More photos » by Don Ryan - AP

Portland Trail Blazers center Greg Oden, right, "squats the john" -- hip new dunk slang! -- as Minnesota Timberwolves forward Al Jefferson watches in disgust during the second half of their NBA basketball game in Portland, Ore., Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009. Oden scored 16 points and had three blocked shots as Portland beat the Timberwolves 106-78. (AP Photo/Don Ryan)

Browse more photos »

Single file.  I said: SINGLE FILE! Yes, this is the line to take credit for the adjustments that led to the Blazers victory -- but please, stop pushing and shoving!!! -- Order.  Please, order!!

So you thought the Blazers should ditch the three guard lineup?  Good, step right on up here. 

You thought Blazers bigs should be allowed three fouls in the first half, like every other team in the league?  Yep, get in line. 

You wanted to see more young energy -- Jerryd Bayless and/or Dante Cunningham -- provide a spark in the second unit?  Congratulations, you're in the right place. 

Oh God. Oh... God.  You're part of the mass of 100,000 people who thought it was important to return Brandon Roy to his rightful position as two guard? Ok, all of you, you're in. Careful, please, careful.

All together now: pat yourself on the back.  Don't sprain anything.  Ma$e, what are you doing here? Oh, you'd like to break out an impromptu rendition of "Feel So Good?" Fine. Very well.

Good show, everyone, good show.  Take a bow.  You deserve it.

It's not everyday and every city where you see the fanbase so accurately predict a team's necessary adjustments after a loss and have them play out almost exactly as planned the very next day.  This is cause for celebration.

Seriously, though, it's always nice to know that the coaching staff and the fanbase are seeing the same things and it's doubly nice to see the coaching staff exhibit flexibility and sound judgement in pulling the trigger.  Some of these issues might have seemed like easy decisions but they are more complicated than you might expect given that they do involve real people, real dollars (millions of them) and real egos (very, very real egos).  The important takeaway from tonight's game: adjustments were made, normalcy was re-established and life goes on in a much happier direction. 

Tonight, Nate McMillan returned to his original starting lineup -- Blake, Roy, Webster, Aldridge, Oden -- and returned both Brandon Roy and Steve Blake to their respective comfort zones.  While some might hold out hope that Andre Miller will find himself in that starting point guard spot, that's a discussion for a later date.  No one can argue with the results that Blake and Roy provided tonight: Blake was 4 of 6 from distance with 9 assists, Roy with 18 points and 5 assists, the players combined for just two turnovers.  The icing on the cake was one of Martell Webster's best games as a pro, his first career double-double (21 points, 13 rebounds), highlighted by a solid 4 of 7 from distance, 3s that helped turn the game from comfortable win to blowout city. 

It remains to be seen how Andre Miller will respond to his return to the bench. He managed just 4 points and 4 assists in 20 minutes and gave a laconic post-game interview before exiting the locker room quickly.  He said all the right things but didn't look particularly thrilled.  Then again, I'm not sure thrilled is part of his vocabulary when it comes to post-game interviews.

Brandon Roy, on the other hand, looked as happy as he did the day he signed his max extension, practically gushing over the return to the original starting lineup.  "Of course I like it, I'm back to my natural position," Roy said.  He later added, "I wish we would have stuck to it a little longer" earlier this year.  Sounds to me like those statements we heard this week about Roy not grasping his role found the right set of ears.    

Certainly, it's hard to put any stock into a win over the Timberwolves, a team that fields no more than three quality players, a team that the Blazers out-shot, out-rebounded, out-assisted, out-blocked and out-housed (they took them behind the woodshed).  Nevertheless, a resounding win is what we all expected to see, what the team, frankly, needed to deliver.  And they did.  Mission accomplished, for tonight. 

Random Game Notes

• Martell Webster went down hard during the last minute of the game -- a ridiculous scene, really, as he tried to pad his stats with the game well out of hand -- and was having difficulty moving around on the game's final possession.  After the game, he asked a member of the Blazers medical staff to join him in a back area of the locker room and seemed to indicate he was in some pain.  The team is not scheduled to practice tomorrow and will only go through a light shootaround Monday before Monday night's game against the Bulls.  Hopefully it's nothing serious.
• So Bill Laimbeer and Nathan Jawai walk into a bar and... yeah, it's a ridiculous mental image worthy of a punchline.  During pregame warmups, the former Bad Boy was putting the pleasant Jawai through his paces, with a focus on footwork, exploding to the basket and some peppy motivational mumbo-jumbo.  When Jawai took the ball directly at Greg Oden for his only field goal of the game, the Wolves bench exploded, although Laimbeer just sat smiling.  Baby steps, I suppose.  
• Jonny Flynn might not have been efficient or all that effective but there is a very short list of players in the league who are more fearless. All these minutes with the ball in his hands reading defenses will surely pay dividends later in his career. He is Wade-esque in his ability to hurdle/vault himself at the rim regardless of the bodies around or in front of him. Blazers Scouting Director Mike Born spoke with Flynn for quite awhile prior to the game. Dare to dream. 
• For the record... when Nate McMillan switched to the 3 guard lineup against the San Antonio Spurs, I noted "there's a chance McMillan talks himself into this starting lineup for the next 9 games."  He made it 8 games. Remarkable, in hindsight. 
• Juwan Howard: 0 points, 6 rebounds, 21 minutes.  Is Team Dante ready to rock and roll or what? 

Nate's Post-Game Comments

Martell

With that group, that first group, he's a spreader. Brandon and LaMarcus are seeing double teams when they play and you need a guy who can keep that defense honest. And if they don't he has the ability to hurt them with the three point ball. If they play single coverage our guys should be able to take advantage of that. He really helps spreading the floor.

New Lineup

Yeah, I just wanted to get back to that lineup and get Martell in the game, get us some balance. I wanted to try to get Brandon some touches. Get Andre with that second group, running that second team. I thought he did a good job tonight, running some sets with Martell. Bayless was in there for a little bit. Rudy, that group. I think it balances the rotation. Without Travis being in the lineup, we need, I really need Andre to be more of a force with that second group.

Tonight he basically was just quarterbacking. He was running the sets. Looking for Rudy and Martell. We had LaMarcus come back with that group. I want to try to keep a big with them, either Greg or LaMarcus. LaMarcus was the guy who got in foul trouble, ended up playing the fourth quarter. It wasn't bad. I think we can take advantage of Andre posting and running the team, and running some sets for those guys. 

Six players in double figures

I mean it's been awhile since we've seen guys make shots. Tonight we were knocking down our shots. Open looks, shots that we've had in other games but tonight we were knocking those shots down. We're very capable of knocking those shots down and we just need to keep taking them.

Wins over bad teams

Those are games you've got to take care of. That's the schedule, you play the schedule. You try to improve every single night. A game is a game -- all of them mean the same, regardless of who you're playing or where you're playing. You try to win those games. I thought tonight we came back after losing that game last night, much better job taking care of the ball, only 10 turnovers tonight.

Stick with this starting lineup going forward?

Yeah, this is where the lineup that we'll go with.  

Andre's reaction to not starting?

He was fine with it. I want him, I need him to be aggressive with that group. It's not a demotion or anything like that. I think with that group we can allow him to be aggressive, post up, run the team. We had pretty much all of our weapons in that first group -- now Martell, you're not running plays for him, he's just spreading and playing off of guys, which I think is good for him. This is the way we started. You change that lineup sometimes to get some aggressiveness, to light a fire with a guy and tonight Martell had his eye.

More photos » by Don Ryan - AP

Eeet is not fair ve have to play these guys so much! There are many other teams in this league!

Browse more photos »

Ahhhh...what a difference a night makes.  The team that was headed straight into the depths of oblivion 24 hours ago is now showing a bright spot or two.  9-5 was completely unacceptable.  10-5?  Why that's pretty good.

The game started off well enough.  Portland forced the issue inside defensively as usual.  Minnesota only hit one shot within 10 feet of the hoop all quarter.  The Blazers, meanwhile, were hitting their mid-range jumpers and later expanded that range to the three-point arc.  They tried to enter the ball to the post but Minnesota, having watched the game in Oakland, was having none of that.  Portland either turned it over or got no good shot when passing to the interior.  But as we said, the jumpers were falling well enough so it was no problem.  23-14 after the first.

LaMarcus Aldridge started the second period with the reserves but picked up his second foul 12 seconds in.  That took him out and brought Juwan Howard in.  As you might expect, the Howard-Przybilla combo created some offensive problems for the Blazers.  Oddly enough, though, it caused Minnesota to stop guarding the lane like the crown jewels were hidden therein.  They switched tactics, choosing another Warrior favorite:  trapping any legitimate scorer who touched the ball.  (There were about two in at the time.)  The Blazers countered by sending in another scorer in the person of LaMarcus Aldridge, but he picked up his third foul 30 seconds after re-entering the game.  There came Howard again.   The downside to all of this was that the offense stalled and it took a barrage from Greg Oden in the second half of the period to even get the tally to 17 for the quarter.  The upside was that Minnesota never regained their turf inside.  They did regain 6 points in the period though and Portland went into the locker room up only 3.

It got even more nerve wracking as the third period commenced.  Portland came out with energy, getting the ball to Oden and then scoring on a Roy drive.  But Minnesota responded by packing and trapping again.  When that happens the Blazers have one direct counter:  hit the open shot from outside.  Pressured time and again Portland got it out to the perimeter.  And guess what happened.  No, go ahead.  Guess!  If you said Steve Blake missed a ton of threes you'd be wrong.  If you said Rudy Fernandez worked some step-back Spanish wizardry you'd also be wrong.  Instead Martell Webster got a burr under his behind and started shooting and hitting threes like nobody's business.  He hit three straight.  Minnesota then had to play honest defense.  Here came Roy and Oden again...PA POW!  Ooops!  Better stop that!  Get the ball to Blake and Fernandez for threes.  Ooops!  Better stop that!  You already know Minnesota isn't fleet of foot on defense.  As it turned out forced to choose between two evils they couldn't stop either.  Portland gains 10 in the quarter and heads into the fourth up 13.

Having learned a lesson from the last couple of games (and honestly, probably because the offense was easy at that point) the Blazers continued to pour it on in the fourth.  It was much the same as the third.  Any shot, any pass...it was all good.  Meanwhile Przybilla and friends shut down the interior, forcing the ‘Wolves to shoot over the top.  They weren't very good.  The only place they got points was the free throw line.  Minnesota scores 15 in the period, Portland 30.  Ballgame.

Portland shot 50% from the field, 42% from three, and drew 10 more foul shots than the ‘Wolves (though they missed those extra 10 in an uncharacteristic display of wooziness from the stripe).  They killed the ‘Wolves on the boards, dished 28 assists to Minny's 11, didn't turn the ball over, and allowed only 4 fast break points for the game.  It was pretty much total destruction, as indeed it should have been.  But it's nice to see what happens when things click at both ends at once.  Now we have to take it from practice to an actual game.

Click through for individual observations and IMPORTANT NEWS about the JERSEY CONTEST.

Continue reading this post »

Clearly this is the low point of the Blazers' season so far.  Losing to Golden State in Oakland isn't the end of the world.  If it were the world would have ended multiple times before now.  But losing to Golden State when they have a depleted roster, field no live bodies above 6'6", are guarding you with the same two backcourt players all game, and when you jumped of the gate with 37 in the first quarter and then barely scored half of that in any quarter thereafter...that's bad.  Choking up 23 turnovers for 32 points and allowing the Warriors 36 fast break points when that's exactly what they depend on to get past you, that's worse.  Seriously, you might as well take a bath in Spam and then run through the Doberman Reform School.

The main message for tonight is not to let one bad loss turn into two.  You're at home and you're playing a team that's 1-11.  You've already beat them twice in the last two weeks so you know how to do it.  Losing this game would be worse than everything that happened last night combined.  You better go in angry, refocused, and taking no prisoners.

Having seen the 'Wolves so often in the recent future (they're like the salesmen in Secondhand Lions with the Blazers playing Michael Caine and Robert Duvall) you don't need a new preview.  In case you missed it the original one is here.  Just don't let Al Jefferson score 30 and you'll be OK.  Well, maybe you shouldn't settle for jumpers against their defense.  And you'd better not turn the ball over like you did last night.   And by the way, it would be easier for Greg Oden to do his thing inside if somebody could hit a three-point shot.  I know Rudy has been but the two of them aren't always in the game together.  Steve?  This is about half of your job description.  It wouldn't hurt for Brandon to sink a couple too.  I don't even know where Martell is.

Despite all of that, just about the only thing that can lose you this game is a craptacular effort.  We better not see that tonight.  That's it.

Enter the Jersey Contest form for this game here.  See the results so far, including those from last night's game, on the scoreboard.

Be nice to our friends at CanisHoopus.

--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)

More photos » by Ben Margot - AP

The Portland Trail Blazers' Greg Oden (52) is a mirage during the first half of an NBA basketball game Friday, Nov. 20, 2009, in Oakland, Calif. His teammates reported him missing at halftime; his Coach hadn't noticed. He is currently on the side of a milk carton. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

Browse more photos »

The most frustrating losses are the ones that are the most predictable. Tonight's 108-94 loss to the Golden State Warriors in Oakland certainly qualifies as predictable.  

Every possible goal that would have been included in a game plan was not achieved. A brief list: limit turnovers, limit fast break points, pound the ball inside, exploit the Warriors' lack of depth, keep track of Golden State's shooters, play hard on the road, keep a level head during disagreements with the referees, remain open to the idea of strategic flexibility while playing against perhaps the most unconventional team in the NBA.

Of that list, the last one was perhaps the most difficult to watch, as Nate McMillan clung inflexibly to his "2 fouls and you're done for the half" rule, benching both Greg Oden and LaMarcus Aldridge for the entire second quarter.   The players combined to finish with just 6 fouls for the entire game, and their significant size and skill advantages were forfeited not only during the time they were on the bench but also during much of the third quarter, when both players struggled to get themselves back in a rhythm after such a long rest.

As things fell apart on cue -- the Warriors outscored the Blazers by 12 in the second quarter, by 4 in the third quarter -- McMillan stood by clapping his hands, hoping to exhort effort from the rest of his players who seemed quite content not to respond.  On Wednesday night, Brandon Roy admitted to me he didn't know his role on this team.  Tonight he played like it.  And the rest of his Blazers teammates, except Rudy Fernandez, followed his lead.  When all was said and done, the Blazers laid a big, nasty, egg on the road, playing without heart, composure, effort, pride or much thought.  

Timeouts were spent ignoring their coach's instructions, offensive possessions were wasted with terrible decision-making, defensive possessions were spent halfheartedly rebounding and griping at the officials, and crunch time was spent with the starters on the bench and the game out of reach, an ultimate embarrassment against a Warriors team that gave minutes to a same-day call-up from the D-League signed just to meet the league's healthy body minimum and who allowed the Blazers to jump out with a season-high 37 points in the first quarter.

If Wednesday night's win over Detroit was a lesson in playing a full 48 minutes, then tonight's loss was a lesson in showing up for more than 12.   Nothing more needs to be written.  

Individual Observations

After reading back through these, they might be a little bit harsh.  Just pretend I'm one of the assistant coaches chewing the guys out.  Maybe drink half a fifth of Jack and then read them aloud while shouting at your monitor and throwing pillows.  Liven things up a little bit. Things will return to normal tomorrow but, tonight, a reality check isn't the worst thing in the world. 

Rudy Fernandez was the lone bright spot, the only Blazer that fulfilled his role and played with determination throughout his time on the court.  19 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals and 4 turnovers in roughly 38 minutes.  He was slightly trigger happy, especially from distance, but his shot was falling and the Blazers needed that aggressiveness. 

Brandon Roy struggled from the field (just 6 of 17 overall, 1 for 5 from distance), had more turnovers than assists and got lit up by Monta Ellis when the two players matched up.  He spent more time arguing calls than rebounding, couldn't get easy buckets when his team faltered down the stretch, didn't help exploit interior mismatches after the first quarter and carried himself during the second half like he didn't expect his team to mount a comeback. Not an $80 million dollar performance for The Natural. 

LaMarcus Aldridge should replay tonight's game tape in his mind's eye any time he starts dreaming about this year's All Star game in Dallas. A refined, established offensive player with go-to moves, he should be the biggest beneficiary of the mismatches presented by Don Nelson's uber-small lineup.  Instead, he forced shots in traffic, committed dumb early fouls that limited his minutes, was a non-factor on the boards, watched plays develop around him as he wandered the perimeter and was neutralized by Corey Maggette. The fact that his coach doesn't trust him to play with two fouls -- and he seems OK with that -- are not good signs.  

Steve Blake is still missing shots as I type this. 2-9 from the field; 0-4 from three point line.  More difficult-to-watch defense against small, quick guards.  Now more than ever the Blazers need offense from Blake.

Andre Miller looked like a player who didn't particularly care whether his team won or lost. He played grumpy.  Like something was bothering him -- the refs, his ankle, the starting lineup, his role, who knows, whatever -- and he couldn't get his mind right long enough to concentrate on properly setting up his big men.  2 assists against 7 turnovers in a game against a team that cares as little about defense as the Warriors is unacceptable from a starting point guard on a playoff team. The coaches should be in his ear.  And, unlike during timeouts tonight, he should be listening.

Greg Oden played a fine first quarter and then disappeared for the middle two quarters, making a brief re-appearance in the final period. 16 points, 6 rebounds in 24 minutes. Too little, too early. His shooting was efficient (6-8) because he's pretty solid at making dunks and he was attacking the basket when given the ball in good position, which was not nearly enough. Whatever lesson McMillan is trying to impart by sitting him for extended stretches is not getting through. 

Joel Przybilla had one phenomenal defensive possession (back-to-back blocks before the Warriors finally cashed in on their 4th shot attempt of the possession) and hit the boards (9 rebounds in 20 minutes) but remains a shade of the all-around center that we saw last year.  He didn't hit a field goal, didn't look for the ball against smaller competition and essentially tried to stay out of the way on offense. Like Blake, he needs to provide something on offense if he's going to play 20 minutes with Travis Outlaw injured.  

Martell Webster is playing so poorly it's a wonder Nate McMillan can find 14 minutes for him. Don't be deceived by his +7, that came from garbage time buckets by his teammates that helped make the score look a little bit more respectable. No defense, no court sense, a missed corner three that the team expects -- needs -- him to knock down. His performance is likely as frustrating for him to live through as it is to watch.  Whatever the exact opposite of "seizing the opportunity" is, Martell Webster is doing that. Maybe we can call it "Letting opportunity run out into the middle of a highway and get run over by an 18 wheel truck."  Yeah, that has a ring to it.

Juwan Howard scored 0 points, had 5 rebounds and was -11 in 12 minutes of play. I'm not sure how much longer the Juwan Howard era can continue before his play becomes a Nate McMillan problem and not a Juwan Howard problem.   There are few situations where Howard's number gets called and your first reaction isn't "Oh dear, here we go."  Just play Cunningham. Let's see him play worse than Howard before Howard gets extended minutes again.

Jerryd Bayless brought some energy and it was jaw-dropping how long Nate McMillan waited to give him a chance, given how lackadaisical and out-of-sync the rest of the guards were playing.  6 points, 1 assist in 9 minutes. Adequate effort defensively. Nothing game-changing on offense but he played within the team framework alright. Deserved a shot to inject some life during the first half.

Dante Cunningham got 3 minutes of play in garbage time with his team losing by 20.  That's not how it's supposed to go down. 

Final Thoughts and Links

Boxscore

The Blazers fall to 9-5 but will enjoy the ultimate panacea tomorrow: a home game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.  Let's hope the plane ride home features some soul-searching, some player-to-player accoutability.  

Before you clock out for the night, be sure to celebrate unconventionality in every form over at Golden State of Mind.  A Grade-A website, period.

-- Ben Golliver | (benjamin.golliver@gmail.com) | Twitter

Welcome to a new, hopefully semi-regular end-of-week feature we're trying called "Around the League".  Things being what they are, I get so caught up in talking Blazers that I seldom have a chance to address things that go on beyond our confines.  In these posts we'll do exactly that, plus mop up some Blazer topics that we didn't have time to treat in earlier conversation.  My intention is not to play the expert here as much to share opinions which could lead to interesting discussion.  So away we go!

Get Well Paul Allen

The most important real-life news out of the league this week came from our own franchise, as Blazers owner Paul Allen was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.  There's nothing revolutionary we can say about this other than facing any kind of cancer makes for a tough fight but we know Paul Allen is a tough fighter.  However I'd like to add my personal well-wishes, however humble they may be compared to what is needed. 

Things like this transcend our normal relationships.  We know you because you're the owner of the Blazers, Mr. Allen.  We appreciate you because of what you've done for (and with) the team over the last two decades.  But even though a life is measured by one's accomplishments it cannot be wholly defined by them.  It's time to show support for Paul Allen the human being...not the billionaire, the final decision-maker, but the person.  No matter what happens with the team, the season, or anything basketball-related we support you, Mr. Allen.  We are with you, sending our hopes and prayers in your direction, and if ever you doubt that you need but ask.  I'm pretty sure thousands of pick-me-ups are at your fingertips anytime, day or night.  Thank you for being who you are.  Strength and peace be with you in this struggle.

Thoughts and prayers also go out to others in our Blazersedge and greater Blazers community who are also fighting this fight.

Click through for a bunch more topics.

Continue reading this post »

Game Time: 7:30 p.m.  TV:  KGW

The Warriors come into this game 3-8, tightly clutching the coveted "At Least We're Not the Worst Team in the League" award by virtue of home victories over (wait for it...)  the Timberwolves, Knicks, and Grizzlies.  This exactly like Vanilla Ice saying he's a better listening experience than Milli Vanilli, Vicki from the Love Boat, and driving a slotted spoon through your brain.  The take-away lesson here is not to be a no-defense-playing, messy-mismatched-talent-having doormat disaster of a franchise when you go to Oakland or they're going to drop a buck fiddy on you and send the fans home happy...or at least less unhappy than usual.  Any team with a fingernail's worth of claim to legitimacy in this league has handled the Warriors.  And the Kings have too.

(Note:  Low blow there.  Sacramento is actually 5-5.)

So what do the Warriors do?  What they've always done.  A brief explanation, to the tune of "Jingle Bells":

Run, run, run!  Score, score, score!

Run run, score score score!

Run run run run run run run

Score score score score sco…ore!

Run, run, run!  Score, score, score

Run run, score score score!

Run run run…the game is done

And we just lost one more!

So why does a team averaging 109.7 ppg (2^nd best in the league), 22.1 fast-break points per game (1^st), 47.8 points in the paint (3^rd), 48.7% shooting percentage (3^rd), and 38.9% from three (5^th) lose so many games?  A brief explanation, to the tune of "Silent Night":

Silent "D", Hole-y "D"

We score one, they score three

We can’t get the ball off the glass

Their rebounders are kicking our [*cough*]

Watch their score increa…ease!

Wa-atch their sc…awww, to heck with this!  Run, run, run!  Score, score score!

Run run, score score score…

(Note:  Had the holiday season not been nearing that would have been, "Why can't we de-fend?  Why can't we de-fend?")

In any case, the Warriors are scoring almost 110 per game but giving up more than 113.  They're losing the rebounding battle like Sally Jessie lost to Oprah.  And that's on both ends of the court.  They're shooting 49% and giving up 50.5%.  They're shooting 39% from distance and giving up 43%.  They're making 26 trips to the line per game and giving up 28.  They remind me of a guy trying to get over his financial crisis by charging everything to a credit card.  No matter how wisely and well he spends the debt somehow always gets bigger.  One wonders when the front office will simply file bankruptcy and attempt to start all over.

As if that weren't bad enough, Golden State is fielding fewer healthy players right now than you see in your average chess match.  They just traded Stephen Jackson for Raja Bell and his pre-existing wrist problem.  He's now having surgery on it.  (How badly did they want rid of Jackson?)  Andris Biedrins, Blazer-killer Kelenna Azubuike, Brandan Wright, C.J. Watson, Rony Turiaf, and Devean George are all out with various maladies and ailments.  Who's left?  Monta Ellis, Corey Magette, The Anthonys (Randolph and Morrow), Stephen Curry, Vladimir Radmanovic, and Mikki Moore.  5 out of 7 are 6'6" and under and all of them have the scoring mentality.  Radmanovic is a finesse player.  Mikki Moore is basically on an island out there.  But that's OK.  He and Vlad are suddenly getting 39 minutes per game which is like a week's worth of time for Radmanovic and a month's worth for Moore.

The one thing the Warriors do well outside of the run-score thing is turn you over.  They get an enormous amount of steals and should continue to do alright even after the trades and injuries.  You don't want to lose the ball to this group because they'll jump on it like a Doberman, race it down like a Greyhound, and then laugh at you like a hyena.

Also we'll reiterate what we always say when playing great offensive teams:  they always have a puncher's chance.  You're in the ring with a team that can knock you out even though their chin is made of glass and their guard is non-existent.  Despite the tongue-in-cheek preview the Blazers do have to pay attention tonight.  Give up your fundamentals, get loosey-goosy, and the Warriors will punch your ticket.

Pivotal Points to the Game

1.  This is a huge contrast in tempos and styles.  The Blazers aren't going to be able to stop the Warriors from running.  The Warriors won't be able to stop the Blazers in the halfcourt if Portland makes any kind of effort.  The in-between areas will determine the winner.  The Blazers should have a massive control advantage on the boards.  Aldridge and Oden should be able to offensive rebound to their hearts' content.  If the Blazers bother to break down the Warriors at all with penetration every miss should have a legit chance of being scooped up by the good guys.  The other side of that equation, though, is the guards and small forward getting the heck back.  Assuming one guy is penetrating and two bigs are crashing the boards (or at least hanging out near the middle) that means the other two smalls better head the other way as soon as the shot leaves somebody's fingertips.  Even if you're the coffin corner three guy you have got to get back and defend your goal tonight.

2.  OK...let's do the math.  Golden State has five guards, Vladimir Radmanovic, and Mikki Moore.  The Blazers can attack with LaMarcus Aldridge, who is bigger and stronger than Radmanovic, and Greg Oden, who is bigger and stronger than the entire other team combined.  Greg should be posting up about two inches from the rim tonight.  Catch, spin, dunk.  Catch, spin, dunk.  See how easy that is?  If you get stuck in the halfcourt, feed the bigs!  You can do it in the post.  You can do it by driving and trying to draw the big defenders for help and then flicking a pass through the lane.  However you do it, do it!  The stupidest, dumbest, most idiotic thing you can do is play into Golden State's hands by getting into that Happy-Fun-Jumper mode.  They're going to beg you to shoot over the top.  They don't care if you make it either.  You're setting the table for them every time you settle for the long ball.

3.  This is not to say the Blazers should never shoot a three.  In fact Golden State defends the arc so poorly than threes are one of the ways Portland can keep the score up against the track stars.  But the Blazers should not be shooting threes when anyone is within six feet of the shooter.  There's no need for that.  Drive it and then get a wide-open three later.  And for goodness' sake, HIT your wide-open shots!  All we need tonight is that weird, brain-sucking contagion that causes everyone to start missing shots they otherwise could hit in their sleep.

In short, just don't make this hard, OK?  Play your game, pass, execute, and walk away with a "W".

Among our oldest friends on the network are the folks at GoldenStateofMind.  Pay them a visit if you want.  It's an experience!

You can find tonight's Jersey Contest form here (fixed).  Don't forget that the form for tomorrow's game against the Timberwolves will be open as soon as this one is over.

--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)