Blazers 101, Nets 88 and better lottery positioning

Finally, a win we can all feel good about. Right?

I find myself perpetually confused about who and what I’m cheering for. A season-ticket-holding friend crystallized this plight in a text earlier tonight: “This game is awkward. I’m confused about which draft pick I should be rooting for.” 

That’s where we’re at.

After trading two popular starters for some scraps plus Jonny Flynn, Blazer fans aren’t sure which way is up. It feels like nothing’s at stake anymore. Twenty-thousand people gathered at the Rose Garden tonight to watch two teams compete for nothing bigger than the lead at the end of 48 minutes. In this brave new world where losses are wins, lottery positioning is the new playoff positioning. It certainly doesn’t feel like April.

Reporters after the game pushed for a “Gerald Wallace Returns to Portland” storyline that was forced at best. Sure, the guy used to play here and fans loved him, but with only a few weeks left in the season is this really what the Blazers want to be talking about?

It might as well have been a charity game.

At least at LaMarcus Aldridge’s event during the lockout fans got to watch Kevin Durant drop 47 points. Maybe that’s exactly what you did tonight. Maybe you’re here because you decided to skip this completely futile contest in favor of Oklahoma City at Miami, or the Battle of Los Angeles, and you’re curious how it turned out. Who can blame you? Why put yourself through Tank City with Lob City two channels away? Why sit through two and a half hours of mediocre basketball when a few weeks from now, on lottery day, it’s the loser of this contest who will be rewarded?

If you’re here for a recap, I apologize for the delay. Distracted by Gerald Wallace in a Nets jersey and the possibility of the fourth pick in the draft, my inner basketball existentialist got the better of me. Calling this rant a digression would seem generous, so we’ll just go ahead and start clean with a more measured analysis.

The loudest cheers, by far, to start the game went to Wallace, who didn’t have an especially strong game on the offensive end for New Jersey. With Deron Williams out, Wallace saw a lot of time handling the ball for the Nets and finished just 3-12 from the floor for eight points. Kris Humphries picked up some of the scoring slack, dropping a team-high 21 points and adding 11 rebounds for the depleted Nets. His energy around the basket was a huge factor in keeping the game relatively close throughout. It was the New Jersey bench who made the biggest impact on the game, outscoring the Blazer bench 55-36. Anthony Morrow and Gerald Green torched the Blazers back court reserves for 20 points apiece.

The bright spot off the bench for Portland was again JJ Hickson, who not only finished with 18 points on 7-10 shooting, but connected on two thunderous dunks to end the third, helping the Rose Garden faithful forget that this game was worth close to nothing in the grand scheme of things.

Maybe I’m over reacting, primed by a plethora of HoopIdea articles attempting to fix the lottery system. Watching Nicolas Batum hit 50% of his shots (including four three pointers), scoring 20 points and adding 10 rebounds for a triple-double certainly isn’t worthless. Neither is the thrill of Luke Babbitt sinking a three at the third quarter buzzer for the loudest applause of the night from the Rose Garden. This season seems to endlessly provoke existential crises. 

Jumping back to Hickson for a moment: the guy can play, and his teammates in the locker room all seem to respect him and enjoy having him on the court. He’s becoming more comfortable in Portland, and comes across as genuine when he says he’s happy here. Asked about how he feels playing with Hickson down the stretch, LaMarcus Aldridge had only good things to say about the newest Blazer: “He’s so active, I’ve always wanted to play with someone like that. A Lou Amundson, a Reggie Evans…somebody that’s active, keeping guys on their toes. He’s been big late in games with teams coming in on me he’s been getting easy buckets.”

So, maybe it’s not all bad. Maybe the cynic in me hasn’t won. Evaluating new talent is never a bad thing.

But Blazer fans are in no enviable position, knowing that every win this season means perhaps missing a player in the lottery who can help for years to come. Or possibly worse yet: not knowing whether twenty-thousand fans stood cheering for a Blazer win, or for a New Jersey loss.

Final Notes:

• Batum’s double-double was the second of the season, the first coming Monday against the Jazz. This is the first time he’s recorded consecutive double-doubles.
• JJ Hickson is averaging 14.6 PPG as a Blazer.
• Portland scored 30 of its 36 points in the paint in the second half.
• Luke Babbitt extended his streak of consecutive games scoring at least two three-pointers to seven. That was an awkward sentence.
• Wesley Matthews and Jamal Crawford’s shooting woes continued. The pair combined to shoot just 4-19 from the floor.
• In the Nolan Smith/Jonny Flynn minute count, Flynn bested Smith fourteen to seven.
• Hickson’s post game video can be found below, and Batum and Canales’ can be found here. The locker room was a bit rowdy, and the sound was no good on some of the interviews. 

Comments

[Jason]

Alexis.. Do you know why nobody has commented on this thread yet? It's because you don't write like a fan. You are a perpetual downer.

No, we aren't going to the playoffs this year, but something better is happening. We are getting to see some players play that would have never had a chance under McMillan. I am still convinced that if McMillan had stayed, but the trades went through, Hickson may have never seen gametime as a Blazer. Who knew Babbitt could shoot? I've heard Mike and Mike talk about it, but we've never seen it until now because McMillan never gave him a chance despite the fact that his own teammates say he is the best shooter on the team. How many times have we had shooting slumps in games where Babbitt should have been given a chance?

Anyway, why do you keep calling us "Tank City"? Are you watching the games at all? I suspect you are, but are in denial about the fact that our players are true professionals and are playing hard out of a sense of honor that you can't understand. The difference in lottery picks between winning a few home games vs losing them is going to be almost negligible if we play the "LOTTERY" correctly. If our heads aren't up our asses, we will get one (or both) of the top centers in the draft no matter how many games we win or lose. The PG spot will be addressed through free agency. Fix those 2 holes and we have a spectacular team.

You are lucky that ESPN links to your posts, because I can't imagine any true fan being able to digest the depressing shwill you spew without getting sick to their stomach.

[Steve]

This site is pathetic. Throw Felton under the bus and blame him for everything anytime he struggles(how one TO can be fully responsible for a 9-0 run is beyond me), then, as predicted, when he plays really well, his name isn't even mentioned. He struggled a lot at the beginning of the year, but since the coaching change, good games have been much more common than bad ones, but you would not be able to tell from this sorry excuse for a "blog." Nice "reporting." As the other guy said, how on earth is ESPN linking this site?!?!?

[rkb]

Felton almost had a triple double and nothing is said? That's weak. 5 of 8 shooting 3 of 4 from the three line decent defense 9 assists and 8 rebounds. Did you not watch the game?

[Al]

I have to agree with everyone here. I know there is not much to cheer for when a late lottery team beats a top 5 lottery team, but personally I am enjoying watching this team scrap and hustle way better then watching the pre trade team get down by 20 early and sleep walk through the rest of the game. Even in this game I think there is some talking points and discussion that can happen. Anyone notice that Kaleb has left the second unit in for extended playing time even when they are giving away the lead that the first unit built? Seems like Kaleb has the opposite game plan when it comes to pulling players out of the game. Clearly you were a Wallace fan since you say that 3-12 was not an especially strong game. Yet Batum shooting 50%, scoring 20 and getting 10 boards and your reaction was "certainly isn’t worthless". Wallace is gone, get over it. Personally, I am trying to offer this up as constructive criticism from a fan who has been coming to this site since the early days, you are going to lose readers.

[Katie]

I'm a lifelong Oregonian, a life-long Blazers fan, and I have no idea where the rest of these comments are coming from. This season has been painful and awkward. At this point, I'm doing something I've never done in my life: I'm rooting for us to lose, with dignity. Because that's how the draft game is played. Whether it should be or not is for another comment, but the fact is, last night's game was confusing and hard to watch. The Nets looked lost without Deron Williams, and the Blazers played right down to them. I LOVE Gerald Wallace, but I had to agree with his trade, because it made strategic sense.

So, I don't want to read about getting Gerald back. That insults him and us. I also don't want to read about how bad Felton has been, OR about some magical turn around for the past few games (it's called actually putting in some effort so that you'll get picked up in free agency during the off-season, and I don't want to reward that). I don't want to read about our play-off chances. I basically don't want to read any of the major angles I keep coming across. So, thank you, Alexis, for injecting some truth into the mix, and for reflecting a true fan's experience.

[Al]

I may be just speaking for myself here, but I don't think anyone is trying to claim that this season hasn't sucked. And I think the first paragraph was a really good summary of how the game felt for all Blazer fans. I think the complaints are coming from (again maybe just me) the majority of the recap was just lamenting about how this season has ended up and not really a recap of the game. We all know this season has sucked, you don't go from such a hot start to a lottery team and say "that was a good season". I guess I was just looking for some discussion about the win and what was done right in the game or what was not working. Not just a reminder that this win does not really matter and that this season sucked. I don't really think it makes anyone more or less of a fan to want to some discussion about the actual game.