April 7, 2013; Portland, OR, USA; Dallas Mavericks power forward Dirk Nowitzki (41) reacts after being fouled by Portland Trail Blazers small forward Luke Babbitt (8) in the first half at the Rose Garden. Mandatory Credit: Jaime Valdez-USA TODAY Sports

“I don’t believe in moral victories.” — Blazers G Damian Lillard

— Ben Golliver (@blazersedge) April 8, 2013

Sunday April 7th 2013 very likely won’t be memorable for much. It probably won’t be the type of evening that gets replayed in the minds of every Blazer fan. However, it was an evening, and a game, that illustrated one of the stranger quirks of the NBA game.

Game 77 was meaningless from start to finish, there was nothing to be gained and nothing to be lost. Yes, finishing 2012-13 without a win in nearly a month doesn’t look good, but that’s all. It won’t change Portland’s draft position, it won’t lead to the coach’s firing, it probably won’t even have a lasting impact on the Blazers’ roster; the same four guys that carried the load this season will carry the load next season.

So why not celebrate a little bit when Will Barton, a glorified cheerleader for much of his rookie season, goes off? Why not celebrate a little when Portland works back from being down nearly 30? Why not celebrate a little when on a Sunday evening a half full Rose Garden goes full nova when a jumper cuts a deficit from 16 to 14 with less than 10 to play in the fourth quarter?

This team is not going to win many of their next five games, they might not win any at all, but they are going to win some games next year, if free agency goes well (or at least not horribly) they could win a lot of games next year. There needs to be something down the stretch that brings this team together. There needs to be something down the stretch that this team can be happy about.

That’s why it was a bit of a shock to see Damian Lillard respond the way he did to Sunday’s game. Lillards frustration has been evident over the last few games. It was never more clear than Sunday night. He’s hell-bent on winning, to the point that while his teammates were ribbing Will Barton for being of the center of attention in the post-game locker room, Dame was not. While LaMarcus Aldridge was laughing and joking with the media, even while also saying he too didn’t believe in moral victories, Lillard was stoic and straight faced.

It’s not that Portland’s best rookie and future franchise player should suppress his natural inclination to win at all costs so he can join in on the fun his teammates are having, it’s just that at this point in the season why not take a moral victory from a historical performance by a rookie who has shown flashes of something but has yet to make a real impact on a real NBA basketball game?

And it’s more than just a moral victory, really. Portland has roster holes to fill and minutes for next season to allocate. They also have limited resources with which to build a playoff caliber roster. If Will Barton can be a contributor, a real contributor not just a side-show in a late-season game that means nothing to nobody, that’s one less potential bear trap for Neil Olshey this coming off-season.

Barton doesn’t become a rotation player by having one great night, but he makes a case for himself.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to throw Lillard under the bus, or to say that his desire to win games that are meaningless is an indication that he somehow doesn’t get it, I just think that the long view is the important one to take at this point. Celebrating the small victories, such as 22 points, 13 rebounds, six assists, three steals, and not a single turn over in 32 minutes from Will Barton, does not mean you’re comfortable with losing, it does not mean that winning games suddenly becomes less important. It does mean, though that you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, that this season, for all it low-lows, is the beginning of something special and not just the first act of a very depressing chapter of Blazer history.

Portland has five games remaining on the schedule, two of them on the road. With Wesley Matthews going down to a sprained ankle and leaving the Rose Garden on crutches and in a boot and Nicolas Batum unlikely to come back, road wins are unlikely. Portland’s home games are against the Lakers (who need wins to stay above water), the Thunder (who need wins to leap-frog the Spurs for the first seed in the Western Conference), and the Warriors (who have a tough final stretch with their only for-sure game coming against the Blazers in Portland’s home finale): home wins aren’t going to be a picnic either.

That’s why I think Sunday is easily the best excuse for a moral victory the Blazers have had this season. Here’s somebody who might agree:

Shoutout to my lil bro @willthethrillb5 for having a career night!

— Lamarcus Aldridge(@aldridge_12) April 8, 2013

One quick thing:

• There are four guys who get all the media attention in Portland’s locker room. I’m sure you can guess which four. However, there are always the odd games out when somebody else, somebody unexpected, gets the TV cameras and the audio recorders jammed in their faces. Will Barton got that treatment Sunday. I can remember a game when Shavlick Randolph had the same thing happen to him. One of my favorite locker room memories of that type came a few seasons ago. Some unexpected Blazer (I think it was Patty Mills but I couldn’t confirm that with anybody I talked to) had a huge game, and as tends to happen, he was mobbed by video cameras and reporters. On his way out of the shower and to his locker, Nicolas Batum stuck his head over the top of the scrum and asked loudly so everybody could hear, “Is that Brandon Roy over there?” Sunday, in a similar fashion, LaMarcus Aldridge, on his way from the shower to his locker, shouted “Where’d you eat today,” to Will Barton as he was answering questions. Barton has never had more than one or two reporters ask him post-game questions all season. He strung his post-game from the time the locker room opened until nearly every other Blazer had already packed up and left.

Box Score

Standings

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

April 7, 2013; Portland, OR, USA; Portland Trail Blazers shooting guard Will Barton (5) reacts after a dunk against the Dallas Mavericks in the second half at the Rose Garden. Mandatory Credit: Jaime Valdez-USA TODAY Sports

The Blazers have officially announced that Sunday’s game against Dallas will be the team’s 6th annual Green Awareness Game.

Here’s the release:

TRAIL BLAZERS SIXTH ANNUAL GREEN AWARENESS GAME SET FOR SUNDAY, APRIL 7 VS. DALLAS

2013 NBA Green Week, presented by Sprint, runs April 4 – 12

PORTLAND, Ore. (April 4, 2013) – The Portland Trail Blazers will host their sixth annual Green Awareness Game on Sunday, April 7 vs. the Dallas Mavericks, the team announced today. Throughout the game, the team will raise awareness for protecting the environment by highlighting best practices and making resources available.

The team’s Green Partners will be in attendance for the game, including Stalk Market Compostable Products, Republic Services, ServiceMaster andPacific Power. Christenson Electric will have an electric vehicle charging station on display for fans on the 100-level concourse. Additionally, select menu items available in the arena will feature vegetables produced locally at the AlbinaCooperative Garden, a non-profit community garden less than one mile from the Rose Garden in North Portland.

NBA Green Week 2013, presented by Sprint, tipped off today and runs through April 12. During the initiative, players will wear 100% organic cotton NBA Green shooting shirts featuring the NBA Green logo. Players will also wear NBA Green headbands and wristbands made from 45% organic cotton to raise additional environmental awareness.

The NBA’s Green Week is conducted in partnership with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) to raise awareness and funds for protecting the environment. The NRDC recently honored six individuals for their efforts to pioneer environmental work in professional sports. Among the six honored was Peter McLoughlin, CEO of Vulcan Sports & Entertainment, the holding company which owns the Trail Blazers.

The Trail Blazers made their initial splash into sustainability in 2010, when the Rose Garden Arena became the first existing professional sports venue in the world to achieve LEED Gold Certification. In 2011, the Trail Blazers were one of six founding members of the Green Sports Alliance and were also selected for the BEST Award as the most sustainably operated business in Oregon. In 2012, the team unveiled 10 electric vehicle charging stations, making the Rose Quarter campus the largest single site for EV charging in the region. The team is currently in the process of adding 16 more charging stations to the campus.

The Rose Garden uses 100% renewable energy while diverting over 80% of waste from local landfills through recycling and composting. Every food and beverage container used at the Rose Garden is compostable and 80% of the food and beverage is locally-sourced or organic. The Rose Quarter has more than 200 dedicated bicycle parking spaces and just recently installed a bike fix-it station adjacent to their covered shelters. Of the 20,000 fans that regularly attend Trail Blazers games, 80% of them use alternative transportation.

The Trail Blazers and NBA have made sustainability and sustainability awareness a year-round commitment. To learn more about what the Trail Blazers and NBA are doing to “Go Green”, please visit www.trailblazers.com/green or www.nba.com/green.

Feb 6, 2013; Dallas, TX, USA; Portland Trail Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge (12) with the ball in the post against Dallas Mavericks forward Elton Brand (42) at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Opportunity is the name of the game in the NBA. Over the course of an 82-game regular season, the teams that take advantage of their opportunities are the ones that end up playing extra games in April and beyond.

Portland had an opportunity Wednesday night in Dallas. With their nearest competitor for the eighth and final spot in the Western Conference playoffs the Houston Rockets falling to Heat in Miami, the door was open for the Blazers to jump one very important place in the standings. The one-game buffer between the Rockets and the Blazers will be thrown into relief this coming Friday when Portland continues their road trip in Houston.

That match-up was already the most important game of this group of six, but if the Blazers hit the Toyota Center in downtown Houston up a couple percentage points on the Rockets, they would have given themselves a very good opportunity to build on what has been a pretty remarkable early- to mid-season run. Alas, with the loss in Dallas, it’s an opportunity squandered.

Just as an 82-game season can be turned either positive or negative by striking whilst the iron is still smoking, so too can a 48-minute contest be dictating by taking advantage of opportunities if an when they arise. Such is the case of Portland’s most recent failure to close out a close game. Wednesday came down to one or two crucial possessions, most of them weren’t late, and basically all of them broke in favor of Dallas.

The Blazers put on a shooting clinic in the first quarter that carried over into the second quarter, but it was two plays at the end of the second quarter that would set the tone for Wednesday’s final 24 minutes. With just over a minute left in the first half, Portland forced Darren Collison into a tough 19-foot, which he missed. Instead of jumping on the rebound and getting an extra possession that could have pushed their lead to 10 or more, the Blazers allowed Collison to get his own rebound, giving Dallas an extra possession. That extra possession turned into two points from Vince Carter.

Portland got the ball back with 46 seconds to play, Nicolas Batum missed a three, and the Mavs finished the half with a 13-footer from Dirk Nowitzki. Don’t blame it all on the failure to secure a defensive rebound, but the extra possession for the home team enabled Dallas to cut what could have been a 10-point lead to a four-point lead at intermission.

Another example of the opportunistic basketball Dallas played that got them a win Wednesday came with 1:15 left in the fourth quarter and the Mavericks clinging to 97-94 lead. After another missed long jumper from Collison, Elton Brand once again corralled an offensive rebound, and once again the Mavericks were given an extra possession. This time Dallas didn’t turn their extra shot into points, but the few ticks that melted off the clock without the ball in Portland’s hands where pretty pivotal.

And then as a whole, there was the fact that Dallas took full advantage of the fact that Portland couldn’t hit a shot at all in the second half. When you are trying to win games on the road, making shots is important. When trying to win a home game, out0-shooting your opponent is imperative. Credit Dallas with taking advantage of the Blazers’ many many second half misses. Credit Dallas also with taking advantage of a Vince Carter throw-back game. Credit Dallas one more time with making damn well sure Portland was going to get the better of them at the end of yet another game.

So an opportunity goes begging for the Blazers, but there will still be more opportunities on this trip. By winning in Minnesota, Portland set themselves up for a .500 road trip by beating the worst teams left on the docket prior to the All-Star Break. The chance is here for the Blazers to climb up the Western Conference ladder. Splitting the games that are left maintains the status quo. That’s not a bad thing.

If the Blazers can play like Dallas did on Wednesday, and maximize their opportunities if/when they arise, there’s always a chance Portland does even better than stasis.

Let’s stick with that line of thinking, instead of speculating that the Blazers are in trouble because Nicolas Batum is favoring his wrist in the extreme, and Wesley Matthews has shown inconsistency at the worst possible moments, and forcing the ball to LaMarcus Aldridge late in games instead of letting Damian Lillard attack, shoot, and freelance has shown to not be the best course of action, and J.J. Hickson’s rebounding numbers are flashy but his clutch rebounds are few and far between and his scoring touch has improved but he seems to miss an awful lot at the rim.

That kind of thinking gets us nowhere.

Portland will stay in Texas and face the Rockets on Friday (as I already mentioned).

Couple of quick things:

• Meyers Leonard has seen his minutes basically disappear. It’s been awhile (to say the least) since he’s had meaningful second half minutes. Wednesday, of all the Blazers who played, Meyers played the least. Portland’s other lottery pick had one rebound in two minutes and 53 seconds.
• The Blazers made nine threes in the first half, and finished with 10 on the game. I like that Portland has faith in their deep ball. Wesley Matthews, Damian Lillard, and Nicolas Batum have all proved to be pretty reliable shooters. However, I would have really liked to see the Blazer guards attack the basket late in the second half. Lillard’s only scoring in the second half came from the free throw line. Not great, but his forays to the rim were much better than chucking bricks from 30 feet.
• Vince Carter is one of those old guys who you often forget is pretty amazing at basketball until he basically explodes. Carter was on fire Wednesday, he finished with 17 points, shooting 7-of-15 from the field, and knocked down important jumpers at the end of the second, third, and fourth quarters. The Mavs have to basically win out to make the Playoffs. I have no idea what Mark Cuban’s long-term plan is with his team. Dirk is aging, and there aren’t many young dudes on Dallas’s bench. If they’re looking to dump salary, I could see Carter getting added to a roster looking for bench help for the post-season run. Vince’s salary is a bit high ($3.1 million) and guaranteed through 2013-14, so a team like Oklahoma City might not want to take the risk. I could see the Spurs going for it though. There isn’t a team in the league better at taking veterans who should be finished and turning them into invaluable cogs in a championship team. The question is, of course, what can San Antonio offer Dallas for Vinsanity? Probably not a whole lot. Speaking of Vince Carter, he is exactly the kind of player the Blazers don’t want to sign this season (or likely any other), just in case you were expecting Portland to go after a veteran that could push them into the Playoffs. That San Antonio could seriously benefit from Carter and Portland couldn’t is one of many important differences between the Blazers and the Spurs.

Box Score

Standings

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

Feb 6, 2013; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Vince Carter (25) shoots a basket late in the fourth quarter to put the Mavs up 5 against Portland Trail Blazers guard Wesley Matthews at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports