During that great Portland run late in the third quarter, I remembered something Rick Adelman used to say when his Blazer teams in the early 90s played a great game.

“We were really in tune,” he’d often say. “The guys were really in tune with what we wanted to do.”

That’s what I thought I saw last night. Man, there were times when Portland played together about as well as it has all season. Really solid. Some thoughts:

– Sergio Rodriguez is really stepping it up. He’s penetrating and finding people and you can’t convince me he doesn’t see the floor better than any Portland point guard. He had about three passes last night that were eye-popping and logged eight assists and just one turnover in less than 15 minutes.

– When Rudy Fernandez is on a roll like that, it’s something. I’ve said it a thousand times, but you can have all your dunkers in the world, for me the biggest excitement in basketball is when one of these pure shooters gets on a run where the basket looks bigger than the double Jacuzzi in my bedroom. I mean, that three at the end of the third quarter — was there any doubt?

– The officiating sure got better in the second half, didn’t it? Sorry, just kidding. Great to see Joey Crawford in the building for the first time this season. He’s old school but nobody controls a game the way Joey does. Alvin Gentry got banged with a technical foul so fast he didn’t know what hit him.

– You will never, ever see a game again where Greg Oden gets 1 rebound and Joel Przybilla gets 1 rebound. Ever.

– It kind of irks me to hear from so many people how much better Phoenix is now that it’s back playing a running style. What a bunch of BS. Terry Porter was right. This team can’t play that way anymore and it ought to be tightening down on defense. The Suns were giving up tons of open shots last night and that just doesn’t work. Plus, Portland nearly doubled them in fast-break points, 19-10. For the record, Porter had the Suns five games over the .500 mark. Gentry has them three over. And really, if Porter hadn’t slowed the game down early in the season, Steve Nash, Shaq and Grant Hill would all be on crutches by now from trying to play uptempo basketball.

– Portland still gave up a ton of points in the paint — 68. The Blazers aren’t where they need to be on defense yet, by any measurement. The Suns shot 50 percent from the floor.

– Forget about magic numbers. The Blazers are in. The Suns are out.

– Nobody noticed it much, but Nic Batum had another solid game. 10 points, five rebounds and three assists. I watch the kid shoot prior to the game and I can tell you, he’s going to be a very good shot-maker at some point. Right now, he’s not bringing it to the game all the time, but eventually he will.

– Oden had three terrific blocks and continues to find ways to score. Shaq’s a load, but Oden wasn’t afraid.

– Just wondering when Shav Randolph doesn’t dress down for a game like this, rather than Michael Ruffin. Randolph’s actually not bad and is bigger than Ruffin. Just wondering.

– I love how Przybilla stands up to Shaq. Love it. Man, it’s a shame two guys in the NBA can’t even stand nose to nose and tell each other what they think without drawing technical fouls. Good stuff. There’s too many hugs in basketball today and not enough of this stuff.

– Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge were every bit as good as you’d want them to be. When they shoot and rebound well, Portland’s halfway home.

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Tags: Alvin Gentry, Dwight Jaynes, Grant Hill, Joe Przybilla, Michael Ruffin, Nic Batum, Rudy Fernandez, Sergio Rodriguez, Shaquille O'Neal, Shav Randolph, Steve Nash, Terry Porter