Yes, I know — nine straight Portland losses in Oakland.

But if the Trail Blazers lose this one, I don’t want to hear a word about injuries or any other alibis. This game must be won against an obviously inferior opponent that’s also had its share of injuries. The Blazers should blow them away. Talent level? Not even close.

Look, there are important, tough-to-win games ahead. There is no margin for losing games like this one. And I really can’t imagine it happening, actually.

If Portland doesn’t win this game, folks, the spit is going to hit the fan. That’s all I’m going to say about it. This game is too important to mess around with. And a loss here, I’m afraid, indicates problems deeper than some injuries.

Doesn’t it?

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Tags: Dwight Jaynes, Golden State Warriors, Portland Trail Blazers

Frankly, not so well. At all.

They went into last night’s game having surrendered a cumulative field-goal percentage against of more than 50 percent over their last five games. They have not been playing good defense at all.

Yes, they “held” the Kings to 43 percent shooting last night, but seriously — I haven’t seen a team miss as many open shots in a while as the Kings missed last night. The Blazers didn’t close out on three-point shooters at all — but Sacramento couldn’t take advantage of those open looks and missed 10 threes, many of them wide open.

You can say that the recent injury to Marcus Camby had an impact on the team’s defense but really, not all that much. Camby has not played real well since he got here, folks. He’s blocking some shots but he’s a turnover machine. Considering how infrequently he touches the ball, his four turnovers last night were embarrassing, considering the team had but 11. And given the slow pace, lack of fast break points and points in the paint Portland has to live with every night, it can’t afford turnovers.

I expected better play from Camby but perhaps he just needs time. Heck, he’s been playing for the Clippers, where little things like turnovers probably don’t mean much.

There are other things going on right now that are disturbing. The Kings came out obviously trying to be more physical than usual. They attempted to push Portland around a lot and had intentions of ramming the ball inside all night. Word is getting around about the Trail Blazers’ lack of muscle and strength inside.

And the other thing that must be pointed out is that Brandon Roy is still not back to being Brandon Roy. He’s needing more shots than usual to get his points, isn’t getting to the foul line as consistently as he usually does and is missing a lot of free throws. All of that is uncharacteristic.

Some of it is that he’s probably not back to being 100 percent, physically. But another contributing factor is that teams are just not letting him play one-on-one as often as they used to. Portland’s offense has gotten so stagnant it’s beginning to seem as if every shot they take is off a one-on-one move by someone — and is usually contested.

That’s not going to work well, long term. All in all, I’m very underwhelmed by their standard of play at this point of the season. And once more, I’d remind you — don’t talk so much about who isn’t playing. Talk, instead, about who IS playing. And there is enough talent out there to be playing at a much higher level than what we’re seeing.

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Tags: Brandon Roy, Dwight Jaynes, Marcus Camby, Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings

I know now it’s not just me this bothers. I was in a room with several other people watching last night’s game when that fourth-quarter play happened, the one when Denver missed a shot and Nene held two Trail Blazers right in the middle of the lane while a teammate grabbed the rebound and scored.

It was right in front of the Portland bench but the camera shifted to Coach Nate McMillan and he stood stoic, arms folded and mouth closed.

Man, say SOMETHING. I guess he must subscribe to that old idea that if you don’t yell at referees, in the long run you come out better for it. I’ve heard the  concept but never have heard it from a basketball coach who has done any long-term winning.

There are times when you just have to say something — if nothing else but to show your players you have their backs. But often, you also have to show the officials you’re tired of having the calls go against you and you want to make a statement.

And that’s a statement that McMillan very, very seldom makes. There were a couple of plays last night that you just must rage about — just to show the officials you saw them, if nothing else.

It’s pretty frustrating when a coach does not do that.

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Tags: Dwight Jaynes, Nate McMillan, Portland Trail Blazers, Referees

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

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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Tags: Greg Oden, Joel Przybilla, Marcus Camby, Nic Batum, Portland Trail Blazers

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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Tags: Danny Granger, Dwight Jaynes, Earl Watson, Indiana Pacers, Jerryd Bayless, Nic Batum, Portland Trail Blazers

Man, down a dozen at the half and coming on strong in the third quarter. Andre Miller, Brandon Roy, Nic Batum, Marcus Camby — man, that was a frenzy in the third quarter. Love it when that team shares the ball.

I keep telling you, Batum does a lot of things. The kid’s instincts are amazing. Sometimes he does good things without even thinking about them — like cutting to the basket just as Brandon Roy is losing the ball, leading to a dunk and an and-one. Talk about the perfect fit on this team — Batum starting and playing extended minutes is much like adding a new player in a trade.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt to go 19-for-19 from the foul line, either.

This could be one of those springboard wins, coming at the end of a long road trip. Several times this season I’ve thought the team was ready to take off on a win streak and I’m thinking it again now. It’s as healthy as they’ve been all season and the schedule is favorable.

I think that game Monday could be a launching pad.

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Tags: Andre Miller, Brandon Roy, Dwight Jaynes, Nic Batum, Portland Trail Blazers

A quick look in the standings shows Portland three games ahead of New Orleans, 31/2 ahead of Memphis and four ahead of Houston. But that’s deceptive. And with Portland having just 20 games left, that seems like a huge lead.

But the Blazers have played a lot more games than those other teams and have a lot of losses. In fact, a loss tonight to the Grizzlies and Portland is just one game in the loss column ahead of those three teams.

That means if just one of those teams — New Orleans, Memphis or Houston — gets hot, then the Blazers still have a fight on their hands.

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Tags: Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Hornets, Portland Trail Blazers

I’ve been asked that a couple of times over the last 24 hours. And I’m not so sure how to answer. I think he has unlimited potential, but on the other hand I’m not sure how he’ll develop in Portland.

Not when the coach is talking about him like this:

“We feel that’s the starting forward for the future,” McMillan said Saturday. “You look at all your championship teams and they’ve had that kind of guy: the Bruce Bowen, Dennis Rodman … last year it was Trevor Ariza. A couple of years ago it was James Posey. You have to have that kind of guy, and that’s what he does. It fits his game.”

Sorry, but Batum doesn’t in any way remind me of any of those guys — and it bothers me that he may get pigeonholed in some way here. You want to make him Bruce Bowen? Hey, Bowen was a fine defender but extremely limited. On offense he did one thing — go to the corner and make threes. Rodman was a rebounder and defender who ran from shots. The rest of those guys? Not even close to Batum’s potential.

But it bothers me that in an offense that features isolations and two-man games all the time, Batum could get left out. I’m not sure he’s going to get a chance to blossom. I wasn’t as excited about all the points Batum scored in Minnesota Saturday night as I was all the other stuff.

A lot of players can get hot and knock down a bunch of shots on a given night. Batum does so many other things. Kid can facilitate for other players, he can defend, he can rebound, he can steal, he can block — he’s going to fill a stat sheet a lot of nights given half a chance.

I just hope he gets a chance to be all the player he has the potential to be. And that’s a lot more than Bruce Bowen.

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Tags: Bruce Bowen, Dwight Jaynes, Nate McMillan, Nic Batum, Portland Trail Blazers

There are reports out of Spain that Real Madrid wants to sign Rudy Fernandez for next season. And a part of the story is that Rudy is saying he’s not comfortable with his role in Portland.

As we’ve predicted, this is inevitable. While Rudy has not played well this season over any length of time, in his mind he can’t play well until he gets more consistent playing time. Make no mistake, this guy has been a star his whole life and he came to this country to be a star.

There’s no way he’s going to spend much more time as anyone’s backup. You can debate all you want how much he should play here — and really, he has not gotten the job done this season — but in his mind, he’s being misused.

What has to happen here, though, is the Trail Blazers to come to grips with the idea that eventually Rudy has got to be moved. Long term, it’s just not going to work.

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Tags: Dwight Jaynes, Portland Trail Blazers, Rudy Fernandez