Man, this city’s got a love affair with the guy.

Never mind the fact that the Hornets haven’t yet said they’d shop him — although Paul’s making it easy for them to justify it to their fans because he’s asking out (which makes it possible for the team to turn the player into the villain and make a deal with less criticism). And never mind there may be other teams on Paul’s list that could make better offers than the Trail Blazers.

Everybody wants Paul and they want him now, darn it!

But you have to give up something to get him. For just two years, too, quite possibly. I’m not at all convinced that he doesn’t have a plan to bolt wherever he is as soon as he can and head off to join pals in New York or Miami.

Anyway, would you surrender Greg Oden to get him? Would you give up Oden and Nic Batum? How about Brandon Roy?

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Well, we’ve got months now to evaluate this season and to look ahead to next year. So we’ll save an in-depth analysis for all the dog days to come. At the same time, a few observations on Thursday night’s season-ender:

– Man, why did Jerryd Bayless keep entering that game? I know Andre Miller didn’t play well but he played just 18:26 compared to Bayless’s 29:10. One veteran media guy who has seen more NBA games than I have over the years turned to me at halftime and said, “That guy (Bayless) may be the most selfish player I’ve ever seen. And to keep putting him out there to watch him go to the basket to get his layups blocked is crazy.”

– Rudy Fernandez may have gotten hot in this game. Well, yes, he WAS hot. But seriously, he probably gave up more easy points than he scored. The guy bordered on tragic comedy at the defensive end.

– Martell Webster and Fernandez are pulling shots out of their backside, including several three-pointers with hands in their face, but when LaMarcus Aldridge and Brandon Roy come back in the game, the ball stops going to the weak side of the floor. It’s back to the two-man game with Roy and Aldridge and so the ball stops going to the hot hands. Stops cold. And speaking of cold, Roy was 4 for 16 and Aldridge was 5 for 17. Ugh.

– See previous item when talking about the Portland coaching situation. Unless this team changes its offensive system (or actually finds an offensive “system”) this is what’s going to happen in the postseason. The whole scheme is dependent upon those two guys carrying the team with a series of one-on-one moves out of isolation. Works in the regular season when teams have no prep time and cannot adequately prepare in the avalanche of an 82-game season. But in the post-season with time to prepare? It’s a suicidal offensive scheme. Portland made the Suns’ defensive scheme look like the legendary Pistons’ Bad Boys defense.

– One thing I heard afterward from several people — “Well, the Suns were just the better team.” Yes, I’m afraid that’s correct, as long as Nate McMillan is coaching this team. All the injuries have bought McMillan another season — one more year to show what he’s doing isn’t going to work in the playoffs over the long term. I’m astounded at how people don’t look at how many open shots Blazer opponents get out of their offensive systems and how many contested shots Portland ends up having to shoot because its players cannot create their own shots against double and triple-teams.

– Yeah, the off-season will once again be filled with the Blazers searching for “another guy who can create his own shot.” Damn, Roy can do that as well as anybody but not against three guys. Already, the Blazers play more one-on-one than any other team in the league. Roy is in isolation more often than LeBron or Kobe. HELP THE MAN! Get him some stuff that he doesn’t have to turn himself into a pretzel to get! Move the ball and move bodies instead of just standing around! Yeah, I know, you’re sick of hearing that. But the problem is, you’re going to get even more sick of watching it in the future.

– The Blazers used 10 players by halftime. Damn, 10? This is supposed to be time to shorten the rotation, right?

– Nic Batum was sensational at defending Steve Nash. But Batum is also one of Portland’s best shooters and he got just one shot — with Steve Nash guarding him. And he played only 13:59. What a joke. So often, he exited for Bayless — who gave Nash someone to guard. The entire season, the Blazers never figured out how to use Batum’s length to challenge Nash. What a totally wasted opportunity. Instead, we saw Bayless trying to take him to the basket — which the Suns finally figured out how to stop. Man, just have a big man drop off his man and go block the shot — Bayless isn’t going to drop the ball off to anyone, he’s just going to try to force something up.

– Greg Oden? Bizarre. That’s all I can say. We’ll have more time to talk about it this summer, but man, this kid has a long way to go.

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Normally, it’s a good thing when your team opens a big game by making a bunch of shots. But when it’s the Trail Blazers, and they’re hitting outside shots — and those shots are being made by Jerryd Bayless and Andre Miller — it may not be a great sign of things to come. In fact, it might be a warning sign. It’s just not going to keep happening. And it’s fool’s gold. The Blazers weren’t really playing as well as it looked when it was 9-0 and 21-7 — it was just some long jumpers going in, and that’s never likely to continue with this team.

The Blazers just keep trying to swim upstream in the playoffs. Isolation games just don’t work so well when teams have the opportunity to prepare. Don’t think the problems Brandon Roy had Monday night were only because he’s still fighting the residue of that knee injury. Oh no. This is stuff we’ve seen before when teams have had a chance to truly prepare for the Blazers. Most nights, Portland doesn’t move the ball and move bodies well enough to get Roy enough open space to take his man. Which of course leads to a big stall in the Blazer offense.

But there were so many other things that went off the tracks in that game, too. I mean, I’ve been critical in the past of Nate McMillan’s two-foul rule in the first quarter. This was another time when I think it would have been wise to stick with Marcus Camby even though he drew his second foul. Hell, he’s not going to foul out of that game. He knows how to play with foul problems. But at the same time, the flood of bodies off the Portland bench in this game astounded me.

Man, teams that win a Game 5 in a 2-2 series win 83 percent of the series. If there’s ever a time to shorten the rotation, this was it. Particularly in a road game and particularly in a game where there’s a full two days rest after the game. I don’t know I’d have run all these guys out there in the second quarter — like a JV coach trying to make sure guys get their letter at the end of the season.

And really, Rudy Fernandez plays more minutes than Martell Webster? Rudy plays 15 minutes and takes one shot? One shot? I cannot even imagine why he’s still in the rotation for this game. At all. Makes no sense. What does he have to do to be benched? How bad does he have to play? And fewer than 20 minutes for Nic Batum? Seriously? That makes no sense at all. And oh by the way, while he’s out there, might be a fresh idea to actually run some sort of play for him, don’t you think? He might be the most reliable outside shooter the team has.

And even though Portland had a great start in this game, I’m going to ask why Brandon Roy was not in the starting lineup? I think it’s tough enough for him to get back into the swing of things without playing an unfamiliar role. That off-the-bench deal can be difficult for a lifetime starter and he appeared to never really get into the flow. Start him or don’t bother.

All in all, it was just one more example of how tough it’s going to be for Portland to win in the playoffs in the future with this kind of offensive attack. Brandon Roy needs help getting shots. He needs to have a system in place that just might help him get open. He needs not to have to wear two or three players on his back. This means ball movement and player movement. Damn, I get sick of writing that. But when I keep seeing what I saw out of them Monday night, I just scratch my head.

Same with the Portland defense. Man, they actually started the game by trying not to switch that pick-and-roll. That lasted just a few minutes. Then it was back to Camby on Steve Nash. To the point that Mike Fratello said, “Portland wants to switch its bigs on to Nash on the pick and roll…” Actually, Mike, according to McMillan they DON’T want to switch. But he can’t seem to figure out how not to make it happen.

You know, there are so many excuses available for this team but I’m not sure any of them apply. Injuries? Plug Greg Oden in for Marcus Camby and that’s your team moving forward. Really, are things going to change much with the way Portland plays? What you see right now is kind of what you’re going to get. Yes, a healthier Roy will make a difference. But how much difference? At some point, somebody is going to have to take a hard look at how this team plays on offense and defense and decide if it makes the best possible use of the talent on hand.

And it’s high time somebody did that.

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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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So does good ball movement and the Phoenix Suns’ inability to make shots. But also give full credit to LaMarcus Aldridge — who seems to need the whole town jumping on his case in order to get himself going. And of course, credit the presence of Brandon Roy for opening the court up for everyone.

It was a bit of a weird game. Portland once again won the battle of fast break points, by a whopping 16-4. The Suns quit making open outside shots all of a sudden. The Blazers once went about eight minutes without a field goal. The Suns opened the game with an avalanche of backdoor cuts for dunks. Portland failed for almost the entire fourth quarter to take advantage of Steve Nash defending Nic Batum — I mean, call a timeout, run Batum down the the low post and throw him the ball. He wouldn’t need any post moves — just turn and throw it down in the little man’s grill. Man, a coach like Mike Dunleavy would have made sure whoever Nash tried to guard he’d have a long day — especially if it’s a guy who stands 6-8.

But anyway, it was great to see Roy back on the floor, just eight days after his knee surgery. Among other weirdness, by the way — Rudy Fernandez didn’t play in the second half, Martell Webster played only 12:42 in spite of giving his usual consistent, solid effort, Batum was called for retaliating to a nasty elbow to his right shoulder delivered by Amare Stoudemire that ought to earn Stoudemire a fine, Channing Frye and Jerryd Bayless were both called for flagrant fouls that weren’t all that flagrant and the Blazers outscored the Suns 17-5 in second-chance points. And oh yes, I continue to be amazed that Nate McMillan insists he’s telling his defenders not to switch on pick-and-rolls and they continue to do it time after time. It put them in so many vulnerable situations that it was amazing they overcame it to win.

This is why I love the NBA playoffs. Stuff happens — stuff you don’t expect. This was the kind of effort from Portland I wish we’d seen on Thursday night. Even if the team loses after giving this kind of effort, you can’t complain.

I do believe it’s anybody’s series if Roy is back to stay and can quickly round into shape. If he can bring his game up a little more, move just a hair better and stay safe, the Blazers have a shot at this thing. And oh yeah, Aldridge has to keep rolling those big numbers, too.

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Well, Trail Blazer fans, at least they don’t tally NBA playoff series the way the idiots running soccer do it. You know, those “two-game playoff” series where they carry over the score from one game to another to determine the winner.

You lose a game by 1 or by 31 here and it’s all the same. Doesn’t matter.

I think more than getting clobbered in the game, the thing that really mattered Tuesday night in Phoenix was that Nic Batum injured that pesky shoulder. That will have more impact on this series than the margin of victory Tuesday.

But a few more observations:

– Man, Rudy Fernandez needs to PARTICIPATE. I mean, PLAY, man! He’s so reluctant to take a shot it’s embarrassing. Seriously — what’s up? You’re not any help if you don’t make shots. And to make them, you have to take them! Guy looks frightened.

– LaMarcus Aldridge was doing his best Clifford Robinson impersonation. You remember Cliff, right? He was legendary in his playoff impotence. Guy shot 43.8 percent from the field in a long NBA career. And 35.6 percent from three and 68.9 percent from the foul line. A very good defender and a distinguished player. But in a whopping 141 playoff games, Robinson made just 39.3 percent of his field goals, 29.8 percent of his threes and 62.9 percent of his foul shots. Man, that’s a Heimlich Maneuver poster right there. And yes, I hope LaMarcus’ 39.3 percent shooting and 3.5 rebounds-per game in this series is just a two-game fluke and not an indication of Robinson-esque problems in the playoffs to come.

– Phoenix was crazy good. The Suns will come back down to earth Thursday night. But Portland has to find a physical match for the Suns’ energy.

– Now THAT’s the Marcus Camby offensive game I remember from previous seasons.

– Andre Miller is going to have to assert himself more against Grant Hill. Don’t let the ball denial keep you away from the ball — and work him a little harder on defense so that perhaps he doesn’t have the energy to make every shot he takes.

– All in all, you write this game off and move on. Forget about it. The Blazers still have the homecourt advantage and my guess is, they’re going to be very difficult to beat in the Rose Garden.

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The Portland Trail Blazers were terrific for the most part Sunday night. But no look back at the game would be complete without a nod to how bad the Phoenix Suns were.

The Blazers missed six foul shots and a wide-open dunk in the final two minutes of the game and still scored 35 points in the fourth quarter! I mean, wow. That’s not the kind of defense you win with in the postseason. But in spite of all the hype, the Phoenix Suns are still the Phoenix Suns — an offensive circus but not good enough defensively to be taken seriously in the poseason.

The Blazers outplayed the Suns at both ends of the floor all night and the game should not have been as close as it was. If LaMarcus Aldridge had made the shots he usually hits, it could have been a rout.

Now do you see why Phoenix is such a great first-round matchup for Portland?

Meanwhile, the Blazers put together a very good defensive game plan. Without Robin Lopez in the middle, Marcus Camby can cover Amare Stoudemire — which means real trouble for the Suns. Stoudemire is almost forced outside because he can’t get to the shots he wants against Camby’s length. It’s a real quandry for Phoenix, because it cannot win without a big contribution from Stoudemire. And it’s doing to be a problem for the Suns as long as Camby stays healthy and out of foul trouble.

As I said last night on television after the game, I have very few rules for the playoffs but one of them is that when Andre Miller hits a three-pointer — particularly in the fourth quarter — you should win the game. (Man, what a pro Miller is — his basketball IQ is off the charts and at times he seems to be able to get to anywhere on the court he wants to go).

You can add to that, when Jerryd Bayless goes 6-for-10 from the field, you should also win. Bayless shooting well from the outside is a rarity and a bit of a scary proposition long term, because he’s not going to do it often — which means you are inevitably going to have to live with some ugly misses in the next game or two while he adjusts to the fact that he’s really not much of a shooter.

But by that game, Aldridge will probably be making shots, or Rudy Fernandez, or Martell Webster.

I cannot make this point often enough — and I feel like I’ve made it for weeks now about the Trail Blazers: It’s not who is missing from your lineup, it’s who is playing for you. And the Blazers still have a bevy of talented players. And that’s something a good many people haven’t caught onto yet.

Look, Nic Batum is one of the best 20-year-old players in the world. Andre Miller is still a terrific point guard. Camby is a center worthy of defensive player of the year honors year in and year out, when healthy, during his career. Martell Webster and Rudy Fernandez are guys who could start — and maybe even star — for a good many NBA teams. Aldridge is going to be an all-star some day.

Folks, even with Brandon Roy on the sidelines, this is a very talented collection of players. And right now, it’s a very comfortable situation for them, flying under the radar as underdogs against a team from Phoenix that’s still, after all these years, not made for playoff success.

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I wanted to get this written before Sunday night’s game against the Nuggets in Denver. I expect the Trail Blazers to at least give Denver a solid battle tonight, if not win the game.

Yeah, I know — given the records of the teams that sounds a little crazy.

But here’s the deal: Portland won 54 games last season and didn’t have as good a team as it has right now, this minute. Injuries have contributed to the Trail Blazers’ record so far this season, that and the result of those injuries – playing completely without a center for a couple of months.

But now that Marcus Camby is here, I think you can take a look at Portland’s lineup and say it’s better than the one that won 54 games last season. Seriously, Andre Miller is a big upgrade at the point, Camby is a marginally better player than Joel Przybilla, this year’s Nic Batum is much improved and well, Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge are better players this season than last — at least they ought to be.

Oh, you’re going to say this group needs time to get used to each other. Well, maybe — but I think veteran players like Miller and Camby and players with the basketball IQ of Batum don’t need that much time. Look at the Dallas Mavericks, who were overnight a better team with the trade-deadline addition of Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood and DeShawn Stevenson to their lineup.

The Mavs didn’t need a lot of time to settle in — they haven’t, in fact, lost since the acquisition of those players.

I think you’re going to see the Trail Blazers, now that everyone is healthy, begin to play better immediately. And that starts tonight in Denver.

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Remember all those high expectations at the start of the season? Back when everyone was saying the Trail Blazers would be one of the top teams in the West? When they’d be battling the Lakers for the conference championship?

Well, wake up Portland. Whatever you thought of your team then, I’m wondering where those expectations went. The team the Blazers are putting on the floor right now is just about as talented as the one you thought you’d have before all those injuries struck.

Look, other than Joel Przybilla and Greg Oden, all the injured players are back playing. And playing well. And in place of the injured centers is Marcus Camby, who is certainly more talented than Przybilla and would also be thought by some as being as talented as Oden at the defensive end.

So why not expect big things from now on this season? Those injuries cast such a major pall over Portland for much of the season, I don’t think a lot of people have awakened to the concept that what the Blazers are putting out on the floor now is pretty good.

And pretty darned close to what we thought we’d see at the beginning of the season. Sure, the depth isn’t as good at center — but this team is talented enough to play with a smaller lineup and all that time when the young players got big minutes has paid off with many of those players now being capable of reliable contributions off the bench.

So don’t totally give this team a pass the rest of the way. Don’t feel sorry for them. There’s a lot of talent on the floor right now in Portland.

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What a season this is for the NBA. The Indiana Pacers were about the fourth team to come into the Rose Garden this year that I watched for about a quarter and said, “THAT is one of the worst NBA teams I’ve ever seen.”

And frankly, the Pacers could well be the worst of the worst. Ugh, they’ve got one player — Danny Granger — that you’d want on your team.

But what bothered me a bit was the way the Trail Blazers began the game. Roy Hibbard did not start in the middle for Indiana, which instead opted to start a small lineup. It was a bit of Golden State East, with a bunch of little guys out there hoisting up threes.

The result was the Earl Watson ended up being responsible for defending Nic Batum.

And the Trail Blazers responded by not even looking as if they considered running Batum down to the post and letting him punish Watson. Instead, Batum missed a couple of threes and a long jumper, then departed the floor for a long stay on the bench.

You can say that’s no big deal, but I think heading into the playoffs, you’d want your team to show signs that it recognizes and can take advantage of mismatches. It’s what playoff series are all about. I’m not saying make Batum your primary option, but there has to be some understanding of that kind of HUGE matchup advantage. There has to be a recognition, at least, that it’s there.

Down the line somewhere, there is likely to be such an opportunity and if the Blazers don’t recognize and take advantage of it, it could cost a game.

Other than that, this was just an example of the Blazers going about their business and dispatching a team that really has no business winning against any playoff team. I feel bad for that franchise. No talent and no hope is no way to go through life.

The Indiana transition defense is horrid and Jerryd Bayless loves feasting on those teams. A good measure of how good opponents are defensively is always how many times Bayless gets to the basket. Against the lousy teams, he’s always able to stomp to the bucket with his head down and score.

He doesn’t score much against the teams that pay attention.

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