Feb 15, 2012; Oakland, CA, USA; Portland Trail Blazers guard Jamal Crawford (11) shoots over Golden State Warriors shooting guard Monta Ellis (8) during the second quarter at Oracle Arena. Credit: Jason O. Watson-US PRESSWIRE

It’s going to be easy to over value Portland’s gritty and gusty win against the Golden State Warriors Wednesday night. There are still a lot of obvious problems with this team, there’s still nobody to rely on to run the offense with LaMarcus Aldridge on the shelf, there are still major holes in the defense. But, if you look at the season as a whole, every game up to and including this one, Wednesday’s might just be the biggest win of the season.

Like I said, it’s going to be easy to over value this one. But think about it. If Golden State gets a good look at the buzzer for a tie and wins it in overtime, or hits a game winning three as time expires and Portland falls to 1-10 in games decided by five points or fewer, what are we talking about right now? Who is going to be the Blazers’ coach after the All-Star Break. Do we clean house and start over or trade a bunch of guys to borrow a point guard for a chance to get bounced in the first round of the Playoffs. Should we rest LaMarcus Aldridge for the rest of the season since this one is clearly over and done with. And that’s why beating Golden State was huge.

Portland didn’t play a perfect game, far from it, but they did what they needed to do to win, and that’s huge too because at this point they’ve haven’t done that very many times. A commonality of the Blazers’ recent losses has been getting a late lead but being unable to hold it. Portland reversed that trend too in Oakland. The Blazers grabbed a 91-90 lead with a minute and two seconds left in the fourth after surrendering it only a few minutes earlier. Jamal Crawford got the go-ahead bucket with a three over his 206 brethren Nate Robinson.

The best part of Crawford getting the bucket to take the lead and then the two free throws to seal the deal is that he’s been playing less than awesome since going for 31 against the Hornets in NOLA. The best best part is that his three with a minute to go was that it was his first three ball of the evening. Crawford couldn’t hit anything from the floor, but I’d rather have him miss shots in the key or attacking the rim than chucking long balls.

Speaking of long balls, Gerald Wallace had one of those nights when he hits threes. Four of the actually. Four threes on four attempts. Not bad. Probably not great either, since that means next time out he’s not going to be able to repeat it and he might try, but once again it was what the Blazers needed to win. And I’ll take the win.

LaMarcus Aldridge was absent Wednesday night, and there’s a pretty good chance he’ll miss Thursday night too. Portland will have the benefit of the crowd when the face the Clippers, but they still are going to have to find a way to get offense without their main guy. Wednesday they spread it around, five guys got into double digits in scoring and Wesley Matthews had nine, but a couple of Blazers couldn’t find their way at all. Matthews hit his first four shots then missed the rest, finishing 4-of-12 and 1-of-6 from three. A couple of his looks in the fourth quarter weren’t even close. He needs to keep firing when he gets open shots because eventually the pendulum will swing the other way and he won’t want to miss it. That being said, Wednesday night he didn’t look confident at all in his shooting. Raymond Felton continued to struggle (4-of-15 from the field 2-of-5 from deep), and Nicolas Batum couldn’t follow up his big night against the Wizards (7-of-13 from the field 2-of-5 from deep), and apart from a big three Crawford wasn’t great either.

Those are the problems that need to be addressed. Less jump shooting, more attacking the basket. In part because more drives to the hoop means more free throws. Portland hit 15-of-17 from the free throw line. If they can get there more often, they can take advantage of the fact that they very rarely miss.

So the Blazers have things to address, clearly, but now they also have that win under their belt that says they can play good enough without LaMarcus to get a victory. They also have that win that says they don’t always have to lose close games. They also have that win that says they can win on the road in a hostile environment. That’s three things from one win. Once again, big win.

Couple of quick things:

• Last time Portland lost in Oakland Stephen Curry went off for 32, winning the game practically on his own. Wednesday Steph had eight; 3-of-10 from field 0-of-2 from three. Not sure how much of it was defense from Portland, but like every thing that happened Wednesday night Portland should take it and not ask questions.
• Nate Robinson did his best Jeremy Lin impression, although he did have a big turnover on the game’s final possession. Nate finished with 21 points, making eight of his 15 shot attempts. Watching Nate in the final minutes of this game I was reminded of the night he went off in Portland with the Knicks in 2008-09. That night Nate went off, gave NYC a big lead, then couldn’t stop shooting, and sunk the Knicks in the fourth quarter. That game was won by Brandon Roy. This game was won by another Seattleite. Coincidence? Yes.
• The Blazers really have to work on scoring at the rim. Portland missed a ton of layups that could have made this game a little less tense at the end.
• Minutes Watch: 2:30 for Chris Johnson (first guy off the bench!) and 8:07 for Elliot Williams. Neither did anything, but it did make it look like Portland gave up on this right away. Nice to be proven wrong.
• Standings Watch: Every game changes the standings. But not this one. Portland came into this one in the eight spot (dropped to nine midway through) won and finished at eight. There’s work to be done still.

Box Score

Standings

Email: mike.acker1@gmail.com

Twitter: @mikeacker | @ripcityproject

Feb 15, 2012; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors point guard Nate Robinson (2) shoots against the Portland Trail Blazers during the fourth quarter at Oracle Arena. Portland defeated Golden State, 93-91. Credit: Jason O. Watson-US PRESSWIRE

LaMarcus Aldridge contemplates a question that is no doubt related to the NBA's work stoppage at his charity Rip City Basketball Classic at University of Portland Sunday Night.

Last night was a fun distraction. And because it was both fun, and distracting, I’m not going to waste too much time either recapping the events of LaMarcus Aldridge’s Rip City Basketball Classic or lamenting the fact that the deal currently on the table is going to be rejected come Wednesday and that when that happens the 2011-12 season is all but dead in the water.

For good recaps check out Oregonlive or Blazeredge. For a good take on the deal situation and what the charity game really means in relation to all that stuff check out Canzano. (I promise this will be the only time I say that)

So, here’s what I do have to offer: PHOTOS!!

Enjoy…

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Obviously, Marcus Camby making his debut is the big story of the night, followed by Brandon Roy Hamstring Watch 2010. Camby should make a good impression despite having his hands full with some talented bigs, as he isn’t the type of player that needs to be slowly integrated into a system to find success. And between Kendrick Perkins and Glen Davis the past few weeks, there have been a plethora of blockable shots coming out of Boston’s end. The Celtics also help like Goodwill in the paint, so Camby’s awkward spiraling jumper should get plenty of exercise.

The danger is that one could argue the Celtics had their biggest win of the season last night in L.A. They haven’t been anywhere close to a 48 minute team this season, having blown the most double-digit leads in the second half of anyone in the NBA. They’ve also been, at times, slow, selfish, lazy, stagnant, grounded and confused, though rarely all at once. For all those reasons, statistics can be tossed out the window for this one. The Celtics could have gotten the boost they needed from finally pulling out a great game, or they could revert to former problems on the second night of a back-to-back.

They’ll probably fall somewhere in the middle. Kevin Garnett was getting up and grabbing retro-strong rebounds last night, which he’s shown flashes of here and there, but I can’t tell you with a straight face that he’s done anything this season to prove he has enough for two nights in a row. Maybe he does and the All-Star break was like one of Ra’s Al Ghul’s Lazarus Pits for him, but he didn’t look all that great on Tuesday in Sacramento. The more Lamarcus Aldridge can wear him down, well, the better.

Portland’s athleticism is its greatest asset tonight, despite Andre Miller having the best game when these teams met in Boston. The Celtics have trouble maintaining focus on the defensive glass, which means offensive boards a plenty. They know this, though, and in Boston they made up for it by sending Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo out on the wings for long outlets and transition buckets. Hopefully Nic Batum helps in that area.

The wild card is Nate Robinson, whose status is uncertain. Generally when offensive acquisitions like him get run before any significant practice time, they play loose and more often than not have a good offensive game. Steve Blake isn’t around now to worry about quick guards taking advantage of anymore, but we could see a few short stretches of back and forth with Robinson and Jerryd Bayless.

In the end, this should end up being a possession game. The Celtics cough up a bunch of turnovers, which Portland must take advantage of, and they are also prone to slow stretches of offense — hence the Robinson trade. There’s no telling which Boston team is going to show up, but the proof for them has been in the second half, so don’t react too strongly one way or the other if Portland is up or down 10 with six minutes left in the third.