Wesley Matthews sparked Portland's offense Thursday, hitting in the paint and from three. Photo courtesy of the Oregonian.

Thursday night was one part homecoming, one part retribution and re-birth, and one part welcoming party. It was loud in the Rose Garden, as it should be. Shots that were missing in Dallas were falling, as they should be. Bounces and whistles were going in Portland’s favor, hard to say about that one. And ultimately what matters, after all the drama and ups and downs of the last 48 hours ended with game three’s final horn, is that the Blazers got on the board. The question is, of course, is it going to be enough?

The series is now 2-1, and will definitely not be over on Saturday. That much we know. And to be honest, that’s about all we know. In games one and two, Portland struggled to get in a rhythm offensively, and failed miserably at guarding the perimeter. Thursday wasn’t that much different. The Blazer are still leaving shooters open around the three-point line, they are still giving up the lane way too easily, and they are still fouling Dirk Nowitzki in the fourth quarter. That’s the story on defense.

Offensively it’s not that much different. Portland’s starters are playing well, for the most part. LaMarcus is consistently scoring in the post and with his jumper; 27 in game one, 24 in game two, and 20 Thursday. Andre Miller is dictating the flow of the offense when he’s on the floor, and is able to do what he wants against JJ Barea and to a lesser extent Jason Kidd. Other than that though, Portland hasn’t been able to get into the type of offensive flow that we were getting used to seeing in the final games of the regular season. Gerald Wallace hasn’t had a great offensive game yet; Nicolas Batum and Rudy Fernandez have been virtually non-existent. Those three guys are important elements in the Blazers limited offensive arsenal, and Thursday they combined for 14 points, and that’s including a goose egg from Rudy.

So what was the difference Thursday night? That’s the real question, and that’s what Portland’s coaching staff have to figure out before Saturday afternoon if they want this momentum to carry over so they can head back to Dallas with this series tied up and an outside chance of getting a shot to finish it at the Rose Garden. It’s hard to say where the differences are between loses in game one and game two, and a win in game three. Here’s what I think. First, it starts with the home crowd, it carries over to doing the little things, and it ends with some good execution and a little bit of luck.

Beginning with the home crowd. The Rose Garden is known around the league for being one of the loudest arenas, and for being one of the most difficult places for opposing teams to play. The home crowd was jacked up Thursday night, and it was never more clear than at the 2:17 mark in the first quarter when Brandon Roy checked into the game for the first time. There’s no need to get into the Brandon Roy situation. It’s been covered. However, all the speculation in the world led up to this moment when he entered the game. Everybody probably remembers game four of last year’s Playoff series with the Suns, when Brandon returned basically a week after having knee surgery, and led the Blazers to a victory. That game Brandon entered the game to the theme song from Rocky, and there was not a person in the Rose Garden that wasn’t totally screaming their head off. Thursday was a completely different situation, and you could be forgiven if, like me, you were somewhat unsure of what the home crowd’s reaction to their franchise player was going to be.

We know the end result, a standing ovation, and we know what it did for Brandon Roy. In 24 minutes, Brandon hit 6-of-10 from the field, 1-of-3 from three, and 3-of-3 from the line. He also played with the type of confidence that has been sorely lacking in his game the last few months. At one point he broke Peja Stojakovic’s ankles in a manner I have never seen from Brandon before. We can’t make the mistake of saying that he’s back, or that this saga is now over, because we all know it isn’t, but I will say this, I was in the building and in the locker room following Brandon’s 52-point beauty against the Phoenix Suns in 2008-09, and though he wasn’t as fired up Thursday as he was that night, I would say, demeanor wise only, he was as close to that level as I’ve seen him all year. For a guy like Brandon, confidence level makes all the difference in the world.

So hyperbole aside, Brandon was the night’s retribution and re-birth. The welcoming party, as you may have been able to guess, was for Chris Johnson. D-League Defensive Player of the Year Chris Johnson. And this brings me to doing the little things. This means little things like roster or rotation tweaks, bringing in a guy on defense that I can guarantee these Mavericks know very little about, and it also means little things like running out on shooters, and limiting offensive rebounds. Chris Johnson played all of five minutes and thirty-six seconds, but it may have been the best five minutes and thirty-six seconds any one player has had in the NBA all season. In those five minutes and change Johnson snagged three rebounds, and blocked two shots. He also changed at least two or three more shots, and basically scared Dallas out of the paint on offense. The best part about Johnson is that he is not an offensive player. In a seven game series, an offensive player can get hot and win a game for their team, Peja, and then a team can adjust to take that offensive player away, Peja’s line Thursday was 3-of-7 from the field, 1-of-4 from deep for seven points. But a defensive player, like Chris Johnson, is harder to adjust to. Dallas can try to make him defend Dirk, which he might not be able to do one-on-one, but that’s about it. Johnson’s not going to start game four, of course, but don’t be surprised if we see some more of him. Dallas doesn’t have bruisers in the post positions, so his size is not really an issue, and with the Mavs best penetrating players all being short guards, Jason Terry, Barea, and Jason Kidd, the length of Chris Johnson on the weak side could potentially be a game changer.

The final difference between Thursday’s win, and the loses in Dallas, in my opinion comes down to execution and a bit of luck. Execution in the first quarter came in the form of Wesley Matthews going absolute bananas from behind the arc. It’s not uncommon in the Rose Garden to see Wesley knock down his first couple three-point attempts. Thursday he took it one step further, hitting his first four. Wesley took his third and fourth three without evening thinking about it. He’s the kind of player that can get hot in a hurry, and he’s also the kind of player that knows when they’re hot, demands the ball, and does good things with it. Wesley set a career Playoff high with 25 points, and better yet, got the offensive monkey off his back. Execution came late on the defensive end. Portland’s defense wasn’t great most of the game, but in the second half the Blazers tightened down a notch or two, and got the stops they needed. A lot of credit for that goes to Chris Johnson. I know that just about six minutes percentage-wise isn’t that much of a basketball game, but his energy and effort on D in the third and fourth quarter made his teammates play better, more focused defense.

And then there is a bit of luck. Dallas misses 10 free throws, Jason Kidd keeps thinking he’s hot from deep and shoots 2-of-8 from three, a Jason Kidd three with 12.9 remaining is ruled a two, Tyson Chandler fouls out, Jason Terry gets only three shot attempts in the fourth quarter. Those are the kinds of breaks Portland didn’t get in Dallas, and they were just what this team needed to get one step closer to evening the series.

So what does Portland have to do to get Saturday’s game, and start this series over in Dallas? First, they have to get offense from Gerald Wallace, Nicolas Batum, and Rudy Fernandez. Second, they have to continue to push the pace on offense. Third, they have to play Saturday as if it too were an elimination game. And finally, maybe most importantly, they have to believe they can play better. The Mavericks aren’t going to roll over, not with the chance to avoid having to come back to Portland to get a game six. The Blazers have yet to put together a flawless 48 minutes, and they’ve lost two close games and won one equally close game. Saturday will be close yet again, if Portland has any chance at winning this series, they have to bring to Saturday’s game the good things that came out of Thursday’s game. And above all, they have to win.

Just a few quick things:

• The people at Penguin Books were kind enough to send me a couple of copies of Blazer owner Paul Allen’s new book. I have few copies to give away, and I will most likely be doing that on Saturday at the game. Send me a direct message on Twitter, but please wait until Saturday, and I’ll see what I can do. Just so everybody knows ahead of time, I only have four copies to give away.
• Brandon Roy’s comments in the press following Portland’s game two loss stirred a lot of interest around the league. This story is tailor made for Internet coverage, plenty of intrigue, lots of room for opinions, and no shortage of quotes to fuel the discussion. At this point, since so much has been said, I feel my personal opinion is pretty irrelevant, but Holly Mackenzie over at the Basketball Jones does a pretty good job of saying what I would probably say on the matter.
• Dallas owner Mark Cuban got in a shouting match with some Blazer fans late in Thursday’s game. Reports are unconfirmed as to whether or not those people hurling insults at Cuban wrote about basketball on the Internet.

The Rose Garden crowd gave Brandon Roy a major lift Thursday night. Photo courtesy of the Oregonian.

Box Score

Twitter: @mikeacker | @ripcityproject

Yep...that boy good. He's like a one man Nation of Domination. (Credit: YardBarker.com)

Some classes in college, are easy and some are difficult and you generally figure that out within the first couple weeks are so (hell sometimes Syllabus day tells you all you need to know). There are those classes where you can do the homework and get points, do the quizzes, get the attendance, and you might have an A but you never truly know what your grade is until that first test.

Today was Team USA’s first test, and they passed.

I used that college analogy because it fits here: had Team USA lost this one, it wouldn’t have been the end of the world. Just like failing that first test doesn’t mean you’re going to fail the class. It would have taught them a lesson and better prepared them for the real pressure cooker: the single elimination round. By passing, they have a better understanding of where they are at and know what to do in the future to get good results. And just like in college, sometimes you get lucky and the teacher gives you an answer or gives up free points. That’s what I’d call Huertas missing that free throw and Barbosa missing that layup.

It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t pretty but the Red, White & Blue prevailed. The odd part about this game against Brazil is its as if all of the concerns about this team coming in–interior size, pick and roll defense, experience, offensive ability, turnover–rolled together to create an awful storm which nearly bowled them over. Give all the credit to Brazil, they played a magnificent game, but Team USA could have helped themselves a lot more than they did. Brazil had an insane first quarter, shooting 14-for-21 from the field, 5-of-7 from three and scored 28 points on 19 possessions. While those may seem like numbers in a video game when the computer decides you aren’t winning, credit Brazil…their offensive movement was smooth, crisp and Team USA seemed to have no answer.

Problem #1 was pick and roll defense, something many were concerned with going in and something that was validated today. For some reason, for the majority of the game Team USA couldn’t put it all together. There were times where Lamar Odom was in no man’s land–not helping the guard and not putting himself in position to challenge the shot. Then there were times when he was there, but the guard couldn’t get back in time. Then there were other times when the helpside D sucked in just a little too much and Brazil found the open guy for a 3. It was almost like watching the Utah Jazz and the way they can pick people apart on the pick and roll. I now realize that this is where Team USA truly misses a ‘big’ center who can challenge opponents at the basket. Tyson Chandler didn’t play much, but when he did Brazil’s mindset changed. Instead of looking to score of their penetration they were looking to kick which made life a lot easier on Team USA.

Problem #2 was sloppy offense. Taking the first quarter and the first minute of the second quarter, Team USA had 7 turnovers…or as many as they had in 40 minutes against Croatia. As great as Kevin Durant was (27 points, main reason why the US was able to stick around), he can’t have 7 turnovers. Against a better team, 22 turnovers could be the death knell and some of those were just non-sensical. Not only that, but there was a little bit too much isolation offense for my liking for the majority of the game. Quick, contested jumpers can really hurt you in the international game because it’s either going to create a fast break opportunity for the defense or (even worse) you could end up having to play D for a full shot clock.

The good news is that Team USA was able to play different kind of styles in this game. From the jump, Brazil was the first team we’ve seen that was not afraid to push it right back at Team USA and play a faster game. To their credit, Team USA made the adjustments. Not only that, they were able to play a slower, smarter, half-court game in the second half to get the win. It wasn’t perfect, but showing that they are multi-dimensional and have that capability will be big in later rounds.

Durant, Derrick Rose and Chauncey Billups did the majority of the scoring, combining for 53 of the US’s 70 points. They need help, relying on Durant to drop that many could get this team in trouble. While he took some questionable shots, Billups was huge in the second half with the way he attacked Tiago Splitter. It was almost as if he took it personally. Rose was solid and sprinkled in some of his unreal athleticism. Lamar Odom has got to find a way to be more of a factor, because for the majority of his time out there he wasn’t. I thought Tyson Chandler did a phenomenal job in his 5 minutes of action, moreso because of the impact that he had on Brazil’s offense than anything he did in the box score.

(Speaking of Splitter, he looked solid and just looks like a guy who should be in a Spurs uniform. I don’t know if he’ll get the kind of freedom he had here, but he’s going to contribute for them from the jump.)

The starters had to do a lot of the heavy lifting tonight (all 5 playing 29+ minutes Durant playing 39), possibly because Coach K didn’t trust his bench or they didn’t perform. The depth that we had all fawned over the past couple games just wasn’t there. Russell Westbrook, Rudy Gay and Eric Gordon all were spotlighted as being great sparks off the bench before the game by Fran Fraschilla–they combined to score 3 points on 0-for-5 shooting and were a non-factor. I still maintain that Kevin Love is a major factor on this team–confirmed by Coach K picking him as the first big off the bench and one of the first subs–but this was not his match-up. He can rebound and defend in the post, but he struggled a bit in the pick and roll simply because guys thought they could finish over him. The bench has to be better.

The good news is the starters should be able to get some rest and the bench should get their swagger back over the next two games. Barring a weird or wacky performance, they should steamroll over the bottom 2 in their group: Iran and Tunisia. A well deserved day off tomorrow before returning to the court on Wednesday against Iran…get your Haddadi jokes ready.

"When I start making shots, I don't just make shots....I BE STROKIN'." (Credit: YardBarker.com)

Team USA passed their first test in the 2010 FIBA World Championships, running away from Croatia on route to a 106-76 victory. The story of the game was simple: Team USA came out hot (7-0 run in first 2 minutes), Croatia answered and made it a tight first quarter, Team USA made the right adjustments in the second quarter and pulled away from there. Not much else to it if you ask me, but Team USA did look flat-out dominant in the final 30 minutes of this game. They out-scored Croatia 84-58 over the last three periods and shot 54% for the game.

I’ll admit the first quarter freaked me out a bit, for a couple reasons. It wasn’t just because the score was close, it was why it was close. Team USA came out with a lot of fire, tremendous activity on defense combined with crisp movement on offense. And then, when the second unit came in that kind of came to a halt. All of a sudden, Team USA looked a tad bit flat footed on defense, occasionally late on rotations, sometimes even watching Croatia shoot or get rebounds. Offensively they became a little more impatient than many should like, struggling to attack Croatia’s zone early, instead opting to take quick jumpers. It seemed as if bad habits were creeping in, the kind of habits that can kill you in international play. The kind of habits that have hurt the US in the past.

However, the beauty of this Colangelo/Coach K era of USA Basketball is those bad habits are gone. They make adjustments, they slow down, and they will their way to victory. Slowly but surely whenever Croatia brought that zone back the ball was moving more. Whenever Croatia tried to foul to slow fast breaks, Team USA executed in the half-court. It’s those little things that win you games in international play. Derrick Rose and Kevin Durant combined to score Team USA’s first 10 points of the 2nd quarter, giving them a lead they would never give back. I credit their play for Team USA’s win, however I think some credit should go to Chauncey Billups. Say what you want about Mr. Big Shot, but he definitely is having a large impact on this Team USA. His experience shows in the little things he does. He picked the team back up defensively, setting the tone by picking Croatia’s guards up in the backcourt and the rest of the team followed. Offensively, they looked better and more focused with him running the show. He’s much more important to this team than many believe.

The beauty of this victory (and this team) is it was truly a team effort, everyone played their role and played a role in this victory. Five players scored in double figures (Durant, Gordon, Billups, Gay, Westbrook) and no player scored less than 5 minutes. It just felt like everyone had a hand in the win and you could honestly point out what everyone did. Iguodala’s defensive activity, Odom’s work on Ante Tomic (Tomic went 4-10, didn’t get many deep post opportunites), Gordon’s shooting (incredible, 3-5 from deep), Westbrook’s speed, Granger/Gay’s versatility, Chandler’s size, Love’s rebounding and outlet passing (don’t sleep on him), Curry’s mouthpiece (rough game). Let’s not forget this is an ‘inexperienced’ team only turned the ball over 7 times. If everyone continues to chip in like this, Team USA is going to be a problem for everyone to deal with.