up on the ball against everyone. Even Martell Webster was getting pressured like he was a driver. It was tough to get a rhythm with Aldridge and Batum getting into foul trouble. As always, it all goes back to adjustments. Despite the loss, the series now shifts back to Portland. The Blazers have a major opportunity, in their own building to take care of business. Phoenix did not get an extra win in their column for winning by 29. It’s 1-1 with plenty of basketball to be played, except now it’s in the Rose City. Just hope that Batum is ok, drink some wine, buy a croissant, don’t shower for a while, eat some Nutella, whatever it takes. Because that, more than this loss will determine the series.

No matter how you want to slice it, Martell Webster is caught in a good old fashioned funk right now. His funk is so funky Bootsy Collins would be proud…and slightly disgusted. Webster came out of the All-Star Break with a smoking performance against the Clippers. 28 points, 7-for-11 from behind the arc, 8-for-17 from the field. It seemed to ease the tensions of the Batum/Webster debate for a second. And then the bottom fell out, the slump hit and Webster found himself coming off the bench. In the seven games since dominating the Clippers, Webster has totaled 23 points and has only made seven field goals period. I’ll give you a second to let that soak in because I definitely let out a “Damn” when I saw that. Now, Webster has slumped before so we could give him the benefit of the doubt. Or we could sit and try and rack our brains and try to figure out why. I think the latter option is way more fun, also in part because anytime I can post about Martell Webster and poke fun at Coup’s super man crush I will take it.

It’s hard to ignore that the emergence of Batum and the fall of Webster may be more than just a coincidence. One thought that comes to my mind is the fact that the two have never had to truly deal with battling for time with one other. Webster was hurt all year last year which allowed Batum to take the spot. Batum was hurt the majority of this year which allowed Webster to take the spot. I’ll admit I was one of those people who disagreed with those who thought Batum should just get the starting spot back when he came back in late January. Why? A couple reasons. Unless he is a superstar, I’ve always been a fan of easing guys back into play. Another factor? At the time, Martell Webster was playing the best basketball of his career. For the month of January, Webster averaged 15 points a game (his career high for a year was 10), five rebounds, and was shooting 42.5% from the field and 38.9% from behind the arc. And not only was he delivering the goods statistically, he was consistently showing up game in and game out. If you don’t know why I bolded and italicized that word, let me put it this way: Consistency and Martell Webster have gone about as good together as the majority of couples from The Bachelor.

Basketball 101 says you don’t just yank a player playing the best hoops of his career like that. It’s silly, how on earth do you explain that? Here is a far reaching example, let’s say you’re in an inconsistent relationship with your significant other. All of a sudden she stops doing all the things you had been complaining about, whatever little things that drove you crazy are now gone. You’re…*gasp*…happy. You’re not just gonna dump her right away are you? Even if the other option may make more sense, or fit better, if things are going well you’re going to stick with it right? That’s how I imagine why Nate stuck with Martell: it was finally working out the way he imagined. Also, one has to consider the confidence issues surrounding Webster. He’s shown with confidence and aggression, he can get the job done. Without those he can sometimes…well he’ll float and disappear most of the time.  I wondered how the two could co-exist and how Nate would integrate Batum in. I figured after the All-Star Break that Batum would return…I just didn’t know the damage it would have on Webster.

The one thing we have learned over the past couple years is what we have as a team. We learned that Steve Blake was the answer over Sergio Rodriguez and Jarrett Jack. We learned that his game complimented Brandon Roy. And then we learned that we could only go so far with Blake as the starting PG. We learned that Jerryd Bayless CAN give us minutes. Enter Andre Miller. Over the past few years, we learned that Travis Outlaw has a lot of talent. Then we learned that no matter how well it worked in video games or the 4th quarter, Travis Outlaw just couldn’t start for the Portland Trail Blazers. Enter Nic Batum. We learned that we could move on without Travis. All that brings me to this question: Are we learning something new about Martell Webster? Not the confidence or aggression issues or the disappearing acts. Are we learning that he’s the type of guy who absolutely needs a ton of minutes to really produce. In that career-best month of January, Webster averaged 35.1 minutes a game.

The Blazers are 4-2 in games that Batum has started. In those 6 games, Webster has averaged 3.3 points a game and has shot 30% from the field (6-for-24). Look at the difference between Webster’s numbers this season as a starter and coming off the bench.

• In 49 games as a starter Webster averaged 11.9 points a game, 4.1 rebounds, averaged 9.8 field goal attempts a game, shot 41.8% from the field and 39.2% from the three point line. He also averaged 30 minutes a game.
• In 14 games off the bench Webster has averaged 4.4 points a game, 1.8 rebounds, 4.4 field goal attempts a game, 27.85% from the field and 21.9% from the three point line. Off the bench he’s averaged 14 minutes a game.

Also check this out. As far as scoring goes, the more he plays the better he scores.

• In, 24 games in which Webster has played less than 25 minutes he has only scored in double digits once. February the 9th vs. Charlotte, scoring 10 points in 23 minutes. In those games he’s averaging 3.5 points a game.

• In the 25 games that Webster played 30 or more minutes, he reached double figures in 22 of those games. There were 8 games that fell in between the 25-30 minute range and scored in double figures 5 times. In the 6 games he played 40+ minutes he reached double digits in all of them and scored 20+ in 4 of those 6.

The only problem with Martell Webster needing a ton of minutes to really produce are the following. There is a complete logjam at the perimeter position. Roy is a superstar numero uno. Then there is the logjam of Rudy/Batum/Bayless and Webster on the perimeter. There is not really anywhere for Webster to soak up more minutes other than at the backup three in a traditional lineup. Also, Batum should be the starter. He’s the better fit for the team, he started all of last year, he’s the best perimeter defender. Overall he has shown he can be a more complete basketball player than Webster. Martell has to deal with that. From all accounts it seems as if he is taking it well and continuing to buy in, stay plugged in and remain a great team player. On the court he’s just not really producing. And now with limited minutes and limited chances, one has to wonder if he will start pressing the issue a little bit. Jason Quick did a story on how Martell has been staying positive and it had one little passage that raised my antennas like a dog when they think they hear a knock.

“It’s hard. I’m not going to say it isn’t,’’ Webster said Friday before the Bulls game. “I just have to deal with it. I’m not necessarily happy with the situation -  I’m not – you just have to handle it. It’s the game. My thing is my mind frame. Whenever I do get back, or have the chance to take advantage of something, I’m going to try my hardest not to give it back.’’

The most important thing about Martell Webster is making sure his head is on right. Obviously, Nate and Co. need to find a way for him to produce on the court. He’s talented enough that I’m not pressing the panic button yet. If his head is not on right, I fear he may never come back all the way. We imagine him being able to come off the bench and provide scoring and energy on defense. However, that has not quite worked. This is where that above passage worries me. Martell has got to embrace the new role and figure out how to make it work. I know he’s happy for Batum and the team, but he’s not making it work for him. Instead of focusing on trying to get his starting job back he just needs to focus on playing well with what he has. I’d rather he be trying to do the latter, because if he just does that everything will work out in the end.

Not only that, but, while it makes it easier for fans to float Webster in trade rumors when he’s not playing well, his value takes a big hit when he’s either not playing or not playing well. However you feel about his long-term value or general talent relative to the team, it’s in everyone’s best interest for Webster to be effective on the court, even if that means Nate goes with the hot hand and Batum has to sit every so often.

Hopefully it comes sooner than later because if Portland wants to make a run to the playoffs and make some noise while there, Martell Webster has to give them something. Outlaw is gone and Webster has to provide some scoring (along with Rudy) to replace that.  7 field goals in 7 games just is not going to do anyone any good. It’s close to put up or shut up time.