Everyone keeps talking about the Phoenix Suns confounding the Los Angeles Lakers with their zone defense. It’s becoming the story of the series, if you listen only to the television commentators.

But the fact is, the Lakers are shooting well enough to win and certainly scoring enough points. But the real problem for the Lakers is that, just like the Trail Blazers and Spurs, the Lakers can’t stop the Suns. That is one very good offensive team and even when Phoenix doesn’t shoot well, it still seems to put a lot of points up.

The Lakers are just not defending with any consistency and that’s the real problem. For the two games in Phoenix, the Lakers just did not guard the Suns very efficiently. I would not expect that to continue in Los Angeles but at this point I’m not quite as sure about the Lakers as I was a few days ago.

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You make the call… is it better to make the playoffs and continually fail to get out of the first round or to not even get to the postseason?

Hi Dwight,

I have no idea if you care about this data, but I’ve compiled some information which shows why I’ve been a frustrated Blazers fan ever since I’ve been a fan (since 1977). The thing that bothers me is the inability to win in the playoffs. And I’m not talking about winning it all, I’m only talking about winning in the first round. I’ve compiled a list of all the teams and it shows how many times a team wins their first round playoff series. I’m fully aware of the record consecutive playoff appearances streak and all that, but does it really mean anything if they consistently lose in the first round? Enough of my ranting, here’s the data:

Team  Yrs in Playoffs Years advanced Pct. of time advancing past first round
======================================================================================
Los Angeles Lakers        57    47          82.46%
Boston                                 48     37         77.08%
New York                           38     26         68.42%
Golden State                     28     17          60.71%
San Antonio                      30     18         60.00%
Philadelphia                      45     27        60.00%
Utah                                      24     14         58.33%
OKC/Seattle                       23     13         56.52%
Dallas                                   16        9          56.25%
Phoenix                              29      16         55.17%
Atlanta                                39      21         53.85%
Chicago                               29      15          51.72%
Detroit                                 39      20          51.28%
Houston                              26       12          46.15%
Milwaukee                         26        12          46.15%
New Orleans                      11          5          45.45%
Cleveland                           18         8           44.44%
Orlando                               12         5           41.67%
Indiana                               18         7            38.89%
New Jersey                        16         6            37.50%
Miami                                  14         5             35.71%
Sacramento                      29       10            34.48%
Denver                               21           7           33.33%
Washington                      25          8            32.00%
Portland                            28          8             28.57%
Los Angeles Clippers      7         2             28.57%
Toronto                                5          1            20.00%
Minnesota                           8          1              12.50%
Memphis                              3          0               0.00%
Charlotte                              1           0              0.00%

As you can see Portland is near the bottom when it comes to playoff success. I realize that Portland has made the playoffs a lot more than other teams, but all the first round failures are heartbreaking. I’m starting to question why people say that Portland is one of the most successful franchises in the NBA. Is it because of the fan/community support? Is it because of all the playoff appearances? Based on the above data it surely can’t be playoff success. I’m not sure if most people are aware of the other teams’ historical playoff results.

I’m not sure if this is that interesting, but thanks for looking at it.

Mike Werstlein

Wow. Didn’t realize it was THAT bad, did you?

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I’m hearing a lot about the courage it took for Brandon Roy to take the court Saturday afternoon, eight days after that knee surgery.

Well, yeah… it took courage all right. But I’d have to say, it took a lot more courage for the doctor who gave the green light for it. I mean, Roy is pain free, at least so he says. I’m sure for him, when you don’t hurt, it’s a no-brainer to want to play. But to me, the doctor who is willing to put his reputation — and perhaps his job as the team physician — on the line for this, well, that takes guts. Really, he’s the guy who could have stopped the whole thing. The buck stops at his desk and nobody else’s.

I mean, it hasn’t exactly been a banner season for the team’s medical and training staff. I wouldn’t have blamed him for taking the easy way out and just say no. So way to go, Dr. Don Roberts — and good luck to you!

And by the way, Nic Batum is probably taking a bigger gamble than Roy. He’s playing in serious pain and the point of that right shoulder sits out there for everyone to use as a target. He’s taking a lot of hits on that thing and I think a reinjury is possible. Good luck to him, too.

Taking nothing away from Roy. There’s one thing that’s been overlooked and I give him a ton of credit for it — there are a lot of stars who would not play in that situation because they are risking embarrassment. After all, it had been a couple of weeks for Roy without playing and he was out of shape, physically. He probably knew he wasn’t going to be capable of playing at his best — yet he was willing to do that to help his team.

His mere presence meant so much — and for the people in that building Saturday afternoon, it was a real goose-bump moment.

Moving forward to tonight’s game — I have no idea what to expect because I don’t think that we’ve yet seen both these teams have a good game on the same night. It’s been one or the other so far. If both play well, I have a feeling that the Suns will win, but I’m not entirely convinced.

Folks, if Roy can find his way back to his groove in a hurry, the Blazers have a real shot. And I mean a shot at the NBA Finals. I know that sounds crazy but the West is so balanced right now — the injuries all over the conference have leveled the playing field. Just about any of the eight teams could get to the Finals with a few breaks. It’s one of those crazy seasons where it’s possible. Portland holds the season-series edge over most of the teams it could play.

Except Utah. And the Jazz are incredible. A lot of people give me a bad time about liking Jerry Sloan so much but can you see why? The Jazz system makes that team least vulnerable to major injury of any of the contenders. It’s a plug-and-play deal, with the team executing its flex offense and solid defense in the same manner, no matter who the players are. This team doesn’t rely totally on one-on-one stuff to score, the way the Blazers do. It gets shots from its disciplined, unselfish offense.

On defense, watch how hard it is to get a mismatch against the Jazz. Their defense doesn’t switch the way the Blazers always do. You can’t get them to switch. The defender on the screener jumps out and hedges the man with the ball long enough for his man to get back to him. The weak side is alert enough to help if it must, but most of the time, it’s not needed.

Meanwhile, the Phoenix Suns are getting the Blazers to switch on pick-and-rolls virtually any time they want. Over and over we see LaMarcus Aldridge or Marcus Camby exposed in space trying to defend Steve Nash. This must be dealt with or it’s going to be the difference in the series.

But in this conference, I’m not at all sure what’s going to happen. I know the Nuggets look to be in trouble, but I’d expect — if at all physically possible — George Karl might make a comeback on the Denver bench for Game 5. At least make an appearance at the arena. If that happens, I’d expect a big emotional lift for the Nuggets. It’s an incredible situation in the West with balance like maybe never before.

But I’d be shocked if the West winner has enough to win it all. Cleveland and Orlando have too much for them.

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I’ve never been one of those guys who judges players by how many championships they’ve won. I’ve seen too many great players in all sports who have won one or none. Basketball is so much more of a team game than most people want to recognize — it’s way more than “How many rings has he won?”

But so many people want to break it down to that. Bill Russell, they say, was a better player than Wilt Chamberlain because he won many more championships. That’s ridiculous, though, because Russell, as great as he was, played in a stable lineup of all-stars coached by one of the greatest coaches who ever lived.

I don’t think Luc Longley was a better center than Kevin Duckworth, for example. But Luc won titles with the Bulls and the Duck never won one.

And even for the singular superstars — Jordan, Duncan, Bryant, O’Neal, Russell, Chamberlain, that breed — winning titles cannot be the only measure of greatness.

The point of this is to tell you that just because James hasn’t won an NBA title yet, I’m not going to allow that to affect my evaluation of him as a player. Jordan hadn’t won any yet, either, at LeBron’s age or experience level.

But I do think James has a ways to go.  Obviously, he’s capable of making great plays. Of doing great things. Of doing so many things that help you win games. Obviously, he’s a supreme talent.

But I’m not quite sure he’s totally harnessed his abilities yet. I don’t think he really understands all of what he can — and cannot — do. When your limitations are so much farther out there than everyone else’s, it’s difficult to know exactly where they are. And I do believe, no matter how good you are, you need to recognize what you can’t do.

LeBron, I think, is still struggling with that. Part of understanding his limitations will drive him to get better — as he’ll surely do. His outside shot still needs plenty of work and I would expect, as he gets older, it will continue to improve as it has over the last few seasons.

But his understanding of how to get teammates involved and how better to take care of the ball in critical situations will have to improve, too. That’s where he needs to be so careful of his limitations. I’m not sure that he’s quite the distributor he thinks he is. Not yet.

He’s going to have to better recognize opportunities, for himself and his teammates. For a great player, he seemed to turn the ball over in crucial situations too often. That can come from trying to do too much.

Lastly, I am not sure he’s quite the defender he’s billed to be. I’m not sure he ever will be, either, because so much is expected of him at the other end of the floor.

In summary, I think he’s going to get better. I know he’s going to get better.  But nothing is for sure. Nothing is guaranteed. Will he win championships? Probably. But as Orlando has taught us once again, it’s a team game. He could, quite frankly, use some better teammates.

Maybe that’s when he’ll improve the most.

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Oh, man. Gotta be a war, doesn’t it?

Normally, you’d say it’s like a Game 7 for the Magic, because they have to win this game — certainly they’re not going to win a Game 7 at Cleveland.

Or are they? I put nothing past Orlando. I mean, down 32-10 at Cleveland last night to come back and have an eight-point lead early in the third quarter — well, that’s some amazing stuff right there. But LeBron has come close to winning earlier in Orlando and he’s going to be in full-blown superstar mode this time (not sure sometimes if that’s a good thing or a bad thing — it’s certainly a bad thing if he’s having one of those games when he can’t buy an outside shot).

This game should be special.

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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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Shannon Brown was terrific in a reserve role last night for the Lakers. I tried to tell  you back in February that the deal that brought him to Los Angeles wasn’t the “Adam Morrison trade.” It was the Shannon Brown trade. Kid’s a good player.

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Yes, Stan Van Gundy paces the sidelines with all the body language of a neurotic car salesman on the verge of losing a sale. But I’m telling you, the guy can coach — and if being neurotic means you can’t coach, well, Larry Brown should have been retired decades ago.

Orlando executes and it’s fun to watch. Seriously, the Magic play the game together and with great purpose. Obviously, they are well prepared and stick with the game plan. They defend hard at one end, rebound the ball and on offense, play what’s going to become, I think, the new NBA prototype for basketball offense.

The Magic have a beast on the inside. A guy who still has miles to go before he’s totally polished at the low post, but Dwight Howard has so much strength and energy, he’s still just about impossible to stop. Then Orlando surrounds him with unselfish perimeter shooters, guys who will pass up a decent shot so a teammate can get an even better one.

With Howard inside demanding so much attention, the three-point shooters around the edges are getting wide-open looks. And then it becomes a numbers game. You know, that old stuff about shooting 40 percent from three-point range is like shooting 60 percent from two-point range.

The Magic run a lot of pick-and-roll and are also pretty good at getting people the ball heading to the basket. It’s not all Howard dunks. Orlando has players who can go to the basket hard and pull up for makeable short jumpers if necessary.

Hey, I’m an old-school guy. I’ve always preached the importance of getting the ball inside. I’ve always emphasized the value of getting the best big man. I think that’s all still true, but it has to be done in concert with solid three-point shooting.

We’ve witnessed the disappearance of the medium-range jumper and moaned about it a little. But the fact is, it’s justified. They give you three points for those shots behind the line, why shoot two feet in front of the line?

The new model of offense, I think, will not devalue the post player. You still have to find that guy who can command double-teams on the inside. But then the ball comes all the way out for open threes, which you simply have to make on a consistent basis. If you can’t make them, you better go find some players who can because it’s going to be hard to keep up without a sufficient number of three-point goals.

I’ve been one of those guys, for years, saying you can’t win championships with jump shots. With three-pointers. Now I’m not so sure. Getting points three at a time makes for some pretty efficient offense. And there are getting to be a lot of people — even BIG people — who can make those shots.

Now all you have to do is find the Dwight Howard part of the model. He guarantees you not just those three-pointers, but OPEN three-pointers.

By the way, who else has the best chance of developing an offense like that in the NBA? The Trail Blazers, I’d say. They’re pretty good from distance now and they have the beast inside in Greg Oden. And really, Howard isn’t that much more skilled one-on-one than Oden. He’s just more confident and stays out of foul trouble better. But it took him a few years to get there.

Can the Magic take it all the way? Sure they can. Will they? It’s still too early to tell. It may depend on whether whoever comes out of the West, probably the Lakers, has any energy left for another series.

It’s been so long since a team has come from out of nowhere — basically, not one of the chosen teams the league has marketed as a championship contender — to win it all that I can’t yet picture them doing it. And please, don’t think the Orlando defense isn’t a huge part of all this, it is terrific and the Magic wouldn’t be this far without it. But I’m fascinated by the offense.

I’ve seen the future of NBA offense and the future is Magical.

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Yes, LeBron was the hero. But appreciate Hedo Turkoglu, too. He hit two great shots to put the Magic in position to win.

Have a great holiday weekend.

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ESPN poked its mic into the Houston huddle last night and caught Rick Adelman saying, “It’s not about them. It’s not about them. It’s about us.”

Later, on NBA TV during the post-game news conference, Adelman said, “It’s about us. It’s about playing our game. We just need to play our game and see what happens.”

Somewhere, Jack Ramsay was smiling, I bet. That’s was vintage Ramsay stuff. “Play our game,” was his credo — and I don’t know that people understand what that philosophy really does. It’s something that not only binds a team together but gives it confidence. It’s the glue that can give an underdog team the idea that it CAN win against any team playing with any style, as long as it sticks to the game plan.

Even if logic tells you that what the Rockets are throwing out there on the court against the powerful Lakers is a mismatch of gigantic proportions.

I’m not sure the world is ever going to wake up to what a great coach Rick Adelman has been for lo, these many seasons. He’s always had the underdogs. I could never quite convince Trail Blazer fans what a group of overachievers Adelman’s Blazers were. Some of the fans always felt Adelman was what was keeping those Blazers from beating Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars and those Pistons, from beating Michael and Scottie and those Bulls, Magic and those Lakers.

Nope. They forget Portland’s miraculous win over Larry Brown, David Robinson and the San Antonio Spurs in 1990. Beating the Jazz and Suns in years when those teams had every bit as much talent.

And then look at those overachieving Sacramento teams — coming within some very poor ref calls of jumping past the Shaq-and-Kobe Lakers with a bunch of guys who never had success before Adelman arrived or after he left.

Mostly Adelman has done it was a speed game and an intricate offensive setup, crafting a custom offense built on what his individual players do best. Nobody could ever have taken better advantage of Clyde Drexler’s unique talent for slashing and better hidden his lack of a dependable jump shot. Nobody better used Vlade Divac’s passing and leadership skills. Think about how well Terry Porter, Kevin Duckworth and Jerome Kersey were allowed to do what they did best — without exposing what they couldn’t do. Nobody else ever got Chris Webber, Rod Strickland, Ron Artest, Latrell Sprewell or Kevin Duckworth to play so well.

He’s never won it all, people say. But I’d submit he came real close to it — and with rosters that had no business, in many cases, competing at such a high level.

But this season in Houston is his crowning achievement. And with a team that is having to play at a pace and style that has never been what Adelman has liked. “We have no choice,” he told me during the first-round win over the Blazers. “It’s how we have to play.”

On offense, with Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming out of action, the Rockets are a grab bag. “In the fourth quarter of games, we are just never quite sure where the scoring is going to come from,” he said. “With Portland, they have a guy they can give the ball to and just get out of his way. We don’t have that with Tracy gone. How well we do in the playoffs will probably depend on getting contributions from everyone in the fourth quarter.”

Somehow, Adelman and his staff have cobbled together a game. And they’ve leaned on their players’ unique integrity — playing hard and being unselfish. They get every ounce of talent out of this bunch — and maybe even more. I could be wrong but I think that’s what coaching is all about.

I heard Jeff Van Gundy during Thursday night’s game say, “Rick Adelman is a Hall of Fame coach” and it was a classy thing to say by the man Adelman replaced in Houston. And I think Jeff’s correct. Adelman’s ability to meld a disparate group of personalities and talents into a winning team is unique.

Now I don’t in any way expect Houston to go into Los Angeles Sunday afternoon and beat the Lakers. That’s way beyond what his roster is capable of doing. But the Rockets have done enough to prove their character and heart — and Adelman’s greatness.

He’s one of those people who never calls attention to himself and doesn’t do all the media stuff that could make him more well known. He’s not an ego guy. But I’ll say this, he’s one of those rare coaches who you see across the floor and just know — he can beat you with his team or he could beat you with your team. Take your pick.

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