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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In pro football, they always say the most popular player in town is the backup quarterback. In Portland, it’s tended to be the backup point guard. Jerryd Bayless is no different. The fans love him. At least for one night, Tuesday, he paid them back.

Bayless was very reliable down the stretch of the win over the Sacramento Kings, finishing with 14 points after a big 8-for-10 night at the foul line. Can he do that against teams that don’t allow opponents to average 47 percent from the floor? Certainly, it appears we’ll get a chance to find out. Bayless’ minutes will be increasing, for sure.

It was a strange night for the Trail Blazers, who couldn’t sustain much of anything for long stretches. Portland opened the game with perhaps its best ball movement and player movement on offense this season. The Blazers didn’t always hit the open shots they got, but they were very unselfish and active — which seemed to coincide with Andre Miller’s debut as the singular point guard in the Portland lineup.

But Miller — who got a several “hockey assists” in the game as he made the pass that set up another guy for an easy assist — left the court and Portland’s offensive game deteriorated quickly. It was back to the old “stand around and watch somebody else play” offense and the Blazers trailed by 11 at the half.

The same thing happened in the third quarter when Portland came out with the obvious intention of getting LaMarcus Aldridge going down low. Aldridge, after a miserable first half, responded and went on a splurge that resulted in the Blazers getting back in the game.

Again, though, it didn’t sustain. Portland fell back heading into the fourth quarter, leaving it to Bayless and Roy to close the game out.

Steve Blake and Bayless were on the floor together down the stretch of the game and I assume Coach Nate McMillan will just go with whomever is clicking down the stretch of future games. Nothing guaranteed — which is fine.

This was a decent win. The Kings are an impressive team on the rise with Tyreke Evans looking more and more like the best player in last June’s draft.

Good thing for Portland that it won, too. The next five games are going to be tests.

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Thanks to several commenters who pointed it out, here’s a very nice Sam Amick piece on Sergio’s big game against New Orleans, that included this:

“Sergio (has) been a complete pro,” said Westphal, who was without the services of center Spencer Hawes (bruised right knee, day-to-day). “He has kind of kicked the door down (toward earning minutes) with the way he played in practice … and his stints get longer and longer.”

Nice to see good things happening to good people.

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You don’t need to see the entire 10 minutes of this to know what an attraction Ricky Rubio is going to be:

I could see him being the best trade piece a team could acquire in this year’s draft. And at last report, he may be falling toward No. 5, as Sacramento has grown a little recluctant because of all the buyout issues. If the Blazers are looking to move up and grab a player they could use to trade for an established point guard, this is the piece.

Man, this kid could sell some tickets for a team in economic trouble.

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When an NBA assistant coach passes up a chance to become an NBA head coach, you have to question what’s going on. When Kurt Rambis passed on the Sacramento Kings’ offer, there were two obvious problems — the franchise is woefully lacking talent and the salary being offered, $1.5 million per season over the first two years, is chump change for a head coaching position in the NBA.

So Paul Westphal got the job. Hey, what the heck — he wasn’t going to get another chance anywhere else and for a guy without a job, $1.5 million a year doesn’t sound so bad.

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I’ve pondered this question a lot but still don’t have many answers. I mean, the other major sports don’t feel the need to have a lottery for the top pick in their draft.

The NBA does for one simple but tawdry reason — in the past, teams have tanked games in order to get the top pick. It was subtle, not to the point where players would intentionally play poorly in order to lose. But it often came down to players being held out of games with slight injuries or precautionary measures. Or a coach deciding to go with young players in the second half of the season rather than veterans who could have won more games. You know, you couldn’t actually prove in a court of law that a team was tanking — there were always excuses or alibis – but it was.

I hate the thought that the credibility of a league is so low that the motivation for teams to lose games overpowers its integrity. But it has in the past. We’ve seen it many times over. There is no easy answer to this, because the NBA is the one league were a single player — a LeBron James, for instance — can turn a franchise around.

But I’m wondering if it isn’t time to give a real draft a try again. Couldn’t this thing somehow be policed? And besides, the reality in these days is that many of our franchise players were NOT No. 1 picks. Kobe wasn’t. D-Wade wasn’t. Brandon Roy wasn’t. A whole bunch of star players didn’t go No. 1. And obviously – as we’ve seen many times over – not all No. 1 choices become superstars.

I watched the lottery Tuesday night and couldn’t help but feel sorry for the Sacramento Kings, who were the worst team in the league and deserved the top pick but ended up fourth. Just like in 2006 when the Blazers were the worst team and ended up with the No. 4 choice. Maybe the Kings can turn this lemon into lemonade, though, the way Portland did in ’06, trading for LaMarcus Aldridge and Roy.

In the meantime, it’s a shame that a league can’t count on its teams to do one simple thing each season — just try their hardest to win every single game.

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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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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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 You could see the ball still in Finley’s hands as the shot clock expired. The irate Kings were told that shot-clock calls were “non-reviewable.” I’m not saying Sacramento was going to win, but they sure weren’t after this call.

UPDATE: Mark Mason, in the comments, makes a great point. It appears the shot-clock horn is about a full second behind the clock. I believe he launched the shot prior to the horn… so you really can’t blame the officials for counting the shot. NBA rules, I believe, dictate, though that the clock is what matters — not the horn. So it should NOT have counted… but this shows you why they need replay because the officials almost have to go with the sound, rather than trying to watch the clock and the play at the same time. And they also need to get the clock synched up with the horn.

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Portland needs to get past Oklahoma City and then see what happens with San Antonio at Golden State, in a game that should end about 30 minutes after the Blazer-Thunder contest. If the Blazers win and the Spurs lose — and you just never know how the Warriors will play, even at home — Portland can relax Wednesday night against Denver in a game that could end up being relatively meaningless for both teams.

The big thing in the first round is getting matched up against the Spurs — even if you don’t have the home court. San Antonio needed a miserably bad call last night at Sacramento to beat the Kings, when a game-winning three-pointer by Michael Finley came after the shot clock expired but was counted, anyway. The Spurs deserved to lose that game.

Gregg Popovich knew he couldn’t play Tim Duncan in back-to-back games and chose to keep him out of the one at Sacramento. He came out of there with a win, a genius move as it turned out, and the Spurs should have Duncan on the floor tonight.

San Antonio just isn’t healthy enough to survive a first-round series against anybody and is staggering toward season’s end. But the Spurs finish the year with a home game against New Orleans, which will probably be locked into its playoff slot and not care about that game. The best chance of a Spurs’ defeat is probably tonight’s game.

If San Antonio can somehow win out, the Blazers must win out — and that starts with tonight’s game against the Thunder.

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