Man, guard somebody. And at the other end, make some attempt at getting the ball inside. Does this sound like a broken record with the Portland Trail Blazers?

The aggressive team gets the calls and the Nuggets got more than their share all day long. And they ganged up on Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge, making it extremely tough for them to operate. At the upper level of the NBA, this is how it works. It’s a playoff preview, too — because that’s the way any good team, given time to prepare, is going to play the Blazers.

And the Blazers don’t have enough ball movement and player movement to take advantage of it. That’s where the total frustration comes in. This is not a new problem.

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Tags: Brandon Roy, Denver Nuggets, LaMarcus Aldridge, Portland Trail Blazers

And before we get into that, let me say one thing. Man, Carmelo Anthony continues to improve. I’m not sure I’ve seen LeBron James have a game that good at the offensive end. He was incredible. And if he keeps playing like that, he’s a big-time MVP candidate. Forty-one points on 21 shots? Sick.

There are all-stars, then there are superstars. ‘Melo was a pure superstar on this night.

By the way, the Nuggets were playing the second of back-to-back games, didn’t get into Portland Thursday until 4 a.m. and were playing without starting off-guard J.R. Smith. Not a bad effort there by the Nuggets — they seemed to have more energy than the Trail Blazers in the fourth quarter.

And now for the game. First, the unimportant stuff:

– Portland lost. In the overall scheme of things, it’s not a big deal. This early in the season you don’t really worry too much about wins and losses. The Blazers need to play better — win or lose. And if Greg Oden could have made even one of those two free throws, we’d probably be analyzing a Portland win.

– The Oden free throws. That was exactly why he needs to play more meaningful minutes in games. He’s needs to get more comfortable with that situation. And really, Roy and Aldridge also missed late free throws. Bottom line: Portland shot 80 percent from the line in the game. As a game moves along, when you’re shooting that high from the line, percentages always seem to move you back toward the norm. Or up to the norm. Stuff happens.

And some things that probably DO matter:

– This game was a wonderful chance for people who didn’t watch the NBA in the 1980s to see the contrast between today’s game and the ’80s. Portland played defense like the NBA did in that era, or in the early 1990s, when teams scored consistently between 110-120 points a game.

It was you-guard-your-man-and-I’ll-guard-mine kind of stuff. No help to speak of. Anthony consistently beat whomever was guarding him and had open shots. All. Night. Long. Come on, folks — how many points does he need to score before you double him and take the ball out of his hands?

Meanwhile, at the other end, Brandon Roy got off in the third quarter for a while, but otherwise, he was fenced in all night. He constantly had other players coming at him.

Regular readers on this blog know how often I’ve said this, but seriously — GOOD TEAMS ARE NOT GOING TO LET HIM GO ONE-ON-ONE LATE IN GAMES!!!!!!! Sure, the New York Freaking Knicks might. But Houston and Denver are not. They’re going to run at him and get the ball out of his hands — like they did last night.

With 10 seconds to go, Portland runs the same old deal with Roy trying to get to the basket but he had no chance. Roy — who usually is loathe to pass the ball to Oden — dumped it off to him and Oden seemed to know he shouldn’t have it. He immediately tried to flip it to Rudy Fernandez, but was fouled first.

Damn, if Oden is the defense-first, don’t-worry-about-offense center, why is he even out there in that situation, where you’re behind and need a basket to win? (Yes, that’s sarcasm. I would have played him — just surprised they did. If you want him to grow, you must live with his mistakes — like you did with Roy and Aldridge).

Anyway, I’m just saying. How can you sit there and see what the Nuggets are doing with Roy and not do the same thing to Anthony? On defense, you have to help each other. The backbone of good NBA defense is help. You can’t let players eat you alive one-on-one because too many of them can do just that.

And man, if you want to free Roy for a shot late in the game, move him around. Move the ball around. Don’t make it so easy for other teams to lock in on him. Right now, Portland’s ball movement is just awful. They aren’t moving bodies, either. It’s a bunch of guys standing around watching one guy — not always Roy, sometimes others –  play one-on-one.

They don’t even get anything out of their pick-and-roll anymore. Especially Roy. He never even looks for the guy who sets the pick. And rarely uses the pick.

Now you can say, hey — it’s only the second game of the season. Yeah. Except that all those things were huge problems all last season. Portland’s team defense has not progressed at all this season. Yes, opponents have not shot well against them. But mostly, it’s been because they’ve just missed a lot of easy shots. Opponents are still getting just about whatever shots they want so far in the exhibition and regular season.

And I when I harped on this stuff last season, all anyone wanted to do was point to the 54 wins and call me a malcontent. Well, they may win 54 again. But they’re never going to beat the best teams in the league unless they address some of this stuff. And really, it all starts with the defense.

And their willingness to settle for jump shots on offense. And it’s easy to do that, because opposing defenses are sinking back into the middle, sagging all over the place. And Portland’s ball movement has been so poor the defenders can still close on the outside shooters, which is why Portland is really struggling from the three-point line.

Without movement of the ball and players on offense, it’s going to get tougher and tougher for them to score.

– LaMarcus Aldridge. What the heck is going on there? They try so hard to get him off but so far he’s seemed so out of sync. You assume he’ll snap out of it soon.

– The point guards. I’m not sure any of them are playing very well. Miller is forcing bad shots and Blake is missing good shots. Very unsettled situation there.

– Martell Webster. Great energy and playing well. I’d like to see him get the ball more often. Like to see him get more shots.

Oh well, it’s the NBA. There’s another game Saturday. And hey, there’s even the season’s first Talkin’ Ball right after the game on Comcast Sportsnet.

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Tags: Andre Miller, Brandon Roy, Carmelo Anthony, Denver Nuggets, Greg Oden, LaMarcus Aldridge, Martell Webster, Portland Trail Blazers, Steve Blake

The Denver Nuggets bring Carmelo Anthony and a whole lot of other good players tonight to the Rose Garden for this TNT game. And we’ll find out how much defensive progress Portland has made thus far.

Certainly, too, we’ll find out about the offense. The Utah Jazz carved up Denver pretty well at times last night and Portland should, with patience, do the same thing. The Nuggets didn’t seem real interested in being gritty at the defensive end. This is an early division “big game” and yes, while it’s early, you’d like to establish a superiority as soon as possible if you want to win the division title.

The way to beat these guys is attack them, take it to the basket, get into the paint. And then at the other end, you have to pay attention and not let them get easy baskets.

And oh, you better rebound. These guys are good on the boards. Real good.

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Tags: Carmelo Anthony, Denver Nuggets, Dwight Jaynes, Portland Trail Blazers

Big surprise, the Lakers clinched a berth in the Finals. Yeah, I’m shocked — the team with far and away the best record, and best talent, in the West has locked up a Finals berth.

It’s up to Orlando to provide the upset. And people all over are worried that somehow the NBA is going to derail the Magic because “the league wants Kobe and LeBron in the Finals.”

My only concern for Orlando tonight is that its players don’t start buying into that crap. For one thing, if you knew the mindset of a Danny Crawford, a Steve Javie or a Joey Crawford, you’d know that they’re just cranky or tough-minded enough that if the league “wanted” them to help one team out, they’d bend over backward NOT to do that.

Second, if you’ve watched that series, you’d know by now that in Orlando’s three wins, officials have had all sorts of chances to stick it to the Magic but haven’t. If they wanted to fix that thing, it wouldn’t have gone this far. Sure, Orlando’s got a couple of bad calls — but so have the Cavs. That’s how difficult basketball — at just about any level — is to officiate.

If you think NBA officials are bad, run a few college games back on your DVR.

My lasting vision of the complaining about referees in this postseason comes from George Karl, who was whimpering after his team’s Game 5 loss to the Lakers — which came much more as a result of his team missing 11 consecutive shots than it did anything the referees did. But it’s a lot easier to blame officials than it is your own sloppy game plan.

If Karl’s team had only been able to run a few simple inbounds plays along the way,  that series would have turned out much different.

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Tags: Cleveland Cavaliers, Danny Crawford, Denver Nuggets, Dwight Jaynes, George Karl, Joey Crawford, Los Angeles Lakers, Orlando Magic, Steve Javie

Really, the Lakers need to get this one and earn themselves some time off before the Finals. If they have to go to seven games again . . .

But they won’t. Denver finally implodes tonight.

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Tags: Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers, NBA playoffs

That thought popped into my head this morning as I read Dallas owner Mark Cuban’s apology to the mother of Denver Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin, which appeared on Twitter and Cuban’s blog.

Cuban, to a lot of fans, is the perfect owner. He’s a self-made billionaire and a sort of regular guy. Imperfect like us all, a fan first and an owner second. I mean, for a lot of people, if they owned a team they’d want to be just like Cuban — sit on the bench with the team, travel with it, just sort of be one of the guys.

His players seem to love him — and they ought to because he spoils them to death. He’s taken the Mavericks up a notch in Dallas and he obviously seems willing to do anything to win. Perfect owner, right?

Well, I’m not so sure his fellow owners and the league office believe that. They see him as a royal pain in the ass, complaining about stuff all the time, screaming at referees and even at players on other teams. To them, he’s an uncouth embarrassment, a very loud, undignified example of what an owner of a professional sports team ought to be. And from what I’ve heard, they rue the day they allowed him into their private club.

On the other hand, we have Paul Allen. He also wants to win and is perfectly willing to put his money where his heart is. Truth be told, the man has lost hundreds of millions of dollars on his Trail Blazers, all in search of an NBA championship.

But he’s quiet. He doesn’t often bother with owners meetings and has never gotten into the social part of being an owner in the NBA. You’ll see him on the baseline, under the basket, munching on some popcorn, cheering, chatting with his general manager. But this is never going to be the guy who is caught screaming at a player on another team — or that player’s mother. I’ve never seen him where he didn’t seem to be totally under control.

Paul’s deal isn’t hanging out with the team, although in the early days of his ownership, there were some H-O-R-S-E games with Clyde Drexler and Kiki Vandeweghe. Allen likes the player personnel side of it all. He’s heavily involved in the draft and in trades. He’s got his own opinions, and as the owner of the team, expresses them. Probably quietly, I’m guessing. But when you own the joint, you don’t need to speak loudly. People listen.

As long as you aren’t in his crosshairs, Cuban is hard to dislike. He’s a character. He’s different. The Mavericks almost seem to be named after their owner and I kind of wish there were more like him. I like Allen, too. In fact, my only regret is never having a chance to get to know him better. I think we’d have some very interesting conversations. 

I’m happy they’re both in the league. Balance is nice. And really, I have to tell you it would be kind of fun to have at least one goofy guy around here to keep things lively.

I could just picture Cuban, as the owner of the Blazers, on the floor going crazy when Trevor Ariza took out Rudy Fernandez. . .

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Tags: Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets, Dwight Jaynes, Kenyon Martin, Mark Cuban, NBA, Paul Allen, Portland Trail Blazers

In all the fuss about Kevin Pritchard not getting votes, I forgot to comment on this. Denver’s Mark Warkentien, a former Blazer guy, was named the winner.

How silly. They ignored the guy who engineered a deal that turned one team from an also-ran into a legit contender. That guy, of course, was Joe Dumars, the once-respected genius running the Detroit Pistons. Yeah, I know it was all about cap space. Sure. But look, the guy gave up Chauncey Billups, a player still good enough to, by himself, turn Denver’s season around. And Dumars, for that kind gift, also took A.I. off the Nuggets’ hands — a player who was pretty much useless.

Sorry, cap space be damned, that’s just a ridiculous trade. Fans who bought tickets to see the Pistons play this season deserve a refund along with a written apology from Dumars. That deal cut the heart right out of the Pistons.

And so Warkentien wins the award? For what, agreeing to a lopsided trade that ANYBODY would have agreed to do? I don’t think so. Give it to Joe for getting the Nuggets, who arguably weren’t going to be good enough even to make the playoffs in the Western Conference, into the conference finals.

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Tags: A.I., Chauncey Billups, Denver Nuggets, Detroit Pistons, Dwight Jaynes, Executive of the Year, Joe Dumars, Mark Warkentien

A few items before looking ahead to the playoffs:

– An incredible season, all in all. Congrats to Paul Allen, Kevin Pritchard, Tom Penn, Larry Miller, Nate McMillan and the dozens of dedicated Trail Blazer employees who make it a very special organization. My hat is off to them. The success they have had this season is well deserved.

– Wednesday night’s game was perhaps the weirdest of the season. Can you remember a game where the winning team’s starting lineup didn’t produce a single player who scored in double figures? How about a game where the starters combined for just 32 points — yet the team scored 104 and won by 28? That’s borderline ridiculous.

– Sergio Rodriguez had one of those games where you wonder just how good he could be for a team that wants to push the ball all the time. Man, he’d be good for the Knicks.

– Rudy Fernandez had a great night — but he looks awfully gimpy to me. His back was bothering him, big time, by the end of the game. And I also believe the two men from Spain are the only ones who really understand how to feed the ball to a big guy at the rim.

– The Blazers have had so much more energy than the teams they’ve been playing lately and Wednesday was no exception.

– Carmelo Anthony was worse, even, than his 3-for-18 shooting night indicated. The guy is easily distracted.

– LaMarcus Aldridge and Brandon Roy combined for 15 points on 6-for-17 shooting. And the Blazers won by 28 — that’s not likely to happen again for a decade or so.

– Man, New Orleans let Michael Finley get off a clear three-point shot to tie that game at the end of regulation down in San Antonio and it messed up the seeding all through the conference. Foul the guy.

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Tags: Brandon Roy, Carmelo Anthony, Denver Nuggets, Dwight Jaynes, LaMarcus Aldridge, Michael Finley, Portland Trail Blazers, Rudy Fernandez, Sergio Rodriguez

Really, it all depends on what happens in Texas. The Trail Blazers meet the Nuggets tonight in the Rose Garden at 7:30. But San Antonio and New Orleans play at 5 o’clock.

Quite obviously, unless the early game goes into overtime, the Trail Blazers will know who won prior to the tip-off (or soon after) of their game. If San Antonio loses (honestly, I don’t see that happening but it could), Portland will be locked into the home court. The Denver game suddenly becomes meaningless to the Blazers in the overall scheme of things.

If I’m Nate McMillan and the game doesn’t mean anything in regard to homecourt advantage, I’d rest my key people — just as Miami and Atlanta did last night. Why take a chance of anyone getting hurt?

UPDATE: OK, I should have mentioned that if Houston loses, Portland could grab the third seed by winning the Denver game. Sorry, was too busy making my main point — the team’s fate could well be decided prior to the game, in which case, I’d rest players.

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Tags: Denver Nuggets, Dwight Jaynes, Nate McMillan, NBA playoffs, Portland Trail Blazers

This is is a story of what went on Monday night in Denver with Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin, who is known for this kind of junk. This is what Kings’ owner Joe Maloof thought of a play Martin made on Spencer Hawes:

 ”That was thuggery,” Maloof said, “and you can quote me on that. Kenyon Martin wasn’t trying to block the shot. He went right at Spencer when he was running full speed and at the [height] of his jump, when he was most vulnerable,” according to the report.

“Completely unnecessary. The Nuggets might not want to hear this, but there was no excuse for that, and he [Martin] needs to apologize to Spencer and our organization. That just wasn’t right,” Maloof added, according to the Bee. When asked about the play, Martin shook his head and said it warranted a foul, not a flagrant 1, according to the report.

Just be careful around this guy, with the playoffs looming. I think he likes hurting people.

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Tags: Denver Nuggets, Joe Maloof, Kenyon Martin, Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings, Spencer Hawes