Rajon Rondo will not be playing Friday when the Blazers meet the Celtics. He’ll have to wait to take on Damian Lillard until Boston comes to Portland. Credit: Mark L. Baer-US PRESSWIRE

Last night in the world of sports New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees went a whole game without throwing a touchdown pass for the first time in 54 NFL games. One state over, a San Antonio Spurs team that started Patty Mills, Nando De Colo, Tiago Splitter, and Matt Bonner were one Ray Allen three-pointer from beating the defending NBA Champion Heat in Miami.

Why is this important in the context of Portland’s fourth match-up on this death march of an East Coast road trip, a soul breaker in the making against the Celtics in Boston? Here’s why: Any NFL expert would say, regardless of the outcome, Drew Brees would have thrown at least one touchdown pass on Thursday in Atlanta. Any NBA expert would say minus four major players (not including Steven Jackson and Kawhi Leonard) the Spurs would get run off Miami’s home court. However, these games still had to be played. The outcomes are unknown. The game won’t be decided by stats on paper, it will be decided by players on the court (or on the turf in the case of Drew Brees). Nothing in sports is predetermined, no matter how likely a potential outcome is.

That’s the mentality the Blazers have to take into Friday’s game. Boston isn’t in the top three of Eastern Conference teams. Without Rajon Rondo (out Friday to serve the first of a two-game suspension for protecting Kanye West’s honor with a two-handed shove to the mid section of Kris Humphries in the first Boston/Brooklyn throw down of the season) the Celtics are short probably their central cog. That being said, Boston is a much better, much deeper, and much more experienced team than Portland. Add that to the fact that the Blazers never ever play well in the Boston Garden, and smart money says this game will be over after the first 12 minutes.

But Friday’s game will be 48 minutes long, for better or worse. If Portland can stay connected and can stay competitive for 48 minutes, who knows what’s possible. Considering the Blazers can’t fall that much further following their most recent loss, and considering that nobody on earth expects Portland to compete in this one at all, playing like they have nothing to lose could very well turn this game in the Blazers’ favor. Who knows what that means for its ultimate outcome though.

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

Celtics Starting 5: PG Leandro Barbosa, SG Courtney Lee, SF Paul Pierce, PF Brandon Bass, C Kevin Garnett

What can we say about these match-ups? Portland might have an advantage at the point guard with Rondo out. Wesley Matthews versus Courtney Lee could be interesting if Wesley can find his stroke, although Lee is a pretty good on the ball defender. Paul Pierce will very likely get Nicolas Batum into foul trouble because that’s what he does. And any advantage LaMarcus gets over Brandon Bass will be rendered completely null and void every time KG skins J.J. Hickson.

To stay close in this game and give themselves a chance, Portland can’t shoot 40% from the field or less. To achieve that number, they can either not miss a lot of shots, they can take better shots, or they can find a way to get to the free throw line. The Blazers have been varying degrees of bad from the field in each of their last three losses. Maybe that means that Friday will be a night when they make shots. That would be nice. Wesley Matthews has to make up for his 1-of-8 from three. Damian Lillard and Nicolas Batum have also not been super great. If those three can get on track, anything is possible.

The really unfortunate thing about Friday is that Portland’s bench is going to have to face Boston’s bench. The Celtics don’t have the best bench in the league, but Jason Terry is going to torch the Blazer’s second unit, of that you can be assured. Jared Sullinger and Chris Wilcox aren’t amazing, but Portland will have to play Joel Freeland and Meyers Leonard a lot of minutes to combat Boston’s front court depth. Freeland needs to have a big game at some point to restore his confidence. Meyers, as always, has potential. A rookie’s first big game usually doesn’t happen in Boston. A young player’s potential is usually shot down, not realized, against an elite team. If the Blazers’ bench can get to double digits in scoring, and if they can keep the Celtics’ second unit from outscoring them by 30…Portland probably still loses.

What to Watch For

• Can Damian Lillard take advantage of the fact that Leandro Barbosa doesn’t really play defense. Rajon Rando versus Damian Lillard would have been a pretty good match-up. There’s a pretty good chance Rando would have made it his personal business to make Damian look like a rookie. He would have done it with defense. Barbosa isn’t nearly the defender Rando is. Barbosa will try to beat Damian by out scoring him. I want to see Damian get some easy looks Friday, but I want him to do it by shooting in the lane. Dame has yet to get any calls going to the hoop, it’s unlikely that he’ll start getting calls in Boston (although not going directly at Rondo will help because rookies never ever get calls against All Stars). Damian can get by basically anybody, but he hasn’t really shown he can finish at the rim. However, his mid range jumper is maybe better than his deep shot, and his floater from the front and sides of the rim is also money. That’s where he can help shoot himself out of his tiny slump.
• Will Nicolas Batum show up. This might end up being a question we ask prior to every game. Hopefully that won’t be the case all season, but right now, how well Portland plays hinges on whether or not Nic is engaged from the tip.
• Can Portland keep this thing from getting totally out of hand. Boston isn’t a high scoring, super powered offense like the Miami Heat, but they are coming off a bad loss to the new big boys of the Eastern Conference and their coach did just call his whole team soft. This could be a trap game for the Celtics. More likely, it could be a get-right game for the home team. They’re going to try and come out and snuff out the Blazers in the first quarter. If Portland can withstand that first push…you know what I’m going say.

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

***UPDATE***

Looks like Jason Terry will start at shooting guard, and Courtney Lee will move over to take Rajon Rondo’s place. This roster change demolishes most of my preview. Such is life. If you want, replace Jason Terry with every mention of Leandro Barbosa and vice versa. It won’t make much sense, but then again re-writing a whole preview 15 minutes prior to tip for a game that will probably be very one-sided and a lot of Blazer fans probably won’t watch anyway also doesn’t make much sense.

Deron Williams should be at the top of Portland's off-season free agent list, that is if he decides to ditch Jay-Z and Brooklyn. Credit: Jim O

This summer could make or break it for the Portland Trail Blazers as the organization should be able to capitalize on having anywhere from $19.9 million to $25.9 million to spend on a wide variety of free agents. The Blazers are looking to move forward after a highly disappointing 2011-12 season that saw the loss of Brandon Roy, Greg Oden, firing of Nate McMillan and a mid-season collapse that ended three-straight playoff appearances.

Even without a legit General Manager or coach, the Blazers have two first round picks and should be able to do some serious damage by loading up during the draft, luring some free agents, or possibly making a blockbuster trade. Portland hasn’t been the number one destination for superstar players due in part to the rain, questionable front office, and more rain, but the Blazers will have the space and money to bring a big name or two to go alongside LaMarcus Aldridge and Nicolas Batum. Those big names might be enough to bring the team back into playoff contention.

The major concerns for the Blazers this off season are at point and center. The usual. Not a lot of luck in those departments over the past years as Portland has gone through good-but-not-good-enough point guards in Steve Blake, Andre Miller, and Raymond Felton.

Portland has had worse luck with centers. Everyone knows that. Greg Oden the number one overall pick from the 2007 Draft out of Ohio State, played only 82 games in five total seasons. Portland finally cut ties with GO this season.

There are a few big names on the list of available free agents this year, and a couple All-Stars that Portland will no doubt have their eyes on. Here are just a few of those free agents (and one possible trade candidate) that the Blazers should really consider getting some early calls into:

STEVE NASH

One point guard that Blazers fans probably wouldn’t mind seeing suit up in Portland is Mr. Steve Nash, the guru of point guards and distributing. As an unrestricted free agent, Nash might have played his final season in Phoenix and will no doubt be trying to win a ring before he gets any older. That’s one clear problem with this scenarion, Nash is 38-years old. We’d be lucky to get a season or two from him before he would call it quits, but he’s a perfect for helping LaMarcus continue to improve down low. Not to mention the fact that Nash can manage some scoring by himself. He’s coming off one of his better seasons, even though he has been little more than an afterthought in recent years, averaging 12.5 points and 10.7 rebounds in 31 minutes without much fanfare. Nash is a straight up veteran and his leadership would do wonders for the Blazers. It’s a long shot for Portland but they have been linked as a landing spot for Nash for the last couple of seasons. He would be a valuable piece for any team interested and will be very popular once July 1 hits.

DERON WILLIAMS

Another one of those “maybes” for Portland, the team and the city would love to have the three-time All Star but it’ll be very difficult to snatch him away from other attractive suitors. Should Williams choose to bail on Brooklyn, Portland might be in the mix along with a number of other high-caliber teams including his hometown Dallas Mavericks. As with Nash, Williams gives the point position a tremendous boost, helping Aldridge continue to grow and doing some scoring himself. Deron was practically the leading scorer for the Nets averaging 21 points and 8.7 assists in 36 minutes per game. The Blazers have the money to go after Williams and the large contract that comes with him, and he will be hungry to get back into the playoffs and contend for a championship, that is if Williams is open to joining the Blazers and coming back to the Northwest Division after playing in Utah for so many years. It will be a difficult task for Portland’s front office to land one of these two marquee point guards (Nash or Williams), but nothing worth doing is ever easy.

ROY HIBBERT

Roy Hibbert’s recent dominant play against the Orlando Magic in this years playoffs is certainly causing his stock to rise. Only 25-years old and standing at 7’2”, Hibbert is exactly what Portland needs following the heartbreaking departure of Greg Oden. Hibbert, currently with the Indiana Pacers, was elected to his first All-Star game this season and will be the target of many teams looking for a big man. In 2011-12, Hibbert averaged career-highs in points, rebounds, blocked shots, and field-goal percentage and can easily become a  triple-double average kind of guy. For instance, in Game 1 of Indiana’s first round series against the Magic, big Roy recorded nine blocked shots. Because of his positive production and Indiana’s advancment further into the postseason, you can bet the Pacers will want to keep Hibbert. Beyond his current team too, he should have tons of phone calls asking for his services. He could be the young center that the Blazers are desperate to find. He hasn’t had much attention the last couple of years; this summer should be a new experience for him.

RAY ALLEN

To help with the weak shooting guard position, Boston’s pure scoring Ray Allen would be a nice pick-up. The NBA’s all-time leader in regular season 3-point field goals made, the Celtics wouldn’t be happy to part ways with such a fan favorite and major part of their 2008 Championship team. But Boston is getting old and has tried to deal Allen to places like Memphis to get themselves some younger players. Portland have to end up spending some of their Nicolas Batum money to get Ray, but having a scoring machine coming off the bench or in the starting lineup might be pretty sweet. Allen’s numbers have dipped since the 2007-08 season, and he now averages 14.2 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 2.4 assists, while shooting .453 from beyond the arc in 34 minutes played per game. The Blazers will be a long-shot and might not even make much of an impact on Allen’s radar, but if he decided to come back to the Pacific Northwest and fill in for the next two-three seasons, he would do wonders for a Portland team desperate for scoring.

RAJON RONDO

One of the names that I would absolutely love to see rock the black and red is Rajon Rondo. Rondo at the point would help the Blazers immediately, and playing as a  complement to Aldridge, he could make the Blazers a serious threat. So Rondo isn’t exactly a free agent, but he has been brought up as a potential trade piece many times before. Boston’s “Big Three” of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen are getting older, and the championship window is all but closed. Boston would need to get something of serious value in exchange for Rondo, who is next to Derrick Rose on the list of the best point guards in the league. Rondo finished the 2011-12 season averaging 10.8 points, 11.7 assists, and 4.8 rebounds while playing 36 minutes per game. Better yet, Rondo closed out the regular season with 24 consecutive games of 10 or more assists and is a pure “pass first” PG. Rondo’s 10-assist games streak is the longest such streak the NBA  since John Stockton logged a streak of 29  10-assist games back in 1992. It is also a Celtics record. At only 26-years old, Rondo still has plenty of years left to play, and has playoff and championship experience the Blazers certainly need.

An All-Star season from Roy Hibbert has turned him into a key free agent for the summer of 2012. Credit: Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

League sources said yesterday that the Celts have expressed trade interest in guards Leandro Barbosa of Phoenix and Rudy Fernandez of Portland.

(…)

But Fernandez may be even more intriguing. He’s a 6-foot-6 shooter ill-suited to the Trail Blazers’ halfcourt approach. The 25-year-old Spaniard also spoke of being homesick last season when he averaged 8.1 points and 2.0 assists in 23.2 minutes.

While you could argue that, outside of Rajon Rondo and Avery Bradley, the Celtics don’t have a single attractive asset to include in a trade — depending on what you think of Glen Davis — you can also argue that Rudy Fernandez isn’t an attractive trade asset either. I would imagine, outside of a larger deal, the Celtics would try to send draft picks back to Portland. Is that worth it, or do you hope Rudy wakes up this year, doesn’t pout and improves his value a little?