Luis Scola and the Houston Rockets were too much for the Blazers, handing Portland their second straight home loss. Photo courtesy of the Oregonian.

I’m just going to come out and say it right off the bat, that way it’ll be done and then we can all move forward. I am going to apologize for the Portland Trail Blazers Tuesday night. They played poorly, they lacked focus and strength, and they got soundly defeated by a team that they probably should be able to handle. So, on behalf of the Blazers, I’m sorry. Let’s move on.

Although there were plenty of terrible things that happened Tuesday night, I am actually not that worried. Rarely does a team have to integrate three players at once, and rarely does that team, in so doing, basically have to revamp their entire style of play. Without Marcus Camby and Brandon Roy for the better part of the last few months, Portland has played a gutty style of basketball, lead by the personal vendetta held by LaMarcus Aldridge against the league that snubbed him as an All-Star. Those days are behind us. Camby and Brandon are back, and LaMarcus has stopped playing like he wants to eat the hearts of his opponents. And folks, that’s the problem. There is no reason that Portland should have to completely divest themselves from the style of play that has recently given them a renewed outlook on this season and those seasons yet to come.

Nate McMillan said as much following Tuesday’s loss. Saying that he didn’t recognize the team that was on the floor, that the scrappy play and swagger were gone, and that his team looked like they weren’t having fun. True, true, and true. So now we’ve identified the problem, how should it be corrected. The first move will likely include personnel changes. One in particular. Gerald Wallace will likely be added to the starting lineup, if not Wednesday night in Sacramento, then likely Saturday night back home against the Bobcats. Wallace recorded his first double-double as Blazer Tuesday night, collecting 14 points and 10 rebounds, and although he had five turnovers and didn’t seem completely comfortable at times, he was one of the only guys in white to consistently attack the rim.

With Wallace as a starter comes the question of who does he replace. There are really only two options. Nicolas Batum or Wesley Matthews. Wesley started the season on the bench, then took over for Nicolas, who then returned to the starting rotation for good when Brandon went down. With both players there are upsides and downsides. If Wallace replaces Nicolas and starts at the three, he’ll be able to be matched up on offense with a small player that he can post up or overpower off the drive. Of course that’s true if he replaces Wesley also. With Nicolas going to the bench, Portland gives up one of their best perimeter defenders, and one of their more consistent offensive weapons. Tuesday, Nic was one of the bright spots, scoring 22 points to lead all players, and looked pretty confident in his jumper. With Wesley coming off the bench, the downside is slightly less. The offensive match-ups will be the same, and on defense Portland will have two long athletic defenders covering the wings. My only issue with bringing Wesley off the bench is that he has played SO much better as a starter. Wesley often needs to get touches and shots early in the evening if he wants to have a big game. Coming off the bench could throw off his rhythm. That being said, offense from Wallace could negate the lack of offense from Wesley. In my mind it’s six of one, half dozen of the other. Nate needs to pick a guy to bench, and do it soon. Portland can afford to lose to Atlanta and Houston at home right now, but they can’t let this streak of bad play run any longer if they want to have a chance to compete in the Playoffs. The upside to switching starters now is that Camby and Brandon are still playing limited minutes. Wallace, Nicolas, and Wesley all logged well over 30 minutes Tuesday night.

One thing that was evident in spades Tuesday was the lack of interior defense on the part of the Blazers. Portland can be forgiven their offensive cohesion, but defense is about effort, and effort alone. The Blazers gave up 52 points in the paint, which is a lot. It’s worse when you look at Houston’s roster and see that their big men are Luis Scola and Chuck Hayes. Both fine players, but not low post dominators. Scola, who just flat out kills the Blazers, only missed a single field goal attempt, going 10-of-11, on his way to finishing with 21 points. Hayes didn’t do much, meaning that the remaining points in the paint were scored off layups. Many of those layups came off hard cuts to the hoop off the ball and drives from Kyle Lowry. With Aaron Brooks gone, and Goran Dragic still trying to get his sea legs, Lowry has basically been given free reign at the point guard position. He takes full advantage of it. Lowry has always been a player that knows how to make the most of his own hot streaks. Tuesday he couldn’t miss, and most of the way through, it was his play that made the difference.

It’s pretty amazing how up and down this season has been, and how we can go from riding the high of Brandon’s late game heroics to sinking into the depths of despair over uninspired play in less than a week’s time. On the one hand, it’s a testament to the commitment of this fan base that as the Blazers success rises and falls so too do the emotions of the people. At this point, I would say this to the fans: be patient. I agree that there is very little time left in this season, and two or three more games like this, and we could be talking about the late season collapse that kept Portland from the Playoffs. But here’s the thing, the Gerald Wallace trade showed the Rich Cho isn’t super interested in blowing this team up, that there is a chance that this core group of players is still going to the be the future of this franchise. This stretch of poor play might mean an eight seed instead of a six, hopefully that’s a worst case scenario, but taking the time to get Crash fully acclimated to what Portland is doing might mean that a Blazer team at full strength makes a deep run next season. That’s a pretty big deal.

For the short term, Portland needs to hit their shots, and they need to go back to what has worked. What has worked has been passing the ball to LaMarcus, but more than that what has worked has been heart, hustle, and intensity. If Portland commits to that for the rest of the season, the fans won’t feel quite as cheated, and the Blazers just might get some wins.

The Blazers head down to Sacramento to take on the Kings on Wednesday, and then are back home for the Bobcats on Friday.

Just a couple quick thoughts:

• Rudy Fernandez missed Tuesday’s game due to an illness.
• Brandon Roy played 21 minutes Tuesday, and will be held out of Wednesday’s game. Brandon looked OK, he was on the receiving end of a lob pass from Camby that he was unable to finish at the rim, showing how limited his explosion is. I’m still a major proponent of playing him. He probably isn’t going to get any worse physically, and he needs reps now so he can change his game accordingly going forward. Also, there wasn’t a single Blazer that made more than seven shots, so to say that Brandon’s poor shooting was in any way to blame for the loss doesn’t make sense to me. Brandon also took fewer shots than everybody but Marcus Camby, Luke Babbit, and Armon Johnson.
• Gerald Wallace played with his headband.
• In case you need a reminder, which I’m sure you don’t, Saturday will be the return of Joel Przybilla and Dante Cunningham. Expect a big ovation for DC, and quite possibly the biggest ovation you’ve ever heard for Joel.

If you guessed that Gerald Wallace's headband would be white, then you were right. Photo courtesy of the Oregonian.

Box Score

Standings

Twitter: @mikeacker | @ripcityproject

You have to hand it to the Rockets. For a team that’s stuck in the middle of the pack in defensive rating, they are still capable of some of the best stretches of defense of any team in the league when they hunker down and get to it. The Blazers don’t really have the talent on the floor to keep teams second guessing their offense, but after re-watching a couple earlier possessions, the Rockets were often rotating to the open man faster than the ball could get there. It was like watching a high school team run the shell drill, with the varsity playing D and the freshman team told to rotate the ball in order around the three-point line without dribbling. Better yet — or worse yet for Portland — Houston swallowed up many players that even attempted to poke around in the lane, and as a result the Blazers only had 19 attempts within 10 feet all night.

The Blazers had the opposite effect with their defense. Though a couple loose balls didn’t go Portland’s way, the Rockets committed points-in-the-paintular manslaughter. Carl Landry and Luis Scola had their way inside just by positioning themselves well to take advantage of some Portland gambling in the passing lanes, and Aaron Brooks ran the old Potomac Two-Step on his way to 33 points. No Blazer point guard could come close to staying in front of him and he burned Portland’s help rotations whether the stepped up on him or hung back on their marks.

And yet the Blazers were in it for reasons mostly tied to a solid assist rate (24.5), the Rockets obliterating themselves with 14 misses at the free-throw line (out of 43!)  and . . . some timely threes I suppose. There were plenty of things to get irked about, but mostly you just have to shrug your shoulders at another bad matchup and nod your head that it wasn’t a blowout.

Individual Thoughts:

LaMarcus Aldridge faced a lot of the same looks and double teams the Jazz effectively threw at him the night before, except he made quicker decisions, reacting to the defense quicker and getting the ball rolling around the perimeter. The four blocks were impressive but I can’t say it was from him being more active than usual, just that he was playing against the team which gets the second-most shots blocked on average.

This was one of Rudy Fernandez’ better games of the season, though eight of those 25 points came when the Blazers were playing the foul-timeout-three game in the final minute. It was wonderful watching him out-maneuver Houston’s defenders going around those picks, and equally awful watching him play with the ball and struggle (and fail) to get around Luis Scola. I have to admit I’m going through a expectation readjustment with Rudy at the moment, having expected him to be a little more of a driver-creator-cutter than he’s been. That shouldn’t take away from the fact that he was absolutely everywhere on the court and was mostly fantastic.

Steve Blake hit a couple crucial shots when the Blazers were bogged down on offense and also got torched, blazed, razed and fumigated by Aaron Brooks. Some of the shots he was hitting were a tad out of his normal comfort zone, however, and his performance dipped as the Blazers needed him to do more with Andre Miller being wholly ineffective. Credit him for the highest assist rate on the team, which at first glance was easy to gloss over.

Houston showed that when you really closeout Webster on the arc, he’s not going to be able to do a whole lot in half-court sets without post guys spacing the floor. He’s not a consistent enough off the dribble to take advantage of the few over-rotations from the Rockets and since he wasn’t hitting his — mostly contested — shots (1-of-7), he only played 21 minutes.

Andre Miller had an almost identical night to Webster — 1-of-6, 20 minutes, two points — but didn’t play well for complete opposite reasons. The Rockets didn’t respect him  on the perimeter and packed the lane. That Miller has looked a little worn down the last week didn’t help.

How many ways are there to say that Juwan Howard was Juwan Howard? The Rockets are vulnerable to big men that are bigger or more athletic, but not so much to guys that are relying more on wits and fundamentals.

Nic Batum-tum-tum, someone probably wants you in their room. Did anyone expect him to look this good, this early. 12 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists in 28 minutes while moving well off the ball and creating some off the dribble while committing just one turnover. All game I was wondering how long it would take for someone to start the “Batum for Starter” train, and sure enough Ben Golliver got it going before the clock struck 12 on the east coast. Legit question: If you could get them both at the same contract, would you rather have Batum, Battier or Ariza?

The Blazers needed more from Jerryd Bayless than 11 points and three assists. Strange to say, but since this is the first prolonged stretch of extended playing time in his career, he could be hitting the theoretical rookie wall, especially since Houston was able to key on him so well.

Jeff Pendergraph looks like he’s going through the same rough stretch that Dante Cunningham went through a little while ago.

That’s right, one of the most anticipated seasons in recent Blazer history begins tonight at the Rose Garden. Fun fact: this is the first time since the 2002-03 season that the Blazers actually kick off their season at the Rose Garden. Fun fact #2, the Blazers have not lost a home season opener (i.e. the first game at home) since the 00-01 season. Just throwing those out there if you want to feel extra knowledgeable at lunch or something. Before we talk about the Blazers, we must talk about the opponents. *cue ominous music* The Houston Rockets.

(Sidenote:  Just to throw it out there, I would like nothing more than to pummel the Rockets by 20. Not bitter or anything. Moving on.)

Now plenty has changed since we last saw the Rockets play the Blazers. There is no Yao Ming to cause us all undue stress and anxiety. There is no Tracy McGrady…oh wait he wasn’t there anyways. There is no Ron Artest to jack up crazy shots. Actually I’m going to miss that. It seems like it should be a cakewalk tonight, right? Not too fast. The Rockets have been without Yao and McGrady so many times over the past few years it would almost be a chore to point them all out. The key is that they have always found ways to be successful without them on the court. I do not expect this to change at all. Why? Rick Adelman does a tremendous job of getting his guys to buy in to the system. And the system works. The Rockets are going to work hard and work together. Offensively they’ll be more open but looking to move the ball more. Without one guy to really consistently feed, their offense could have more of a natural flow to it. Also, without a superstar, the need for defense goes up a bit. They’ll be looking to not give anything up easy. Remember, there were times in last season’s playoffs where their second unit came up huge. The lineups that shouldn’t have been scoring (Lowry/Wafer/Landry) were scoring.

What the Rocket lack in proven top talent, they make up for in hungry guys looking to seize an opportunity. Without Yao, McGrady or Artest, guys are going to have to step up offensively. Aaron Brooks comes into tonight looking to repeat his impressive post-season numbers and you know he’s salivating at the chance to match-up against Portland. In last year’s first round series, Brooks averaged 15.3 points, 4.3 assists, shot 44% from the field and 44% from behind the arc. Trevor Ariza will be asked to shoulder a major load. There are questions about whether he can do it, but you have to understand a guy like him has always wanted this kind of role. You never know what kind of explosions they might produce. Another key to this game is going to be Luis Scola. He’s been known to score (gave Blazers fits last year), but now without Yao he IS the post-offense. Will he be able to improve with more attention or will more touches mean more production? Not to forget about the undersized–but tough duo of Carl Landry and Chuck Hayes and the always reliable Shane Battier. I just expect a lot of scrap from the Rockets tonight, and I’m hoping the Blazers know they’ll have to fight.

Speaking of Portland, it’s Game #1 of 82+. There has been a ton of hype and hooplah surrounding this Blazer team coming into this season. Tonight we finally get to take a look at this season’s team. I’ve tried to avoid the preseason like the swine flu and for the most part have succeeded. Now with my own eyes I get to see  what we’ve got going. The unanswered questions are spinning around in my head. How good will the second unit be? How good is Oden? Are Roy and LMA still good with paychecks? How will Martell Webster look? What kind of chemistry do Roy/LMA/Oden have? Or Roy/Miller? Or Miller/Oden? I’ll admit this, the person I’m most excited to see is Greg Oden. And yes, all eyes will be on Mr. Oden tonight. I’ve always tried to temper my expectations with him and not give him any attention, but he’s done enough to make me take notice. Can he carry over that pre-season dominance to the regular season? And how giddy will Blazer fans be if he can? He’s got a nice opportunity but tonight will also be a nice test for Oden. What Scola/Hayes/Landry lack in size, they make up for in physicality and effort. Sometimes the undersized big men can get under people’s skin. I’m interested to see how he handles it.

Keys to the Game

• Be prepared to fight. Houston might not have a lot of ‘superstar’ talent offensively, but they’re going to make up for it. They won’t be letting Portland get anything easy. They may not concentrate as much on Roy as they did during the post-season, but believe you me they’ll be looking to make everyone not number 7 beat them. My biggest fear is Houston just out-working and out-scrapping a more talented Blazer team and winning a game they shouldn’t because Portland wasn’t ready to out-tough the Rockets.

• Take advantage inside. With the exception of 6-11 Chris David Andersen from Australia, the Rockets have next to no size. Take advantage of this. Look to post Oden and Aldridge up. Perimeter players need to attack the basket and try to get to the foul line.

• Limit turnovers. Make Houston earn every bucket, don’t let them get easy ones.

For many of you, this is your first look at this Blazer team. I myself am included. One of the big issues with a season opener is that as a fan you have 6 months of pent-up thoughts. There’s about a million questions that are going to go unanswered tonight. It becomes easy to just nitpick every little thing. ‘Oh snap, LaMarcus dribbled off his foot we shouldn’t have paid him’ or ‘Dang, Brandon’s 3-10 right now we shouldn’t have paid him’ or ‘Oh no, Greg’s in foul trouble again it’s a lost cause’. All those are human nature…but realize this is the frist game. There’s so much basketball left after tonight it’s not even funny. This team shouldn’t be at its best tonight and the sooner people realize this the better it will be.