AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH (career night for me) AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! (Credit: YardBarker.com)

Yes, the Portland Trail Blazers dropped their final game of the regular season, at home, to a 26-win, gone fishing, lottery-bound, already-booked-their-flights-home Golden State Warriors team. And I’m perfectly ok with it. You can close your mouth now. Normally this would be cause for an uproar. Are you kidding me? Losing at the Rose Garden to a team that before tonight had won 7 games on the road? Blasphemy, right? Incorrect. You see tonight, despite the loss, was still a fun night. The game had its moments (which I will get too later) but it was about so much more. With so much on the line on the last night of the season, it was exciting all the way around. I don’t know about you but from 5 o’clock on I was juiced. Tonight was a rare night of cheering and observing, fist-pumping and channel changing and overall being excited like a 14 year old girl watching Glee.

To be honest with you, as soon as I found out LaMarcus Aldridge would be out…I did not care so much about the outcome of the game. I was more concerned about….*Jim Mora voice*…the playoffs. I went over all the playoff scenarios in my head until it hurt like I was doing advanced algebra. As soon as the San Antonio Spurs dropped their final game at Dallas and it became clear facing the Mavericks (my preference) would be impossible, I was all in with the Suns. Not that I needed an excuse to root against the Jazz, but I have to say there is something refreshing/weird about openly rooting for another team. If you saw our twitter feed…I did get a little excited but it was all in good fun. I even found an old Planet Orange shirt I acquired while at ASU and threw it on. I was beating my chest like a gorilla as the Suns trounced the Jazz and thus gave us hope. Yes folks, I just like you should be ecstatic that the Portland Trail Blazers will not be facing the Utah Jazz in the playoffs. It’s like in high school when you hear that not-so-cute girl wants to ask you to the Sadie Hawkins dance but somehow you avoid her and someone else asks you. Fist pumps indeed.

(Sidenote: Alanis Morrisette irony to be cheering for the same team we now face in the playoffs?)

Onto tonight’s actual game, which was an admirable effort considering Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge AND Marcus Camby were out. Andre Miller played 9 minutes which let you know just how much you should have cared about winning this one. I do love the effort of the guys who played. I mean for pete’s sake they held Golden State scoreless for about 3 minutes there in the fourth….not an easy feat. Speaking of which, Portland was right there late in the fourth until Stephen Curry said “Man, you know what…I kind of want to win this game…and by kind of I mean really” and took over. 16 of their 37 points in the 4th quarter….that boy good. Don’t be surprised if he sneaks up and gets that ROY, yeah I said it! So yes it was a loss but that does not mean this was not a fun game to watch. Being able to see Travis Diener and Patty Mills play actual minutes gets two thumbs up, especially considering Mills dropped 11. Watching Dante Cunningham and Jeff Pendergraph cap off their surprising rookie campaigns with a bang was fun to watch. Cunningham’s double-double was nice, but who saw Mr. Lil Bit dropping 24 points coming? Pendergraph’s personal dunk-fest in the first half had the RG rocking. We’ve talked a lot about having pride in your team, but how about pride in this rookie class. You remember when people (Blazer fans + national analysts) called the draft a ‘disappointment’ for Portland? I’d have to disagree as Dante and Jeff did a great job all year, doing more than expected and helping this team through this rollercoaster season. If anything, they may have benefitted from the injuries the most as they got thrown into the fire and did not get burned. Tonight they showed they are the future.

Other positives… Having more responsibility offensively can only do good for Martell Webster and Jerryd Bayless’ confidence. Also, it was nice to see Portland put up some points against a fast-paced opponent when you consider we are facing the Suns. We could nitpick about this one but I’ll pass. I’m going to ignore allowing GS to shoot 50% and all that jazz, because truthfully it is not going to be on anyone’s minds tomorrow or in 2 days. Let’s be honest…Devean George dropped 16 points which means the Warriors were just meant to win this game from the get go.

So now the stage is set for a playoff showdown with the Phoenix Suns. We will have much more in the days to come so stick around. This is where the real fun begins, people. Come on Blazer fans, all we gotta do is focus….

(stupid commercial)

"I swear I'm going to punch you all in the face, especially you T-Mac" (Credit: YardBarker.com)

For the 28th time in their 40-year existence as a franchise in the National Basketball Association, the Portland Trail Blazers have found their way into the playoffs. And they did it in impressive fashion. For 48 minutes, the Portland Trail Blazers absolutely beat the you know what out of the New York Knicks. I mean it was the type of game where everything was rolling. More importantly, not only did the Blazers clinch a spot in the playoffs…they did it by winning in playoff team fashion. “How do you win in playoff team fashion against the Knicks, you’re crazy.” Well…you just go out there blow them out, have some fun and go on to the next one…on on to the next one (sorry it’s a habit thanks Jay-Z). The Blazers continued their stretch of mature basketball by just doing what playoff teams are supposed to around this time of year. Namely, beat the you know what out of sub .500 teams on their home court. It was refreshing to watch Portland get an easy win this season, mainly because easy wins have been a rare commodity for this squad. Actually, easy anything has been the opposite of this season. The roll continues for the Blazers as they have won 4 straight games and 12 of their last 14.

How did they win? Portland came out ready to play. Coup was a bit worried in his pre-thoughts if Portland would settle for a win (aka fall into a dogfight) or go out and take it. Well they went out and took it. The ball movement was crisp early, and they jumped on the Knicks before they had a chance to know what was going on. And I’m not sure the Knicks knew what was going on even before the game, more on that later. LaMarcus Aldridge was on an early mission to destroy Al Harrington…I mean he was going at him early. He scored Portland’s first 5 points on his way to a 21 point-in-27 minutes-on 10-for-12 shooting night. Also, Brandon Roy absolutely pooped on David Lee. That dunk came out of nowhere, I don’t know if it was as nice on TV but in the arena I had to get up and make a Marbury face. I like anytime where Roy gets to play a chill 28 minutes. The starting lineup is developing some nice chemistry and you can really see them work as a unit. Credit to Camby and Miller. The Blazers have shown some maturity over the past couple weeks. For one, they’ve finished out some close games against tough opponents, something that has been shaky all year (OKC/Dallas). Secondly, they have been taking out the inferior opponents. One thing I was impressed with last night was the defense. Portland looked to be flying around and helping each other all night. It started early when they somewhat disrupted New York’s flow by ‘blue’-ing all ball screens. Essentially the defender would force his player away from the ballscreen, forcing him into the help and only allowing him to use one side of the court. It was Marcus Camby’s call generally and the guard would jump on the side of their guy. It’s hard to give Portland too much credit considering the Knicks are a jump-shooting team anyways, but still it was well done and should be pointed out. You can really see how Camby is bringing this team to another level defensively and they can still get better, but he’s making a big impact.

(Sidenote, I would watch NBA players try and guess popular music all day. That had me cracking me up. Especially since Marcus Camby and Juwan Howard are about a combined 95 years old. They need to come back next year. Please.)

The Knicks are bad. I mean, I knew something was up when before they game they went from ‘shooting jumpers with swag’ to the ‘half-hearted layup line’…without saying a word. Literally, no one said a word. It was unreal. Then they came out and played with about as much passion as a married couple out to dinner who are clearly only it because the kids are too young. I should have expected it but it was disappointing. I like Gallinari and David Lee, but the rest were just…damn. Mike D’Antoni looked liked he wanted to give everyone in a uniform the Sweet Chin Music. Seriously, if they don’t get LeBron or two All-Stars or something he might show up with a lead pipe and start destroying everyone in sight. It’s really sad to see how far Tracy McGrady has fallen. And I know, I know, I should be applauding him for coming back from the injury and all. But man, hearing him get announced to next to no reaction was just odd. I mean…he was in the Toney Douglas zone as far as reactions from the Rose Garden. And this was a guy who I once argued was the best player in the NBA (Orlando T-Mac). The same guy who dunked all over Shawn Bradley in such a vicious manner that drew crazy ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’, now drew ‘huhs’ and assorted laughter after his first quarter dunk. And then he went on to carry on like a former high school or college basketball player at like a 24 Hour Fitness playing pick up. You know the guy who makes faces when his teammates make a bad pass, or shakes his head when he doesn’t get the ball, and kind of acts above everyone else there while playing with next to no effort. T-Mac showed a little bit of that last night.

Back to the Blazers, while the win was great I’m not going to lie I’m still a little concerned with the Blazer bench. Bayless, Rudy and Martell didn’t really do much to ease my concerns and they are going to have to step it up here shortly. Bayless had a rough first quarter all around but especially defensively as Sergio was going at him and he didn’t offer much resistance. Off the top of my head, there was a sequence where it was just all bad. He either got driven by or had to switch on screens and that was disappointing. Also, it wasn’t cool of him to keep running pick and rolls towards the end of the game…I mean that was clearly Diener time. That airball he shot late was karma as the fans basically willed him to miss it…they were not happy campers. Martell’s stat line looks better than it was thanks to garbage time, but he’s continuing to float around with his bad hair. It just seems like when he’s out there he’s either going to shoot an open jumper or swing the ball. Rudy did a better job of making plays and missed open shots so I’m not too dismayed with his performance. These three are going to have to start playing with more aggression because as we’ve seen in the playoffs, your bench can make or break you. Are these guys going to be Vinnie Johnson or Derrick Martin?

What have we learned about this years Playoffs so far? That the team who is the most aggressive is usually the team that is coming out with the W. To put this simply, Houston was tons more aggressive than the Blazers were and they went out and won this game. The Blazers’ performance was very Game 1-esque, it might have looked different because it was in Houston but all the elements of Game 1 stank were there. Remember when like around Season 5 or 6 of the Cosby Show, Rudy Huxtable started getting old and growing a moustache and they brought Raven Symone in the dumbest way possible. And it was just Cosby doing the same things he did before but with a different kid and everyone know. Game 3 was kind of like that….except worse somehow. You have to give credit to Houston though, they made some key adjustments that worked out very well. They took Roy and LaMarcus away. Couple that with the aggression they showed and they deserved the win. It wasn’t just finding ways to stop Roy and LMA, it was also their transition defense. Portland couldn’t get out and run which means they couldn’t take advantage of Houston’s turnovers. I think their first fast-break points were on a Steve Blake pull-up three. That says it all.

My feelings on Game 3 are kind of like a Sour Patch Kid: sour & sweet. This isn’t one of those games where you can put one nice sticky band-aid on it and boom it’s figured out. This is just a weird, confusing feeling. Its the return of the painful playoff loss that just kind of sits with you like a meatball sub. It’s lingering longer than the guys in Pineapple Express. For every positive comment or thought I have about this game, a negative one creeps right by it or vice versa. It is driving me wild. Don’t believe me? Watch me do my dance then. On one hand, Portland reverted back to their Game 1 tentative ways (BOO). On the other hand, they came back from down 17 and made this a game (YAY). On one side you can say that Portland showed an ability to compete and win in Houston (YAY). On the other hand you can say the blew a chance to steal a win on the road, the type of chances you don’t get too often in the playoffs (BOO). You can say that Portland managed to be right there despite Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge combining to shoot 12-for-33 (YAY). On the other hand you can say the blew a game where Yao, Artest and Brooks combined to shoot 8-for-26 (BOO). And I could keep on going but for my sanity’s sake I’m going to stop. Just a weird feeling thinking about this game. But, at the end of the day Game 3 is in the books. Houston is up 2-1 and a completely new slate starts up with Game 4.

The most disappointing aspect of Game 3 was the return of the tentativeness. From the tip it was clear that Houston was not going to let Brandon Roy beat them. We all expected this….well apparently all of us except for the other Blazers. Their help defense was everywhere, building walls around the ball anytime Roy even looked at penetrating. They also looked at ways to get LaMarcus Aldridge out of rhythm. Double-teams worked (4 turnovers) as did quick rotations on the pick-and-roll. Also working was the fact that he started the game 1-for-7. Portland needed guys to step up, every one and their mom knew that. Was it going to be Blake? Outlaw? Batum? Rudy? It seemed like no one wanted the ball in the first half. Honestly, the only people ready to play in the first half were Rudy Fernandez and…*gulp* Channing Frye. (Oden added himself to that list later). Those two just went out and played basketball. Rudy got his mojo going early, Channing had that ‘F*** it I might as well just hoop while I’m out here’ swag. Everyone else was swag-less. The rest of the team was pump-faking, passing up shots, holding the ball, over or underdribbling. Just a lot of overthinking offensively from a lot of people. It was wildly disappointing.

Portland did a lot of un-Portland type things in this game. They got beasted on the boards (32-41) and on free throw attempts (10-24) just like in Game 1. Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge were just way off, more off than that one time Cartoon Network showed Saved by the Bell instead of cartoons. Roy had 19 points on 18 shots. If you’re a Houston fan that’s exactly what you want to see. Those are Rudy Gay, Vince Carter type numbers. The positive is he got to the line 8 times, which shows that his jumper was just off. The negative: his 8 attempts were 80% of the Blazers free throw attempts. He took nice shots he just could not get it going. It happens. LaMarcus finished with 13 points on 15 attempts. Not only that but he had 4 turnovers, struggling with the double team and the attention brought his way. He just wasn’t strong with the ball at times. The positive? At least he had 8 rebounds comparted to 1 in Game 1. Let it be known that these two cannot struggle if Portland wants to win this series. They especially can’t struggle if Portland wants to win in Houston.

It also didn’t help these two out that other than Rudy Fernandez no one decided to show up. Rudy carried the Blazers and would have gotten the game ball and my affection forever had Portland been able to pull it out. Steve Blake’s line looks ok….but he had a horrible game for being Steve Blake. It felt like he had way more than 2 turnovers. It was just weird to watch Blake play like the opposite of himself. The compliment I have always given him is that he’s solid and he doesn’t take anything away from the dinner table. Tonight he decided to break dishes in a Sergio-esque performance at times. I mean seriously, I’ve never cringed when Steve Blake has the ball in his hands until last night. The positives? He may have broken out of his slump (4-for-7 from behind the arc), he can’t play worse and he will get doubted by a ton of people over the next day. Blake has proven doubters wrong his whole career. Travis Outlaw was again a no-show, shooting 2-for-11. That means for the series he is 9-for-30. I just threw up in my mouth a little. And this is our #3 scorer who is running around out there with no confidence. He let Kyle Lowry D him up and I’m pretty sure he’s considered a midget in 15 states. How Outlaw didn’t jump over him in the post and get that fadeaway off is beyond me. Even when Portland started feeding him it wasn’t working out. If Travis keeps producing like this, Portland is going to struggle to put points up. The positives? Portland is still in this series despite Travis Outlaw playing just as well offensively as you or I could given the situation. He’s due. Greg Oden also played well…until we started trying to run everything through him.

Defensively, my biggest problem was how poorly the Blazers protected the paint, especially in the second quarter. So many uncontested layups and dunks in that quarter. I know Big Joel was in foul trouble but he let Scola get an And-1 on him and then Carl Landry low-key beasted him in the post. Definitely not calling the big fella out….but it was shocking to see. Aaron Brooks was slicing to the basket…Von Wafer was dunking…Portland just didn’t do a very good job of protecting the paint tonight. Also the performance of Luis Scola and Landry in the first half sure didn’t help. Those two combined to go 13-for-22 and scored 29 points. Getting that kind of production from those kinds of players is huge. The toughest part to swallow may be the fact that we finally got Yao, Brooks and Artest to struggle on the same night and couldn’t pull it off. That’s the toughest part if you ask me. You don’t get those oppurtunities that often. It’s kind of like Portland had the chance to take a pretty girl home but instead opted to take her number down and call her next week. It’s hard to think of a positive attached to that one because Yao and Brooks have been trouble all series. As much as I want to pull the ‘Roy/LMA can’t play much worse card’, the ‘Yao/Brooks/Artest can’t play much worse card’ is right there.

It is time to stay positive. There is plenty of basketball left to be played and believe it or not there were some encouraging things to come out of this game. The thing is, despite the disappointment…Portland somehow got into a game they had no business being in. None. I mean if Portland had come back and won we all would have been like thieves in the night. Statistically, Houston was beating them badly in every category and there Portland was surging right back. You take away Shane Battier’s three two steps behind the 3-point line and this might be a completely different ball game. I know, coulda, shoulda, wouldas…but still. What I liked most about this game was that Houston’s biggest weakness got exposed. What weakness? Their inability to execute in the 4th quarter. You take away those 6 free throws at the end and the Rockets only put up 14 points in the fourth. Their superstar is Yao Ming and he can be taken away easily in late game situations. All of a sudden you can’t get Yao the ball, the offense stagnates, there is no more kicking it to the weakside and moving the ball for an open shot or a great drive. Portland showed an ability to do that last night. It seemed like Houston just got tight, they didn’t know where to go. With a lot of series and close battles ahead this is only a good thing. Early in the fourth they like to go with Von Wafer and Kyle Lowry before subbing their starters in. Which means, in the fourth quarter the Rockets depended on Von Wafer, Kyle Lowry, Aaron Brooks, Luis Scola and Ron Artest to make plays. I’m not sure that sentence is a bad thing at all.

For Portland’s sake lets hope there is a carry-over between that second half of Game 3 and Game 4. The one thing we know about this team is that they are resilient. Now it’s Portland’s turn to make their adjustments to what Houston has presented. And if they can make the right adjustments, there is a really good chance that Portland heads back home with this series even at 2. Game 4 is going to be mighty interesting to say the least…