More photos » by Don Ryan - AP

Portland Trail Blazers guard Brandon Roy, right, exacts revenge on behalf of PETA on San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili, from Argentina, during the second half of their NBA basketball game in Portland, Ore., Friday, Nov. 6, 2009. Roy scored 24 points as they beat the Spurs 96-84. (AP Photo/Don Ryan)

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Before the game started, the gameplan was labeled a "gimmick" and derided as "desperate," the idea met with scoffs and outright laughter.  Miller and Blake in the starting lineup together?  Really?

In the countless starting lineup polls that we've run here over the past few months, not once did Miller/Roy/Blake/Aldridge/Oden appear as an option.  The idea of going small -- that small -- to start off a game was so unconventional and so risky given the Spurs' height at the 2 and 3 positions (both Michael Finley and Richard Jefferson are 6'7") that it even caught Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, master tactician, off guard.  

Popovich scrambled to inform his guards of the switch shortly before the game and then watched the Blazers run out to a 8-0 advantage in just over 2 minutes of game time, despite spending a 20 second timeout less than a minute into the game to get his defense right.  

The quick start was keyed by Steve Blake's energy -- he was playing like he knew his job was on the line -- and Brandon Roy, who had 7 first quarter points and finished with 24 on an efficient 9-15 shooting. The team's ball movement was the best of the season (9 Blazers scored in the first quarter) and yet the ball control was also solid (just 2 turnovers in the first 12 minutes).  It was by far the Blazers' best overall first quarter this season: the team scored a season-high 29 points and maintained a season-high 15 point lead after the first quarter.  

From there, an ankle sprain that knocked Tony Parker from the game made life pretty easy. The Blazers executed just enough down the stretch to maintain a firm grasp on a game they led the entire way.  The final margin of victory -- 96 to 84 -- was both comfortable and comforting: a return to normalcy for a Blazers team used to winning handily on its home floor.

Asked about his downsized starting lineup after the game, Nate McMillan said that he had already eyed the upcoming schedule and plans to stick with that Miller/Roy/Blake over the next couple of weeks.  The big question mark with this grouping is on the defensive end: a large, potent backcourt trio could present serious mismatch problems for the undersized Miller/Roy/Blake.

Yet surveying the team's upcoming opponents it's easy to see why McMillan might feel fully confident with this lineup for at least the next five games, if not longer.  

• Minnesota Timberwolves: one of the weakest teams in the league features rookie Jonny Flynn (nice potential, not there yet), Corey Brewer (barely an NBA player), Ryan Gomes (nothing to write home about), and Ramon Sessions (not physically imposing).
• Memphis Grizzlies:  Undersized starting guards Mike Conley and OJ Mayo plus the Charmin soft Rudy Gay.
• Minnesota again.
• New Orleans Hornets: a little bigger with Chris Paul (All-World), Mo Peterson (Meh) and Julian Wright (Still waiting for this guy to develop...) but they're off to a terribly slow start and have been reduced to a one-man show.
• Charlotte Bobcats: Not exactly an overpowering offensive juggernaut (held to 59 points... for an entire game... by Boston) with Raymond Felton (hit or miss), Raja Bell (aging defensive specialist) and Gerald Wallace (nice player, not going to carry a team).

After that, it's Atlanta, Detroit, Golden State and the Timberwolves again.  At this point, Atlanta (with good sized wings in Marvin Williams and Joe Johnson plus explosive scoring from Jamal Crawford off the bench) seems like the worst matchup for Miller/Roy/Blake. Detroit has been juggling lineups (starting rookie Jonas Jerebko at the 3!), the Warriors are basically the Oakland Raiders of the NBA and the Timberwolves were covered above.  

So with the exception of that game in Atlanta on November 16, which could give Nate McMillan some pause, there's a chance McMillan talks himself into this starting lineup for the next 9 games.  

Who would have thought we'd be here?  

It's not clear whether anyone did, outside of McMillan.

Asked after the game what he thought about the new starting lineup, Brandon Roy said, "I'm fine with it. Whatever we go with, my thing is to continue to be aggressive. Defensively we can't have a drop off."

That's the spirit!  Roll with it. If you're going to go with something new, might as well embrace it with open arms and an open mind. It's different, it's weird, it probably won't win a playoff series but it's something.  This team -- lackluster through five games -- needed something, and tonight it got it. 

Just a few notes late on a Friday night...

Rudy Fernandez

The biggest loser with this new lineup juggling? Rudy.  He played just 11 minutes (less than 2 minutes during the fourth quarter) and despite attacking the bucket a little bit more than he has in the past, and throwing an absolutely spectacular backdoor pass to LaMarcus Aldridge for a dunk, he was a shell of the Rudy Fernandez that electrified the Rose Garden last year.

If and when he returns to form, it will be game-changing.  Because right now, he's giving McMillan as close to nothing as possible.

Jerryd Bayless 

Rex got some run!  Interesting that his first playing time of the season would come against San Antonio and George Hill, a team and player he dominated during Las Vegas Summer League.  In perhaps his best performance of last summer, Jerryd hung 19 and 5 (and, yes, 7 turnovers) on Hill and locked him down pretty well on the other end, holding Hill to 6 and 3.  

Tonight Bayless did what we've seen him do before -- attack the basket, draw fouls -- and didn't do what we haven't seen him do before -- truly run an offense, make his teammates better.  It's clear that a Bayless/Fernandez backcourt is not the best pairing to maximize the strengths of both players.  

Nevertheless, you can't help but be happy to see Bayless in the rotation rather than rotting on the bench.  Bayless even has the potential for steady first-half minutes as long as McMillan continues to start both Miller and Blake. How quickly fortunes change.

Greg Oden

You guys thought I was lying through the preseason, didn't you?  Greg Oden making shots?  Playing calmly?  Dribbling the ball without travelling?  It all sounded preposterous, didn't it?  Well tonight a television audience finally saw the offensive flashes that Oden treated the Rose Garden crowd to during the preseason.  He drew oohs and ahhs during the game and big-time post-game kudos from Nate McMillan (not to mention a number of writers) for how he stood toe to toe with Tim Duncan, getting the best of Duncan physically on a number of occasions down the stretch.  

Both Duncan and Oden finished with 14 and 8.  McMillan will surely take those numbers 100 times out of 100 this season.  And I didn't even mention the four blocks, 3 of which came during the fourth quarter.

Nate's Post-Game Comments

Do you feel like a genius?

No, I'm happy to see the movement. That felt more like a flow, more like a rhythm on both ends of the floor. What we wanted to see I thought we saw. I thought Dre, we got more from him. He got everybody involved. A lot of communication, just looking in sync, even though that team hasn't played a lot together. I thought we got the ball movement, we were attacking. When we stopped attacking, and started back isolating and going one on one, they were able to get back into the game.

When you started to sputter in the 4th quarter did you intentionally put the ball back in Brandon's hands?

Yeah because we were in the penalty. So we were going to drive the ball and we went with the power set to drop the ball low, ended up getting a 3. I think Blake hit a big 3 off of that. For the most part, having that lead with Tim being in the game, basically we were going to spread the floor. I went with Travis, Blake...

But before that, when you had five straight possessions where you didn't score. Andre was bringing it up and then Brandon was bringing it up, did you make that call?

I did. I did.

They adjusted after the early energy. Late in the game you pounded it into Oden. What are you seeing from him offensively?

What I was hoping for was with Miller in that game, he would be able to get Greg the ball. A lot of the calls tonight, Dre called those sets. He did a nice job of mixing it up. He got Blake involved. He got Greg involved, deep post position. He called the right sets. Greg had deep post position, they were playing him straight up, a couple of times he got himself in trouble trying to beat him with speed as opposed to just taking his time and going over the top. I thought he was, for the most part, patient and did a nice job establishing himself down there.

Does that give you another option?

That is an option. We want to take advantage of that option. We don't want to be stagnant and just pound, pound, pound. I thought we had movement, with pin downs and pick and rolls that led to the post ups as opposed to coming down and just pound it. Sometimes the best way to get into the post is starting with the pick and roll to get some movement to get it there, then that defense is not set. Normally when we try to pound it, they trap us, they're set defensively and they take it out of the posts' hands.

What does this win mean?

It's a good win for us. We're trying to find our rhythm. I felt like we haven't played well. Even though we have two wins. Tonight I felt like we had a good rhythm. The offensive execution, the movement was better. We got the tempo we wanted. Defensively we did all the things we wanted to do. It was a game we needed. At home, against a very good team. This game, games like this, you want to take and build off of it. It should give us some confidence that if we do those things again, against any team, play together, move the ball, play defense, you can win ballgames. It's something to build off.

Will you go back to the three guard lineup again to start?

I looked at the schedule. The schedule that we're playing here in the next week or two, we can stay with that. I'm going to look at that lineup. I'm going to stay with that for awhile and we'll see. I thought it was good. It was what I was hoping for. Some movement with those guards being in there. We were able to get the ball to the bigs when they were open. It was a good unit tonight. 

What happened during the 4th quarter dry spell?

We stopped moving. We stopped reversing the ball and getting into our pick and rolls. We became stagnant, trying to play just an option. It was a lot of dribbling, holding the ball, and not that quick swing, run out into a pick and roll. That team is too good and most teams are to just go isolation, raise up. Pretty much the way we were beat the other night against Atlanta. You gotta have hot shooting to do that. We got a little stagnant, we were able to knock down some shots and get a little more movement and eventually put it away.

Greg's defense.

I thought he did a nice job. I thought he did a real nice job of being big and getting him off the block and for the most part we played him straight up. Andre was quarterbacking that defense and doing some things that we don't normally do. With his communication we double-teamed a couple of times and got out of those rotations and was able to cover the perimeter. We did some nice things. It started with Greg, just getting him off and being big.

Rudy.

He hasn't knocked down... his shooting is off right now. He has to keep shooting the ball, getting some movement, attacking the basket, getting something easy would be good for him.

Bayless.

Bayless I wanted to try to get him somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes and see how he went. They cut into that lead going into the fourth quarter and I wanted to get the first group back out there. We'll keep doing this. The guys, they go out there and make some things happen, we'll keep them on the floor.

Scoring balance.

Yeah, I was hoping to get that, more movement with that group. It's been one or two guys scoring. Brandon and LaMarcus, or Brandon or Travis. Tonight we had four guys in double figures, a guy with 9 and a guy with 8, we do have some balanced scoring, and more guys putting the ball in the basket.

More photos » by Don Ryan - AP

The Old Lion beats on the Young Lion...and gets a whistle for his trouble. Oden made the free throws too.

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Ladies and gentlemen, before tonight's game begins we would like to announce that the part of the Portland Trail Blazers will be played by the San Antonio Spurs.  Please enjoy the show!

Portland didn't play a flawless game but they played better tonight than they have the last couple games.  San Antonio, on the other hand, adopted most of Portland's nasty early-season habits.  They didn't get back in transition, they turned the ball over, they got outhustled, they settled for jumpers and one-on-one moves, they fouled rather than defend.  It was like looking in the mirror for the Blazers...and having Ruth Buzzi's face stare back.  Fortunately the Blazers made more like Goldie Hawn.  And there you go.

The game started with a surprise twist.  Coach McMillan stuck Andre Miller into the starting lineup as he had been hinting at all day.  That wasn't the twist though.  Miller replaced Martell Webster with Brandon Roy sliding to small forward and Steve Blake playing off-guard.  Miller had primary responsibility for setting the offense, Roy took his share of plays, and Blake played the facilitator on the wing, getting the ball to attackers and being available for the kickback three.  Along with the smaller lineup came an emphasis on foot movement on defense and vertical speed on offense.  Against a plodding Spurs effort it worked wonders in the first quarter.  The Blazers played the passing lanes, close-guarded dribblers, shut down the interior with their big men, rebounded the ball, and ran.  San Antonio couldn't keep up with the early offense.  Portland was still jumper-heavy but they worked for shots off of the pass and spiced up the attack with some drives.  Caught flat-footed the Spurs spotted the Blazers a 29-14 lead after the first quarter.  The only thing that marred the period was Greg Oden getting two fouls in the first four minutes, stopping what was looking to be a dominant night.

Portland's second unit tried to keep the parade going in the second quarter.  They got some decent looks for Travis Outlaw but they couldn't stop Richard Jefferson on the other end.  Drifting along with an offense that was slowly drifting farther outside, the reserves started losing ground.  The starters rotated back into the game as the period progressed and Aldridge, Miller, and Oden provided some make-good points.  But the Spurs outscored the Blazers by 4 in the quarter.  The most significant development of the period was Tony Parker twisting his ankle and leaving the game at the 2:35 mark.  He would not return, which make a Spurs comeback highly unlikely.

The third period was an offensive nightmare for both teams.  The Blazers had a two-minute stretch of attacking basketball around the 8 minute mark.  Other than that the Blazers started holding the ball, dribbling in place, walking up the court, going one-on-one, and shooting jumpers...the tragic litany that has brought so much offensive woe this season.  Fortunately for Portland the Spurs were no better.  Like chicks everywhere they seemed to fall in love with the long ball.  Though they were open for most of the attempts, they whiffed worse than a tee ball team facing Mariano Rivera, missing 7 shots of 20 feet or longer in the quarter.  Their unbridled optimism kept their point total for the period at 18...a significant relief to the Blazers who scored only 17 themselves.

The Blazers were treading water offensively for much of the fourth while the Spurs re-discovered the rim.  The tattered remains of Portland's lead shrunk like a sweater in the dryer, fading to just three points with 5:37 remaining following two Spurs layups and four Spurs free throws.  You could hear the Rose Garden muttering and Johnsonville Brats being flung at high-def screens everywhere.  (Note for future self:  that cheese filling is really hard to scrape off of tiny pixels.)  That's about the time Brandon Roy said, "Huh-uh."  And the Spurs said, "Whaaat?"  Then Brandon hit a tough 20-footer followed by a 50% conversion at the free throw line the next possession.  And San Antonio was all like, "You best step back!"  And Brandon was all, "Maybe I will!"  But instead of dropping back for the three he drove the lane and when the Spurs swarmed him he lofted it to Greg Oden for an easy layup.  And the Spurs said, "Oh no you didn't!"   And Brandon was like, "Heck yeah I did!  I did it, I filmed it, I got it on America's Funniest Home Videos, I won the $10,000, I took a trip to Jamaica, I got me a souvenir, I came back, washed my clothes, hung ‘em out to dry, put them back on, shined my shoes, walked back here, got all up in your face, and I did it again!"  Meanwhile as they were having this dialogue Steve Blake hit an open three to put the Blazers up by 6 again with 2:38 left.  At that point, with the Blazers keeping their late-game heads screwed on straight, it was all over but the catch-up foul shooting.

Despite the regression late in the game after the hot start the Blazers did several things well in this game.  They hit the boards hard and didn't concede misses to the Spurs.  They defended the interior strongly for almost all of the game, particularly when Oden was in.  They matched the Spurs free throw for free throw, shooting them better to end up +7 on the night from the stripe.  They eschewed the three in favor of working for better shots.  Only 17 of 74 attempts came from distance...about 22% as opposed to the near 33% we've seen in some of their games.   Overall they held the Spurs to 38% by taking away most of their easy looks.  As we said, Portland pushed the tempo for a sustained stretch of the first period, the first time we've really seen that this year.  Most of all the spacing was better at both ends of the floor tonight than we've seen it all season.  That alone made the team look at least 50% better.

The question will arise, "Is this version of the three-guard lineup the answer?"  Tonight it was, but this was a good opponent against whom to employ it.  I don't foresee Miller-Blake-Roy being a permanent starting lineup.  Even though the defense looked better and everyone was devoting more energy we still saw Miller and Blake get beat a bunch.  It didn't lead to points because of the combination of Blazer interior defense and the Spurs packing a couple of non-scoring guards, but it was there.  When the Blazers run up against teams that field shooting guards more dangerous than Keith Bogans--which is pretty close to everybody in the league--that lineup isn't going to hold.  Whoever guards the point will get broken down and whoever guards the shooting guard will get run over.  Even tonight that lineup didn't last long when Manu Ginobili entered the game.  It's a decent situational look but not more.

On the other hand the smaller, centerless lineup did a much better defensive job tonight than we saw in the last couple of games.  They packed the middle and dared the Spurs to shoot deep.  That's pretty much what you want.

Those who complain about Nate being controlling and never wanting the team to run will be happy to know that ESPN put a microphone on the huddles tonight...microphones which clearly caught him imploring the team to keep the flow going and the tempo up.  The network also interviewed Nate after the third period and he was discouraged that the team had resumed, as he put it, "pounding the ball".  This isn't the first time that the huddle cam has caught him asking the guys to move more either. 

Good effort and victory aside, it doesn't feel like the Blazers are out of the woods yet.  Key players had sub-standard games.  Portland couldn't retain the lead or its energy.  The offense fell apart as quickly as it had come together and Brandon Roy had to bail us out again.  The win is what matters, of course, but the team hasn't arrived yet.  A lesson to take from the Spurs' performance is that they, too, are struggling integrating new players.  If the consummate veteran, system-oriented, clockwork team looks choppy in that situation you can perhaps understand the Blazers appearing likewise.  These are going to be spring teams more than fall teams.  It happens.

Individual Notes

Greg Oden had his best game of the season, scoring 14 on 6 of 9 shooting, hitting hooks and spin moves, hustling for rebounds, blocking 4 shots, shutting down the interior, and making Tim Duncan look small and somewhat slow.  Best of all he played 25 minutes and only drew his 5^th foul late.  The ESPN announcers couldn't say enough about him.  Great job.

LaMarcus Aldridge didn't seem to be able to take smaller defenders, posting infrequently even when Oden was out of the game.  His turn-around jumper wasn't falling and he shot 3-10 for 8 points and 5 rebounds in 34 minutes.  You don't mind LaMarcus feeling his way against the league's elite, but when he has a 6'7" guy on his back you want him to score.

Brandon Roy shot well, going 9-15 for 24 points with 5 rebounds.  He looked more confident in his teammates and more relaxed in his own offense as well.  The Spurs couldn't stop him any more than they could stop Oden.  He's too gifted and they don't have that kind of perimeter defender anymore.  Good, solid Brandon game.

Andre Miller responded to his starting role with zest and assurance.  He was barking at some teammates, directing traffic, and spreading the ball around.  He got a couple of steals but don't let that fool you about his overall defense.  Had the interior guys not been so stalwart tonight the San Antonio guards would have lit us up.  Contrast this to the defense the San Antonio guards played on our guards, especially in the first half, and you'll see the difference between defense and offensive point guards.  On the other hand Andre's 4 assists don't tell the story of what he did for the offense.  He really engineered the Portland energy out there tonight, which was something the Spurs guards couldn't match.  Miller shot 2-9.  That was only a concern once the Spurs caught on to the fact that in a Blake-Miller-Roy-Big Guy lineup for Portland they want Blake or Miller attempting the shot.   That didn't happen until the second half and by then it was too late.  Overall it was a great performance by Andre...the kind of thing the Blazers were looking for with this signing.

Steve Blake shot 3-5 from the three-point arc and finished with 15 overall plus 6 rebounds, 2 assists, and a steal of his own.  He looked completely comfortable in his shooting guard role...maybe more so than as the initiator.  He was great as the next-to-the-last man in the setup cycle.  His job was to make a pass and then set up for the return if it came.  Those tasks are solidly within the parameters his résumé.   Copy and paste what we said about Miller's defense into Blake's category, but then the Blazers weren't looking to ratchet up the defense with this lineup.  A nice game from Blake.

Joel Przybilla did what he was supposed to:  spell Oden, collect 13 rebounds in 18 minutes, guard the interior.  OK...that 13 rebounds in 18 minutes was above and beyond the call.  Joel brought nice energy tonight too.  It seemed like he knew the team needed a lift and he was one of the cadre of players who brought it.  Applause all around.

Travis Outlaw played 24 minutes, played some suspect defense, but stayed within himself with 4-9 shots (and the misses were mostly good attempts) for 9 points.  I liked his offensive game tonight better than some games where he's scored 15.  He was mostly compact and aggressive, which is good Travis.

Martell Webster only got 13 minutes tonight and looked somewhat lost except for the bright, shining moment when he rammed home a Rudy Fernandez missed three at the end of the first quarter.  It was a beautiful dunking put-back that would make Jerome Kersey proud and the timing was everything you envision while counting down to yourself at your backyard hoop.  Let's hope Martell doesn't wander too far into the wilderness.

If Martell looks lost, perhaps it's because he's setting out to find what happened to Rudy Fernandez.  Rudy couldn't get any farther lost if he jumped onboard a moon base after a freak nuclear explosion sent it hurtling from orbit and out into space to meet a bunch of mind-messing aliens who always appear in small, dark rooms with horrific makeup.  Rudy was 1-5 tonight with 1 glorious assist and a block but no continuity at either end.  He only got 12 minutes.  Come back, Rudy!  Come back!

Jerryd Bayless got 5 minutes tonight straddling the first and second quarter line.  There were a couple of impressive hues to his game.  For one, he was actually able to stay in front of the offensive player he was assigned to most of the time.  Second he was aggressive on offense and drew some foul shots, moving quickly and decisively without over-thinking his moves.  However he still didn't evidence much point-guardedness, making a couple of glaring mistakes in his short tenure.  He may be a partial answer to the Blazers' difficulties but he can't be the only point guard out there, which seriously hampers his potential for us right now.  Still learning though.

Juwan Howard got the infamous quintillion stat line tonight.  1 minute followed by 15 zeros. 

Final Thoughts

The most important thing about this win is not the victory itself (though that was important enough) but the chance the victory gives to do something really nice on Sunday against Minnesota.  With a two-game winning streak in hand the Blazers are free to go 3-2 on the upcoming road trip while still winning 5 of their last 7.  4-1 would be even more special and would certainly herald a pronounced upswing of the kind we are seeking.  Follow this up and everything's good.  Minnesota's a team against which you can use some funky backcourt lineups as well...

Oh, and those retro "Rip City" unis look pretty cool.

Boxscore

Be sure and check out the San Antonio recap at PoundingtheRock.com

You can find the current Jersey Contest standings here.  You can access the results from an individual game from the pull-down menu at the bottom of the scoreboard page.

Enter Sunday's Jersey Contest form right here.

--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)

 Game Time:  7:30 p.m. Pacific  TV:  Local--KGW, National--ESPN

So...the Blazers sit at 2-3 and are in the midst of soul-searching and lineup-fiddling when--joy and wonder!--the Spurs roll into town.  I can pretty much guarantee that the ESPN storyline on this one will be the Old Lion versus the Young Lion.  Except that right now the Young Lion has da sniffles.  Hopefully a little hanky-blowing and some warm tea will be all the Blazers need to regain some of their roar.

A Look at the Spurs

As it turns out, the Old Lion could use a little checkup as well.  The Spurs have won 2 games this year, both times scoring 113 on their hapless opponents.  On the other hand they have also lost 2, showing a definite lack of hap on the road against  Chicago and Utah, topping the century mark neither time en route to double-digit losses.  They've either crushed (at home) or been crushed (on the road).  Obviously the Blazers hope that story continues tonight.

Normally you'd like the aging Spurs on the second night of a back-to-back against tough opponents, but the Old Lion King, Greg Popovich, is sticking to an interesting strategy to start the season.  Every Spur in the legitimate rotation plays between 20 and 29 minutes per game from Tony Parker at the high end to George Hill down low.  Last night 10 Spurs were in the 17-30 minute range.  Channeling Hubie Brown lets Pops keep his troops fresh and probably mitigates the fatigue factor tonight.

In general the Spurs have done an excellent job shooting the ball, particularly from beyond the arc.  They've averaged 6 more three-point attempts than their opponents, making 2.3 more, and shooting better.  They're a full 5 percentage points above their opponents in overall field goal percentage.  As usual they keep the turnovers down and the defensive rebounds up.  You have to beat them the old-fashioned way.  They're not going to give it away.

Keeping with another Spurs tradition they trail handily in offensive rebounds.  They've also given away 5 more free throws per game to the opponent though it hasn't crippled them because opponents have shot horribly from the stripe.

Long story short San Antonio doesn't take shots they can't make, they don't have to clean up after themselves much, and they're not looking for you or the refs to bail them out or lift them up.  They come to do a job.  If they're not as accomplished at getting that job done every night as they once were at least they're not going to bungle it foolishly.  This isn't a team looking to find itself.  This is a team that found itself long ago and is banking you haven't.  When they run up against teams just as assured who execute well they get into trouble.  Sometimes they'll also get burned by youthful enthusiasm and energy.  But on the balance they're going to win more than they lose because they're just better at what they do than the opponent is and you'll not easily force the out of what they want to do.

Tim Duncan is off to a fine start this year, averaging a strong double-double, amounting to 15 points and 13 rebounds before last night's game.  If the point total seems low, remember what we said about limited minutes.  He was playing 26 per game at that point.  He was also shooting over 62% so the Spurs are finding him where they need to.  Tony Parker was shooting over 55% before the Jazz game and averaging over 16 with 5 assists.  Manu Ginobili is lofting and missing a lot of threes but also drawing a relatively large number of fouls.  Richard Jefferson is duplicating that scheme almost exactly.  In relatively small minutes Michael Finley has begun to make an impact again, shooting 60% from the floor and 50% from the arc off of open shots that his teammates create by drawing attention.  Not every big name is clicking for them but they're doing enough...at least on the offensive end.

Of the lesser-known names reserve point guard George Hill is feast or famine, scoring when he's not guarded well and having difficulties when he is.  Center Matt Bonner is snack or famine, hitting his twos but missing his threes.  Energy scorer Roger Mason Jr. is having a hard time finding enough minutes to get comfortable.  Both he and Bonner have been Blazer killers in the past though.  The new kid on the block, backing up Duncan, is DeJuan Blair.  He's shooting an incredible 70% from the field.  It's just a matter of how many looks he's getting on a given night.  More importantly he's giving the Spurs heaps of rebounds in limited minutes.

As we just alluded to, the question with the Spurs right now is whether their secondary and tertiary players can defend well enough game-to-game.  Duncan is good enough even though he's slower than he used to be.  Parker is quick enough to be bothersome...sometimes.  Ginobili can get scrappy...sometimes.   Jefferson's impact seems to ride on how much attention he is paying which also varies from night to night.  After that it gets pretty shaky.  You're not really scared of even these guys, let alone your Finleys and Bonners.  Gone are the days when Duncan could singlehandedly bail out his team on that end.  They either bring it as a team or they don't.  When they don't, they don't win.

Pivotal Points

Let's assume the Blazers play more or less as they have...that there will be no great Renaissance tonight or burst of all-encompassing energy that allows them to bowl over the Spurs.  If that's true and if this becomes an ugly fight there's really only one key.  They have to deal with Tony Parker somehow.  Given what Portland has shown so far, I don't know how they do it but they'd better find a way.  Hold Parker to his average and even with San Antonio's other scorers the Blazers have a chance...more than a chance really as many of their easy buckets key off of him.  But if Parker is fast breaking, free-wheeling down the lane, and hitting jumpers that the Blazers are late in getting to Portland is in serious trouble.  Swarming him to shut him down leaves the Blazers ultra-vulnerable.  He's too quick, smart, and passes too well.  San Antonio can score from a lot of places and it's unlikely the Blazers could recover off of him in time to stop the Spurs from getting their shot.  That's when they score in the 110 range.  Slow Parker down, make him work, don't let him lead the break, make him shoot tons of shots for his points and you have a good chance.

Other than that the Blazers have to keep rebounding.  Portland could feast on second-chance points tonight.  They also have to make their second unit tell.  The Spurs' bench is pretty good and Portland needs to at least match.  Not every Blazer starter will get past San Antonio's defense but whoever manages to do so--be that Roy, Aldridge or even one of the secondary options--the Blazers should keep riding the hot hand.  Take your scores anywhere you can get them regardless of the hand they come from.  Also do not count the Spurs out even if you get ahead.  They've been here before.  If you get up, stomp on them.

Final Thoughts

Tonight you'll see two teams in similar situations for different reasons and on different ends of their life cycles.  Whichever team puts it together first in this game will have a huge advantage.  If both remain shaky, flip a coin.  It's probably a more important game for the confidence of the Blazers than the Spurs.  Let's hope that adds a little energy to the proceedings.

Check out the San Antonio point of view at PoundingtheRock.com.

There's a glitch in the Jersey Contest game form for this game that will hopefully be fixed this morning.  You can keep checking here and fill it out when it's back up.

--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)