A Blowout Win

This one is going to be short and sweet.

At the Rose Garden, where they have been dominant all year, the Portland Trail Blazers took care of a vastly inferior Phoenix Suns team with ease. And that’s it. It was a blowout win against a squad that will finish the year near the bottom of the Western Conference, the kind of win that good teams put up against bad teams.

Marcus Camby had twenty boards in just over twenty minutes. LaMarcus Aldridge put up his standard twenty-three points. Wesley Matthews finally found his range from distance, knocking down four three-pointers in the third quarter. And if you need any indication as to how tonight’s offense was flowing, Jamal Crawford dished out ten assists. Ten!

After holding the Suns to a minuscule nine points in the second quarter and twelve points in the third, Portland found themselves up by thirty plus at the end of three. The Suns were just completely outmatched.

It was Portland’s first true blowout of the season. Coach McMillan didn’t even have to wait until the end of the fourth to rest his starters—Aldridge and Camby both sat after the first three quarters.

That this Suns team was the same one that defeated the Blazers by twenty-five a mere three weeks ago seems absurd. “The looked like we did in Phoenix,” said Coach McMillan, but in all reality, Phoenix looked even worse tonight. There was nothing about their performance, Steve Nash included, that indicated any of these Suns belonged anywhere other than the D-League. The Idaho Stampede would have put up more of a fight, and they have Antoine Walker on their roster.

The visitors locker room was empty by the time I made it over there. No big surprise. With another game coming up tomorrow, the Suns players surely wanted to put this one behind them and get onto the next one.

The Trail Blazers locker room was no different. The team was out of there about as quickly as I’ve seen all year.

“We won, we have tomorrow off, so I’m happy,” said Camby, summing up the mood of the evening. A Friday night, after a commanding win? It’s time to get out there and celebrate.

Blazers vs. Suns Preview: 5 Questions With Andrew Lynch of Valley of the Suns

The Blazers host the Phoenix Suns tonight in an attempt to avenge the 25-point shellacking they took in Arizona recently. To preview this game and give background on the Suns’ season and future, I asked my buddy Andrew Lynch, a colleague of mine at Hardwood Paroxysm and contributor to our TrueHoop sister site Valley of the Suns, to answer a few questions, some more serious than others. You can check out his answers below, and be sure to follow Andrew on Twitter at @AndrewLynch.

The Suns embarrassed the Blazers the last time these teams met a few weeks ago. Does that strike you as a realistic possibility to happen again?

In the words of one of my favorite philosophers, anything is possible. I can’t see the Suns even managing to beat the Blazers again, though, let alone embarrass them. Markieff Morris has regressed since joining the starting lineup, Channing Frye will likely have to bac kup Marcin Gortat with Robin Lopez suspended, and the Blazers are just too good and the Suns are too bad.

Who’s been worse of late, Raymond Felton/Wesley Matthews/Jamal Crawford or Shannon Brown/Sebastian Telfair?

I’ll answer your question with a question - why must you hurt me? Because while I never want to put my eggs in a basket that Crawford is likely to launch toward the rim as soon as he touches it, I can’t take Brown and Telfair over anything. I’ll take the Portland Power Trio.

Is Steve Nash only continuing to play well because he’s auditioning his services to the Knicks, or will be settle for the Lakers also?

I hate you. Also, if we’re going down that road, might as well include the Heat and the Thunder and the Clippers and every other team that will have title aspirations over the next two years.

…if he ends up with the Lakers and punishing both of our favorite teams for the next several seasons, I blame you.

Is Marcin Gortat an All-Star?

I’ll hedge on this one. He’s playing at an All-Star level, but I don’t know that he’s more likely to make the All-Star Game than Marc Gasol, Andrew Bynum, Nene or even, given the nature of the selection process, DeAndre Jordan. I think an argument can be made that he’s playing better than most of those players, but that doesn’t guarantee an All-Star bid; right, LaMarcus Aldridge in 2011?

What is this team going forward? They’re not good enough to make the playoffs and they’re not in the Wizards/Bobcats tier of high-lottery contenders. What’s the game plan?

I wish the game plan were productive, but I think this team is what it appears to be. They’re going to be bad, though not bad enough to give them a significant chance at a top 3 pick in the draft. Steve Nash will likely be with the team until the end of the season - when he’ll leave - but his presence won’t buoy a team that, by his admission, doesn’t have the talent to win consistently unless they play above their heads every night. They’ll win some games, but either too many or not enough, depending on one’s perspective.

PICK & SCROLL: THURSDAY, JAN. 26, 2012. Blazers Still Can't Find Road Recipe

Your daily (Mon-Fri) roundup of links from around the blogosphere, typically Trail Blazers related.

MC Hammer—yes, that one—attended last night’s contest between the Trail Blazers and Warriors.

ESPN—as it does with all games—released a photo gallery of last night’s 101-93 loss for the Trail Blazers versus Golden State Warriors. ESPN’s first photo for the series was the photo featured above of MC Hammer; the man notoriously known for garnering success and the riches accompanying it, then promptly losing everything.

Not too different from the Blazers.

Not to say Rip City has lost everything, but Portland’s early season success and prominent rise to the top of the Northwest division was short-lived. The Blazers started the season off on fire and were the hot pick to win the west. After over a week of road struggles, the Blazers aren’t a topic of discussion within NBA-circles, nor do they deserve to be. 

But with plenty of time left this season, Portland, like MC Hammer, is fighting to remain relevant and reverse past bad fortunes.

Hammertime:

• Portland’s first back-to-back-to-back slate of games this season ended with a loss. The Oregonian’s Mike Tokito writes about Golden State’s bewitching Portland during their visits to Oakland. “The loss was Portland’s 12th in its last 13 trips to Oakland, a mysterious hex that has continued even in seasons when Blazers clearly had the better team,” he writes.
• The Oakland Tribune’s Michael Thompson II adds the Oakland perspective of last night’s game. Last night was a first in many departments for the Warriors. They “set season highs with 33 assists and 11 3-pointers while snapping a three-game losing streak and getting their first win against a Western Conference opponent.”
• Ethan Sherwood Strauss over at Truehoop Network sister site warriorsworld.net interviews several Warriors after their first Western Conference victory last night. 
• Nicolas Batum may not be a Blazer beyond this season. The Blazers and Batum failed to reach an agreement by the 9 p.m. deadline last night, reports The O’s Joe Freeman. 
• Ricky Rubio will be featured in February’s GQ magazine. Even if you’re not interested with a look into the Spanish phenom, at least watch this video. 
• Via ESPN Insider: Ryan Corazza says that, “If [Joel] Przybilla does decide to return at all this year — or even next season when [Marcus] Camby’s contract will be up — the Blazers may have the inside edge due to [Chad] Buchanan’s relationship with the center.” 
• Forbes has your top-earning NBA athletes. Portland Public Enemy #1 ranks first. 

Thoughts, ideas and challenges to 1-on-1 games, are happily accepted in the comments section.

Coach is Disappointed

It’s unfortunate this is my first post, but it feels oddly appropriate after last night’s game. I will be posting my Blazers illustrations on the good ol’ PDXRBS and other NBA drawings on my site SPORTZ ILL-USTRTED.

Dysfunction and Posturing: The Bungling of Nicolas Batum's Contact Negotiations

The rookie extension deadline has come and gone, and Nicolas Batum will play out the season without a new contract. His agent, Bouna Ndiaye, had some pretty strong words about the way talks with the Blazers ended, via Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com:

“When Batum becomes a restricted free agent, we’ll look at the other 29 teams before we talk to the Blazers,” Batum’s agent Bouna Ndiaye told CSNNW.com. “The Blazers had their chance.”

Between the 24-year-old forward’s expressed desire to stick around in Portland and the Blazers’ repeated reassurances that they view him as a cornerstone, it doesn’t make a great deal of sense. It also doesn’t reflect well on either the organization, which has been a mess for months (years, actually) or on Ndiaye, who has combined a lack of credibility, tact, and perspective on his client’s worth.

Up until now, Chad Buchanan had been making Paul Allen’s decision not to hire an actual GM something the Blazers could at least live with. The Craig Smith and Kurt Thomas signings have both provided about as much value as anyone could have hoped they would, and as frustrating as Jamal Crawford can be, he’s been the centerpiece of the Blazers’ second unit. Buchanan did fine this offseason. But it’s this stuff, the keeping-the-core-together stuff, which reminds us how much they’re feeling the loss of front-office stability that’s been an issue since Kevin Pritchard’s firing. When a team with no GM is negotiating with an agent with no track record (more on that in a minute), it’s hard for things not to end badly, even when getting a reasonable deal done is as much of a no-brainer for both sides as it is here.

I touched recently on the choice the Blazers will have to make this summer between Batum and Gerald Wallace. Batum is a restricted free agent, meaning the Blazers can match any offer he receives on the open market, and they probably will do this unless the money is unreasonable. But they’re still rolling the dice, hoping no other team will blow him away with an offer, and risking paying more than they had planned to keep him. Add to that Wallace’s free agency and the risks that come with signing him to a long-term contract, and the Blazers have opened themselves up to the possibility of losing both this summer. This isn’t the kind of deal teams should have trouble getting done—at least not ones with championship aspirations. But that can happen when an organization treats a general manager like a luxury rather than a necessity.

As easy as it is, though, to put this on the Blazers’ dysfunctional front office, Ndiaye may be equally out of his depth. It’s important to note that, as of this writing, none of the “they had their chance” and “we’ll talk to all 29 teams” rhetoric is coming from Batum himself. I don’t get the sense that he’s particularly interested in playing hardball with Paul Allen. He’s said many times he wants to stick around, and I believe him. It looks like he’s leaving the contract talks to Ndiaye and trusting the agent to do right by him. And this is where the problem could lie. HoopsHype.com’s database lists Ndiaye as having five NBA clients: Batum, Rodrigue Beaubois, Ian Mahinmi, Kevin Seraphin, and Timofey Mozgov. Mozgov is the highest-paid of that group at a whopping $2.6 million per year. The one thing all five have in common: they’re all on their first NBA deals. Ndiaye has never negotiated a contract that falls outside the relatively well-defined, low-stakes parameters of the rookie scale.

Of course, it’s hard to place blame without knowing the specifics of the Blazers’ offer Ndiaye found so offensive. It’s entirely possible Portland offered $3 or 4 million per year, and Ndiaye and Batum would have every right to take that as a slight. But given Ndiaye’s track record (or more accurately, lack thereof), it’s equally likely that they offered Batum something close to market value and his agent turned it down because he genuinely doesn’t know what he’s doing. A more experienced agent representing a player who has expressed as much desire to stay as Batum has would be able to work with the team to find common ground. His client’s up-and-down play this season doesn’t give him as much leverage as he would like, and the way he’s been playing the victim since talks broke down isn’t helping matters.

Unless Batum goes on a tear the rest of the year, he’s unlikely to command the type of offers Ndiaye seems to want. Danilo Gallinari signed a four-year extension Wednesday with the Nuggets at $42 million, or $10.5 per year. If Ndiaye thinks Batum is worth that currently, or that teams will be lining up to give him that kind of money this summer, he’s probably setting Batum up for disappointment. Anything smaller than that, and it’s hard to picture Portland not matching. And at that point, all Ndiaye will have done is create animosity between the Blazers and one of their key young players that didn’t need to be there.

No matter where the blame lies, this is something that will hang around in the back of our minds—and more importantly, Batum’s—until July. It isn’t a life-or-death situation for the Blazers (like, say, if the Thunder had failed to extend Russell Westbrook or the Timberwolves hadn’t re-signed Kevin Love), but it’s one that could have been avoided and, because it wasn’t, could potentially cause some unnecessary headaches as this team tries to make the leap into title contention.

Rapid Reaction: Portland drops one in Oakland

Portland Trail Blazers

93

Final Recap | Box Score

101

Golden State Warriors

	Gerald Wallace, SF 32 MIN | 3-9 FG | 0-1 FT | 6 REB | 3 AST | 6 PTS | -5 Wallace gave the Blazers energy early, without which the game might not have been as close as it was through four quarters. Crash helped out under the basket and on defense, but wasn’t able to give the Blazers any offensive help when they needed it in the second half.
	LaMarcus Aldridge, PF 37 MIN | 7-17 FG | 4-4 FT | 7 REB | 5 AST | 18 PTS | 0 With most of his 18 points coming from fade away jumpers against Lee, we did see an aggressive Aldridge when matched up with Udoh. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to get to the line or make an impact on defense. Though, to be fair, playing defense against a team that shoots a ton of jumpers early in the shot clock can prove difficult.
	Marcus Camby, C 24 MIN | 2-3 FG | 0-0 FT | 16 REB | 2 AST | 4 PTS | -4 In what world does a 24-minute, four-point performance earn an A? When you’re almost 38, on the third night of a back-to-back-to-back and wrangle in five offensive rebounds and collect 16 over all. That’s what world.
	Raymond Felton, PG 30 MIN | 2-10 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 7 AST | 5 PTS | +6 You could argue for a C+ and I wouldn’t put up much of a fight. Felton made an effort to penetrate the defense, but also settled for a couple of lazy three-point attempts. He had moments where he was able to keep the ball moving, something that paid off well for the Blazers when it was working, but was too much of a defensive liability against Golden State’s quick and athletic back court.
	Wesley Matthews, G 30 MIN | 5-9 FG | 2-2 FT | 2 REB | 2 AST | 15 PTS | -11 Matthews got it going in the second half, but failed to get the ball in the paint against a smaller defender in Ellis or Curry. He connected on some timely three-pointers, but gave up as many points on the defensive end, unable to close out against a sharp-shooting Warriors squad. Golden State would score 11 - 20 from three, Steph Curry going off 6 - 8 for 32 points on the night. Hand down, man down?
	Kurt Thomas, C 16 MIN | 2-4 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 1 AST | 4 PTS | -9 Thomas got it done in his 18 minutes. It wasn’t flashy, it wasn’t smooth, but he hit half of his shots, closed out on defense, and gave the Blazers big men some much-needed rest. Solid performance.
	Jamal Crawford, G 29 MIN | 5-14 FG | 2-2 FT | 2 REB | 3 AST | 16 PTS | -9 Sigh. Yes, he made a couple of fantastic threes, but he also took some horrendous shots early in the shot clock. Yes, he provided some much-needed offense at points, but he also threw away the ball six (was that all?) times, half of the Blazers’ total for the night. The C is for the lazy offense, the minus is for the tech at the end of the third with the Warriors ready to take the lead and not look back.
	Craig Smith, PF 14 MIN | 3-8 FG | 3-4 FT | 6 REB | 1 AST | 9 PTS | -7 I can’t be the first person to give an A+ here, so I won’t, but I could. The Rhino got it done all over the court tonight. He got to the line, scored when he was open, stayed aggressive on defense, and looked good doing it.
	Nicolas Batum, SF 23 MIN | 5-8 FG | 6-7 FT | 3 REB | 1 AST | 16 PTS | +2 16 points on 5-8 shooting and he could only find 23 minutes on the floor. If Coach McMillan left him on the court for another five to seven minutes, he would have easily recoded another few baskets and certainly added another block to his stat line, not to mention continued to make an impact on the game. Nicolas looked like one of the most comfortable guys on the court, it would have been a treat to see him out there longer.
	Nolan Smith, G 5 MIN | 0-1 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 0 AST | 0 PTS | -3 He did his job tonight. Smith helped patch together a few minutes of rest for Felton, and that’s exactly what Nate needed him to do.

Two Things We Saw

1. A+ for Oracle Arena for playing “I got Five on it” and “No Church in the Wild” in the fourth quarter. Nice work.
2. From a friend: “Favorite questionable Mike and Mike statement of the night: ‘Qwame Brown out for Golden State with a torn pectoral muscle…that REALLY hurts them.’”
3. A fun game, even with tired legs for Portland. They stuck with it, but couldn’t put any stops together against a Golden State team that can punish a team who doesn’t rotate well on defense.

Golden State Preview: MJ Not Leading New Team to Six Championships Nor Hitting Those High Notes

There were whispers around Oakland this summer that new head coach Mark Jackson would usher in a new defensive prowess for his team, and the Nellyball era of past Golden State Warriors’ teams would forever be gone.

16 games into the shortened-NBA season, the Warriors’ defensive tenacity looks as questionable as ever. Golden State’s defense ranks 24th overall—surrendering 98.9 points per game.

In their most recent home game against the Memphis Grizzlies, the Warriors had a 20-point lead late in the third quarter and a 68-52 lead heading into the fourth quarter. But that didn’t stop the Grizzlies from extending their longest winning streak in six seasons to seven games. Memphis exposed Jackson’s squad’s defense en route to a 39-point fourth quarter and a 91-90 victory.

Indeed, some habits die hard.

The same can be said of the habits leading to the Trail Blazers whimsical road record. Portland are 3-6 away from the Rose Garden this season. But it hasn’t been the losing of games that’s been most concerning for this Portland team. It’s been the losing of respect around the country that’s been irksome.

Portland went from media darling and surprise Western Conference champion pick for some writers, to an afterthought in the course of a week. Running off a 2-4 record during the season’s first real road trip has that effect.

The Rose Garden has revitalized the Blazers focus and energy levels—both of which were problematical during their road woes. Since then, Portland have run off two straight home victories over a significant western power Memphis Grizzlies team; and a not so significant Sacramento Kings team.

But tonight provides a new look at Portland. Tonight will be the first of  two back-to-back-to-back sequences of games this season for the Blazers—albeit coming on the road in Oakland. How will the Blazers fare after a plane trip to California and a third game in as many days?

If I’ve learned anything from the Blazers two-game home stand, it’s this; Jamal Crawford can be a difference-maker. And for whatever reason, whenever he smoothly and skillfully handles the ball, I cannot take my eyes away from him.


*Christopher Walken voice* I got a fevah, and the only cure is more Crawford.

TIP-OFF: 7:30 PM

The Winning Streak Ends at Seven

It has become a popular refrain here at the Roundball Society: as goes Gerald Wallace, so go the Blazers. When Wallace is in full attack mode, things are made that much easier for the rest of the team.

And against a red hot Memphis Grizzlies team that is all limbs and hands in passing lanes and strength and fire and chaos, Wallace and his unflappable determinism was the perfect antidote to their physical perimeter play.

With seven minutes left in the third quarter of a tight game—one that saw Portland turning the ball over with reckless abandon—Wallace stood in and took a charge on nine foot, eight hundred pound Marc Gasol, giving up his body (“I’m gonna feel it in the morning, I know that much.”) to help ignite his team.

The hustle play set into motion the most balanced Portland showing of the evening, and with storming confidence the Blazers immediately ripped of an 11-0 run, an impressive stretch that was part of a larger 22-2 run that went back to the end of the second quarter.

During that stretch in the third, the Blazers forced turnovers, leaked out in transition, and effectively shut down the league’s hottest team. Before the tired Grizzlies could recover from ice cold shooting and tightened Portland defense, the Blazers were playing with house money. It was all over but the Babbitt.

“We finally got subs in,” said Coach Nate McMillan, “which you guys have been begging for.” Indeed, on the second night of a back to back to back, McMillan did an excellent job tempering the minutes of his starters.

Every other question in the locker room was one about conditioning, fatigue, three games in a row, the lockout, and the like. And every player brushed it off with professionalism, already looking towards the next game. And, more likely, sick of talking conditioning on a nightly basis, as every team is going through the same rigorous schedule.

Marcus Camby finished the night with twenty-two rebounds, a season high he joked was due to his teammates “letting me get every rebound tonight,” but his teammates were giving him grief right back about the impressive stat after the game.

“I stole one from you, Cam?” shouted LaMarcus Aldridge jokingly across the room, after someone informed LaMarcus he took one of Camby’s rebounds.

“There’s still tomorrow,” Camby softly jabbed back.

The exchange helped display the chemistry between the two big men. While the alley-oops on the offensive end haven’t been there, the rebound numbers and impressive defense from the last couple of games bode well for the team’s future successes.

Finally, in what was easily the best moment of the night, Craig Smith dropped some knowledge regarding the Rhino:

“Anything Rhino does you gotta put ‘rhino’ before, right?”

Oh, Craig Smith, you are so rhino right.