APRIL. 11, 2011; Portland, OR, USA; Portland Trail Blazers guard Jamal Crawford (11)drives to the basket on Golden State Warriors small forward Richard Jefferson (44) during the fourth quarter of the game at the Rose Garden. Crawford scored 34 as the Blazers won the game 118-110. Mandatory Credit: Steve Dykes-US PRESSWIRE

I’ve been in the Blazers’ locker room following a game probably close to 100 times. That’s not that many times compared to some, but it’s still enough to know how to read a team’s overall attitude by their behavior.

The first Blazer team I had the privilege to be around was the 2008-09 Blazers. That locker room was something else. A group of young guys, anchored by a young superstar, anxious as a group to show the NBA what they were made of. I wasn’t around for the next season, so I had no first hand experience of the early Nate McMillan/Andre Miller dust-ups.

Last season was a strange locker room. Brandon Roy’s presence was always there, more so when he physically was not there. The most dejected group of individuals I’ve ever seen was the collected Blazers sitting in front of their lockers following their game six loss to the Dallas Mavericks.

This season the locker room has been hard to pin down. Maybe the best thing to look at is what has become of Brandon’s old locker, which sits in the corner furthest from the entrance and closest to the showers.

That stall is now occupied by Kurt Thomas. Instead of handing down B Roy’s locker to an heir apparent, giving that guy all the pressure that comes with it, the locker now belongs to the oldest player in the league, who since the addition of J.J. Hickson has seen his minutes completely disappear.

There’s a sense in the Blazers’ locker room that this season is about moving on from the past and addressing the future. Just what that future holds, however, is still totally undetermined.

That’s a long lead-in, I know, but I said all that because Wednesday night the feeling in Portland’s locker room after they put on a spirited, dare I say fun, show and defeated the Golden State Warriors, knocking them officially out of the Playoffs, can be summed up in one word: loose.

Not loose like the 08-09 locker room was loose. Those guys were confident and relaxed. They knew that most nights they were going to win. Wednesday’s locker room was loose because we’ve reached the point in the season where no matter how badly we as fans or the Blazers as a team want the games to matter they simply do not. I’m no math genius, but I think that even if Portland were to win the rest of the games they have left there’s no guarantee they’d be in the Playoffs.

A loose locker room isn’t a bad thing, especially not with this team. To say that things have been tense this season is an understatement, so it’s a welcome change to see some of that tension dissipate, even at the expense of Portland’s record. It’s that lessened tension that allowed the Blazers to have the game that they had Wednesday: up and down, lots of turnovers, lots of bad decision making, but enough stops and enough big shots to overcome a mini collapse and get a win.

A more laid back locker room also opens up the opportunity to talk more candidly with the players. When a season is on the line, there’s a tendency among players to keep responses to canned answers about preparing for the next game and not thinking too far ahead and stuff like that.

Wednesday night I took the chance to ask a couple of questions that have been burning me up. (I pull a lot of audio, but I usually leave the hard hitting journalism stuff to the guys who write more game and quote heavy recaps while I try to produce more free-form, post-modern recaps.) So instead of talking about J.J. Hickson’s manic 23-11 double-double, Raymond Felton’s point guard impersonation (16 points, 10 assists, masterfully running the offense), and Jamal Crawford’s first real Jamal Crawford game with the Blazers, I’m going to put on my best journalism face, and share what was on my mind post game.

Starting with:

Nicolas Batum

Nic sat out Portland’s last game, and seemed likely to not play again Wednesday. But with LaMarcus Aldridge scratched, the Blazers needed Batum to step up and go, and he did. Post game Nicolas was sitting alone while the majority of the media was across the locker room talking to J.J. Hickson. After the radio guys cleared out I had a chance to talk to Nic one-on-one.

Matt Calkins didn’t lie when he said Nicolas was the best guy in Portland’s locker room to talk to. Nic’s always candid, and he loves talking about basketball. I started out asking about his late-game defense, specifically a two-minute stretch when he guarded David Lee, Richard Jefferson, and Nate Robinson on three separate possessions.

“I think on this team I’m the only one who has to guard five positions,” Nic said, laughing. “I’ve got to guard one through five, I’ve got to know everybody.” That knowing everybody means knowing what David Lee is going to do when he catches the ball in the post, and that RJ looks to shoot threes, and that Nate Robinson might be under six-feet tall but he’s going to attack the rim with enough reckless abandon for four Nate Robinson sized people.

Of course, the real questions for Nicolas had nothing to do with his play Wednesday night, or at least not any specific plays from the game. The questions were about his playing at all.

“I love this game so much. I don’t want to be on the side,” Nic said in response to me just asking whether or not the pain he reported feeling that kept him sidelined Monday was in his quad or in his knee.  “The last game was so hard for me, I was like this,” he said and buried his head in his hands, pantomiming his in-game agony. “OK, so the next game, I don’t know yet, but I’ve got to be there.”

Just for good measure I also asked Nic about the Olympics. When he injured his knee in Utah, he talked about the possibility of missing the Olympics and being upset about that. With the Blazers’ fate all but sealed, now seems like a good time shut it down if he gets even the slightest inkling that his tendonitis could have an effect on his performance in London. After all, Portland is out of the race for an NBA Championship; the French have yet to be eliminated from contention for a gold medal.

“I’m going to think about the Olympics when the season is going to be over, when I’m going to be back in France,” he said to this line of questioning. “I think about it, but I’m going to be really focused about it in like two months.”

After Nicolas, I had a few questions for Jamal Crawford.

Seattle Basketball

For a long time I’ve wondered what is it about Seattle that has led it to produce so many great basketball players that are all about the same age. Wednesday night featured two Seattle products; guys that went to the same high school.

A lot of high schools would be pumped to have two pros ballers in their entire history (to this day my high school trots out Harold Reynolds as its most notable sports-related graduate), but I can’t imagine how excited Rainer Beach gets when Jamal Crawford faces off against Nate Robinson.

In 08-09 I asked Brandon Roy what he thought made Seattle such a special place for basketball. Back then he couldn’t give me a very clear answer. Here’s a snippet of my conversation with Jamal on the same subject:

Me: What makes Seattle such a good basketball city?

Jamal: There’s nothing else to do, all that rain.

Me: You could say the same thing about Portland, but how many guys do you have (in the NBA) that are all in the same age group? Ten, fifteen?

Jamal: We’ll I think their guys (Portland) at one time were Damon Stoudamire, Terrell Brandon. They had a crew.

Me: That’s two guys in like 15 years (Damon – Wilson High class of 1991, Terrell – Grant High class of 1989)

Jamal: Yeah. You got to be blessed I think.

Beyond just being blessed with talent, Seattle basketball seems to also be blessed with longevity. It doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. One of the Emerald City’s latest stars is the under-sized, cold blooded Isiah Thomas. Taken with the very last pick in the 2011 draft by the Sacramento Kings, Isiah has reached the very top of Grantland‘s rookie rankings, and could keep Kyrie Irving from winning the Rookie of the Year award by unanimous vote.

“I’m not surprised at all,” Jamal said of Isiah’s breakout year. “I wasn’t surprised when he made the NBA, a lot of people thought he was crazy (to leave college a year early), but I said ‘it’s not like you’re going to get taller next year.’”

As for winning Rookie of the Year, Jamal concedes that Kyrie probably will take it. He did say that for a guy like Isiah, who nobody thought would be able to compete at the NBA level, to make the All-Rookie Team would be  “a heck of an accomplishment.”

So there you have it. A loosened up locker room makes for some decent, if off-topic, post game conversation.

The Blazers will have another chance to see if their more fun and gun style of play can take down a good team when the meet the Mavericks in Portland on Friday. The major difference between that game and Wednesday’s is Dallas has something to play for.

Box Score

Standings

Blue Man Hoop

Email me: mike.acker1@gmail.com

Twitter: @mikeacker | @ripcityproject

APRIL. 11, 2011; Portland, OR, USA; Golden State Warriors head coach Mark Jackson and Golden State Warriors point guard Nate Robinson (2) have some words with referee Mark Ayotte (56) during the fourth quarter. Mandatory Credit: Steve Dykes-US PRESSWIRE

Post game both Marcus Camby and Kurt Thomas described Andrew Bynum as a load.

I have to admit that on my way over to the Rose Garden tonight I started to feel a bit apprehensive about this one. Not because I didn’t have faith that the top team in the Western Conference wouldn’t be able to follow up on what was their most impressive and most important win of the season. And not because I don’t think that this Blazer team has the kind of tools and attitudes to make this an amazing season. I was starting to have doubts because of the circumstances of this game.

Yes, Portland always plays well, and usually wins, against the Lakers at home regardless of what’s happening at the time with either team, but Thursday it felt a little different. Never before, or at least not for a long time, have the Blazers been the favored team in this match-up. And not for a very long time has Portland been the number one team in the Western Conference when they faced the Lakers in the RG. Those factors–not to mention the fact that this is the kind of team that Kobe Bryant always wanted, one that doesn’t mind hanging out on the perimeter and watching him attack the hoop all by his lonesome–combined made me think that there was a chance we as Blazer fans had taken the first step towards expecting too much from our team. And you know what happens when you expect too much? You get that much more angry when you’re proven wrong.

So I came in guarded. Hoping for the best, but expecting that things could go wrong at any second. At first it looked like I might be right. Kobe drilled his first three shot attempts, Portland’s first field goal was an own goal, and Andrew Bynum could not be stopped by anybody. The home crowd was delirious with Blazer pride and Laker hate, but Kobe is still Kobe. If he gets hot early it can be a long night.

But there was something going on with the home side too. To start, Wesley Matthews was matching Kobe shot-for-shot. Gerald Wallace was attacking the rim. LaMarcus Aldridge was hitting his jumper and putting on a show of spins and fade-aways. The end result: Despite allowing the Lakers to shot 62% in the first 24 minutes, and giving up a combined 31 points on 15 made field goals to Bryant and Bynum, Portland trailed by only four points at halftime. That’s the definition of taking a team’s best punch and not caving.

Thursday’s second half was the story of the game, and could very well be the story of this season for the Blazers given the way their last two contests have gone. Basically the Lakers stopped scoring and Portland didn’t. Say they ran out of steam, say they stopped giving the ball to Bynum in the post, say they started missing shots they were making. Whichever reason you choose is fine. They’re all right. Here’s the facts. With 6:27 remaining in the third quarter, Pau Gasol tied the game at 66 with a pair of free throws. With 2:43 left in the same quarter, Wesley Matthews drained a three giving Portland the lead 76-66. The Lakers wouldn’t get much closer than that the rest of the way.

A similar thing happened in Oklahoma City, only a little later in the game. In that game, Portland took their first double-digit lead of the night late in the fourth quarter. Getting your biggest lead of the night, or taking a two possession game to a five possession game, in the second half shows a commitment to game plan. It shows a drive to keep scoring even when you’re getting stops on the defensive end. And most of all it shows that killer instinct that everybody is always talking about the best teams and players having and that from time to time in the recent past has seemed to stay just a touch out of Portland’s grasp.

One stat is going to stand out when you take a look at the final box score, as it should, and if you aren’t already over the moon on this team it might be just the thing to put you there. Thursday night, Portland turned the ball over four times, and no Blazer had more than a single turnover to their credit. Remember all the way back to a week ago? When the win against Denver was tempered by an unsustainable amount of turnovers, and it looked like there might be some major flaw in what was starting to look like a very solid team? Well if back-to-back games with less than 10 turnovers doesn’t mean progress–and progress in a very short amount of time with little to no practice–than I just don’t know what to say.

“Tonight we did a good job taking care of the ball,” coach Nate McMillan said during his post game remarks. “That gives you opportunities at that basket. We’re starting to get a feel for each other, and I expect the execution to continue to get better.” That’s the thing, this team can get better, and they’ve shown that they are willing to make the adjustments needed to keep getting wins.

A lot of people have jumped on the Portland bandwagon in the last 24 hours. Even though the Lakers aren’t the same team they were a couple of years ago, they are still the biggest draw in the league, so expect there to be more people interested in Portland tomorrow. My question is, when is this team going to lose again? Phoenix should be a win. Cleveland should be an easy win. That means that next week the Blazers get another shot at the other team from LA. I find it hard to believe these Blazers think there’s a team out there that can beat them two times in less than a month.

Portland is back in action tomorrow night on the road against the Suns, even if they lose the worst they can be is tied for first in the Western Conference.

Just a couple of quick things:

• Jamal Crawford and Wesley Matthews are becoming a nice combo. Wesley getting it done on offense early, and then Jamal coming in in the fourth quarter and hitting big shots. Wesley knocked down four of his first five shots, including both of his three-point attempts, in the first quarter, scoring 10 of Portland’s 27 points in an up-and-down 12 minutes. Jamal closed the game with eight points in the final quarter and 13 points in the second half. At this point minutes are pretty close to equal between these guys, with Wesley getting a few more each night. As long they both stay content with their roles, these guys should be reliable offense the whole season.
• Gerald Wallace was the star of this game, finishing with a game-high 31 points. It’s a tough task guarding Kevin Durant one night and Kobe Bryant the next. Gerald made it look relatively easy. Wallace is on the All-Star ballot, as is LaMarcus Aldridge, and if he continues to have nights like the one he had Thursday, there’s no reason Portland can’t send two guys to Orlando.
• Speaking of LA. He turned in another impressive game, finishing with 28 points and 10 rebounds. In his post game remarks, Nate McMillan mentioned that he thinks LaMarcus should try to get his average up to a double-double each night. LA is going to be an All-Star this year (he should have been an All-Star last year) but if he gets his rebounding numbers up it is going to be hard to keep him out of the discussion for best power forwards in the league. Thursday he showed an array of moves in the post, both spinning away from the hoop for jumpers and attacking the hoop for lay-ups, and at the end of the game his top of the key J looked so effortless that you knew as soon as it left his hand it was going in.
• Minutes watch: 11:01 Craig Smith. Rhino has appeared in four of Portland’s six games, getting mop up minutes against Sacramento and 2:35 against the Clippers. In the last two nights, Smith has played in the neighborhood of 11 minutes, and they’ve been productive minutes. Thursday with his time, Craig grabbed five rebounds, had an assist, and scored. That might not seem like much, but it helps. Portland has suddenly become deep at the four and five, yet another feature that makes this team different than those that came before.
• Ron Artest Metta World Peace had one of the worst games I’ve ever seen from a professional basketball player. At one point he traveled while trying to pump fake Gerald Wallace, got away with it, and missed a point blank lay-up at the rim. He really didn’t look like he knew what was happening on the court. Although, I have to say it is fun to read a final stat book that says SUB: BARNES FOR WORLD PEACE. Who knew Matt Barnes was such a humanitarian. Also, how long until making jokes about World Peace gets you banned from the Internet?

Box Score

Standings

Lake Show Life

email me: mike.acker1@gmail.com

Twitter: @mikeacker | @ripcityproject

I wanted to take pictures of this all night long.