Watching LaMarcus Aldridge go at Marcus Camby was a little like looking into an alternate universe. Credit: Steve Dykes-US PRESSWIRE

One of the most traumatizing and saddest moments in my personal history as a Blazer fan came on April 18, 2009 at the Rose Garden in game one of Portland’s first round Playoff series with the Houston Rockets. You all remember that game, I’m sure. After winning 16 of their last 20 games, the Blazers hosted the Rockets in a “Welcome Back to the Playoffs,” series. After 24 minutes the Rockets led by 18. The game, the series, and the season was over. A sell-out crowd of delirious fans hungry for the Conference Finals and beyond sat in stunned silence when that game ended, not believing what had unfolded right before their eyes.

Monday’s loss to the same Rockets (same in name only, the Houston team that crushed the dreams of Rip City Reborn featured some guy named Ron Artest, Yao Ming ret., and Aaron Brooks) was not nearly as soul crushing, and might even serve to remind us that making the Playoffs is special, and takes an extended effort and just the smallest amount of luck.

The Blazers, in their history, have been relatively consistent when it comes to reaching the post season. Since the 1970-71 season, Portland’s first in the NBA, the Blazers have failed to reach the Playoffs 12 times, including a run of six seasons at the birth of the franchise that ended in Portland’s first and only NBA championship. That’s 41 total completed seasons and 30 Playoff appearances. That’s pretty good.

2011-12 will be Portland’s 42nd season, and it’s 13th without reaching the post season. It’s probably that imbalance of long-term success versus short-term failure that makes a game like Monday’s tough for fans.

Blazer fans demand success all the time no matter what. When the wins don’t come, the natives get restless. Remember 2005-06? Portland goes 21-61, rumors fly that Paul Allen’s ditching the team, or worse packing up his ball and moving the Blazers north to Seattle. It was mayhem and pandemonium. The Blazers avoided a three or four season rebuilding run with some draft day trickery, and fast forward here we are, talking rebuilding out the left side of our mouth while the right side refuses to admit that the Playoffs are no longer on the table.

It’s why Monday night coach Kaleb Canales took a 20-second timeout with Portland down 90-81 with 1:08 left to play in the fourth quarter, and a full timeout with 16 seconds left and the Blazers trailing 92-84, and then another 20 with 5.6 seconds left and Portland behind 94-87.

It’s also why, when asked about his choice to burn the Blazers’ timeouts to draw up plays and teach his guys a lesson or take advantage of a learning opportunity or whatever it is that coaches do in those situations, Canales balked at the question saying that a three makes it a five point game, and a steal and another three makes it a two point game. Every game is a winnable game is the attitude. Every game is another chance at getting back into the Playoffs. That the Playoffs have come and gone a month ago and nobody wants to admit it is what is frustrating to me.

I’ve long maintained that tanking isn’t something Portland should be doing, but that doesn’t mean the Blazers shouldn’t be getting a look at the guys they have that might want to be a part of the long-term picture for this franchise. Monday, Luke Babbitt could have gotten a lesson in perimeter defense from Chase Budinger. Nolan Smith could have worked on his fitness levels tracking Goran Dragic and Kyle Lowry, same for Jonny Flynn. Portland fans could have had all their dreams fulfilled watching Craig Smith smash Louis Scola over and over.

Instead, Canales goes with the rotation (something he said post game he has not been advised to do by anybody that you very much), and a Playoff bound team beats a lottery team, an outcome that surprised almost nobody and would have been the same regardless of which guys played 35 minutes and which guys played 15.

One good thing that came from rotation guys getting heavy minutes was more J.J. Hickson and LaMarcus Aldridge. That two-some is still very much a work in progress, with Hickson coming down to earth a little in the last few games. There were times when Hickson setting up on the low block kept LA from catching the ball as deep as he’d probably like. But overall, having Hickson on the floor with LA allowed for a much more open pick-and-pop, setting LaMarcus up for plenty of uncontested top of the key jumpers, the shot that has made him an All-Star and will turn him into a superstar.

As for Hickson, Bobby Roberts of the Portland Mercury and other stuff made an astute comment to me when he said Hickson was like controlled chaos, or something like that. I agree. Hickson seems to play at somewhere between 8.5 and 10 at all times. There isn’t anything wrong with that; I prefer a balls out hustler who doesn’t take a play off than a guy who loafs half the time. The key for J.J. will be finding that level of play where he can work hard without losing control or making bad decisions.

My contention when it comes to Hickson is that when you begin your career playing with LeBron James you get used to being able to do whatever you want on the court. With LeBron every play is LeBron does stuff with the ball. Your number is never called. You only get yours by freelancing when the LeBron with the ball play breaks down. That’s not a totally terrible place to be.

For Hickson it means he’s developed a sense of how to score without having a play called for him. It also means he probably won’t get all emo because LaMarcus Aldridge is going to be doing most of the scoring. On the other hand, though, LA isn’t the Chosen One or King James or whatever new nickname LeBron has given himself, so J.J. will get a more active offensive role in Portland.

Maybe when NBA.com brands Portland with that little dot that signifies no Playoffs, coach Canales will play Hickson and LA 40 minutes apiece, giving them the last eight nights or whatever is left to use this game time to really gel, getting a jump on next season.

The Blazers have Tuesday off, and then are back in action against the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday. Finally a game with absolutely no Playoff implications for either team.

Just a few quick things:

• Goran Dragic might be a free agent target for the Blazers. Seems logical. Portland has a tendency to go after mid-level guys at or very close to their ceiling who probably demand more than they’re worth. ESPN’s John Hollinger was in the house Monday, and he used the Goran Dragic to Portland premise to really flex his Twitter comedy muscles. He started with this, then took it up a level with this, then just couldn’t help himself with this. Proving that he is so hip to Portland’s game, he left us wanting more with this. I quit listening to the NBA Today podcast from ESPN when I heard Henry Abbott say the words “improve games.” I probably won’t quit Twitter, but I’d recommend Hollinger takes a look at the feeds of real comedians, you know dudes who are paid to be funny, before he quits his day job. Hollinger, if you somehow stumbled onto this post, I recommend Rob Delaney, Kyle Kinane, the Sklar Brothers for sports comedy, and Ian Karmel, Ron Funches, and Sean Jordan if you want to stay local.
• Speaking of Twitter. While the Blazers were helping the Rockets prepare for the Playoffs, the Lakers were facing the Hornets in New Orleans. Up two with only a few seconds left to play Metta World Peace delivered the best in-bounds play ever.  Peace took to Twitter following the game, and before inviting both men and women to Skype with him took a shot at NOLA’s Jason Smith. MWP then went super meta, live tweeting what sounded like a crazy group Skype session. And then, just to keep everybody on their toes said goodbye to all his Twitter followers until July. My guess is there is a rider in his contract that he can’t Tweet during the Playoffs. They say the line between genius and total lunacy is thin and porous in places. Only a few people in human history better reflect the accuracy of that adage than Metta World Peace.

Box Score

Standings

Space City Scoop

Email me: mike.acker1@gmail.com

Twitter: @mikeacker | @ripcityproject

Goran Dragic a Blazer? Smart money says maybe. Credit: Steve Dykes-US PRESSWIRE

In the 22 pick-and-roll possessions shown, the Suns scored 23 points, so a little over a point per possession. They also got quality shots on 12 of those possessions, committing two turnovers in the process. Those numbers fall right in with the Suns’ season averages, where they scored 0.95 points per possession when the ball handler (Nash, normally), used the possession — the top ranked such play in the NBA.

You’ll notice how the Blazers didn’t rely on show-recover tactics to avoid switching on the screens. In fact, at times Amar’e only needed to stand in the area of a pick and the Blazers would switch men in order to keep both players on the perimeter. The most effective defense, though, was when they didn’t switch, but used whatever defender was in the paint at the time — usually Camby — to step up and stop Stoudemire’s roll while Nash was pushed off his drive line. Packing the paint like this left a number of three-point shooters open and, even with the relatively quick recovery closeouts we saw from the guards in this video, it’s fair to assume that the Suns are going to catch fire and win a game with those threes Nash creates.

But that might be OK. Better than letting Nash weave his way into the paint on any of the 457 picks he uses, or letting Stoudemire roll to the hoop unhindered. As long as the Blazers can run off a reasonable percentage of three-point shooters, the overall effect will be limiting the Suns to a streaky, perimeter based offense rather than the unhealthy Dunk-Three-Open Nash Jumper rhythm the team can get into.

Keep an eye on the guards in all those switch situations tonight. With Miller and Bayless shadowing Amar’e into the paint, the Blazers were often at a rebounding size disadvantage — allowing 17 offensive boards. That’s part of the reason why Camby outrebounded Aldridge 17-3 — the onus is on Camby to compensate for his guards in the paint while Aldridge is busy chasing guys at the arc.

We’ll see what adjustments the Blazers and Suns make in Game 2 tonight and compare it to the Game 1 defense tomorrow. Defensively, everything starts with that pick-and-roll, and the Blazers are going to have to play it at least as good as they did in Game 1 to win the series.

"I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure you guys know you can't guard me. PS, rawr. (Source: YardBarker.com)

It’s been said time and time again that a playoff series does not truly start until a team loses on it’s home court. If that is true (which I believe it is) than this Phoenix/Portland series is on like Donkey Kong. Game 1 is in the books and by virtue of a 105-100 victory, Portland now boasts a 1-0 series lead and (wait for it, wait for it)…home court advantage (explosion). Last night was a joyous occasion for Blazer fans, watching their Red & Black Attack defeat the Suns on the road without their best player. That is over and unfortunately this is not like the NCAA Tournament, every win can not be celebrated like there is no tomorrow. The big question is now what? What does Game 1 mean? Where does everyone go from here?

It would be impossible to properly put this game in perspective because there is simply too much basketball left to be played. A Phoenix win in Game 2 does not render this useless, but a Phoenix win in Game 3 takes this down a notch. It’s a dangerous thing to put too much emphasis on one win (no matter how great it is) because momentum can swing in the playoffs faster than a stripper comes to you if you look like you have money. Remember when LeBron hit that big winner and everyone fawned over it and ESPN had the nerve to call it one of the ‘biggest shots in playoff history’….and then they lost. So I understand the jubilation and elation surrounding the Blazer Nation (OMG WALT FRAZIER) but just know that there is a lot of hoops to be played.

The beauty of Game 1′s is that after all of the talk, hype, build-up and questions that go into them, afterwards you are either seeing those questions answered or about 10-20 more have been created. For example, I would firmly put a series like Los Angeles/Oklahoma City in the first category. OKC may be able to steal a game at home, but we now know they do not have enough manpower to overwhelm LA unless they get bored. I’d also put a Boston/Miami series into the first category in that we wondered if D-Wade could get enough help and found out Miami simply does not have enough guys who can consistently produce for 48 minutes to beat Boston in a 7-game series. The majority of the other series, including this one, go into the latter category.

Game 1′s are always enjoyable because X-Factor’s and keys to winning become that clearer. Still, many more things need to be answered. Coming out of last night’s game there are two schools of thought that can apply. People can say Phoenix lost this game or Portland just went out and won it. Both sides have valid points. Now obviously, Portland down the stretch did more than enough to win and deserved to get their hand raised. They consistently had an answer for everything Phoenix threw at them and produced down the stretch. They essentially followed the blueprint for how to win in the playoffs. Let’s not lie to ourselves though, Phoenix can easily say ‘we missed good looks in our flow’ (which they did) ‘Amare struggled’ (which he did) and ‘we didn’t get to the free throw line easy enough’ (which they didn’t) to make themselves feel good going into Game 2. Both Jason Richardson and Amare were rendered ineffective. Richardson had 14 points on 12 shots and Amare had 18 points on 19 shots. Expect a lot more from them. Also we needed Andre Miller to play the best game he has ever played in the playoffs to win. Can we expect to get that from him every night, especially now that Phoenix’s antennas are raised? No. This is where adjustments come into play and how well Portland can make adjustments will tell you if they win this series.Losing shows what you need to do more than winning does so Phoenix has an advantage there.

There was a lot of good for Portland last night. We saw that either Portland just gives Phoenix fits or our Marcus Camby-improved defense is just legit. Phoenix has failed to score more than 102 points against us in 5 games. You also have to like Portland playing the role of the aggressor. Getting to the free throw line 31 times — inflated during the endgame — without Brandon Roy gets a thumbs up from me, especially when you consider on the season the average per game was about 24. If you remember the Houston series last year, being aggressive is key to success.

Also good for Portland was Jerryd Bayless’ 18 points. With his ability to penetrate and create offense (even if it’s mainly for himself), combined with the fact that Dragic/Nash cannot really guard him makes him a big part of what Portland needs to do. As this series progresses, a key for him is going to be that pullup jumper. As Coup stated in his re-thoughts, he fell in love with his jumper and bad things happened. At the same time, if he can prove to Phoenix that he can hit that it will make it easier for him to attack and get to the line or find an open man. Where he has to do much better is on the defensive end. There were a couple times where Portland was not switching and he just died on screens (common for him throughout the year). That can’t happen because once you let the Suns penetrate you are at their will.

One thing I think that is being overlooked is Portland not fouling. People want to complain about Phoenix not getting to the line enough…Portland had something to do with that. Not just with the solid defense but they played defense without fouling — for example look at Webster blocks and see how he is jumping backwards to avoid body contact. I mean Steve Nash only shot 2 free throws and Amare Stoudemire only shot 3. It will be interesting to see if that is able to continue.

Onto areas where Portland is going to have to make adjustments. The Blazers are going to have to try and avoid the lulls where they end up stagnated for 20 seconds and have to force up a bad shot late. When this happens, bad things usually follow. Against Phoenix, the bad things are fast breaks. Also, Portland is going to have to find a way to match the energy that Phoenix’s bench brings late in the first quarter and early in the second. In Game 1 they did a good job of sticking around and answering the surge but PHX’s bench sparked a 9-2 run with relative ease.

It’s an interesting contrast because when Phoenix’s bench comes in, particularly with Amundson, you can tell the energy ticks upwards a little bit. When Portland’s bench comes in there’s more of a ‘Hey, we’re close let’s hope this doesn’t get screwed up’ type of feel. Blazers have got to be ready for Phoenix to turn up the intensity level a little bit and not be shocked by it. Also, Nic Batum, Martell Webster and Rudy Fernandez are all going to have to be ready to make open shots. Phoenix will most definitely be keying in on LaMarcus and Andre Miller, so those guys are going to have to be ready. Last night they went 5-for-17 from beyond the arc, and while Batum and Webster had big shots (Martell’s near-3) they missed good looks as well.

Speaking of Rudy Fernandez…I think the reason why people are being harsh with his struggles is that a) we need him to produce big time and b) he kind of played super shy in last year’s playoffs too. I think he just needs to loosen up it looks as if he’s putting a bit too much pressure on himself to perform. I won’t be so hard on him because he was cheering like a mad man when the Blazers went on their run in the fourth and his ‘Rudy Shuffle’ after Batum’s big three brought him back into my good graces.

Game 1 is done and before we all know it Game 2 will be upon us. The questions are all out there and both teams know what they need to do to improve. There is only one question that cannot be answered: what would we have done if Jared Dudley had made that three after Camby’s missed dunk? Thank goodness that like the # of licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop, the world will never know…