January 30, 2012; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Portland Trail Blazers power forward LaMarcus Aldridge (12) is defended by Utah Jazz power forward Paul Millsap (24) during the second half at EnergySolutions Arena. The Jazz defeated the Trail Blazers 93-89. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-US PRESSWIRE

The way you react to Portland’s most recent road loss might tell you a little something about where you stand with this current Blazer team or any of the Blazer teams in the recent past.

If you’re disgusted because Portland dropped another winnable game by turning the ball over at key moments, not closing out quarters, and not stepping on the gas when a double-digit victory was well in sight, you’re probably the type of fan that thinks a 50-win season should be a 55-win season, and the head coach should be fired every year the team doesn’t make the Conference Finals.

If you’re pumped that the Blazers went into an overly hostile environment, gave a tough Jazz team a real run for their money, and but for some poor outside shooting and an inopportune injury to Nicolas Batum would have come out with one of their bigger road wins of the season, you’re probably the type of fan that thinks a first round exit three years in a row is a great stretch for the franchise.

If you’re neither shocked nor surprised that Portland put together 30+ plus minutes of winning basketball, outplayed a good team for stretches, then got badly outplayed on the way to a “season defining” win for their opponent, then you are probably like me. Meaning, you have no idea what to make of this team.

At times Monday night, Portland looked crisp on offense, made the extra pass to get the ball to the open guy, attacked the rim, and didn’t turn the ball over. During those moments, the Blazers were clearly the better team, and Utah had to do everything in their power just to stay in the game.

At other times, Portland couldn’t buy a bucket, movement stalled entirely, the ball was bouncing off guys’ feet. During those moments, not only did the Blazers’ offense completely disappear, their defense went too. When that happened it was all Jazz, and Portland played like they wanted no part of EnergySolutions Arena, or a road win anywhere.

There’s not a whole lot I can think of to say at this point, except that the Blazers are in danger of finishing at .500 if they don’t figure out how to win on the road. During the six-game road trip that recently ended, the Blazers came out slow some nights, and some nights finished poorly. Monday, Portland started fine, and picked up a bit of speed in the second and third quarters–leading by 10 on a couple of occasions during those periods–but when Utah made the run everybody knew was coming, the Blazers just didn’t have a response.

Between the 9:10 and 3:29 marks in the fourth quarter, Portland didn’t score a single point. Over that span, the Jazz went from down five to up six. During that stretch nobody in a Blazer jersey could hit anything, and on top of that Portland was giving up lay-ups and offensive rebounds, and was getting denied at the rim. That late in the game, the Blazers just couldn’t afford to stop showing up.

There is something Portland could have done, that might have made a difference: attack the basket. The Blazers have always had a tendency to do the counter-intuitive thing and start jacking up more jump shots as their team shooting percentage nosedives. If Portland had stopped settling for jump shots, and gone at the rim, they might have been able get better looks, and they might have been able to get to the foul line. Monday night, the Blazers shot 13 free throws. The Jazz shot 38. Utah’s +16 from the charity stripe was the final difference four times over.

Portland has good foul shooters, but they need to get to the line to prove it. Plus, getting free throws can stall an opponent’s run, and can help kick-start an offense that has fallen flat. Going forward, the Blazers need to focus on getting shots inside, getting to the rim, and getting to the foul line.

OK, so that was the game. Now to address the only thing anybody is going to remember about Monday night. With 19 seconds left in the fourth quarter and Portland trailing by two, Nicolas Batum–the only Blazer to do ANYTHING in the fourth quarter–took a hand-off from LaMarcus Aldridge off an in-bounds play, turned the corner, appeared to jam his knee, and collapsed to the deck.

He lost the ball, and basically the game, but right now that’s of little importance. Nic wasn’t extended by Portland last week, but he’s still a very very important piece of this franchise. An injury to Batum, one that means he’s going to miss some time (or GASP a season) is not something anybody wants to see, and WILL be a huge blow to this team’s potential. As of right now, the Trail Blazers’ official tweeter feed says he will undergo an MRI back home in Portland on Tuesday. I’m sure as soon as they know the prognosis, we’ll know it too. If it’s any consolation, Nic seemed to be able to walk himself into the locker room.

The word out of Utah is that Portland gave this game away. At some point, though, they really are going to have to figure out how not to give games like this away. Portland is back at the Rose Garden on Wednesday against the Charlotte Bobcats. The Blazers have been just as good at home as they’ve been bad on the road, which, in my opinion, doesn’t make the road losses any less frustrating.

Couple of things:

• Apparently the people in Utah are pushing hard to get Paul Millsap into the All-Star Game. I’m not against Millsap getting into the All-Star Game, but I do think that if he’s in LA is definitely in. Monday’s national highlight packages will no doubt feature Millsap’s top of the key J with 1:31 left to play that gave Utah a five-point lead, but in the third quarter, it was LaMarcus Aldridge producing the mid-range jumper highlights. LA finished with 25 points to lead all scorers, hitting 11-0f-20 from the field. All-Star numbers.
• The big stat that is going to stand out in this one, bigger than the disparity in free throws, will be Portland’s 5-of-20 from three. The Blazers need to make threes if they are going to take 20 of them. Utah missed a bunch of threes too, but nine possessions that ended in missed threes is better than 15. Also, not being confident in the three ball probably led to Wesley Matthews not taking an open three with Portland down three with five seconds left. Wesley needs to at the very least take that shot.
• One more big stat: 18 offensive rebounds for the Jazz. Utah got their last offensive rebound on a missed free throw with the lead at only two. Portland didn’t have Marcus Camby in because they had no timeouts–all part of the last 20 seconds that produced basically nothing for the Blazers–but that’s only kind of an excuse for losing an offensive board to Gordon Hayward.
• Minutes Watch: 8:02 for Craig Smith. Rhino’s minutes have been dwindling. I think he needs to stay in the rotation, though probably not at the expense of LaMarcus’s minutes, because he does seem to be one of the few guys who looks to attack the basket before shooting the mid-range jumper.
• Standings Watch: According to Yahoo (which sometimes differs some from NBA.com) Portland came into Monday’s game in 7th, behind Houston at 6 and Utah at 5, and ahead of the Lakers in 8th and San Antonio in 9th. Sunday the Lakers win; Monday night Houston loses, Portland loses, San Antonio wins. Monday night (with Clippers/OKC in progress) Portland falls to 8, the Lakers leap to 7, San Antonio and Houston swap the 6 and 9 positions.

Box Score

Standings

Purple and Blues

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Twitter: @mikeacker | @ripcityproject

Nicolas Batum (88) is helped off the court after injuring his leg during the second half. Credit: Russ Isabella-US PRESSWIRE

Jan. 27, 2012; Portland, OR, USA; Portland Trail Blazers guard Jamal Crawford (11) dishes off the ball during the second quarter of the game against the Phoenix Suns at the Rose Garden. Credit: Steve Dykes-US PRESSWIRE

I’m not going to spend any time on a recap of this game, apart from saying that it actually was a game for 12 minutes and by the 7:22 mark of the second quarter it was effectively over. Portland should watch the game tape of this once time through, just because there are some highlights and a few takeaways, and then, like any game that ends with one team owning a 38-point lead, they should probably tuck it away in a corner.

Post game, all the Blazers said that this was the kind of game they needed. Yes, Phoenix is not a good team, but still, this Portland team is on the brink of the top level of the Western Conference. They needed a blowout. They got it.

Here’s my brief game synopsis: Portland scored inside early, this allowed their shooters to get open looks, they shooters knock down open looks, thus spreading the defense, allowing the Blazers to go back inside and score so more. Phoenix doesn’t take care of the ball, can’t hit the ocean if they were standing on the beach, and put up nine points in the second quarter. GAME OVER.

Portland has been up and down all month, although if you take out the Orlando game they’ve been pretty up at home. The get a chance to finish out the month on the road at Utah. One of the reasons a game like this is fun but deceiving, is that it could have implications for the next one. The Blazers are going to have to play a good 48 minute game in SLC to come out of there with a win. They can do it. Running against what at times looked like a Junior Varsity boosts confidence, but it doesn’t make you too sharp.

Like I said: short and hopefully sweet. Just like this game, which was over in about 15 minutes.

Couple of quick things then go enjoy your Friday night, and don’t forget to pour one out for the Suns:

• Steve Nash is good, like very good. So good, in fact, that his good play the last time these two teams met was the difference maker (and by difference maker think about this, the point swing from January 6th to January 27th was 63, with Phoenix winning by 25 at home and losing by 38 on the road). One thing I’ve noticed, and I’m sure everybody who has seen him notices too, is that Steven Nash almost never kills his dribble. He always keeps the ball moving, regardless of where he is on the court or how many guys are in his chest. Many many times in the game’s first quarter, a quarter Phoenix won by three mind you, he was trapped in the corner looking up at LaMarcus Aldridge and Marcus Camby. But because he hadn’t stopped dribbling, he was able to get an angle an slot the ball through to an uncovered big man. What make Steve Nash so good, back-to-back MVP good, is that to effectively shut him down teams have to rotate two or three times every play. That’s very tough for even the best defenses to do. The Knicks are a lucky team. When he does get traded, and if this team continues to play like they did Friday he will get traded, Phoenix is headed straight for the number one overall pick.
• Nolan Smith and Chris Johnson picked up technical fouls in the fourth quarter. I think it was partially an effort to keep a 40-point blowout from turning into an end of the bench street fight. My guess is coach Nate McMillan will have some words for those guys, something along the lines of don’t get T’ed up in the last five minutes of a 40-point win. But hopefully he’s also happy to see his last guys go out and not back down.
• Elliot Williams can sky, and Friday he knocked down a couple jumpers. I would love to see him in a game that matters. Not sure it’s going to happen though.
• Jamal Crawford did very well running the team at the point position. In 25 minutes he dished out 10 assists and turned it over only once. Phoenix is allergic to defense, but still it’s nice to see Jamal play well, especially since Raymond Felton can’t seem to get out of his own way.
• Minutes watch: 12:00 for Craig Smith. This comes with an asterisk, all of Rhino’s minutes came in the fourth quarter with the game well in hand. Before Blazer-nation gets all hot and bothered about Craig losing his minutes, hear this: Nate made a decision to go with a shorter–meaning smaller not fewer guys–rotation. Phoenix has no front court. Although Rhino would have dominated in the paint on offense, he very well could have been run ragged on D. I really don’t think Craig’s been demoted. At least I HOPE he hasn’t been demoted. Rhino still scored five points and grabbed four rebounds. He also had back-to-back three second violations.
• Standings watch: Portland comes into the game at six, ahead of Dallas and Memphis, and just behind Utah. Dallas beats Utah, Memphis loses last night to the Clippers. Portland jumps to five, Utah falls to seven, Dallas moves to six, Memphis–the hottest team a week ago, reaching as high as fourth in the conference–falls off the map. The Lakers grab the eight spot. And this is a deep reach, watch out for Minnesota, back-to-back wins, 9-10, still a few places out of the eight spot, but coming on strong. If we are lucky, and Minny keeps playing well and the Southwest or Pacific Divisions continue to be one-team spots, the Northwest could have five teams in the Playoffs. They’re long odds, but hey, anything’s possible.

Box Score

Standings

Sun-N-Gun

email me: mike.acker1@gmail.com

Twitter: @mikeacker | @ripcityproject

Jan. 27, 2012; Portland, OR, USA; Phoenix Suns point guard Sebastian Telfair (31) walks off the court after being ejected during the fourth quarter of the game against the Portland Trail Blazers at the Rose Garden. The Blazers won the game 109-71. Credit: Steve Dykes-US PRESSWIRE

Jan 25, 2012; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry (30) is defended by Portland Trail Blazers small forward Gerald Wallace (3) and small forward Nicolas Batum (88) during the fourth quarter at Oracle Arena. Golden State defeated Portland 101-93. Mandatory Credit: Jason O. Watson-US PRESSWIRE

In the early part of Wednesday’s game there were a few moments when I thought Portland was going to do the unthinkable, and get a win in Oakland. The Blazers looked sharp in the first two quarters, moving the ball around, finding open shooters, making open shots. It looked very possible that Portland’s struggles in Oak-town had come to an end.

But then something happened, and that something was named Stephen Curry. The Blazers will watch the tape of this game, as they should since there were a lot of good things to see like the aforementioned ball movement and a lot of bad things to address such as slow defensive rotations, and they will get on themselves for letting Curry get open too many times in the third quarter. It’s true that Portland helped when they probably shouldn’t have, and drifted away from shooters way way too much, but most of the damage Steph Curry did very likely couldn’t have been stopped.

Curry is that kind of special player who can get super hot, and when he does you have to try and keep up on the offensive end, because you probably aren’t going to stop him. Sure Portland could have limited the damage by defending David Lee a little better–although he ended up open a lot because the Blazers were sending two defenders at Steph and he can pass almost as well as he can shoot–and not letting any other Warrior score at all, but Portland lost on Wednesday night mostly because when Curry was streaking, and hitting every thing he tossed up, the Blazers couldn’t buy a bucket.

If you took only the first, second, and fourth quarters of Wednesday’s game, Portland outscores Golden State 73-70. Certainly not a safe advantage, but a lead nonetheless. The Warriors’ burst and the Blazers’ bust in the third quarter was very clearly the difference.

And what happened in that quarter that turned the tide in Golden State’s favor? In my opinion, what happened was that Portland went away from their game, and tried to out-shoot the Warriors. The Blazers have shooters, Jamal Crawford, Wesley Matthews, Nicolas Batum, LaMarcus Aldridge, but they don’t have anybody like Steph Curry. The Blazers got their points in the first half by getting to the rim. When Curry went off, they tried to match him. It didn’t happen. By the time Portland tried to go back to their inside game, Golden State had a decent sized lead, and with it enough momentum and energy to focus their defensive intensity. What you don’t want to do when you’re playing a team like Golden State is give them a reason to play defense.

Portland didn’t play badly, though. In fact, I felt they played better in Oakland on Wednesday than they have in a while. Nicolas Batum, Wesley Matthews, Jamal Crawford, and LaMarcus Aldridge all had decent offensive nights. Marcus Camby continued to crash the boards like a man half his age. Raymond Felton’s play continues to be unimpressive, but for the short term I think the Blazers are a lot more likely to stick with him and try to make it work than go out and try to make a trade to bring somebody else in.

A lot of Blazer fans are going to point directly to Portland’s inability to execute at the end of the game. I think a lot of that can be attributed to tired legs. No doubt people will also be a little peeved by the fact that the Blazers can’t seem to beat a bad team. I feel the same way, but everybody that’s watched Portland at all in the last few years knows they almost never beat the Warriors.

I know it sounds like I’m letting them off easy, the best teams in the league beat up on the worst teams and these losses are going to count for something when it comes to Playoff seeding, but I do believe the Blazers can be forgiven for this loss. None of these guys have played three straight games at the NBA level, and although they clearly played with a lot of effort Wednesday night it did seem like it just wasn’t there at the end. Also, Golden State had given up a big lead in front of their home crowd in their last game, and played like a team that needed a win.

At the end of the season, I firmly believe the Blazers will be at or near the top-four seeds in the West. Golden State won’t. I understand that that’s a ways off, and losing against bad teams never feels good. But even bad teams have good nights. As fans we can take a level of solace in knowing that it took a great game from Stephen Curry and a very good game from David Lee for the Warriors to topple the Blazers. That hasn’t always been the case at ORACLE.

The Blazers get a shot at redemption against the Suns at home on Friday.

Couple of quick things:

• Gerald Wallace continues to not play well on the road. Crash had six points, shooting 3-of-9 from the field. He did have some nice stretches on offense, although there was more than one time that Wallace made a nice spin move to the rim in the post, then missed at the rim. Gerald’s really got to figure it out away from home.
• Nicolas Batum has not been extended by the Blazers. Nic’s agent is saying they will shop him around before coming back to Portland. Before everybody goes into total panic mode, remember he will be a restricted free agent, so any offer made can and will be matched by the Blazers. I guess not any offer will be matched, but it’s hard to imagine Portland lets him go. The NBA is a business, after all, and it’s a bad business decision to spend two dollars on something you think you can get for one. Nic’s value will now be determined by the market. The market is going to be healthy, but I think the Blazers are ready to go the distance if that’s what it takes. Wednesday, Nicolas had a very good game: 16 points, 5-of-8 from the field, and two very nice chase-down blocks.
• Minutes watch: 30:09 for Raymond Felton. Raymond shot 2-of-10 from the field and 1-of-4 from deep, but had seven assists and only one turnover. One of the problems Portland has right now is they don’t really have an alternative to Felton. I think there’s plenty of room for improvement with Ray, but I do agree that Portland might be better off with somebody else at the helm. But like I said, they’d have to go out and get somebody, and I don’t think shaking up the roster is the right move at this juncture. The Blazers would likely have to trade Ray, or package somebody like Jamal Crawford or Craig Smith, a role player with some value. I wouldn’t trade either Smith or Crawford, and if you trade Ray straight up for a point guard, you better be totally 100% sure that guys isn’t going to be worse.
• Standings watch: Portland came in Wednesday in sixth, one spot ahead of Memphis, and two spots ahead of Dallas. Houston, Dallas, and Utah lose, the Lakers win, and the Clippers lose. Portland and Memphis switch spots, the Lakers climb to eighth, and Dallas and Houston drop out.

Box Score

Standings

Blue Man Hoop

email me: mike.acker1@gmail.com

Twitter: @mikeacker | @ripcityproject

Jan 25, 2012; Oakland, CA, USA; Portland Trail Blazers small forward Nicolas Batum (88) shoots against the Golden State Warriors during the fourth quarter at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jason O. Watson-US PRESSWIRE