Go Ahead and Smile

A lot sure has changed in a week.  After the Blazers lost 91-97 to Atlanta at home on November 3rd, a lot of Blazer fans were ready to hit the panic button.  It wasn’t just the home loss; it was the way they lost the game.  A fourth quarter collapse.  Key players not jelling.  Greg Oden rendered a non-factor by fouls again.  It was all of the Blazers’ faithful worst insecurities about their young season realized.  We knew that the integration of Andre Miller might not go smoothly, or in the worst case,  might not work at all.  We knew that there were question marks with Oden, even after his great preseason.  Still, it wasn’t supposed to happen this way.  The Blazers were supposed to come out and squash all of those insecurities along with their opponents (especially at home).

The loss to Atlanta tasted bad, almost as bad as the 94-97 home loss to Denver 5 nights earlier.  Two bad home losses with a road loss to Houston in between.  Okay, they beat Oklahoma City on the road on November 1st, but they’re a bad team (right?).  Just like Houston is a bad team?  No?  Ah, so the 3 early season losses weren’t the only surprises that the 2009-10 season had in store for us…

Bad times called for good medicine, and it wasn’t clear what Portland should grab out of the cupboard.  Andre Miller was already coming off the bench, and the Blazers were basically starting last year’s group with Martell Webster doing a stellar job of filling Nicolas Batum’s shoes (actually, I would argue that he’s outplayed last year’s Nic so far, even defensively).  Last year, if you remember, Portland’s season didn’t start out picture-perfect either.  In fact, it was worse, as they lost a key player (Oden) to injury.  I don’t know about other Blazer fans, but one of the first positive thoughts I rested on after the Atlanta loss was “at least nobody is hurt”.  In 2008-09, it was an emotional home win that started the Blazers in the right direction – the OT “BRoy miracle game” against Houston (easily one of the best Blazer wins ever).  With that game, the switch had flipped last year.  Portland suddenly started mastering bad teams and competing (and often winning) against the good ones.  And I would argue that Portland didn’t really face a bad team in the first six games this year, as Oklahoma City is much improved (not that surprising) and Houston is much better than anyone expected (if you tell me you predicted that, you’re probably one of those people that makes about 100 outlandish predictions a day and brags about the 1 that came true… dad?).

I believe that the switch has flipped this year with Portland’s win over San Antonio.  Sure, it wasn’t an emphatic win.  San Antonio remained within striking distance the entire game and threatened in the fourth.  They also lost Tony Parker early.  The Spurs aren’t firing on all cylinders right now either, but this is still a quality opponent.  There were many notables about this game, but two stand out to me the most.  The first was Greg Oden.  He was just different, beginning with this game.  More comfortable, more confident.  He played Duncan 1 on 1 for most of the game and held his own, admirably.  He was the force that stemmed the tide of the Spurs fourth quarter rally, with key blocks on Duncan and Ginobili.  The second notable was Portland’s starting lineup, which included three guards (Andre Miller, Steve Blake, and Brandon Roy).  McMillan had already used this lineup for several stretches earlier this year, including the disastrous losses to Denver and Atlanta.  It didn’t work very well in those games, with Portland getting outrebounded and manhandled inside by teams that had no business doing so against Portland.  But there it was, the three-guard lineup starting off a key game against the Spurs.  A game that already felt like a must win, even though it was 6 games into the 2009-10 regular season.  Was I the only Portland fan that was scratching his/her head?

Fast forward 1 week, and the Miller/Blake/Roy combo is nothing short of bottled fire.  Smash hit for McMillan.  The Blazers are about 100 times more fluid than they were in their first five games, with the ball zipping around the perimeter to find Blake for open threes, free Aldridge to slay opponents with his silky jumper off pick and rolls, and (perhaps most importantly), work its way into the post where Greg Oden can score.  Greg Oden scoring! He’s facing up and not looking like a train wreck while doing so.  He’s threading jump hooks.  He’s moving good post defenders (like, Tim Duncan good) and getting easy buckets at the rim.  He’s getting to the foul line and converting with that free throw stroke that has always looked good.   Could the Blazers have found the answer to their much-discussed (and some might say, celebrated) fatal flaw of a missing low-post scoring threat?  Sure, Oden still has his rough edges, but he’s been a legitimate offensive threat in 4 straight wins.  I hope someone has put together a highlight reel and mail-bombed Charles Barkley’s inbox!

Sure, it’s 3 wins against bad teams.  Minnesota and Memphis are disasters.  Still, like the early losses that were so concerning, it’s the way the Blazers played in the wins that make those games so hope-inspiring.  They’re sharp.  Oden is a different player.  They are a few conversions on wide-open three-point shots away from three 30-point blowouts.  It’s time to smile, because the thing that was so disturbing about their first five games, a lack of team chemistry, has suddenly evaporated.  The three-guard lineup has ended up looking like pure brilliance, as it has provided just enough continuity for Brandon Roy to remain effective in the half-court while also giving Andre Miller the needed court time to jell with the rest of the starters.  Now Portland is doing what we hoped they’d be able to do – execute in the half court (never an issue before the advent of Miller/Roy) while also getting out and running for some easy buckets.  This new, hybrid Trail Blazers already feels superior.  We’re seeing how deadly LaMarcus Aldridge can be when he’s given the chance to run, something we had already seen flashes of.  Portland’s athleticism is on full display.  With Martell Webster, Travis Outlaw, Rudy Fernandez, and Jerryd Bayless flying up and down the hardwood for solid 5-minute stretches, the Blazers are submitting bona-fide “play of the night” material every game.

I don’t mean to sound like the growing pains are already over.  They aren’t.  There’s still going to be duds from Oden, and there’s still going to be stretches where Miller and Roy grind the gears trying to play the same role.  Still, we’ve seen that Portland can be a better team this year when they click.  We’ve seen more than flashes of potential from Greg Oden, who is one contested game away from a true monster statistical performance if he can continue his improvement at avoiding stupid fouls.  And, we’re seeing this in week 3.  It stands to reason that Portland can have this honed by April.  Go ahead and smile.

Tags: Andre Miller, Brandon Roy, Greg Oden, LaMarcus Aldridge, Martell Webster, Nate McMillan, Steve Blake, Tim Duncan