Fans, we're nearing the end of the first extended road trip of the season--which has seemed awfully long already, even though only seven of the first dozen have been away games. I think it's just the newness of the season, getting only a couple of home-cooking games at a time before being subjected to those crazy pre-7pm starts when they go on the road. In any case, tonight's early rematch with Atlanta's Hawks proves to be the sternest test yet for this still-young and changing group of ballers we call our own.
Everything and nothing rides on the game, if you can parse that odd concept: the Blazers are 4-0 so far on the trip, and any time you go out for more than a couple games and come back undefeated, so picking up a W in Scarlett O'Hara's hometown would be a huge accomplishment. On the other hand, I'm sure if you'd asked the team whether they'd be satisfied with 4-1 they'd bob their heads like bobbleheads.
Atlanta as the last opponent on the trip is also dichotomously interesting; having already lost to them at home, I'm sure the Blazers would greatly love to return the pain on the Hawks' home floor. It seems like a tall order, given that Atlanta's record matches or exceeds Portland's 8-3 by a half game at 8-2, which includes a convincing beatdown of the Celtics in the Gahden. The Hawks are 4-0 at home and have won by an average of over 17 points, but on the other hand the Blazers are 5-1 in away games and are holding teams to just 82 points over their last six, with their own impressive average victory margin of 12.
So if Portland can muster the win it will send all kinds of positive signals--undefeated road trip, quality road win over a top team, extend the overall winning streak to seven, stay alone at the top of the Northwest Division, triumph of the three-guard lineup against their toughest matchup to face it...but even with a loss, Blazers and their fans will have nothing to complain about on the plane ride home.
The effectiveness of the 3-guard is what intrigues me most about tonight. It was after the Hawks loss that Coach Nate decided to shake things up, and the Miller-Blake-Roy-LaMarcus-Oden lineup was born against San Antonio to highly positive effect. They haven't lost a game since the switch, and the lineup shuffle has definitely had the desired salutory effect.
Simply put, the team just looks like it flows better when that pesky small forward is taken out of the equation. I think it probably has something to do with the streaky nature of both Webster and Outlaw, and their inability to score off the dribble or create something for a teammate with any consistency. While both Webby and Trout can pour in the offense, if they start slowly it seems like it drags the whole team down.
Now that Outlaw is out for two months, of course, either Webster will pick up his minutes directly, or he'll keep what he's getting and the balance will go to folks like Rudy (in a 3-guard setting) or Juwan Howard (in a 2-guard). But who knows how Nate will work things from game to game, and it's really not decided yet anyway that they will continue to use the 3-guard set in games.
On the other hand, why mess with success? Not only did the change apparently allow for the floodgates to open when shooters started out hot, over the last three games against inferior but more physical opponents it also seems to have propped the team up until they could find a rhythm. Against the Bobcast on Saturday night, Brandon Roy faced a larger and talented Gerald Wallace at the 3-slot, but Charlotte ended up throwing whoever they could up against him in a vain attempt to slow him down. Ironically, when the matchups looked more favorable Roy seemed less involved in the grand scheme--but in the supposedly tough matchup, he shined.
And even though it's a bit counterintuitive, given that when it comes to defense it's the guards who are easily the weakest, the defense also appears to have improved from the change. Maybe it's the fact that Outlaw and Martell aren't particularly good defenders either, and Miller/Blake/Roy are at least able to get out and throw a hand up into someone's face. Also, while Miller is nobody's Raja Bell, he has a real defensive peskiness that has turned up a lot of steals that didn't used to be there. Neutralizing the opponents' PG better, and getting a face in their SF, appears to be making a difference.
And I'm still speculating, but the dominance of the interior may owe something to the clearer definition of roles under the 3-guard. By taking out that theoretical middle line of defense between guard and big man, Oden, Joel and LMA can perhaps make a clearer distinction on when to help and when to stay home, that the presence of a true forward on the court may have confused (particularly when our 3s can't usually be counted on to stay with their man on a consistent basis). With the relative few games yet played and the most recent opponents being strugglers on offense, maybe it's a confluence of good work and a smaller challenge.
Or maybe it's just Greg Oden, who is starting to come alive on a more consistent basis, and on defense is already one of the top stoppers in the NBA--1st overall in blocks (and way ahead of the pack at 5 BLK per 48 minutes) and 3rd in overall rebounds per 48. Beyond the stats though, you can just see it during the games--even the beefiest, nastiest guys on the court are starting to shy away from taking it to the hole on Oden, changing their shots around the rim, and discovering that he is having a much better time positioning himself quickly and keeping his arms in the air with a straight-up jump to avoid the foul.
And on offense? Ooh-la-la! I start to salivate when I see those 8 foot baseliners, baby hooks and sweet post moves on guys who are no schlubs, like Tim Duncan and Tyson Chandler. He hasn't put the whole package together offensively (he's watching Joel too closely when it comes to receiving passes in transition, for instance), but you can see the sparks of brilliance, and they're shorter and shorter between sparks.
Enjoy the game--remember it's a 4pm PST start--and watch to see how well Roy does against Josh Smith and potentially Joe Johnson, whether the guards can keep up against Atlanta's strong backcourt, and whether Oden can stay in long enough early to kick the Blazers offense into gear. And if it doesn't work out? What--us worry?
There's no doubt that much of the 2nd and 3rd quarters of last night's Blazers-Memphis tilt was inducive of pillow throwing and teeth gnashing around Chez Joe. Coach Nate McMillan called it the worst first half they'd played all season, but I feel like I've seen worse, and as I said technically it was in the chronological middle of the game.
It was an uglyfest, during the depths of which Mike Barrett said in a deadpan way, "This is not attractive basketball" while the Blazers spent half of an offensive set bent over trying to retrieve the orb from where they had left it, or someone had slapped it. And if I don't have it confused with another sequence, Outlaw missed a bottom three, rebounded by Frye and kicked up top so Rudy could miss an equally ill-advised quick jumper.
That's how it went on O, after a decent start in which, I just noticed, nine different players scored in the first--almost in order: Aldridge jumper, Prizz tip, Brandon three + 2 FT, Batum two, Blake jumper, (Roy FT), Outlaw FT, Oden layup, Rudy jumper. A nice rebound and pair of FT with one second left by Rudy after Warrick's loose ball foul closed the quarter, bringing the Blazers to a mildly satisfying 21-21 tie.
And things started OK in the second, Portland not playing smoothly on offense or with much tracking power on D, but down just one at 28-29 after a nice jumper by Travis at 7:35. Then all those jumpers started catching up with the Blazers, and Rudy Gay, Hakim Warrick and OJ Mayo started tearing them up while Portland just imploded for several minutes. From the Outlaw basket down to :25 left in the half, the Blazers scored exactly one point. Mayo (who little Joe aptly noted "has a double food name") drained two big threes and a tough-jam. Remember those for later.
The turnaround, as it fitted and started in the first, came right at the end and subtly changed the dynamic in a way that suggested no matter how bad it got--and over those seven scoreless minutes it got pretty damn bad--one of the teams on the floor was going to the playoffs and knew it while there were games left in the regular season, and the other was on a bit of a roll and thought they had a chance to steal one of the season's four games with Portland, but was nonetheless one of the worst teams in the conference.
{The "get it done" moment of athletic elevation, below}
If, as a pro basketball team, you find yourself completing an entire NBA basketball game with the same number of points as a great round from Tiger Woods, you've failed. Thirty-six out, just thirty in. A grand total of 11 points in the third quarter, just one stanza with as many as 20. (Although no one will remember Memphis actually outscoring the Blazers in a quarter, the final one at 19-18). Trying to impress Pamela Anderson with your doctoral thesis evinces less futility.
The struggling unit known as the Grizzlies struggled some more Saturday night, but credit due--they struggled a lot harder for playing the Blazers, who hassled passing lanes and shooting lines all night (10 steals and 5 blocks, to start with) and made a young and talent-latent Grizzlies team (admittedly on a back to back) look as old and tired as the Suns on Thursday.
Here's another, shorter barometer to let you know how well the Blazers played: if the other team's playmaker says this about Portland
"They play really good help defense," Memphis forward Rudy Gay said. "They force you to do things you don't normally do. They force you to take bad shots."
then Portland had a very good game. But it's true--all of a sudden everyone is coming together on defense and playing much more solid team D. It's not a shocking rarity yet, but I honestly cannot remember the last game where I shook and slapped my head over repeated obvious failures to get out on shooters or handle a switch. Probably the last Denver game, which was a true nightmare of non-competitiveness.
I saw Steve Blake beating other guards to mid-lane rebounds the bigs were too far under for. I saw Travis Outlaw hanging around weakside and helping at both ends (six REB, including two offensive), even though his shot wasn't falling. Even Sergio has begun to grab a couple off the glass, and frankly those bounds were offensive boards and putbacks a couple weeks ago. Two points here, three there on the kickout, and soon you're talking about a real deficit.
Oden and Joel also remain a force inside, and are quite recently becoming an all-game nightmare for opposing offenses. Joel makes sure you're not going to get more than one shot, and Greg greatly reduces the chance you'll make it in the first place, or will try some unusual way to get it past him. They split minutes almost evenly, and yanked 19 rebounds (7 offensive) to go with 2 blocks, and 19 points. You'll take that from your C position every day, you betcha!
...and no, I won't stop you if you already smell a rat, or a weasel or vole or some other rodential varmint in my use of the term "double recap." Either I'm doing a recap of the same game twice, which doesn't seem too likely (or interesting anyway), or I'm doing a single column to cover two different games.
I'll cop--not only did I miss the Atlanta Hawks loss yesterday, I also failed to write up or even acknowledge the loss to the Mavericks last Thursday. I'll give you three excuses of varying strength, and move on: 1) Losses are much less fun to write about, obviously. 2) They're apparently not as fun to read, either, as the traffic for a loss recap is not exactly cardiac. 3) I got a cold Thursday night and am still hacking myself out of it four days later. (Mrs. Joe is sadly about 36-48 hrs behind me on the viral treadmill).
Excuses aside, there was a nice dualism about the last two games, that go a long way towards explaining the rising and falling fortunes of the Red and the Black. The simplest measures are home and road, good team and bad team--but they also go a little deeper than that, and below the fold (a print term that is rapidly becoming archaic-ier and archaic-ier) we'll try to suss 'em out. Why not keep reading--for the next two days times are fat in Rip City!
Must every game become excruciating? I know for everyone except the Blazer people involved it was another torturous home game against sub-.500 competition last night, a contest that should have been over long before the eventual win (or loss, as it has turned out in other cases). For the people in the organization though, the game was the only refuge from the much, much bigger news of the day--or rather the news that wasn't: trades involving Blazers.
Put yourself in the shoes of Frye, Ike (who did get the call and is now on his way to Sactown), Shavlik, or especially Sergio and Travis, familiar parts of the team who may have seen their careers end in Portland tonight with a squeaker of a win over an otherwise overmatched Memphis squad. How must the day have been? You know it's a business decision, but imagine if your boss called you in one morning and said, "We've sold you to a rival company in order to clear salary space for this hotshit kid from India. Sorry man--we also got 1,000 legal pads and flash drives. But take all the schwag from the employee lounge that you want."
So the game was a welcome distraction I'm sure, but it was mighty distracting for a fan to watch. There was a noticeable switch in the game that happened more than once, and it was painful to successfully predict it. Here's the secret I learned from it in tonight's game: the team really needs Greg Oden. Not the Greg Oden of tomorrow, not the Fierce Greg that everybody drools over, thinking about it becoming his only face--today's Greg, with the current mix of Fierce Face and WTF Face, taken in stride.
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