Dec 5, 2012; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Indiana Pacers point guard D.J. Augustin (14) and Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard (0) battle for a loose ball during the second half at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Indiana won 99-92. Mandatory Credit: Pat Lovell-USA TODAY Sports

Here’s the good news: it’s over. Portland’s road slog is finished. We survived. The Blazers survived. We can all breathe a little easier today than we did yesterday. Here’s the better news: what looked for sure to be an 0-7 road trip that was going to basically end this team and was going to be so bad as to nullify any learning that could be had turned out OK with two impressive gut-check wins, a decent showing in Brooklyn, and a three quarter fight in Indiana. Here’s the best news: the Blazers have the next two days off, and don’t play a road game until two days before Christmas.

Here’s the bad news: Portland won three of four quarters in Indiana Wednesday night against the Pacers, but played such a bad third quarter that they were unable to hang on and extend their winning streak to three.

The impact of this trip won’t be felt right away. Maybe by the end of the month we’ll see some major change, in the rotation or the attitudes of the players or something else, that will alter the course of this season and expedite the rebuilding process, also maybe we won’t.

Portland looked poised for a big evening at the start of Wednesday’s game. Possibly they were tired of the slow starts, possibly they were on a basketball high from their big comeback in Charlotte, whatever the case, jumping out to a double-digit certainly made it look like the Blazers had progressed beyond what we all saw in D.C. and Detroit (forget Boston, that game was doomed from the start).

Sadly, this one was not to be. Possibly Portland ran out of gas. Maybe Indiana got their act together. Possibly the Blazers went through a standard shooting regression. Take your pick of reasons why. Each one as as valid as the next.

My reasoning for Portland’s cold third quarter and subsequent loss is pretty simple, Damian Lillard stopped shooting. More specifically, the Blazers’ offense stopped going through Damian. Portland entered Wednesday’s third quarter with a two-point lead. Their first four offensive possessions went Wesley Matthews missed jumper, Nicolas Batum missed jumper, LaMarcus Aldridge miss at the rim (Roy Hibbert block), LaMarcus Aldridge missed jumper. Four straight offensive possessions to start a pivotal stretch, and not a single shot from Lillard.

The Blazers scored on their fifth possession of the quarter (a 16-footer from J.J. Hickson), but their lead was gone by then. It would take two more possessions (another long miss from Nic and a turnover by way of traveling by Hickson) before Lillard would even get his first shot, a make from 18 feet. By that point in the quarter, Indiana’s lead was only two, but far too much time had elapsed. Furthermore, a rhythm had been established offensively that, though probably not intentionally designed to go away from Lillard, didn’t result in many more field goal attempts for Portland’s hottest shooter (going into the third quarter Damian had only missed a single field goal attempt and he knocked down his first look of the third quarter).

After his first bucket of the second half (at the 8:23 mark of the third), Damian wouldn’t score again until there was just over two minutes left in the third quarter and the Blazers were down by 10, a deficit they wouldn’t be able to overcome.

I talked to Damian after Portland’s last home game, a win against the Timberwolves if you can remember that far back, about the possibility of shooting the ball more. I’m not advocating for Damian to be selfish or play hero ball, I just feel like there are times when he plays as if he’s obligated to get the ball to his teammates when he could be looking for his own shot. Dame told me that his goal is to always work within the flow of the offense and to try to maximize what is available and being given.

If the best option available is give the ball to a wide open Nicolas Batum or Wesley Matthews, that’s what he’s going to do. If the best option available is LaMarcus Aldridge in the post, then that’s what he’s going to do. Similarly, if his own shot comes within the flow of the offense then he’s going to go with it.

That attitude is perfectly fine. In fact it’s outstanding. Being amenable to an offensive system and being able to control an offense while also being a productive scorer is what makes Damian such a special player and puts him light years ahead of his competition for Rookie of the Year. I want none of that to change.

What I want from Damian is to come to the realization that although LaMarcus Aldridge is an All-Star and Wesley Matthews and Nicolas Batum can be knock down shooters, there are times when he is Portland’s best offensive option. Wednesday’s third quarter was one of those times.

It’s a tall order to ask a rookie to shoulder the whole burden of an offense, and I don’t think it’s the right decision for every night, but taking on a bigger offensive role, or at least recognizing how well he was playing and taking a more active role in scoring and not just facilitating, is the next step in Lillard’s development into an elite point guard.

Portland’s schedule for the next few weeks is significantly lighter. Hopefully they’ll all take some time to rest and recuperate. Hopefully too they’ll get a chance to see just exactly what went wrong and what can be corrected so December doesn’t go the way of November.

So maybe that’s the actual good news: Portland loses and so they don’t get to completely forget how bad this road trip really was. Although it might have been better for the Blazer’s morale to come out of Indiana with a win and a 3-4 trip looks infinitely better than a 2-5 road trip, these guys need to feel the actual sting of a bad east coast swing. Having to actually deal with how the last two weeks went instead of getting bailed out by three straight wins should serve as motivation for the rest of the season.

Portland is back in action Saturday at the Rose Garden for Round One of December’s three-game Blazers/Kings showdown.

One quick thing:

• Nicolas Batum had a rough night Wednesday. He played only 29 minutes, shot 2-of-8 from the field and 1-of-5 from three, and finished with a -10. According to Twitter (Casey Holdahl and Chris Haynes reporting) Nicolas suffered a bit of an injury that sidelined him for the stretch run of Wednesday’s game. Hopefully Nic’s injury isn’t/won’t be serious. But an injury does explain some of his poor play.

Box Score

Standings

@mikeacker | @ripcityproject | mike.acker1@gmail.com

Dec 5, 2012; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Portland Trail Blazers center Meyers Leonard (11) dunks the ball against the Indiana Pacers during the second quarter at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Pat Lovell-USA TODAY Sports

Roy Hibbert was almost a Blazer. Credit: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports

A week ago the sky was falling and the walls were closing in. This Blazer team was doomed. The season was over. Things look a little brighter now. Winning two games in a row in heart-stopping fashion will do that. So will shaking the title of “The Only Team In The League To Lose To The Wizards” (thanks Lebron for that one).

Portland closes their season-long road trip in Indianapolis on Wednesday evening. If you can’t remember the last time the Blazers played a home game, you can be forgiven.

In my preview of this road trip, I tried to address whether or not this Portland squad would be able to learn anything useful from being on the road for two weeks. I also tried to address if “The Road” in general was a good place for a team to make improvements or if it just functioned to crush the spirit of young teams and buoy the championship hopes of the NBA’s elite.

Let me say that first and foremost, this trip has taught fans a thing or two about the Blazers. One of those things is that if this team wants to win, they should play for overtime and hope that they score 118 points. That’s a joke, obviously.

But seriously, one thing we learned about this team that maybe we didn’t know before is that they won’t fold under pressure. They may not perform very well some nights, but they are going to play for a full 48 minutes. Another thing we might have learned over the course of the last six games is that the holes in the roster are legion, but there just might be as many solutions as there are problems. Because everybody on the team is going to get a chance to play, everybody will have a chance to step up and make a meaningful contribution.

Just as this season won’t be made or broken by one string of games, neither should this road trip be judged on the outcome of one single game. That being said, beating the Indiana Pacers to answer four straight losses with three straight wins might serve to make us all forget about the last week in November.

Blazers Starting 5: PG Damian Lillard, SG Wesley Matthews, SF Nicolas Batum, PF LaMarcus Aldridge, C J.J. Hickson

Pacers Starting 5: PG George Hill, SG Lance Stephenson, SF Paul George, PF David West, C Roy Hibbert

Portland can play dirty. They can play slow. And they can play sloppy. They can’t really do it on purpose though. The Indiana Pacers are the classic Eastern Conference team, in that they make their money by slowing the game to an absolute crawl on offense and punishing their opponents in the paint on defense. It’s not the style of play in which Portland excels.

As Comcast’s Chris Haynes tweeted, head coach Terry Stotts wants to combat Indiana’s grinding pace by getting out and running a little bit. It’s a fantastic game plan. Whether or not it happens remains to be seen. The Blazers have put up some decent rebounding numbers, J.J. Hickson especially, but against strong rebounding teams they’ve not been super great. Why bring up rebounding when talking about running? To get to a running game, Portland has to really show up on the defensive glass. If they can do that, get rebounds and score on the run, they can win this game.

What to Watch For

• Roy Hibbert. Big Roy was Portland’s main target in the off-season free agent free-for-all. Neil Olshey made a big offer, Indiana matched, Hibbert stayed a Pacer. So far, Roy hasn’t really lived up to the hype that comes with a big-money contract, but his real assets haven’t changed. He’s huge. J.J. Hickson isn’t a real center. Meyers Leonard is a rookie. Hibbert is going to be able to dominant Hickson in the low post. Meyers Leonard will have two fouls two seconds after he checks in Wednesday. Figuring out a way to neutralize Hibbert both offensively and defensively will be important.
• Portland’s shooting numbers. Indiana is the best defensive team in the league. The Blazers have gone through a season’s worth of shooting slumps on this road trip alone. The formula is there for a bad night for Portland. Pay attention to the Blazers’ first period shooting numbers, they’ll set the tone for the night.
• Will the Blazers play loose knowing that this is the end of a bad trip, they’ve gotten super lucky to win their last two games, and they’ve got a serious break coming up. Not much more to say about that.

@mikeacker | @ripcityproject | mike.acker1@gmail.com

According to a team source, Knicks president Donnie Walsh recently rejected a three-team deal that would have sent Anthony Randolph to Indiana, a first-round pick to Portland and Fernandez to New York.

Because the Trail Blazers are insisting on receiving a first-round pick in return for Fernandez, the Knicks likely need to recruit a third team in order to complete a deal. The Blazers apparently have little interest in Wilson Chandler.

It should come to no shock that the Knicks quickly turned this one down as Anthony Randolph is one heck of a talent and should be untouchable. I stated this a month or so ago but the market for Rudy Fernandez is shockingly small, for a variety of reasons. The more this drags on, it looks like a situation where Rudy would not be able to get traded until mid-season when teams fall out of love with what they have and look to make deals: either to improve their roster or their bottom line.

As much as the Knicks may want Rudy and Rudy may want the Knicks, New York doesn’t have enough to make a deal worth Portland’s while. Let’s restate the facts: it’s clear the Blazers want a first round pick in return for Fernandez. The Knicks don’t have a first round pick of their own until 2014, something Portland would be silly to deal for. It’s going to be hard to get a third team that’s going to be willing to send a first rounder to Portland without receiving something of significance, and I doubt New York would be willing to give up key talent just to get Fernandez. Just looking at the roster, the Knicks don’t truly have anyone that would help the Blazers: Wilson Chandler wouldn’t be the greatest fit and would create a logjam with Nic Batum and Wesley Matthews. I highly doubt the Knicks would trade Toney Douglas at this point, so if I were you I’d cross the Knicks off of Rudy’s potential landing spots yesterday.