The Majesty of German Engineering

Blazer fans who are still butt-hurt over the brutal smackdown Rip City received at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks will have to forgive me for this long, rambling diatribe of admiration and adulation for Dirk Nowitzki, but this is long overdue. Dirk Nowitzki has long been my favorite non-Celtic/non-Blazer player in the NBA (and frankly I probably like him more than half of the Celtics and Blazers I regularly root for), and while I've always enjoyed watching him play I've never tried to verbalize just how ridiculously good at basketball he is.

You'd think it would be hard to overlook a seven footer with three-point range and a godawful haircut, but how many of you nonexistent readers out there knew that Dirk was one of only two NBA players (along with Kobe Bryant) to have a solid decade of 1500 point seasons from 2000-2010? Or that he was behind only Bryant and Allen Iverson for total points scored in the last decade? Or that he's been in the top ten in almost every single statistical category for his entire career, and that he does so with an efficiency that is almost unrivaled in the Association? Or that he's fourth among active players (trailing only Shaq, Kobe and KG) in career scoring? How about the fact that his teams have won at least 50 games for the past eleven NBA seasons? Only Tim Duncan's San Antonio Spurs can boast the same feat as Dirk's Mavs, and Duncan has had All-Star caliber help for his entire career.

The numbers support Nowitzki as one of the all time greats, but beyond his contributions to the stat sheets, the style of his game and the degree of difficulty he imbues into the artistry of his shots in almost unrivaled in the game today. I mean, really, when have we ever seen a seven footer who can outshoot nearly every guard in basketball, finish at the rim with either hand, pass, rebound and yes, even play solid defense the way Nowitzki does. Dirk can score at an elite level in the low-post, at the elbow, beyond the three-point arc either off the catch or off the dribble, and he's done so while facing double teams for his entire career (!). Who else in the NBA can do all of that?

I swear, I will never get tired of watching him create his shot and then splash the net with that silky, high-arcing jumper. Even as he was eviscerating the Blazers for stretches in the first round of the playoffs, I couldn't help but smile every time he worked to create a favorable match-up, did one of his characteristic herky-jerky up & under moves and then jumped and faded away off the wrong foot to rain down another jump shot. There's nothing else quite like it in the NBA, and whenever he gets a switch on the Mavs' patented Terry/Nowitzki pick & roll, you can sense the sheer terror on his overmatched defenders face as Dirk calmly decides which way he's going to score. He could tell you exactly what he's going to do and how he will score and I get the feeling that there isn't a defender alive that could stop Nowitzki from getting the shot he wants.

Dirk Nowitzki is without a doubt the most un-guardable player in the NBA today, ahead of Durant, Kobe, LeBron James and Derrick Rose, and really, it's not even that close. LeBron and Rose can be coaxed into taking too many jumpers that they can't reliably hit (plus LBJ has absolutely no post game, whereas Dirk is among the top 5 post scorers of his generation), Kobe can be worn down and doesn't have the explosion to get to the cup anymore. Durant can be manhandled and muscled out of position in crunch time, and even so he doesn't finish as well with the left hand as Dirk does. Even the best and most complete players in the NBA can't even whiff Nowitzki's virtuosic offensive ability, the man has literally zero holes in his offensive game. He can flat out shoot it from anywhere on the court, and if you crowd his jumper he can take you to the hole going either direction and finishing with either hand. His jumper is safely beyond the reach of even the best shot-blockers in the NBA (he's as tall as anyone in the Association and he fucking fades away when he shoots it), and even if opponents try and frustrate him with length he has the speed and the handle to blow by defenders of that size. Smaller defenders have had success in the past by getting into Nowitzki's body and playing him physically, however you're really just playing with fire at that point since Dirk can either splash the jumper or draw a foul and calmly knock down the free-throws like no other big man in the game today. Not since McHale have defenders looked so lost, helpless and unsure in the low-post, and if the Mavericks should win the title with Nowitzki leading the way, then I agree with Simmons that Dirk will have leapfrogged both Barkley and Malone on the list of all-time great power forwards.

Sure, you can knock his defense a little and point to the collapses of the 2006 & 2007 seasons, but none of that can change the fact that Dirk has been as efficient, consistent and deadly as any player in his era. He seems to be able to pick his spots perfectly, knowing just when his team needs him to score ten in a row and when to simply play the game and work within the flow of the offense. Players with lesser ability than his have tried to do too much on offense and killed their teams, while Nowitzki has just kept on winning with a supporting cast that was as bad or worse than that of any other superstar of his era. Perhaps Dirk didn't quite turn chicken shit into chicken salad the way Jason Kidd did on the Nets in the early 2000s, and maybe KG would have traded his support for Dirk's at some point when he was still toiling away in Minnesota, but Dirk has had as rough of a go as any franchise player and has kept grinding away without complaining, demanding trades or acting like a prima-dona.

Malone had Stockton, and Barkley played with Olajuwon, Drexler, Pippen, Majerle, Kevin Johnson and Moses fucking Malone; Dirk had Nash before he was Nash, Jason Terry and Jason Kidd's corpse to help him win a title. The fact that this year's Mavs team, with its stellar support crew of Terry, Tyson Chandler, a washed up Kidd and Peja Stojakovic and 5'6" whitey JJ Barea is arguably his best team ever says it all. No, he hasn't won a title yet, but Dirk has won more Finals games than LBJ and has consistently waded through the toughest competition in the world and has remained one of the best players of his or any other generation. Make fun of his haircut or his typically German fandom of David Hasselhoff, but as a player Dirk Nowitzki deserves as much respect as anyone in the NBA and is an absolute joy to watch night in and night out. He plays the right way and he's been as good if not better than the rest of his peers for his entire career,he deserves our respect and praise for that.

A New Era

I think it's time to face facts. I haven't the time, energy or available resources to exhaustively cover the Portland Trail Blazers to the degree I would like to for this site. I have enough trouble finding the time to watch all of the games, let alone provide coverage and analysis faster and/or better than anyone else out there. With that in mind, I think a change of perspective and scope is in order that should hopefully allow me to get back to doing more of what I love: writing about NBA basketball.

And really, though the Blazers hold a special place in my heart, I'm interested in the players, teams, coaches and writers that make up the league as a whole, and I feel inspired to think and write about topics that don't necessarily fit the scope of a blog devoted to one team. And when limiting myself to just one team, it's hard to find inspiring topics on a day to day basis and even more difficult to find my own voice in this sea of hardwood commentary. Why can't I appreciate the deft interior passing of Kevin Garnett, or the sheer power of an emerging force like Blake Griffin or Russell Westbrook, or the sheer poetry and beauty that is a Dirk Nowitzki jumper? And if those are the things that inspire me, why not write about them?

I hope that in broadening my spectrum and widening my lens through which to view the NBA, I can not only provide better and more thoughtful (and hopefully more regular) commentary, but I may learn something about the game as well. Going forward I doubt you'll see many game recaps (unless something particularly interesting or telling happens and the most appropriate vehicle for telling the story demands it), but you will probably still see a fair amount about my two favorite teams, the Boston Celtics and the Portland Trail Blazers. I hope that this experiment will be successful and that someday one person may actually read something that I publish on the interwebs.

Tales of a Blazer Meltdown or GET THE #@*% REBOUND!!!!!!!!!!

Riddle me this: what do you get when you don't finish good defensive possessions with rebounds in the postseason? Any guesses? Anyone? Bueller? If you answered "a blowout loss in a pivotal postseason game," then you're a winner! (the prize is a longer summer vacation for the Blazers)

NBA defense can be hard to quantify and it is often difficult to tell what specific aspects of team defense affect the outcome of the game, but last night's evisceration of the Portland Trail Blazers at the hands of the Phoenix Suns came down to one thing: rebounding. Portland could not rebound the basketball to save their lives and it cost them this pivotal game five and perhaps the whole series as a result.

After jumping out to a seemingly dominant lead in the first quarter, the Blazers pretty much rolled over when Marcus Camby (who sparked the early surge with his interior defense and passing) went to the bench with his second foul. At that point, Portland was leading by 12 points and seemed to have the game moving at their tempo. In the last 4 minutes and change of the quarter, however, the Suns got three scores directly from offensive rebounds and closed the gap to 1 while also completely changing the character and tempo of the game to favor themselves and their brand of basketball.

All night long the Blazers threw away their own possessions (15 turnovers for 20 Phoenix points) while simultaneously giving Phoenix extra chances to score (the Suns had 15 offensive rebounds) and paid the price. This was especially frustrating because the Blazers actually played decent defense before the shot went up, they just couldn't rotate with the Suns and still box out underneath the basket. Because they were unable to limit the Suns' possessions, the Blazers also lost the ability to control the tempo of the game and force Phoenix out of their comfort zone. Instead, extra possessions lead to easy baskets, transition opportunities and big swings that knocked the wind right out of Portland's sails.

Marcus Camby was the only Blazer with more than 5 rebounds last night, and the only other Blazers with more than 2 rebounds were Andre Miller and Jerryd Bayless, who each had 4. Yes that's right, the two shortest rotation players for Portland out rebounded most of the Blazer front court. Despite playing 40 minutes and being almost 7 feet tall, LaMarcus Aldridge managed to grab only 2 rebounds and make Amar'e Stoudemire and Channing Frye look like the second coming of Charles Barkley and Moses Malone. Maybe if LaMarcus did something besides fade away for jumpers he'd be in better rebounding position, but hey, what do I know about basketball?

This loss was especially hard to take because it wasn't a case of Phoenix coming out scorching hot and draining everything they threw up, the Blazers clearly just didn't want the game as much as Phoenix did. Rebounds are about desire, drive and toughness. Every Blazer not named Marcus Camby was lacking in those areas last night and it showed. Defense and rebounding are the areas of the game that Portland needs to dominate in order to win, but last night they failed to match the intensity and effort of a middling defensive team and got their butts kicked. If the Blazers don't find their stones and figure out a way to keep Phoenix from beating them on the glass the Blazers will be on vacation by Thursday night despite having home court for game six. Alarm bells are ringing.

Danger Zone

Yeesh. That's about all I can say after last night's disappointing loss to the Phoenix Suns in a game that the Blazers could have and should have won. The tempo was slow and the game was ugly. Neither team effectively moved the ball or scored efficiently, which was exactly what Portland wanted, but the Blazers still found a way to lose and leave everyone at home in the city of roses with an awful taste in their mouths. Roy struggled, Aldridge disappeared and Andre Miller faded down the stretch in a game that Portland should have won by at least twenty points. How did this happen?

Strangely enough, it was the Phoenix defense that took the Blazers out of their game and allowed the Suns to steal the victory. Traps on pick & roll, sharp (by Phoenix standards anyhow) defensive rotations and physical play (again, by Phoenix standards) stood out as the Blazers looked lost and confused and could do little more than hoist contested jumpers all night long. The Blazers, on the other hand, had problems on defense with the Suns and left three-point shooters open down the stretch, which allowed the likes of Jared Dudley to get hot and spark his team to victory in an ever tightening playoff positioning battle.

What stood out the most about last night's contest was the fact that Phoenix absolutely KILLED the Blazers down the stretch with zone defense, cutting off all passing lanes and making it difficult for the Blazers to get the ball inside and create easy shots. Zone defense is a nice wrinkle that is underused in my opinion by most of the NBA, however Portland uses more zone than most so it was semi-bizarre to see them struggle so mightily against the Suns' zone defense during the fourth quarter last night. This was especially puzzling considering the Blazers have two excellent dribble penetrators in Brandon Roy and Andre Miller, both of whom can find creases in any defense and get a shot for themselves or kick to the perimeter to a teammate. Perhaps the Blazers were caught off guard, but the bottom line is that they had absolutely no answer for the zone and wilted down the stretch of a game that they lead for much of the evening.

The Blazers' shooting was absolutely abysmal, especially from behind the arc where Portland finished 2-17. The bench gave the Blazers almost nothing, and off nights from both Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge condemned Portland to defeat as inefficient and sloppy play (despite having only 4 turnovers) dominated the evening. Even with the off nights from the stars, Portland played Phoenix to a draw or narrowly won in nearly every crucial category except one: points on the scoreboard.

If there was a bright spot for the Blazers, it was Marcus Camby. Though he is still struggling on offense and going through the usual growing pains associated with learning a new system, Camby was a force on defense and on the glass last night. Although he scored only 7 points (albeit on 3-6 shooting), Camby grabbed 16 rebounds (ten in the first quarter) and blocked five shots while playing effective man to man defense and killer help defense all night long. Though he was credited with five blocks, the former Minuteman altered many more, and you could almost see the Phoenix players hesitate and think twice before trying to lay the ball in any time Camby was in the same postal code. This guy can flat out defend, and the Blazers will need that from him down the stretch of the regular season and into the Playoffs.

The other semi-positive from this game was Nicolas Batum, who despite submitting a muted stat line did all the little things we expect of him and helped the Blazers stand tough before fouling out in the fourth quarter. His jumpers weren't falling at a normal rate, but that didn't stop him from competing hard on both ends and staying focused on the game and winning. Not that I buy into +/- too much, but Batum was the only Blazer with a net positive result at +7 for the game. If only more players were like this kid, then the NBA would be so much better and more competitive from top to bottom.

Ultimately, this game is still just 1 of 82, and I don't actually like the idea of moving out of the 8 spot in the West so the loss doesn't hurt that bad. The Blazers will make the Playoffs, and if they do I'd much rather they meet a team like the Lakers in round 1 than anyone else. Portland already hates L.A. and plays them very well (especially at the Rose Garden), and a series like that is rife for the "nobody believes in us" element that could spell an upset. If the Blazers move up a seed or two, they'll likely meet Dallas, Utah or worst of all, Denver, in round one which would be way worse. We'll get into Playoff match-ups in the coming weeks, but just know that we want L.A. and something tells me they don't want us.

What I'd like to see more of from Portland down the stretch is crisp execution on offense with a goal of integrating Camby and maximizing his talents to the fullest. Camby can initiate offense from the high post and is the type of player who won't try to do too much, he just needs more time in practice and games to learn the system and his new teammates (and vice versa). I'm gearing up for an interesting and exciting playoff ride, so stay tuned for more pearls of wisdom.

Vive la France!

Forgive me for sounding like a little girl here, but Nicolas Batum is my favorite Blazer on this squad, and not just because he's a good looking Frenchman with an accent. Brandon Roy may be the team's best player and a remarkably likable guy, but for me it's no contest that Nic Batum is my favorite Blazer on this squad. What's not to like? He's young, super athletic, lanky and emerging as a serious player for this team. Sure, he only averages 9 points and 4 rebounds a game, but you have to remember that an NBA box score is as skewed and misleading as anything you'll hear on Fox News. Batum is a classic "little things" player, someone who does everything that doesn't show up in the box score to get his team in position to win, and without him these Blazers would be in way deeper trouble than they are right now.

I've heard comparisons to Scottie Pippen before, but don't worry, I'm not blowing that kind of smoke. Yes, they're both lanky forwards who defend multiple positions and play a solid all around game, but Scottie is one of the 15 best players EVER and Batum has done precious little to merit a favorable comparison like that (though it's more appropriate the time Tommy Heinsohn compared Leon Powe to Moses freaking Malone). Still, Batum has a high cieling and plays a similar game to Pippen albeit not nearly as well. The young Frenchman is one of the most valuable types of basketball players, someone who can positively impact the game without needing the ball or plays run for him to do so. Especially in today's world of dribble dominated one-on-one basketball, having a player like Batum is wonderful and necessary for a team to compete at a high level.

Offensively, Batum is emerging as a consistent threat who can both stretch the defense with his outside shot and bang on the interior against bigger bodies. While his jumper isn't as pretty and fluid as some, he's worked very hard on extending his range and is deadly from the corner on either side of the floor. Batum's improvement in his outside shot is what made Travis Outlaw expendable, and given the choice I'd pick the former over the latter any day of the week and twice on Sundays. While Outlaw is perhaps a better one-on-one scorer with his size and athleticism, Nicolas Batum (who is 4 years younger than Outlaw) brings a lot more to the table than Outlaw did for this Portland team.

Aside from reliably hitting the outside jumper, Batum moves well without the ball, crashes the boards at opportune moments and can get into the paint and finish, something that Travis always struggled with. Watching Batum last year and this season, it's been amazing and inspiring to see how much his game has improved and it gets me genuinely excited to see flashes of his full potential like the two games we witnessed from this weekend against Minnesota and Memphis. Against the Timberwolves, Batum slapped up 31/7/7 with 3 steals and took only 16 shots, hitting 11. 31 points set a career high for Nicolas, who then went out and put up 21 on 7-11 shooting against Memphis on Monday. For the season, Batum is shooting 57% from the field, 46% from 3-point territory and 91% from the free-throw line. While his action has been limited this year due to a torn labrum (he missed the entire season up until late January), he has improved significantly from his rookie campaign last year.

And the funny thing is that offense isn't the best part of his game. Where Batum helps the Blazers most is on defense, where he uses his size, quickness and wingspan to cover point guards and power forwards alike. This year, I've seen Batum match up with Tony Parker, Dirk Nowitzki and everyone in between with great results. And although the numbers don't necessarily reflect his exceptional play, consider this anecdote for a second: On Monday night, the Blazers were clinging to a small lead with the game on the line and the ball at half court. Andre Miller was set to inbound the ball, and as Memphis defended the play Miller was forced to throw a dangerous pass to Batum in the backcourt. From nowhere, O.J. Mayo (a player I would love to pluck and put wither on the Celtics or the Blazers) appeared and cleanly stole the pass towards the right corner at the three point line. Wasting no time at all, Mayo wheeled around and turned on the jets, driving towards the Portland basket. Batum was the only Blazer back and had to backpedal to stick with Mayo as he charged towards the rim. Batum stayed right with Mayo, and as the former Trojan elevated to lay the ball in and draw contact, Batum pulled his body away ever so slightly and managed to avoid fouling Mayo. The fact that Batum was able to stick with Mayo while backpedaling and still be in position to contest the shot was amazing enough, and the fact that he did so without fouling was incredible. But the best part of all was that Batum actually blocked the shot, using his incredible length to swallow Mayo whole and save the game. Any other 21 year-old player would have had a mental conniption after being hung out to dry like that, but Batum came up big when it mattered most and sealed the game on the road. It was simply amazing.

There aren't enough advanced stats in basketball that can account for how Batum's freakishly long arms affect opponents, or how many momentum changing blocks/loose balls he comes up with, but we need those to truly appreciate players like Nicolas Batum. This kid is already a heady player with all the athletic gifts you could hope for and is only getting better. If Portland is going anywhere this year, next year or after, Nicolas Batum will be central to their success. He's not a star and doesn't need to be, and that's just what these Blazers need. With Batum healthy, Brandon Roy doesn't have to guard the opponents' best perimeter player, and someone like LaMarcus Aldridge doesn't need to grab more than 2 rebounds a quarter. Batum fits so well with the rest of the Portland players, it's scary to think about what could happen during the rest of this season and next.

The young Frenchman is well on his way to becoming a dangerously complete player, and could potentially be someone who excels at nearly every area of the game. That's the kind of guy I want to help me win a championship, and if Kevin Pritchard, Paul Allen and Nate McMillan know what they're doing (they do), they'll make damn sure that no matter what else happens in the future they make space on the roster and in the salary cap for Nicolas.

Getting Set For the Nets

There's nothing like a game against a historically awful team to help wash the awful taste of a fourth quarter collapse against a divisional opponent away, so let's all take a moment and praise the scheduling gods for giving Portland an easy match-up against the hapless New Jersey Nets tonight (amen). The Nets are currently 5-51, which looks bad enough on its own and even worse when you consider that means that they've won less than 10% of their games this season (in case you were wondering, the 1972-73 76ers set the current mark for futility at 9-73, which comes out to an 11% winning percentage). So in theory this should be an easy win for a Portland team that is getting as healthy as they will get his year.

But this is still the NBA, and even a historically bad team like the Nets can surprise you at any time. They may not have superstar players, but New Jersey does have some talented players and could conceivably upset Portland tonight. I don't think it will happen, especially after a humbling and embarrassing home loss to the Jazz on Sunday night. The Blazers should be very focused and ready to play, which doesn't bode well for New Jersey as their best hope for victory on a nightly basis is to be underestimated and overlooked by the opposition.

As far as match-ups go, the Blazers should do very well across the board, especially up front. Offensively, LaMarcus Aldridge should have his way against the likes of Yi Jianlian either facing up or in the low post. Yi isn't exactly a physical beast and probably won't be willing to bang bodies with LA (which is only the best way to take Aldridge out of a game), so look for LaMarcus to have a big game tonight. I'm not sure how New jersey will counter that match-up, and on the other side of the ball Aldridge's foot speed and length should help contain the Chinese forward on the perimeter.

But as the Dude might say, "the Chinaman is not the issue here!" (Asian American is the preferred nomenclature) The match-up I'm really interested to see is Brook Lopez against Marcus Camby. If there has been a silver lining to this season for the Nets, it's Lopez, who has played strong, consistent basketball all year despite the fact that he's toiling for a team who's only motivation to win is to avoid being crowned the all time worst team in NBA history. Lopez is physically gifted, skilled and has a soft touch that extends out to 18 feet and beyond, making him a tough assignment for most of the NBA on a nightly basis. Marcus Camby has enough length to counter Lopez and is mobile enough to stick with him on the perimeter, but Camby won't be able to help out on defense (his biggest strength) and will be drawn away from the hoop for much of the night. The other Blazers will have to do a good job of containing dribble penetration tonight to keep Marcus in position and to prevent the Nets from creating open looks on the perimeter.

In the backcourt, it will be interesting to see how Andre Miller and Devin Harris play against each other, as they represent opposite ends of the NBA's spectrum of point guard types. Miller is crafty, methodical and physical, while Harris is a lanky speedster that thrives on quickness, dribble penetration and getting into the teeth of the defense. I don't know how well Miller will do against a speedy guard like Devin Harris, nor am I optimistic about Harris' ability to guard Andre in the post. I'll give Andre the edge here because Devin Harris hasn't been great this year while Miller has been everything Portland could have hoped for and then some. The Blazers will probably put Bayless on Harris for stretches to match his athleticism, though I'm not sure that Portland will even need to given the way Harris and the Nets have played this year.

Portland should win this game easily, although it is the first of a back to back which can be a trap if the players start thinking about the next game before this one is over so we'll just have to wait and see. If Brandon Roy is feeling good tonight, I doubt there will be another collapse like the one we saw on Sunday against Utah. it will be important for the Blazers to get on the Nets early and then keep the pressure on in the hopes that they will fold and resign themselves to a fate that seems inevitable. If Portland plays some defense (they almost always do), takes care of the ball and controls the glass (shouldn't be a problem), then they'll be in great shape to start this road trip off on the right foot.

Smothered

Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy, nothing gets me going quite like being able to go see my beloved Celtics take on the pesky Portland Trail Blazers in an environment as electric and hostile as the Rose Garden on a friday night. Tyler's mom deserves a big hat tip for scoring the Fox and myself some sweet tickets to the game, and the Celtics deserve an equally big hat tip for coming out and playing with effort, intensity and strong resolve just one night after slugging it out with the Lakers in Los Angeles.

Speaking of the Lakers, I have to get this off my chest before indulging y'all in any more basketball commentary. The two guys sitting next to Tyler and myself at the Rose Garden were Laker fans, why they were at this game is beyond me (though they both seemed intent on scoring with some fat chicks later so maybe that was their motivation). I mean, you're coming to a game featuring two of your most hated rivals and stepping into an arena full of people that think you're assholes and probably wouldn't go R. Kelly on you if you were on fire, so what gives? These guys looked like they just got rejected from some horrible reality show (the one sitting next to me was wearing a muscle shirt, while his buddy had on a ridiculous looking white hat and some kind of designer shirt and jeans), like the West Coast version of "Jersey Shore" or something.

They'd clearly been pre-gaming somewhere, and when they came up to their seats each had two cocktails with them (looked like cosmos, which is very ironic considering how macho and homophobic they were trying to be once the game got underway). They then proceeded to get plowed, talk shit, sexually harass me and everyone else within arms reach and then disappeared for the half of the game. Even when they were in their seats they weren't paying attention, clearly they spent a ton of money on their seats and their drinks and everything else just to do it and be seen and make sure that everyone else knows how loaded they are (and we did notice that they were loaded, but not in the way they were hoping for I'm guessing). They didn't come to watch the game, and they didn't care about the score or the level of play or anything else. In short, this is why I hate LA and the Lakers. Sure, Kobe Bryant is an insufferable prick and the fact that their third string center has a freaking publicist is grating, but the Laker fans are the primary reason that I loathe anything wearing purple and gold. These two guys personified everything that is wrong with being a sports fan and were so distracting and offensive that they took away from the game experience for us (well at least for me, Tyler was fortunate enough to have me between him and them and was flanked on his other side by some hipster girl who only wanted to dance to the arena music). Ugh, LA just needs to hurry up and fall into the ocean already, we've been tormented for long enough.

In other news, the Celtics played smothering defense from wire to wire and raised their intensity level against a weaker team (something they have been struggling with since Christmas) and prevailed easily in a defensive contest. Kevin Garnett provided a spark early on, finishing with 16 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocks in just 22 minutes, while Ray Allen had his jumper going throughout and lead the Celtics with 21 points on 9-14 shooting. With the exception of Ray Allen, every Celtic played limited minutes and got plenty of rest on the second night of a back-to-back (we barely saw KG or Pierce in the second half), and solid contributions from the entire bench helped the Celtics coast to victory. Boston did a great job of forcing turnovers, running shooters off the three point line, changing shots around the paint, and played Portland to a draw on the glass (at half time the Celtics were dominating the glass on both ends) to help themselves get a much needed victory on a tough West Coast road trip.

On the other side of things, the Blazers definitely played hard and competed with intensity but fell short because of Boston's defensive effort. Portland had only three players (Bayless, Aldridge and Andre Miller) in double figures, and despite a 40-23 free-throw advantage couldn't keep the game close for most of the night. The Blazers got killed by their own poor shooting (less than 34% overall and only 2-12 from distance), turnovers (they had 18 which lead to 20 points for Boston), and by giving up 44 points in the paint to a team of jump shooters. The intensity and effort was there, but the execution for the most part was non existent.

Perhaps the Blazers struggled a little bit to adjust to life without Steve Blake and to integrate Marcus Camby into the team (Camby was on and off, grabbing rebounds, changing shots and doing some little things well but also turning the ball over 5 times in 29 minutes), but really the Celtics perimeter defenders played extra hard and moved well, forcing tough shots that were out of the Blazers' comfort zone. Rudy, Roy and Martell Webster all struggled to find breathing room out there, which put too much of the burden onto LaMarcus Aldridge (who actually played a solid game with a 16/9) to keep things close. Mostly, I feel like the Celtics just played very hard, determined defense against these Blazers and took them out of their game, which proved to be the difference.

In the past, the Celtics have underestimated Portland and taken a lax attitude towards this Blazer team, however after losing in Portland last year, you could see that the Celtics had a totally different mindset on Friday night. While it's frustrating for Portland to lose, it is a huge sign of respect from the Celtics to be so attuned and focused on this game. In the long run, the Blazers will be ok and just need to learn from this experience to see what it takes to separate themselves from just about everyone else out West. Fortunately, the Blazers get to play the Nets on Tuesday, so a bounce back win should be coming right up. Until then, take it easy and remember that Laker fans suck!