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For any true Blazer fan, it was a harsh weekend of reality: think your team is the Lakers or the Celtics--or even the Hawks or Nuggets--this year just by fiat of the calendar? The natural outcome of added pounds and maturity on the players, and some vague belief that the NBA universe follows orderly and justified patterns? Welcome back to Planet Actuality, gentle naifs. It was a pretty jouncy ride; I sympathize. Perhaps Utah on the road was not the best tonic for a surprising home loss to an improving Grizzlies squad, but for a team that looked like it had gone narcoleptic during that epic Memphis run Friday night you had to trust that such an extended mental and physical lapse wouldn't happen again. It happened again, though. The players blamed fatigue and the Jazz proudly bragged that they had gameplanned with that expectation, but it looked like more (or less) than that. The team looked diffident at both ends but particularly on defense, where off-ball movement was apparently a worthy ideal rather than something of an imperative. And there's also hesitancy, like you can hear the gears grinding instead of muscles firing on shots and drives to the hole. Do I make the entry pass? Shoot, he sent it back, do I make it again? Should I shoot this umpteenth jumper, or oh geez I should not just think it and HEAVE...damn. If there is one thing that the team misses most about Travis Outlaw (and since Martell and Rudy have awakened I don't think it has caused much of the distress), it's his reckless abandon, his conscience-less ability to shrug off four really awful shots in a row and bury one when it's most needed. The Blazers did in fact play better overall against the Jazz, a strong team who had spent most of the last week blasting opponents in almost exactly the same fashion as they did to Portland, with their second 60+% shooting night in a row. That's ridiculous, 60%, and even with laconic defense it was clear both Boozer and Williams were unconscious. That will happen with top drawer players. (It doesn't explain Fesenko looking like the second coming of Oscar Robertson in his 13 minutes, though). It's not quite the quarter-pole of the season; I'll be at the Garden sitting up in the 300's Saturday night, when the Blazers play their 20.5th game of the season against the Rockets. But it's a good point for reflection, particularly since the conclusion of Saturday's nightmare offered two full days of rest before the Heat come to town Tuesday, and particularly since it ends a grueling 19-game open to the first month of play. It's now a day later and still only three teams even have 18. Some have just 14! Even against the weaker schedule the Blazers have had, that's a lot of games and certainly takes its toll. So it's a good time to look back, both because of the break and because with 20-25 games the stats start to form a gentler curve and become more reliable season-long tools of projection. The news is actually pretty good, although it's clear there are some negative changes relative to last season's performance. We'll check 'em out, below. {Come on down!}
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