Another solid bench performance for Jamal Crawford wasn't enough for Portland. Credit: Steve Dykes-US PRESSWIRE

There was a strange moment during coach Kaleb Canales’s post game presser following the Blazers “almost there but not quite there,” loss to the defending NBA Champion Dallas Mavericks Friday night.

This moment came when Canales stated in a matter-of-fact tone that he was proud of his team and their “game-winning effort,” and then a moment later delivered a prompt response when asked that since their effort was game-winning but they still lost would he, his team, and his staff be considering it a moral victory. His prompt response: “no.”

We’ve been in the land of doublethink for some time now, case in point the shutting down of LaMarcus Aldridge for medical reasons having absolutely nothing to do with the fact that every game for the last month or so has been meaningless, but this incidence of saying two contradictory things at one time left me a bit mystified.

I understand the importance for staying away from the death trap that is the moral victory; a coach wants real victories at the expense of all other victories. As a coach, when you start openly congratulating yourself on losing but doing it while almost winning or accomplishing some intangible or unquantifiable thing (like setting better ball screens or something), that’s the time you also start looking for a new job.

I just question what about Friday’s effort made it so “game-winning?” I’m not trying to run down a very admirable effort made by Portland to fight their way back from a 20-point deficit against a hot shooting Dallas team, it’s just a little unclear to me why you can call a losing effort winning, but you can’t claim something as a moral victory. I guess there’s a lot I don’t know about the inner workings of the mind of an NBA head coach.

As for Friday’s actual game, and the aforementioned “game-winning” effort. It’s my feeling that coach Canales hit it on the head when he said his team never quit. That’s a fantastic trait. Not quitting can mean the difference between spending the next season in the bottom half of the conference and making 2012-13 more productive than 11-12. So it’s good that that’s been covered.

The problem Friday wasn’t that the Blazers didn’t quit, it was that they didn’t show up until it was too late. In the first quarter Dallas shot 57% from the field compared to 25% for Portland. The Blazers didn’t lose this game in the first quarter, something I feel like I’ve said a number of times, but they didn’t do themselves any favors.

There were plenty of factors at play that led to a poor start for Portland. Dirk Nowitzki hit his first four field goal attempts, Shawn Marion hit his first three. The Blazers bricked all five of their opening three-point shots. In six minutes Luke Babbitt took three shots and none of them were threes. However, I think the thing most responsible for Portland falling on its collective face in the first quarter was of a more aesthetic nature. The score board wasn’t working. How can you tell you’re being creamed when you have no idea what the score is? And if you don’t know you’re getting creamed how do you counter punch?

I’m kidding of course. Yes the score board wasn’t working, and no I don’t think it had any influence on Portland’s play. The long and short of Friday’s game was that Dallas needed this win a lot more than Portland did. The Mavs came out gunning, they built an early lead, and then they spent three quarters trying to defend it. It’s not championship basketball, but just like you don’t win or lose a game in the first quarter, you don’t win the NBA title by beating the Blazers in April.

Friday had its share of intriguing moments down the stretch. There were, of course, the jokes about the last time Portland trailed by 20 to the Mavericks in a fourth quarter in the Rose Garden (we all know what happened way back then), there was the moment when it looked like history might repeat itself, and then there was the inevitable realization that even if we joked about it happening again in an effort to will lighting to strike twice, nobody will ever see a repeat of Brandon’s Game Four heroics. Not in Portland. Not anywhere.

The main difference between that fourth quarter last April and this fourth quarter almost a year later (apart from all the emotional elements tied to Brandon Roy being on the court at all) was that in that game the Blazers capitalized on every opportunity. In that game every Dallas turnover and every missed shot was turned into a positive for Portland. And every Blazer possession was handle like it could potentially tip the game in favor of the Mavericks for good.

In the fourth quarter of Game Four, Portland turned the ball over a grand total of ZERO times. Any one turnover in the course of that quarter, even if it was at the very beginning of the quarter before the Blazers started their push to the final moments, would have cost them the game.

Friday night’s fourth quarter saw Portland turn the ball over four times (twice at the very end but we all know who was responsible for that and I’m not going to go there). That’s more than enough turnovers to stall out and then eventually derail a comeback effort.

When we’ve had a few moments to reflect on 2011-12 when it is finally over for good, one thing we’re going to notice a lot is that there were many games when Portland was there at the end and couldn’t do what they needed to do to come away with a W. Blame it on Raymond Felton if you like. He’s had more than his share of late game foibles.

But instead of going knee-jerk on it, and pointing to one guy, think about how this team has chosen to close out games. Too many times this season late possessions have ended in turnovers or heaves at the shot clock buzzer. Very rarely have these Blazers been able to gather themselves late in a game call a play or initiate the offense, and get a good high percentage look. That happened long before Nate McMillan shoved off and Gerald Wallace headed back east. Every possession in the fourth quarter should be played like it can determine the outcome of a game, because sometimes it can. There have been far too many incidences of loose play this season leading to game losing decisions.

If and when the Blazers make the transition from furious comeback to measured and controlled performance without wild play and inopportune turnovers, there’s a good chance that they won’t have to spend three quarters of a basketball game climbing out of a double digit hole. There’s also a good chance that when that transition occurs, whoever holds the title of head coach can talk about a “game winning” effort in reference to a game that was actually won.

Enjoy your Saturday.

Box Score

Standings

Smoking Cuban

Email me: mike.acker1@gmail.com

Twitter: @mikeacker | @ripcityproject

Pretty sure this one doesn't need a caption. Credit: Steve Dykes-US PRESSWIRE

Feb 11, 2012; Dallas, TX, USA; Portland Trail Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge (12) shoots against Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki (41) in the second overtime at American Airlines Center. The Mavs beat the Trail Blazers 97-94 in double overtime. Credit: Matthew Emmons-US PRESSWIRE

How do you feel about moral victories? Personally, I prefer real victories. They go in the win column. Moral victories might make you feel better about a loss, but it’s still a loss. I bring up the topic of moral victory, obviously, because Saturday night was a tough loss, but it’s the kind of loss that might actually lead to something positive at some later date. Portland should have lost this game a bunch of times, and they only did lose it after making a pretty nice little comeback and taking it to two overtimes.

It was bad in the first half, when the Blazers couldn’t score or play defense. It should have been over in the third quarter when Portland could score and play a little defense, but couldn’t get any closer than 10. And it really should have been over in regulation when the Blazers got stops and buckets, but not enough of them or in the right order to come all the way back. That it took the defending NBA Champs, who have rolled through the Northwest Division in the last three weeks, not one but two extra periods to finish a game that they led by double digits most of the way has to be worth something to Portland. It’s not a win, but for what it’s worth it could have been a lot worse.

What’s going to kill these guys, and what killed Blazer fans whilst watching this game, is the undeniable fact that Portland could have won this one. They led in the first overtime by four, but they couldn’t finish it off. They answered a couple of times in the second overtime, but missed key looks that could have given them a lead. All night nobody but LaMarcus Aldridge could hit the anything from anywhere. This game wasn’t exactly there for the taking, and it wasn’t really one Portland gave away. But it was one that the Blazers had chances to win, and they didn’t.

So what is Portland to do now? This team has shown that they can play poorly and lose by one basket to a pretty good team in their arena. But that’s not quite good enough. And that’s the problem with moral victories. They can make you forget about what went wrong, or that there are problems that need to be addressed.

Right now, Portland’s biggest problem is guard play. Ben from Blazersedge has the definitive tweet to show just how badly the Blazers’ guards shot Saturday night. I’m not going to put up the numbers because I don’t want to see them again, but check the box score. It was bad. Portland needs to find a fix for this. Does that mean putting Raymond Felton on the bench and starting Jamal Crawford? Or maybe building a package to try and get Steve Nash (only in a fantasy world) or another, more consistent point guard? How about building a time machine, going back draft day and not trading Andre Miller? There’s a possibility coach Nate McMillan switches the starting lineup, although he seems to only do that kind of thing when injuries are involved, but there’s a pretty good chance that won’t make much of a difference.

What the Blazers really need is a couple of good games from the guards they already have. I personally believe that when it comes to players at the NBA level, the difference between winning and losing, playing well and playing poorly, is mental. And a big part, maybe the biggest part, of that mental game is confidence. Players that exude confidence at all times play better than those that don’t. Players that lose confidence in their ability to make plays, hit shots, whatever it is they do so well on the basketball court that they get paid for it, can find themselves in sink holes that take years to climb out of.

Raymond Felton might be in one of those holes. Wesley Matthews too. What they both need, Felton more than anybody, is a good game. Not a good stretch or a good play–Saturday Felton hit a game-tying three late in the fourth quarter after not having a very good evening–but a full 48 minutes where their shots go in, their passes are crisp, they don’t turn it over, and they don’t make terrible crunch time decisions. The problem with this season is that there just aren’t enough games and there isn’t enough practice time to make the kind of adjustments that can lead to a guy having a slump-breaking kind of night. That’s why, if Portland can’t turn it around on the road or in close games before the end of February, a move might be the only answer. Missing the Playoffs isn’t an option with this team.

The Blazers will be back in Portland for a Valentine’s Day match-up with the Washington Wizards. No better way to get over a heart breaker than facing the worst team in the league on your home floor.

Couple of quick things:

• Portland took their first lead of the night to start the first overtime. This means a couple things. First, the Blazers didn’t get into this game until way late. Second, they didn’t give up. Third, 12 hard minutes in the first half and we’d be talking about Portland’s big win in the Big D.
• LaMarcus Aldridge had another All-Star night: 14-of-26 from the field 5-of-5 from the line 33 points. LA also played 52 minutes. Good thing the Blazers have a couple of days off coming.
• Minutes watch: 16:02 for Marcus Camby. Marcus left the game after have Lamar Odom fall on him in the first half. Cam should be fine to go when Portland returns home, but it would have been nice to have him in for Saturday’s second overtime. He might have been able to keep Brandon Haywood from tipping in a go-ahead lay-up in the game’s 58th minute of play
• Standings Watch: Portland starts the game at the six spot, loses and falls to the eighth.
• The Jeremy Lin saga continues. Maybe, if the Knicks have found their point guard, Steve Nash might be available for the right group of Blazer players.

Box Score

Standings

The Smoking Cuban

Email me: mike.acker1@gmail.com

Twitter: @mikeacker | @ripcityproject

Feb 11, 2012; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki (41) shoots a basket putting the Mavs up 4 late in double overtime against the Portland Trail Blazers. Credit: Matthew Emmons-US PRESSWIRE

The Western Conference Finals will more than likely boil down to Dirk Nowitzki versus Kevin Durant. Nowitzki leads after one. Image courtesy of The Basketball Jones.

I had planned to write a legitimate preview of the Western Conference Finals, but alas it was not to be. So I’ve decided to do the next best thing, review game one and preview the rest of the series. Due to the fact that the series has already begun, I won’t make a specific prediction, but I will do my best to preview what remains of the final series in the Western Conference.

As we all know, the Mavericks reached the Conference Finals by dismantling the defending champions in a clean four-game, back-alley beat down. Oklahoma City, on the other hand, worked through an arduous seven game series against the Memphis Grizzlies. Dallas had more than a week off; the Thunder had just over 24 hours to celebrate their game seven win over the Grizz. It’s not very often that two teams reach the Conference Finals in such divergent ways.

Game one may have been an indicator for the series, or it may not have been, at this point it’s way too early to tell. What is obvious though, is that allowing Dirk Nowitzki to torch you for 48 points is not exactly a winning game plan.

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