(Seriously, I can’t believe its 2010 and I just wrote a paragraph fawning over Juwan Howard. What is the world coming too? I feel like if I were to watch Paranormal Activity tonight I would absolutely sink to the depths of hell never to return. I mean if you had told me before the season that in 2010 I’d open a Re-Thoughts with Juwan Howard love I would have asked ‘How many shots of Everclear did I have?’, snarkily laughed in your face and quietly judged you. Let’s just hope LL Cool J didn’t see this. He might try and rap again.)

Yes, there was more than Juwan Howard’s dunk tonight. The Blazers dropped a game to the Clippers. I don’t know about you, but I’m not having too rough of a time swallowing this one. Maybe I’m still euphoric from Juwan’s dunk, but with the state of the team right now it feels like there are going to be nights where the ball bounces our way and nights where it doesn’t. A couple nights ago. It did. Tonight, it didn’t. I mean on the 30th against this same very team you could argue we maybe should have lost. The other reason why I’m not taking this one too hard: Brandon Roy scored 6 points. As depleted as we are, if Brandon Roy scores 6 points we are in some deep, quicksand-like doo doo. Even at full strength, its going to be tough to win with Roy only dropping 6. No need for over analysis, Roy struggling like he did was a major reason for the loss. This isn’t a criticism, just a fact. He’s been phenomenal as of late, tonight he just looked a bit sluggish. Credit the Clips for making him the focus of their defensive gameplan. But a struggling/tired Roy is no bueno for this squad. And thus the Blazers walk out of the Staples Center with an L. Did Kaman/Camby beast us a little? Yeah…but not anymore than they did the other night. The Clips hit us inside and when we tried to take that away they made shots (Eric Gordon…damn) and we didn’t have enough to answer back. Case closed.

(Long story short….it is really tough to win anywhere (especially on the road) when you’re depleted, your star scores 6 points, your opponent shoots 58 percent from the field/61 percent from three and outrebounds you 38-29. That’s just tough.)

Another excellent performance by Martell Webster who seems to have pulled a Stella and got his groove back (hey if Juwan can go off I can use that dated reference). Credit to @AGDuck and @blazersblog for bringing this to my attention on Twitter, but apparently scoring wise he’s putting up some of his best numbers in consecutive games of his career. Pretty neat stat to see from someone whom you’ve worried about seeing consistency from. I’m surprised Coup has not drowned the RCP offices with Martell Webster love.

Andre Miller’s 22 points and 16 assists made me cheese. He is clearly beneficiary numero uno from this whole depleted roster thing. Dre is just going out there and playing. You can just taste the aggression through the TV screen. Its fun to just watch him play his game and not over think or get tight or get caught up in all the madness. The reason why I’m not completely fawning over it is because in the back of my head I don’t know if he’s turning a corner or just playing well because he knows he’s going to play a ton of minutes. I really wish he would just kind of stop giving interviews, because the more he does the more it seems like he’s just kind of saying/doing the right things and might be thinking otherwise.

(And yes, fawning is the word du jour it won me a Scrabble game so I spread it to you all.)

The rest of the squad? I don’t have many words. Jeff Pendergraph hustled and is continuing to encourage the Blazer faithful (8 and 7), Dante Cunningham was solid and there is nothing wrong with that. Jerryd Bayless seemed somewhere else and Patty Mills is fast. Oh yeah…Shavlik Randolph scored. To the people’s thoughts:

Twitter Thoughts

@pdXXXchange Juwan Howard went 88mph when he dunked over Kaman.

@DJBReady Lack of Frontcourt Depth, Length, etc. really starting to take affect on the team. Got dominated inside tonight

@GoDucks32 Miller was outstanding, but w ejust need more players. They cant keep the pace up…can they?

@shai6sense When the heart is not working the body can’t win on his own. B-Roy with a bad game = Portland lose

@thelance Blazers just seemed gassed at the end of the 3rd quarter. It caught up with them and the game got out of hand fast.

@travismargoni In theory I could excuse this one. But having watched all those Clippers’ turnovers, and Roy taken out by THAT Defense: ouch

@AngieLovesPDX After the first quarter or so we had no defense. And half way through the 4th it looked like we had just given up.

@alexjsteele Roy had 6 points…Duh we lose with our current squad. No other analysis necessary.

Well….enough said. I’m interested to see how our undersized front-line handles Zach Randolph playing like an All-Star and Marc Gasol tomorrow night.

That quote says a lot about this Blazer team right now. As ridiculous as this season has been injury-wise, there is no denying that this team has found their heart. And that discovery has led to Portland winning 6 of their last 7 games. I would be lying to you if I said any of this made perfect sense. It doesn’t. Last night’s game didn’t make much sense. Portland dresses 8 players, two of which play a combined 9 minutes. Golden State drops 41 points in the first quarter shooting 95 percent (ok it was more like 70) but Portland then holds them to 48 for the rest of the game. Martell Webster and Dante Cunningham spend extended minutes at the 4 and 5…and it works. Last night’s win was a beautiful head scratcher. Out of all the confusion, I can say this: the W came because of heart, defense and Brandon Roy.

The tale of the first two quarters was unreal. It truly was the story of the game as the Warriors slipped and fell DMX style in the second quarter and well couldn’t get up the rest of the game. I don’t think I have seen too many teams go from so hot to so cold in that short of a span. The Warriors went from shooting 15-for-22 in the first quarter to 6-for-18. Yikes, indeed. Portland had a lot to do with that as they picked up the intensity but also threw different looks at the Warriors. Also, credit Portland for containing Golden State’s fast break game. Half of that came from not turning the ball over but overall the transition D was there. Some may find the zone/man combo a bit gimmicky but there is nothing wrong with gimmick defenses. When you’re undertalented or undermanned sometimes you have to get a little more gimmicky on D than you would like. The most important part is that you make it work. For example, look at the college game. Under talented teams thrive on gimmick d’s, the Pac-10 alone has Oregon State throwing every zone in the book at you and Arizona State playing 3-2 all the time. I like that Portland is finding a way to make it work, its nice to have it in the back pocket.

Before I say anything else, just an unbelievably efficient performance by Brandon Roy. 37 points, 12-16 from the field, 12-14 from the charity stripe. That is one hell of a line and he deserves all the praise he is about to get. Golden State had no answer for him. Not only that but he came through with 13 points in the final 12 minutes. As the season progresses, more and more we’re seeing the Brandon Roy we know and love. As long as Roy can continue to find ways to be efficient, the Blazers have a chance to do good things. Efficient remains the key word. Basically he can’t get 30 the Monta Eliis way (25 shots while shooting as many free throws as CJ Watson and Anthony Morrow combined).

Also, Martell Webster’s 21 points, 11 rebounds cannot be dismissed. My favorite performance of his in a long, long, long time to be honest. I was surprised when he was in at the 4 and surprised at how well it worked. Actually why am I lying, I was surprised Martell remembered how to rebound and make three’s. And yes that was a dig at you Coup. In all seriousness, I’m not trying to take away from a great night from Martell, just that I remember after the game I couldn’t fight the feeling to say ‘ok…do it again’. Kind of like the idiot roommate who brags about bringing a stripper home.

Other individual thoughts…I was more happy with Andre Miller’s 10 FTA’s than anything else. Pendergraph kinda got that ‘Senior Night’ start, you know in college how seniors start their last home game but some of them only end up playing 5 minutes. That’s what it felt like. I could have sworn he was hurt. Bayless had one of his lower games. It comes with the territory, I mean he’s still going to be inconsistent as he finds his wings. Dante Cunningham put in work at the 5. You have to love the Cunningham/Pendergraph picks. Victor who? Shavlik Randolph…played.

Last thing, I loved the freedom Andre Miller seemed to play with. Actually scratch that, its interesting to see how Portland is playing so cohesive and scrappy and hard because, well, they only have 8 guys and have nothing to worry about. Its kind of like in a rec league when you only have 6 players, you know you can just go play the game. Could it be that depth was our gift and our curse (Blueprint 2)? Is Portland going to win games they shouldn’t? Absolutely. Was last night an example of this? More than likely. I’ve learned with this season just to enjoy the ride.

(sidenote: If we sign any of these guys my face will definitely initially have a  look like Taylor Swift’s at the VMAs, and then I’ll go all Serena Williams on KP. I mean really?!?!? When has Stromile Swift not been underwhelming? How is Juwan Howard not like your friend’s car that somehow can run on the yellow light for a whole week? Don’t get me started on the last two. They look more out of place on a basketball court than Lil Mama did last night. YAY POP CULTURE!!!!!!)

Back to what KP said:

“We want to look for the best player, but specifically somebody who fits with us. So that’s No. 1. No. 2, if you look at our depth chart, (forward) LaMarcus Aldridge can move over to the 4, Dante Cunningham can move over to the 4. We can go big with (center) Greg (Oden) and (Joel) Pryzbilla. So, yeah, I feel like we need another big, but you know, quite frankly, (coach) Nate McMillan does such a great job of going small at times. And we played (small forward) Travis (Outlaw) at lot at the 4, and he causes some issues with other teams, and when we do that, it’s shown to be very successful. So, another big would be great. But I want two guys to make our team that are great people that put the team first, and that have a chance to help our team whether they play a minute or are starters. “

Nothing entirely groundshaking from KP there. If anything all that last sentence did was make sure those who were sitting in front of a computer with a battle of Jack and Tylenol PM that “We’re not really looking to depend on any of these guys like for serious”. So glad I can put that stuff away now (buh-dum-CHING). There are three primary bigs that are going to play the lion’s share of the minutes. Oden, LMA and Big Joel. After that is a bit of a mystery. Currently signed bigs are the rookies Dante Cunningham and Jeff Pendergraph. With Pendergraph being out for at least the next three months, it’s going to be tougher for him to assert himself…but he’s always there. With Cunningham there’s the potential but he’s very site unseen against the big boys. We all know Summer League and the big show are very different things. For all we know, he could pull a reverse Batum. However, if he proves he can bang with the big boys and hit that midrange jumper, you can’t help but think he’s right in the mix. The other option? at the 4 or Travis Outlaw. I think a lot of Blazer fans have penciled in Outlaw to play backup 4 minutes…because…um…well he can play the 4 which would allow for both Martell and Batum to play at the 3. You know, instead of a ginormous poop show at the 3. If anything maybe we should have just kept Shavlik Randolph around. I’d rather have him to bang around than have to cheer/depend on any of the names listed initially.

Now if you’re asking ‘Why don’t the Blazers sign someone younger?’ well in my opinio that would just be kind of silly. This organization has stacked up a nice-sized arsenal of young big men. Cunningham, Pendergraph with Freeland and Claver stashed overseas. Not to mention Oden and LMA tag-teaming (hopefully) for a while and Big Joel who should have the chance to fight until he can’t fight anymore. I’d say we’re good on bigs for a little bit. As much as some of these names make me want to gag-o-vomit all over myself, I understand the thinking behind it. There is nothing wrong with having another veteran presence in the locker room. I would hesitate to put Stromile Swift and veteran presence in the same sentence…but then again I just did and the world did not end. For all the stealing he’s done over the past few years he’s been in the league enough to have some knowledge just off of osmosis. Although, in 15 years he’s only played in the playoffs four years. Hmm.

Do I think the Blazers need another big man? No. I like our current options at the backup 4. With LMA playing 35+ a game and Oden set to move up from 21 minutes a game (knock on wood) I think we’re fine. As KP stated in the Columbian, going big with Oden/Joel, maybe going smaller with LMA/Cunningham or just going with Cunningham or Outlaw. There are a lot of ways that Nate can go with it, and if you ask this guy all of them are better than signing any of those guys listed above.