The part that we as fans should all love? That’s easy. The win, but not just the win, the way the win came about. Portland is a team with a lot of weapons, and they are a team with a lot of new parts. Right now the parts aren’t all working in synch, but the depth part, the part where the Blazers have enough gamers that one or two bad nights doesn’t sink the entire effort, that part is working just fine.

Like it will probably all season, Thursday’s win can be given in part to Gerald Wallace. He flat out hustles. Thursday he wasn’t scoring like he was on Tuesday, but having him on the floor makes Portland a better team. He sets the tone, and the team–and the crowd–feed off it. And the team following Gerald’s lead is what Blazer fans should love to see.

There is probably only one way to mitigate 25 turnovers. That’s hard work. Portland gave up an astounding 29 points off turnovers, mostly because those turnovers came by handing the ball to Ty Lawson and letting him have a free run at the hoop, but they also blocked nine shots, and grabbed 43 defensive rebounds, limiting Denver to three offensive boards. The Blazers also spread it around, racking up 20 assists as a team and putting five guys in double figures in scoring, three with 22 points or more.

It wasn’t that Portland did just enough to avoid losing, they played an uptempo style of basketball, and they committed to bringing high energy on both sides of the court for 48 minutes. Hopefully 25 turnovers won’t happen again, you don’t get to do that more than once and get away with it, but if there is a positive to take away from that, it’s that this team wants to attack, attack, attack.

In his post game remarks, coach Nate McMillan said that the thing for Portland to do now is rein it in a little. He said that there are too many guys trying to do too much. The Blazers have a lot of play-makers, and realizing that only one guy gets to make a play at a time will be how this Portland team takes the next step.

There were other things too, Thursday night, which should have Portland fans feeling pretty good about the future. Mainly Wesley Matthews started to make shots. Wesley is about as streaky a shooter as you can get, and before the third quarter of Thursday’s game he was missing, a lot. Thursday he broke out in a big way, in a four straight threes kind of way. The Blazers let Denver crawl back into this one. After giving up a 30-point first frame, the visitors had tied it at halftime. The third quarter didn’t turn into a blow out, but four threes from Wesley, and a second 30-pointer by the Blazers put the game squarely in their hands.

Wesley’s tendency to play either super hot or ice cold is a problem. It’s something that he is going to have to address if he wants to grow into the franchise level player that is definitely within his reach. But for right now, the Blazers need to be quick to realize when he’s hot, get him the rock, and let him let it fly. I would guess that three of his four threes in the third didn’t even graze the rim. That’s hot shooting.

Beyond just putting points on the board, getting Wesley the ball in places where he can be successful is a huge confidence booster. Wesley is kind of sitting in no-man’s land right now. There are a lot of veterans on this team for the first time, and his role is a little less clear that it might have been a year ago. With Brandon Roy gone, there is a chance for somebody to step up and be a big time player. But Wesley is going to have to compete with a couple of guys that are rather new to the team, and that might just be stopping through Portland on their way to another big pay day. By getting his consistency up, and building his confidence as the go-to guy, Wesley helps himself by helping the team.

Guys like Jamal Crawford and Raymond Felton will defer to Wesley if they know he can be relied on to knock down big time shots. However, they’re not going to pass him the ball just because he’s Wesley Matthews. Thursday Wesley made strides by showing that he’s not afraid to keep shooting when the shots aren’t falling. He is going to have to keep building on nights like Thursday if he doesn’t want to get aced out by some of Portland’s new–or in the case of Gerald Wallace newer–guys.

With this most recent win, the Blazers open 3-0 for consecutive seasons for the first time in their history. Not bad. Last year Portland failed to make it to 4-0. This season, if the Blazers want to get that fourth straight win they’re going to have to be better custodians of the basketball. Like Nate said post game, they need to figure out a way to play fast, but not in a hurry. If that sounds a bit like a zen koan, think of it like this. The Blazers need to push the tempo and establish an attacking offense, but they need to figure out a way to do it without turning the ball over TWENTY-FIVE times.

The Blazers travel down to Lob Angeles (sorry I couldn’t help myself) to take on the Clippers after two days of much needed R&R.

Just a couple of quick things

• I’m not going to dwell on the Andre Miller Rudy Fernandez situation. What I expected to happen happened. Dre checked in first and got a standing ovation from the crowd. Rudy checked in a bit later and was booed. Dre deserved the cheers; I’m not sure how I feel about Rudy and the boos. Here’s the thing though, although Rudy got some halfhearted boos in the second half, by crunch time the Rose Garden crowd was too busy cheering for Portland to worry about cheering or booing individual players on the other team. I’m not saying we’ve all forgotten about how awesome it was to have Andre Miller as our point guard, I’m just saying that this fan base has been, and always will be fans of the Blazers, regardless of which guys are wearing the shirts. The one positive thing that I took away from Brandon’s retiring was that we won’t ever have to see him wearing another team’s jersey. The RG would never boo him, but it would be a bit hard to see the home crowd not cheer for him.
• Tonight’s minutes watch is kind of a big one, and is going to be one to pay attention to probably the rest of the way. 20:41 for Nicolas Batum. Twenty-one minutes seems like a good run, but for the first night in three Portland played an eight-man rotation and not a ten-man rotation–no Nolan Smith or Chris Johnson Thursday–and four out of five starters and Jamal Crawford logged over 30 minutes. More so than Wesley, Nicolas’s spot is a little in jeopardy. He doesn’t handle the ball like Jamal, and his post game isn’t as good as Gerald Wallace’s. What he needs to do to stay on the court is knock down shots, and take advantage of mismatches. What he also needs to do is play defense, and Thursday night was not a total waste because he tied a career-high with four blocked shots. Nicolas needs to have a big game, and he can do it. The big question is, how long does it take for him to get frustrated. I truly believe that Nicolas is one of the pieces this franchise should build around. Having said that, there is a short-term plan that differs from the long-term. Basically Gerald Wallace and Jamal Crawford could be gone next year. If there is a chance this Blazer team has a deep Playoff run in them you ride those guys at the expense of Nicolas’s minutes, and you hope he is satisfied with 25+ a night and a lot of Ws. The catch-22 part is that neither Gerald Wallace or Jamal Crawford should really be considered as long-term prospects for Portland, so Nicolas needs the game time to develop a low post game and get confidence in his shot. Like everything this season, it will be on the shoulders of Nate McMillan to decide if sacrificing Nic’s development is worth it.
• Oklahoma City and Dallas played an amazing game, or at least had an amazing finish. Watch the highlights.
• A couple of new dudes joined the second auxiliary press row. Scott Leedy from Hardwood Paroxysm and Seth Johnston from Portland Roundball Society. Couple of solid fellas, follow their tweets and read their stuff (if you don’t already) you won’t be sorry.

Box Score

Standings

Nugg Love

email me: mike.acker1@gmail.com

Twitter: @mikeacker | @ripcityproject

Marcus Camby has been a big part of getting the Rose Garden crowd fired up during the season-starting homestand.

Nuggets: 2-0

Game Details: Rose Garden Arena, Portland, OR. 7:00 PM. TV: KGW. Radio: KXTG (750 AM)

Projected Portland Starting Lineup: PG Raymond Felton (#5, 6’1”, North Carolina), SG Wesley Matthews (#2, 6’5″, Marquette), SF Gerald Wallace (#3, 6’7″, Alabama), PF LaMarcus Aldridge (#12, 6’11″, Texas), C Marcus Camby (#23, 6’11″, UMass)

Projected Denver Starting Lineup:  PG Ty Lawson (#3, 5’11”, North Carolina), SG Arron Afflalo (#6, 6’5”, UCLA), SF Danilo Gallinari (#8, 6’10”, Olimpia Milano, Italy), PF Nene (#31, 6’11”, Vasco de Gama, Brazil), C Timofey Mozgov (#25, 7’1”, BC Khimki, Russia)

LaMarcus Aldridge has gone on record as saying that he thinks Portland is one of the best teams in the Western Conference. Some agree, some don’t. Regardless of your opinion on how you think this season will end up, Thursday night’s game is Portland’s first big one of the year.

Opening night goes to Portland on pure adrenaline brought on by the tumult of the last few weeks of the off-season. Game two the Blazers played a decent half–the second–and that was enough to beat a team that in the Kings that is going to be spending most of this season trying to stay out of their own way.

Thursday night is a different story. The Denver Nuggets aren’t on most lists to make the Finals in 2011-12, but they are a Playoff team. They’ve thumped the defending Champion Dallas Mavericks, and they put up 117 on the Utah Jazz in their first two games. They go deep, they play defense, they’re fast, and they’re fit. Not only that, they play with a hive mind mentality, seeing as there isn’t a single dude on the roster that can be considered a superstar, and they are coached by one of the game’s best tacticians. Add those things together, and you’ve got a team.

So why is the third game of the season a must-win? Primarily because Portland can’t afford to take a night off at any point in this campaign. The Blazers are going to go 66-0, at some point they will lose, and conventional wisdom says that it might be better to lose to a good team than get broadsided by one of the league’s lottery elite.

I can get with that logic. But I also think keying in early on the best in the west will set Portland up nicely when it comes down to the final months of the season. 2011-12 is going to be about adjusting on the fly, preparing, and maximizing positive situations. Teams that are capable of making changes without practicing, and can tailor their game plans to each individual opponent will have a leg up the whole way. And teams that can get hot, and stay hot will be the ones left standing at the end.

Two wins doesn’t really make a streak, but building on those first two wins right now is crucial. That’s what I mean by Portland not having the luxury of taking the night off, even if they are one of only five teams left in the Western Conference without a loss.

To come out of December with a clean sheet, Portland is going to have to play a lot better than they did Monday and Tuesday nights. Here are the things I’m going to watching for:

• Who closes: I have a feeling that this is going to be the thread that carries through this whole season. Portland’s rotation is seven guys, but only five can be on the court in the game’s final minutes. That final five is going to be key each night. Nicolas Batum has said he wants to be included in that group, LaMarcus Aldridge is probably going to be there most nights, some combination of Jamal Crawford, Raymond Felton, and Wesley Matthews is going to be the back court. And of course Gerald Wallace. Tonight, pay attention to what Nate McMillan does with his final five. Against Denver, my bet is going to be that he chooses a longer, more athletic closing group to counter the Nuggets size and limit Nene’s easy baskets at the rim.
• Jamal Crawford, Raymond Felton, and Wesley Matthews: This trio is struggling with their jumpers right now. Wesley went 4-of-14 from the field in both Monday’s and Tuesday’s games, and missed all five of his three-point attempts against the Kings. Crawford fared a little better in the opener (5-of-10 from the field 2-of-3 from deep) but was about the same as Wesley in game two (2-of-11 and 0-of-3). Felton has also not been good: 4-of-14 from the field in the opener, 2-of-8 on Tuesday. Look for these guys to keep shooting, their outside game, and their ability to stretch defenses will get LA more open looks in the paint. Crawford is a shooter, so we know what that means. Wesley is pretty streaky so he too is going to have to shoot a lot of be effective. Felton is kind of the odd man out here, because his primary duty is to facilitate the offense. That doesn’t mean that he won’t be looking to shoot his way out of his recent slump.
• Carryover: Nate McMillan also preaches carryover. Let the good things that happened the last time out lead to good things this time. The Blazers did a lot right on Tuesday. They especially took advantage of mismatches and got out on the break. Those things will be big once again. The other carryover to look for is Gerald Wallace. There really shouldn’t be anything holding him back from being Portland’s best offensive weapon. He’ll have some favorable defensive match-ups on Tuesday–Gallinari isn’t quick enough to stop him Afflalo not strong enough–and that will hopefully lead to Crash putting together back-to-back stunners.
• Andre Miller and Rudy Fernandez: Neither start, so pay attention when they check in. Hopefully they come in separately so the crowd will get a chance to honor them individually. I bet Dre gets a standing ovation. With Rudy, it’s hard to say.

email me: mike.acker1@gmail.com

Twitter: @mikeacker | @ripcityproject 

Of course, there’s another side to that coin. Those things that Portland struggled with on Monday will need to be addressed, and there really isn’t going to be the practice time needed to do the proper addressing. The Blazers will have to use games to improve on the small things things that they didn’t do so well their first time out. If Portland continues to make the mistakes they made on Monday as the season goes forward, they’re not going to win very often.

What were those mistakes? In my opinion, it came down to three things: execution, fitness, and discipline. Luckily, these are the type of things that can be improved upon. No doubt coach Nate McMillan will be putting in an all-nighter, and come tomorrow evening the Blazers will be able to shut the door on the Sacramento Kings, and won’t basically give away a double-digit lead in the final quarter.

Here’s my breakdown of what I think went wrong Monday night, and how these individual things can be improved. Starting with:

Execution: This is kind of a catchall. Portland executed very well in the game’s opening half, meaning they were communicating on offense and defense, moving the ball around, attacking the rim, and knocking down open shots. In the second-half the execution slumped a little bit. Defensive rotations were a little slow, the up-and-down offense ground to a halt, the shot selection wasn’t quite as good as it had been. The Blazers needed scores and stops to coast to an easy win. Shots weren’t falling, and Philly was getting great looks. Twice Portland gave up wide open threes to the same player on back-to-back possessions–first to Andre Iguodala and then next to Lou Williams. Not quite end of the game execution.

How does Portland improve on its execution? Easy, play together a few more times. As the new pieces get more comfortable playing together, and as the rotation becomes solidified, hopefully the issues of execution get resolved. There’s little else that can be done, so as an optimist, I’m choosing to not be too worried at this point.

Fitness: Being not unfit, but less fit is a symptom of not playing, just like execution. Nate McMillan wants this team to run, and he has guys that can run. The problem with running this early in the season is that guys will get worn out. Monday Portland came out firing and running. By the night’s final frame there was no running, and more than that, shots were coming up short. Short shots is indicative of heavy legs, which in turn is an indication of problems with fitness.

How is this problem solved? Again, by playing. Actually, it wouldn’t be totally fringe to think that struggling with fitness early in the season is a good thing. Think about it like this: Nate wants his team to run, and in order to run they have to be fit. If, because of the crammed schedule, Nate decides to bring his guys along slowly, there is a chance that they’ll never get to the fitness level needed to be a team that runs for 20 to 25 minutes a night. Getting these guys out and gassed and running up and down the court from day one will definitely pay off in February.

Discipline: This one is a bit of a stretch, but it was something that I noticed watching the game Monday night. There were a couple of times when the Blazers appeared to lack a little discipline. The play that struck me as the most undisciplined was Raymond Felton’s decision to throw a behind-the-back pass to Gerald Wallace on a pick-and-pop. It wasn’t a game-killing turnover, but there is no need to make that kind of pass when a simple chest pass or bounce pass would have done the trick. Jamal Crawford, also, showed a few signs of being undisciplined. He takes a lot of shots, and sometimes he makes very poor choices with his ball handling. It’s excusable I think, partially because he’s a shooter that needs to shoot to get his rhythm. Also he’s damn fun to watch, and Monday night every error in judgement made by Jamal was made right by great offense and a couple of heads-up defensive plays.

How to fix discipline? This is a bit more difficult because it gets down to the personalities of individual players. I think both Ray Felton and Jamal Crawford more than carried their respective weights their first time wearing Blazer jerseys. They’re both great players, and they will help Portland win. But they are also more loose they Blazer fans may be used to. Hopefully they’ll rein it in a bit, but not so much that they’re effectiveness is limited. Especially a guy like Jamal Crawford has a ton to gain from playing in Portland. The fans are going to love him, but if he goes too far off the reservation, there is going to be some backlash. I expect both Ray Felton and Jamal Crawford to improve their decision making. So I’m not worried.

There were a lot of things Portland did very well Monday night. But what fun is spending time talking about that stuff? Right now it’s about the Blazers getting to the point where they can play 48 minutes of high level basketball. They’re not there yet, but I’ll be ready to lavish them with praise when they get there. Stay tuned.

Portland is back in the Rose Garden Tuesday night against the Sacramento Kings. It’s Jimmer time. Are you ready?

Just a couple quick thoughts:

• Portland had six players reach double figures in scoring. That’s awesome. They have a ton of offensive weapons, and Monday they were all on display. LaMarcus Aldridge co-led all scorers with 25 points, Gerald Wallace was next with 21, Wesley Matthews added 16 points, Crawford and Felton contributed 12 each, and Nicolas Batum scored 10. The most amazing thing is that nobody on the Blazers looked amazing from the floor. Wesley struggled in the first half, Jamal couldn’t hit a shot for a solid few minutes, LA shot 11-of-25. As a team, the Blazers were 40-of-97 from the floor and 9-of-19 from deep. By no means blow-your-hair-back numbers. I’m choosing to believe that means that when Portland’s shooters get their legs under them they’ll make shots, and when that happens they’ll blow some people away.
• I’m thinking about putting a minutes watch in my recaps, just because there are so many players on the roster, and each night is going to be full of difficult playing time decisions for Nate McMillan. So here are the minutes to look at for Monday: 20:37 for Nicolas Batum and 21:53 for Jamal Crawford. This is Portland’s bench. Both of these guys are going to have to put up numbers when they are on the court, and both are probably used to playing more than 20 minutes. Nic is not an inefficient player by any stretch, but he is going to have to start looking for his shot. He did that some on Monday, and he’s going to have to do it more going forward. As for Jamal, he is going to have to improve his efficiency. In 22ish minutes Crawford got up 10 shots, the same number as Nic, that’s great, but if Jamal wants to have a big scoring night–something he is totally capable of–he is going to have to find a way to get it done in limited minutes.
• Armon Johnson was listed as inactive on Monday’s roster. Greg Oden was the only other inactive Blazer, and we all know his situation. Could this be the end for AJ?
• In non-Blazer news, or at least in former Blazer news, the Denver Nuggets blew the doors off the Dallas Mavericks Monday night. NBA League Pass is on a free trial, so I had the chance to watch a bit of that game. It was strange watching Andre Miller not in a Blazer jersey, but it wasn’t so bad. I became a fan of Dre long before he became a Blazer. However, there was one guy wearing a Denver jersey that looked super familiar who I couldn’t quite place. Turns out, it was Rudy Fernandez.

Box Score

Standings

The Sixer Sense

email me: mike.acker1@gmail.com

Twitter: @mikeacker | @ripcityproject