Aldridge heads to the bench for the #Blazers with 36.7 secs left after a 31-point, 12-rebound night. Blazers will improve to 31-34.

— Joe Freeman (@BlazerFreeman) March 17, 2013

The Blazers have had some meaningful wins and some crushing defeats through 65 games in 2012-13. Even if the season ends at home on the 17th of April against the Golden State Warriors, which it very likely will, strides have been made. Next season will be better than this one, that you can count on.

There will be many many more meaningful games, victories that will entice the fan base into rabid celebration and losses that will feel literally like the end of the world, that you can count on too.

Hopefully, there won’t be many games in the future that were like the one played on Saturday. A meaningless game between two lottery-bound teams with very little on the line. Saturday’s game was lackluster at best for both teams. It was close, then it was a blowout, then it was close, and then it was a blowout. Broken down like that, it might sound like it was an exciting. Sadly, it was not. The back and forth in the scoring came from a combination of less than effective defense and inconsistent offense, two things both teams suffered from.

What made Saturday bearable, the only thing that made Saturday bearable, was the play of LaMarcus Aldridge. 2012-13 will go down as the season of Damian Lillard. It certainly makes sense that the biggest story coming out of Portland this season is that the Blazers have a superstar in the making at point guard. What the story of Damian Lillard shouldn’t overshadow is the continued dominance of LaMarcus Aldridge.

Saturday evening, LA showed once again why he just might be the best power forward in the NBA. Aldridge had a superstar line against a big and physical Detroit defense. His 31 points came on 21 field goal attempts, his 12 rebounds gave him his 31st double-double of the season, and his +11 was second only to Wesley Matthews for game high.

It wasn’t just the stat line that LA finished with that was impressive, Saturday night, it was the way by which he influenced the outcome of the game that really showed how far he’s advanced this season. A Nicolas Batum three with 2:34 left to play in the game snapped an 8-0 Piston’s run and swung this game back in Portland’s favor, but it was a five-point burst provided by LaMarcus Aldridge after back-to-back possessions ended in missed threes by Lillard that sealed the Blazers’ victory.

That back-to-back sequence was part of a 13-point fourth quarter in which LA missed only a single shot, and a 21-point second half in which he only missed twice. Those numbers, and that efficiency was easily the difference maker Saturday night.

Portland very easily could have lost Saturday without the play of LaMarcus Aldridge. Their defense still leaves a lot to be desired, and more often than they should have, the Blazers relied on the deep ball to bail them out against Detroit’s ball pressure. Portland also allowed Rodney Stuckey and Will Bynum to combine for 55 points. Just over half a C from a bench point guard and a point guard who isn’t a point guard anymore.

That the Blazers couldn’t stop the Pistons’ back court is not a good sign considering that Portland’s upcoming road trip includes a number of high-scoring point guards. Defense is something that is going to have be addressed going forward. This trip will be important for the Blazers in that it should be a good indicator of this team’s stamina. It’s going to be a tough slog considering a single win would great and two wins would be remarkable.

Saturday night LaMarcus Aldridge extended his streak of games shooting over 43% from the field to five, and his streak of games shooting over 50% to three. He also hasn’t missed a free throw since the 6th of March in Memphis. Portland is going to need LA to put up big scoring numbers every night if he wants to give his team a chance to get wins on the road.

The good thing for Blazer fans is, even if LA doesn’t play out of his mind on the road and Portland doesn’t win any of their next five, coming home and having to admit their season is over, Aldridge hasn’t been forgotten even if his young new point guard is busy filling up the headlines.

Portland tips off it’s five-game trip on Monday against the 76ers in Philadelphia.

Box Score

Standings

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

Mar 8, 2013; Auburn Hills, MI, USA; Detroit Pistons center Greg Monroe (10) during the third quarter against the Dallas Mavericks at The Palace. Dallas won 102-99. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports

Fates change in the blink of an eye in the NBA. Prior to Thursday’s tip-off, all talk was about how the sprained ankle that put Kobe Bryant on the shelf “indefinitely” might have left the door open for Portland to make a play for the post season. A convincing win against the Knicks served only to further that line of thinking.

But here we are two days later, an off-day and the morning before the final home game of this three-game home stand, and Kobe’s indefinite time out was zero games (although he barely played in LA’s win against the Pacers but he still played), the Lakers are now a full game up on the Jazz for the eighth seed in the Western Conference, and it’s basically going to take one or two convincing losses for even the most delusional Blazer fans to finally admit that there might not be an extra games tacked on at the end of 2012-13.

With a five-game road trip looming that includes dates with four playoff teams and the Philadelphia 76ers, those one or two losses might come sooner rather than later. Which is why Saturday’s dance with the Detroit Pistons might be the most important game this season.

That’s certainly an overstatement. I’ve called plenty of games the most important game of the season so far in 2012-13, and in that company, Saturday’s is probably less important than others. A loss is devastating considering that Detroit has one of the worst records in the league and has already beaten Portland once, but a win doesn’t really mean anything. The Lakers, the Jazz, and the Mavericks all stand between the Blazers and the playoffs. Beating Detroit on Saturday is a must, but for Portland to reach the playoffs, they’re going to need a lot of help from all three teams ahead of them.

But just like fates change quickly, so do situations and circumstances. Under the current circumstances, Portland needs to keep winning if they want to even have the chance at extending their season. Therefore, Saturday is the most important game the Blazers will play in 2012-13, just as basically every game will be from now until the middle of April.

Blazers Starting 5: PG Damian Lillard, SG Wesley Matthews, SF Nicolas Batum, PF LaMarcus Aldridge, C J.J. Hickson

Pistons Starting 5: PG Jose Calderon, SG Rodney Stuckey, SF Kyle Singler, PF Jason Maxiell, C Greg Monroe

the BThursday’s game almost got away from Portland in the first half because they absolutely could not defend inside. Pick and rolls have been the thorn in the side of the Blazers’ interior defense this season. Meyers Leonard is still figuring out the nuances of defending in the NBA; J.J. Hickson isn’t much of an off the ball defender mostly because he prefers to pay attention to the ball at the expense of the man.

Detroit’s offense comes from the inside, and with the addition of Jose Calderon will play a lot of top of the key pick and rolls. It’s not quite a direct comparison to the Knicks, though. New York is older and craftier, their optimal pick-and-roll on Thursday was one that led to an open lay-up after a high pick, a delayed roll, and a pin-point pass in traffic from Jason Kidd, the best passer of his generation and one of the best pure passers of all time. Jose Calderon is a good pick-and-roll point guard, but he’s no Jason Kidd.

But as Calderon can’t do what Jason Kidd can, Greg Monroe can do things Marcus Camby and Kenyon Martin can’s. Monroe plays the kind of power game inside that left New York’s All-Star bigs in the early to mid aughts. Calderon and Monroe will play a different kind of pick-and-roll than Kidd and Camby or Martin. The Pistons’ PG/C combo won’t have to be as precise and they won’t have to rely on shaking Portland’s bigs completely. Even if the Blazers’ pivot players get their pick-and-roll D figured out, Calderon can still just dump the ball into Monroe and expect him to overpower J.J. Hickson or Meyers Leonard.

The inside game will be the most important. If Portland can win the battle of points in the paint, they’ll win the game. But the wing play will be important too. This Piston squad is now without Tayshuan Prince, who was included in the trade that sent Rudy Gay to Toronto and brought Calderon to Detroit. Nicolas Batum versus Kyle Singler at the small forward position very clearly favors the Blazers. The back-court positions favor Portland also. Match-up wise, Saturday’s is certainly the Blazers’ game to lose.

What to Watch for

• Can Portland get off to a hot start and put this game away early. The Blazers have not been able to carry many blow out wins from wire-to-wire this season. If they can jump on Detroit early, this team will probably not fight back. The Pistons have lost seven straight, and are very close to the mathematically eliminated threshold. Their season is over. The games that remain are perfunctory. All they have left to play for is an opportunity to play spoiler or beat a marquee team. Neither of those scenarios really apply to Portland. A quick lead by the Blazers, and this thing will be over in a hurry.
• Outside shooting. Portland has been shooting very well from three over the last few weeks and change. Detroit isn’t much of a deep threat. The Blazers can let the Pistons score inside if they off-set it by really demolishing them from three.
• Defense. Portland didn’t play much defense against the Knicks. It meant little since New York cares not for defense either. The Pistons play defense. If the Blazers don’t defend, they’ll be in trouble. Portland lost to the Hornets a week ago by not playing defense. NOLA is a team similar to Detroit: short on talent but long on defense. The Blazers shouldn’t try to grind this out and keep the scoring in the 80s, but they do need to defend.

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

Nicolas Batum got the start for an injured Gerald Wallace in Portland's disheartening loss to the Pistons. Photo courtesy of the AP.

I won’t waste too much time on this one. First off, it’s Saturday night, and I don’t recommend that anybody waste a perfectly good Saturday night reading about a perfectly bad Portland loss. Secondly, this loss was like all the losses on this road trip, and to an extent like all the games on this road trip, it came down to the Blazers’ inability to execute.

Plain and simple, nine times out of 10 Portland beats Detroit. They have the advantage at every position, they have a deeper bench, basically they’re just better. That one time the Pistons win because they take advantage of their opportunities.

Saturday, Portland let Detroit build a lead, a lead that ballooned to nearly 20, and then did just enough right to not lose. The Pistons had some pretty good stretches, especially during a second quarter where they outscored the Blazers by 12. A few guys that you don’t expect to consistently deliver on offense, Jonas Jerebko and Rodney Stuckey, came up big, Greg Monroe grabbed a couple of key offensive rebounds, and down the stretch Detroit never let Portland get the game tied or take the lead. When you give up a huge lead, but still win, keeping that last one-point advantage up there on the board is paramount.

And that’s why it’s so hard to win when getting down big on the road. The trailing team has to play basically perfect basketball to get within striking distance. The leading team just doesn’t have to miss every single shot. Portland ended up having to work very hard just to get back in the game. The last night of a six-game road trip isn’t the best night to have to come with extra energy, especially when your opponent hasn’t won any meaningful games all season, you’re expecting to get the win, and they’re guessing you’ve already moved on to the next game.

So 3-3 would have been nice, but Portland will have to take 2-4. It will be a long play ride home. Sacramento is next, they got absolutely trounced by Memphis Saturday, and is exactly the kind of team the Blazers have not been able to deal with in the last few weeks. They’ll have the advantage of being at home. Hopefully that will help.

Like I said, I’m keeping it short, enjoy your weekend, try to forget about losing to the worst team in the league in a basically empty arena.

Couple of quick things:

• Gerald Wallace sat out Saturday with an injured finger. He’s struggled on the road, but clearly Portland is better with him on the court than without him. Gerald was in uniform, and could have played. I guess you can take the loss if it means he’ll be healthy for the next one.
• When Portland misses threes they really miss threes. The Blazers shot 3-of-20 from deep. One or two more going down, and Portland would have been victorious. Everybody missed from behind the arc, but Nicolas Batum (1-of-7) and Wesley Matthews (1-of-5) led the way.
• Rodney Stuckey wasn’t even supposed to play, strained groin, but he had himself a pretty nice night. The Eastern Washington alum went 8-of-15 from the field for 28 points, and added four rebounds and five assists.
• Raymond Felton’s numbers were good: 20 points on 6-of-9 shooting, nine assists, and only two turnovers.
• Minutes watch: 18:16 for Craig Smith. Again, solid first shift from Rhino: 4-of-7 from the field 2-of-2 from the line, 10 points. Earning his minutes. Now if only Portland could win.

Box Score

Standings

Life on Dumars

email me: mike.acker1@gmail.com

Twitter: @mikeacker | @ripcityproject