Apr 1, 2013; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Portland Trail Blazers center Meyers Leonard (11) sets a pick as point guard Damian Lillard (0) dribbles around Utah Jazz point guard Mo Williams (5) during the first half at EnergySolutions Arena. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports

This was another ugly game for Portland. The Trail Blazers struggled to control the offensive glass for the 2nd night in a row, giving up numerous second chance opportunities to the Utah Jazz. This opened the door for Al Jefferson to demoralize them at the rim. Big Al finished with a game high 24 points and a game high 10 rebounds, lifting the Jazz over the Blazers on the scoreboard, and the Lakers in the standings.

With LaMarcus still recovering from an ankle injury the Blazers’ defense has suffered in more than just the paint. Without Aldridge’s inside presence, Portland is forced to collapse the lane, leaving perimeter shooters wide open. The shorthanded squad experienced nightmarish flashbacks of Stephen Curry two nights before as Mo Williams sank 6/7 from beyond the arc.

Between Jefferson’s onslaught and Williams’ shooting spree, the Blazers were left visibly scrambling to cover their bases. As long as LaMarcus remains sidelined, Portland opponents need only adopt a “hit ‘em high, hit ‘em low” strategy until the Blazers learn to adapt.

Though Williams’ fire mode was most impressive, it was Damian Lillard who would go down in history last night. With his 167th NBA 3 point field goal, Lillard broke the record for most 3 pointers in a rookie season (previously held by Stephen Curry with 166). Averaging over 2 treys a game with 8 games remaining, the soon-to-be Rookie of the Year may achieve a total that will not be reached again for many seasons to come.

Damian’s milestone aside, I saw some other good things from the Blazers. Portland is widely known for possessing the worst bench in basketball, but last night they weren’t half bad. Eric Maynor (10 points) led a first half run to keep Portland competitive while Lillard got some well deserved rest, and Victor Claver (12 points) scored a career high on 4/5 shooting. This marks just the 3rd time that two Blazer players have scored double digits off the bench in a single game all season, last time being against the Charlotte Bobcats on March 4th.

Unfortunately the increased bench production was not enough to make up for turnovers. Portland has had the toughest schedule down the stretch, they have faced it without their all star, and they are tired. Sloppy play has allowed close games to become runaways right before their eyes. They will need to tighten up if they have any hopes to beat Memphis on Wednesday.

They have not been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, but the Blazers would need to win 7 of their 8 remaining games with the Jazz, Lakers, and Mavericks essentially losing out, in order to take the 8th seed. Portland’s season is over. I would obviously prefer to see Portland succeed, but this is one of my favorite times of the year. There is no pressure and we get to watch our young players cram in as much development as possible for the next couple weeks. This is our opportunity to see how far our investments have come, as they grace the court for a few more minutes each night. Sure there will be struggles, but by season’s end we will see who is ready and who is gone.

Box Score

Standings

@davidmackaypdx | @ripcityproject | davidmackaypdx@gmail.com

Damian Lillard struggled in his first trip to Utah as a professional. Credit: Russ Isabella-US PRESSWIRE

Well, the good news is the preseason is over. That means the next time Portland takes the floor the result will actually matter. The bad news? Well, basically the bad news is that after seven preseason games it’s really hard to say where this team is or what should be expected for this season. At least it’s hard for ME to say where this team is are where they’re heading in 2012-13.

Thursday’s game wasn’t on TV in Portland (I didn’t do too much web searching to see if there was a feed online from Utah), and since I didn’t actually watch it I think I’ll turn my recap over to the Internet.

So here is my recap based on Tweets, some from people who were actually at the game, some who weren’t even watching the game.

For me it started like this:

Had to pull it out of the basement but here’s how I will be enjoying tonight’s game. twitter.com/ripcityproject…

— Rip City Project (@ripcityproject) October 26, 2012

As I said, there were a couple of people actually at the game. They provided the kind of converage Blazer fans are used to.

Tonight obviously marks the return to Salt Lake for #Blazers rookie PG Damian Lillard, who went to college at Weber State. — Joe Freeman (@BlazerFreeman) October 26, 2012

Pretty nice ovation for Lillard as he’s introduced.

— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) October 26, 2012

Things didn’t start super great for the visiting team.

After accumulating 6 TOs last game against the Jazz, Damian Lillard has made 2 more tonight in first 4 minutes.

— Joe Freeman (@BlazerFreeman) October 26, 2012

But as the game wore on this looked a little brighter. (I assuming he means Freeland at the end of this Tweet)

Jazz lineup of Tinsley, Burks, Carroll, Favors and Kanter have been outscored 9-4 by Blazers Lillard, Matthews, Pavlovic, Jefferies, Freelan

— David Locke (@Lockedonsports) October 26, 2012

Then something major happened, but since very few people were actually watching the game many of the reactions were some variation of this.

Apparently Enes Kanter caught Meyers Leonard with an elbow.

— Erik Gundersen (@Erik_Gundersen) October 26, 2012

But thankfully a professional came to the rescue and sorted everybody out.

Portland C Meyers Leonard (head contusion) will not return. #blazers

— Trail Blazers PR (@TrailBlazersPR) October 26, 2012

It was at least halfway into the game when it became very apparent that many of the best Blazer Tweeters were not paying attention, and having already decided to do a Twitter recap I had to make a decision about what was going to be included. I mean seriously, how can I include the insight of some of the very sharpest basketball minds of the Pacific Northwest if they’re busy tweeting out things such as this.

My signature scent is a delicate mixture of Tom’s Unscented and corn chips.

— Seth J (@Seth_Baul) October 26, 2012

Some had the decency to at least acknowledge that they’d overlooked Portland’s preseason finale. Case in point:

Forgot there was a game on

— MaddisonBond (@maddisonbond) October 26, 2012

To make matters worse, Thursday was actually quite a big night for sports. The World Series was on during the Blazer game, as was the Vikings/Buccaneers game. It’s unlikely that a meaningless preseason basketball game played only for the radio would overshadow something major like this. (Here‘s the reference point for those who need it).

DID AMERICA JUST STEAL A TACO?

— EJMaroun (@ejmaroun) October 26, 2012

But back to the game.

And … Lillard, Barton, Pavlovic, Freeland and Jeffries start 4th for #Blazers.

— Joe Freeman (@BlazerFreeman) October 26, 2012

Thursday was a perfect night for media members to do that thing where they tweet out information everybody already knows because they too are watching the game. Here are a couple of great examples from the closing of evening.

Derrick Favors has 16 pts on 7/12 shooting and Kanter has 15 ptson 5/9 shooting – Jazz lead it 83-78 with 6:56 left#jazzvspor

— David Locke (@Lockedonsports) October 26, 2012

With 4+ left in the game and the #Blazers trailing by 5, Terry Stotts plays his starting lineup for stretch run.

— Joe Freeman (@BlazerFreeman) October 26, 2012

In the end, the Jazz had too much going on inside for Portland to stop. The Blazers turned the ball over too many times down the stretch, and every time they got close at the end Utah found a way to keep the game just out of reach.

If there is one major takeaway from Thursday’s game, it’s probably this:

Jazz’s bench outscored #Blazers bench 54-8.

— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) October 26, 2012

Which leads to important statements/insights such as this:

to say the #Blazers bench is a huge question mark, is being very optimistic #ripcity

— Craig Birnbach (@CBirnbachKATU) October 26, 2012

And leads some people to say things like this:

Enes Kanter

— David Locke (@Lockedonsports) October 26, 2012

So there you have it. Portland’s preseason is over. At some point early next week the roster will be solidified. And the next time the Blazers take the floor the games will actually count. Since from here on out every game will be televised one way or the other, you can bet this will be my final time creating a fully Tweet-sourced recap.

I’m working on a season preview that will go up sometime between today and next Wednesday when Portland hosts the Los Angeles Lakers. In the meantime, if you are looking for a very lengthy and well written season preview tome why not check out the one brought to you by the fine gentleman over at Hardwood Paroxysm. I’m sure I’m not the first person to tell you about that site. Hopefully I also will not be the last. One of their many talented writers used to write for this very blog. How about that.

Box Score

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

Enes Kanter dominated Portland on both offense and defense in Salt Lake City Thursday night. Credit: Russ Isabella-US PRESSWIRE

The Blazers meet the Thunder on January 3rd in OKC, one of the month's biggest games. Photo courtesy of the Columbian.

Happy New Year, and welcome to 2012. If you subscribe to Starz you could watch 2012 all day long. If you’re in the finals of your Fantasy Football league, good luck, I hope you don’t have Aaron Rodgers. What I’m going to do to kick off the first month of this year—which as we all know might be the last one ever—is take a look forward at the month of January as it pertains to the Blazers.

Remember, this is really the season’s first month. A few teams got in five games in December; Portland had only three. As Jamal Crawford told me following Thursday’s win, now we all know the importance of pre-season. Nobody’s looked great, not even the Blazers, that will start to change in January.

So enjoy some Sunday football, and here’s my January preview:

What Happened in December: The Blazers finish 3-0, holding home court the whole way. The team looks good, but not without a few issues, 25 turnovers, and those that tend to get overly excited too early have started to predict Portland has Conference Finals potential (I’m talking about myself).

Number of Games in January: 18

Game Breakdown: 1/1 at LA Clippers, 1/3 at Oklahoma City, 1/5 vs. LA Lakers, 1/6 at Phoenix, 1/8 vs. Cleveland, 1/10 vs. LA Clippers, 1/11 vs. Orlando, 1/13 at San Antonio, 1/14 at Houston, 1/16 at New Orleans, 1/18 at Atlanta, 1/20 at Toronto, 1/21 at Detroit, 1/23 vs. Sacramento, 1/24 vs. Memphis, 1/25 at Golden State, 1/27 vs. Phoenix, 1/30 at Utah.

Games to Watch: There are going to be plenty of big games in January. Instead of singling out one or two as specific games to watch, I going to suggest we all pay close attention to the road games. In January Portland plays at the RG only seven times. The bulk of the team’s road engagements come from a brutal six-nighter that includes back-to-backs in San Antonio and Houston and Toronto and Detroit, and a stopover in Atlanta. Toronto and Detroit should be easy wins, but they come at the end of the trip. New Orleans also might prove problematic. Coming after the tough Texas games—Portland can beat both San Antonio and Houston but historically has had very little success in those gyms—the Hornets aren’t a great team, but they have the tools to beat a team that makes the mistake of taking them for granted. Another big road game is the penultimate away game of the month taking place in Oakland. The Blazers very rarely be the Warriors, regardless of how bad that team is, and almost never win at Oracle Arena. Add to it that this will be the final night of Portland’s first of two back-to-back-to-back, and this one could be interesting.

To reach their potential (Conference Finals) the Blazers will have to get wins on the road. They haven’t won on the road yet this season—they haven’t played a regular season away game but they did lose the Utah half of their home-and-home preseason—and they better start winning outside of Portland in a hurry. There are six very very winnable road games this month (Utah, Golden State, Detroit, Toronto, New Orleans, and Phoenix). That should be the baseline. Less than six road wins is under performing. Getting one in Texas, beating the Hawks in ATL, and not losing to both the Clippers and the Thunder will be a successful road campaign for the Blazers in January.

Game of the Month: Like I said, a lot of great games this month: two meetings with the high flying Clippers, the Lakers at home, Dwight Howard as long as he stays with the Magic through the middle of the month. My pick for game of the month will happen two days from today. On January 3^rd, the Blazers roll into Oklahoma City to take on the Thunder. OKC has yet to lose in five games, and will be Portland’s chief division rival all season. The Thunder have Kevin Durant, obviously, and are the favorite pick to represent the West in the Finals. I’m not sure that I disagree with that, but I do think it’s a beatable team, having to pull a Brandon Roy to beat a hapless Mavericks team is an example of this team’s mortality. Beating Oklahoma City on their turf on the second game-night of a really tough month could set the stage for a great run for Portland. Losing, especially if they get blown out, could have the exact opposite effect.

Prediction: 11-7. I almost feel like this is a conservative estimate. But then again it could very easily be overly generous. The 11 games that I picked are a two-game sweep of Phoenix, a win at Utah, a win at Golden State, another home victory over Jimmer and the Kings, victories at Toronto, Detroit, and New Orleans, a split with the Clips, a woodshedding of Cleveland, and a win in the RG against the Lakers. That also means I’m predicting losses at home to Memphis and Orlando, losses on the road to Atlanta, Houston, San Antonio, and Oklahoma City, and a loss in Portland or LA to Blake Griffin and Chris Paul. Portland could very easily win a couple of those games that I’ve predicted they are going to lose. The high end of wins in January could possibly be 15. They could also lose a lot more.

What it All Means: It’s for real now. After three games, Portland is one of a trio of teams that are unbeaten; the other two are Miami (4-0) and Oklahoma City (5-0). More than one super pundit has that as their NBA Finals matchup. The Blazers are for real; just how for real they are will be determined in the months to come. Those months begin with this month.

email me: mike.acker1@gmail.com

Twitter: @mikeacker | @ripcityproject