Former Blazer assistant Monty Williams told me in 08-09 that he thought Brandon Roy could one day be MVP. I wonder if he feels the same way about LaMarcus Aldridge. Photo courtesy of the AP.

I watched this game at work, but I pulled it off my DVR and starting watching it again as soon as I got home (**if you haven’t watched the game, Comcast is replaying it at 6:30 PM**). In the three seconds it took me to realize that there was no reason to watch Portland beat the Hornets for the second time in one day, and that Oklahoma City/Boston was on TNT featuring the soon-to-be best color commentator in the business Chris Webber, I heard Portland’s play-by-play man Mike Barrett say that New Orleans, lacking much in the way of scoring talent would be looking to dirty it up, and in that way might be able to steal one from the sliding Blazers.

Whether or not former Blazer assistant Monty Williams went into Monday’s MLK Jr. Day afternooner with the plan of playing a gross game that both teams tried very hard to lose, that’s what ended up happening. I know there are going to be a lot of people that will look at Monday’s performance and say playing sloppy and never really putting away the worst team in the NBA is an indication of some serious problems with this Portland team that not a week ago was at the top of the heap. I’m going to politely disagree.

Yes, the Blazers didn’t play well, and yes they were unable to carry a double-digit lead through the entire fourth quarter, but (as I seem to have said in almost every recap this season) this season is flat-out nuts. Road wins are going to be hard to come by, that they are going to be the difference maker between having a good season or having a bad season. A 30-point blowout with LaMarcus Aldridge getting to sit the entire second half would have been fantastic. It didn’t happen, but you take a seven-point win every time.

NBA broadcasters, especially those that work the national circuit, love to say that all it takes for a shooter to get hot is seeing the ball go through the rim one time. Expand on that to the team level, and seeing a road game in the win column might be all this group needs to catch fire and end this swing with a winning record. Anything is possible.

The Blazers have oft been accused of playing to the level of their competition. It’s a damning accusation either way. It means they play better than they should against good teams, and worse than they should against bad teams. I do believe that this Portland team is good enough to be considered one of the Western Conference’s elite, but it is true that against a bad team, especially on the road, they just don’t seem to be able to find that next gear.

Monday that was very clear at the end of the second quarter, and at the end of the second half. During these parts of the game it seemed like there just wasn’t anything happening on offense. Portland has a lot of good freelancers, which can work when they’re all clicking or if they are playing against a defense that doesn’t play a lot of body-to-body defense. Monday and the end of both halves the offense mostly consisted of standing around, and NOLA’s defensive pressure kept Portland from getting easy shots or even getting shots at all.

In between struggling to finish the first half and the game, LaMarcus Aldridge went on a tear that gave Portland the win. LA’s performance in the third quarter was great, as good as he’s been all season, but it’s the failure of this offense to get scores at the end of quarters is something to worry about.

Mostly, Portland’s offensive failures come at the point guard position. Both Raymond Felton and Jamal Crawford made plenty of ball handling errors that led to turnovers, they both missed a lot of shots, and they both contributed to the offense stalling out at a few key moments. Felton has to play better. It’s as simple as that. He tends to get a little loose down the stretch, and his shots just haven’t been falling. The ball handling issues are going to have to be addressed by head coach Nate McMillan.

The shooting is another beast. Just like Felton, Crawford has struggled to find his shot through 13 games, but Crawford is going to have to keep shooting. Felton, on the other hand, might want to think about not shooting, or at least putting the ball on the deck and attacking the rim. Felton is pretty good going to the hoop, much better than he is as a spot-up shooter, plus getting fouled and getting to the line is an easy way to get comfortable shooting the ball. Monday, Felton went 1-of-8 from the field, finishing with two points. He added 12 assists, which helped, but they were almost completely negated by eight turnovers.

Jamal Crawford shot 2-of-8 from the field, 1-of-4 from three, and contributed seven assists and four turnovers. Twelve of Portland’s 17 turnovers went to Felton and Crawford.

Portland wasn’t all bad Monday. I mean they did get the win after all. Nicolas Batum led in the positive category with 19 points in 32 minutes (although he did have a team low in the plus/minus category with -9). LA was there too, finishing with 22 points, and the flourish to start the third quarter that ended up being the difference. My personal favorite positive stat from Monday: Kurt Thomas 4-of-5 shooting and a +17.

The Blazers play another winnable game that will be the determinant of whether or not this can still be a winning road trip in Atlanta on Wednesday.

Couple of quick things:

• LaMarcus Aldridge was named to the 20-man US Olympic roster earlier today. LA deserves to make the team, but who knows if he will. I think the last guy to play for the Blazers and Team USA was Shawn Kemp. I think LaMarcus is a much better representative of this franchise than Kemp.
• Portland has nosedived in the weekly power rankings thanks to a three-game slide. The positive press the Blazers received during the first week of the season has it’s downsides, not lest among them that Portland is ESPN’s biggest loser of the week in it’s rankings. However, I feel like this team might benefit some from being relegated to underdog status. They aren’t going to finish number one in the conference, and they aren’t going to fall all the way to eighth–or god forbid anything higher than that–my guess is they finish somewhere between three and five. That finish might make some of the name pundits that jumped all over Portland seem a bit less credible, but these guys shouldn’t be playing for the benefit of the Steve Kerrs of the world.
• One of New Orleans’s bright spots was the play of Gustavo Ayon. The rookie from Mexico hit 4-of-5 from the field, finishing with eight points and five rebounds in 21 minutes. The play of Ayon probably is was kept Carl Landry to only 10 minutes of PT.
• Minutes watch for Portland: 32:01 for Nicolas Batum. In his piece over at Portland Roundball Society about the necessity of locking up Nicolas Batum sooner than later, Sean Highkin brings up the point that Nic plays much better when his minutes are in the 30s. That seems to be true over the last two games.
• The stream I watched at work featured the NOLA announcers. At one point in the game they spent about 10 minutes talking to Eric Gordon, the de facto replacement for Chris Paul who has played only two games so far this season. The conversation drifted from inspiring the younger players that pepper Monty Williams’ roster to his favorite place to go for gumbo in the Big Easy, completing ignoring the game on the floor. It was a little different that what I was used to listening to Mike and Mike call games locally.

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Twitter: @mikeacker | @ripcityproject

Gerald Wallace and Jamal Crawford tie up Greivis Vasquez in the second half of Portland's win. Photo courtesy of the AP.

Chris Paul came up with some big plays late in the game, and helped the Hornets jump the Blazers in the West. Photo courtesy of the AP.

As the telecast closed on Wednesday night’s unfortunate loss to the New Orleans Hornets, Blazer TV announcer Mike Barrett mentioned that although this was a big game, it probably wasn’t the biggest game of the season. I’m going to agree and disagree. I’ll agree that it wasn’t the biggest game of the season, basically because all that hyperbole probably needs to be stored somewhere deep, only to be brought out for games late in the post season. I’ll disagree, because Wednesday, like every single one of Portland’s seven remaining games, was a very very big game. Losing doesn’t spell doom for the Blazers going forward, but of the two possible outcomes, it was the least preferable.

We all knew coming in that New Orleans was trailing Portland in the West, and that that lead was so minuscule that a win for New Orleans meant a seeding switch.  The Hornets, on the back of some late shooting and defense, get the win, and with that win have vaulted the Blazers into the sixth spot. Memphis, sitting now at eighth, also won Wednesday, meaning that Portland is now a single game out of eighth place in the West. Luckily, the Blazers got a little help from Philly, who knocked off the Houston Rockets, so that cushion between seventh or eighth and the first loser is a healthy four games. Not so healthy that Portland can cruise, but just enough so we can all start making plans for where were going to be come the first round of the Playoffs.

Wednesday’s a tough one to really sum up. For the most part, this game featured everything that I love about NBA basketball, and why the Playoffs, and to a lesser extent, the run-up to those Playoffs, are so exciting. For most of the evening the execution was tight, the ball was moving, the half court offense was in full effect, and across the board both teams were playing hard and playing well. What I didn’t love about Wednesday, of course, was how it ended.

After building a strong lead in the second quarter, squandering most of it in the third quarter, Portland was completely unable to deliver the knockout blow. This worries me some, considering that the Blazers still have to win to reach the second season. One thing that really stuck out Wednesday, and in my mind was the difference between winning and losing for Portland, was the Blazers inability to keep the Hornets off the free throw line. New Orleans took 13 more free throws than Portland, and made 10 more. Basically what this meant was that the Blazers were unable to get stops. Portland was playing a lot of defense on their heels, and were reacting late on the help side. With only one actual deep shooter seeing the court for New Orleans, Marco Belinelli, the Blazers could have done themselves a favor by packing the paint and playing the drive. Lord knows other teams do that to Portland, making them win with jump shots, and sometimes it even works. As the final string gets played out, and the Playoffs actually begin, teams are going continue to attack the basket. The Blazers need to find ways to get stops in the paint. It’s that simple.

This really plays into one thing that was pretty apparent in all three of these last road games. Portland is small. Starting Gerald Wallace was a great move. He needs to be on the floor as much as possible, and Marcus Camby is realistically going to give only about 20 good minutes a night regardless if he starts or comes off the bench. The problem is deeper than that. Or to be more precise, the problem is is that Portland is not deeper than that. Sunday in OKC, and Monday in San Antonio, Portland was exposed inside. They couldn’t stop the drive or the play of the pivot positions, and they were more than neutralized on the defensive glass. Again on Wednesday, the Blazers were dominated inside. Emeka Okafor had a huge offensive rebound and put-back in the fourth quarter, as did Willie Green. Okafor’s follow effectively killed Portland’s attempt at a closing rally, and was NOLA’s second to last field goal of the evening before finishing it off from the free throw line.

Wednesday was a game or runs, with Portland’s big run coming first and the Hornets’ run coming late. In a game of runs, its important to finish plays that sustain a counter-attack, in order to slow down or reverse that run, if you’re the team being run on, and it’s equally as important to finish plays that maintain a run, and help to avoid a strong counter attack, if you are the team doing the running. Too many times, the Blazers were unable to finish on offense, and too many times the Hornets were given extra possessions that led to baskets. That combination turned a mid-quarter spurt into a closing run. If Portland wants to finish this season with some momentum, and have a shot at the second round of the Playoffs, avoiding those situations in which spurts become runs, and leads become deficits is going to be key.

Portland did a lot of things right on Wednesday, and to their credit winning in New Orleans is always a tough task. Give former Blazer assistant Monty Williams credit, you could tell he and his team wanted this game badly too. One more thing that I love about late season NBA games that matter, and the Playoff games that follow, is the game within a game type situations. Subbing offense for defense, using each timeout effectively, calling big set-plays late in the game, fighting. Like I said earlier, Wednesday had all of those elements. Portland has played too hard, and has looked too good over the last week and change to let this season slip away. The remaining games aren’t easy, but those two Golden State games and the Utah game might be just the breathing room this team needs. I’m sure that coach Nate McMillan and his troops are going to figure out a way to close games, and close the regular season.

The Blazers are back in the Rose Garden Friday for their final match-up of the season with the Oklahoma City Thunder. OKC has clinched the post season for the second year in a row, but don’t expect them to take the night off. Expect Portland to try to figure out a way to play big inside, on both offense and defense. And expect another fight. It will be like that every night until this is all over.

Just a couple quick thoughts:

• Gerald Wallace took a hard hit from Emeka Okafor and the end of the first half. Crash was slow to get off the floor, and for awhile its was suggested that he might not return for the second half of play. He did return, and Mike Barrett did point out that at times in the second half he looked a little out of sync. I’m sure he will be checked out in Portland, and that he was checked out in New Orleans at halftime, and he probably wouldn’t have been allowed to play if the team docs had determined that he had suffered a concussion. That being said, concussions in sports are a big deal. There is plenty of good information out there on all this stuff, and every sports fan should educate themselves about all of it. It’s football that is getting the most attention, but guys get hit hard in basketball too. Portland needs Gerald Wallace on the court every step of the way the rest of this season, but more important than that is his health. Hopefully he was more dazed than seriously injured.
• On a lighter note, Patty Mills found some rotation minutes Wednesday, and he made the most of them. Patty had another one of those nights were he scored more points than the number of minutes he played. He was stroking it too, knocking down all five of his shot attempts, three of them from deep. At one point I even found myself telling the TV to put Patty back in the game when Portland couldn’t find anything on offense in the fourth and the game was starting to get away. Although I think Patty’s Playoff minutes will be scant, he is the type of guy that in a seven game series can steal a game. He’s the type of player that can’t really be scouted, you never  know what he’s going to bring. That’s not always a good thing, but if we can catch him on the right night, he could be a big time game changer.
• The plus/minus is such a strange stat, and its hard for me to decide what it really means. Portland had two players that were in the plus column, with the rest getting minuses. Andre Miller, who was key in keeping the Blazers within striking distance in the final minutes of the game, was a game low -17. Gerald Wallace, who was pretty steady but stopped attacking as much in the final quarter, was +2. Patty Mills: a game high +14. Another one, just to muddy the waters even more. Brandon Roy, who didn’t do a whole lot of anything, had the third highest plus/minus with -1. Make of that what you will.

Former Blazer Jarrett Jack took offense at the actions of current Blazer Rudy Fernandezm bring both sides almost to blows. Welcome to the end of the season. Photo courtesy of the AP.

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Twitter: @mikeacker | @ripcityproject

Not a strange sight, a guy in a Blazer jersey on the Rose Garden floor. Photo courtesy of the AP.

If you couldn’t see the difference Saturday night between the Blazers and the New Orleans Hornets, then you weren’t watching. New Orleans looked like a championship caliber team with a smart and driven All-Star at the controls. They moved the ball around, found open shooters, ran an offense with a lot of different looks, hit the boards, ran the floor, caused turnovers, the list goes on. Portland, on the other hand, settled for jumpers, didn’t attack the rim, turned the ball over, and overall just failed to show up. What was the worst part about Friday’s game, a game with PLENTY of AWFUL parts? Portland put up arguably their best quarter of the season to open the game. That leaves fans to wonder: was this one quarter of fluke basketball, and should we start prepping for a .500 level season, or was this three quarters of fluke basketball, and we shouldn’t overreact 15 games into a MARATHON season.

The choice is yours, Blazer fans, but if the stands clearing out with three and a half minutes remaining in a ten-point game is any indication, people are starting to jump ship.

What can be said about Friday’s game?

Brandon Roy coming back might have caused the rest of the Blazers to defer to their star a few too many times. Former Blazer assistant, turned Coach of the Year candidate, Monty Williams might know the Blazers so well that he’s two or three steps ahead of his old charges. On a night when two light’s out dunkers LaMarcus Aldridge and Nicolas Batum miss easy flushes and the king of the layup Andre Miller misses a bunny at the rim, Portland is destine to lose. Losing Sean Marks to a rolled ankle, Rudy Fernandez to a knee to the gut/groin, and Wesley Matthews briefly to a hard hit to the head also weren’t good signs.

Looking at the box scores there are tons of statistics-based reasons Portland got run out of their own gym. The Blazers’ shooting percentage fell steadily over the course of the evening. Coming out on fire, Portland shot 68% from the floor and 75% from deep. The second quarter those percentages started to drop. At halftime the Blazers were 50% from the field, 50% from three. Still more sliding after three quarters. An O-fer from beyond the three point line dropped Portland’s three-point field goal percentage to 36%. Their overall field goal shooting followed suit, dropping to 46%. The capper Friday night: the Blazers managed only a baker’s dozen in the scoring department in the fourth quarter, hitting a paltry 5-of-21 from the field. In the final frame Portland shot 23% from the field, 33% from three. Their overall shooting percentages were dreadful. From the field 30-for-76, 39%; from three 6-for-18, 33%. Those numbers don’t beat one of the best teams in the league. Those numbers don’t beat anyone in the league.

Postgame, Nate McMillan said that Portland needs to knock down open shots. They especially need to knock down open shots when they’re up against one of the best rebounding teams in the NBA. There were a lot of numbers that were shockingly even: 12 points each on the fast break, 28 points each in the paint. The numbers that were not even. Rebounds; 48 for NOLA, 27 for Portland, and second chance points; 15 for the Hornets, 2 for the Blazers. Making open shots is nice, finding a way to create and make easy shots would also be nice.

Portland’s time off didn’t seem to do them any favors, and of course, this being the NBA, they’re going to have to pay back those days off right away. The Blazers close out the month of November with road games at New Jersey and at Philadelphia, and start December at Boston and at Washington. In December Portland plays four back-to-backs including tough twofers at San Antonio and at Memphis, and at Utah and at Denver. The Blazers are 5-7 in the month of November. Portland needs to finish the month with back-to-back road wins, which is totally doable, to finish the month at .500. A sub .500 month at the outset of the season doesn’t torpedo the whole thing, but get ready folks, it could be a long ride.

Here are a few thoughts:

• Chris Paul is a hell of a player. He isn’t infallible, like everyone on the court he makes bad decisions, but unlike most people on the court, he makes up for those poor decisions. At least twice he turned the ball over, then on the possession created by the turnover he made a steal. One time he sprinted the length of the court and picked off a pass from Andre Miller to Nic Batum that would have resulted in an easy layup. Paul is a menacing force. I was right there with every Blazer fan hoping he would come this way when his name came up in trade rumors. The reality is, we should have picked this guy when we had the chance.
• Brandon looked alright. He scored a game-high 27 points, and some of his movement seemed back to almost normal. He had a breakaway that he finished with a dunk, which was nice to see. The Blazers did seem a little stagnant at times, trying to figure out what to do on offense, and some of that no doubt can be contributed to Brandon’s return. I can go along with the talk that the offense is better without Brandon only for awhile. I will always be a firm believer that Portland needs Brandon on the floor to reach anything near its full potential.
• Lots of people hit the deck and came up limping Friday night. Matthews was first then Rudy, and finally the last of Portland’s big men Sean Marks. It’s almost funny if it weren’t so blindingly frustrating. I don’t want to talk about injuries for at least one game. Is that too much to ask?
• Speaking of Marks, he played pretty great for what it’s worth. He scored six points, grabbed a few rebounds, and was credited for one blocked shot. Sean got robbed of a blocked shot when the referees sent Trevor Ariza to the line after his fast-break layup attempt was denied at the rim. In a battle between Sean Marks and Trevor Ariza, Ariza’s star power wins every time.
• Joel Przybilla was slated to make his comeback Friday night, but pulled out a few hours prior to game time due to illness, the same illness that sent him to the hospital just a few days ago. There were a lot of Joel signs scattered throughout the Rose Garden that went unused. He’ll likely come back while the team is on the East Coast, but don’t worry, those signs and that ovation will be there for him when the team gets home.
• Across the board, starting with Nate, and carrying over to Brandon and LaMarcus, this loss was blamed on cold shooting. The fine print here, Portland is not going to change their offense. Expect more of the same, and if the shots don’t go down…
• Oklahoma City, Denver, and Utah all won Friday night. Expect the North West division to be just like it was last year. I know it’s only the end of November, but every night has playoff implications.

Brandon showing his approval for Monty's jacket before tip. Photo courtesy of the AP.

Check out the Swarm & Sting for Hornets related info.

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Twitter: @mikeacker | @ripcityproject