Blazers coasting to mediocrity

The Portland Trail Blazers’ youth movement has been a rollercoaster ride, complete with spins, turns, flips and even some patented Dwyane Wade flops last Sunday. It’s left the Blazers scrounging for wins at the bottom of the league with a 14-21 record.

On the positive side, youth has allowed the team to play back-to-back games without worry of much fatigue or soreness. But on a much gloomier note, a roster full of players barely old enough to drink shows the team’s glaring, youthful inexperience. That lack of experience is evident in players who play primarily from instinct and emotion, rather than the coach’s game plan.

This is exactly what has plagued the Blazers over the past month. They continually find themselves feeding off too much emotional energy. One minute Portland is enjoying a five-game winning streak, the next head coach Nate McMillan is scratching his head in disbelief because his squad has dropped four straight. The peaks are so high and the valleys are so low, as expected with a young and immature team.

Portland’s rollercoaster ride began with three consecutive victories to put the finishing touches on a six-game East Coast swing in early December. With two more victories at home, the Blazers extended their streak to five games, something they hadn’t done since February 2004. The streak also brought Portland to 12-14, only two wins from drawing a balance between wins and losses.

Right when the Blazers finally appeared to turn the corner, they took the unwelcome plunge back to the depths of mediocrity.

In their next two games, they would narrowly lose to Toronto in overtime and then get absolutely waxed by the Suns on the road. Only a solid home victory over New Orleans stands between those two losses and a four-game slide that ended with a 110-105 win over Sacramento on Saturday. In the win, the team’s brightest young star, Zach Randolph, played like a true all-star, pouring in 32 points and snagging 15 boards.

The ride of extreme ups and downs that is the Blazers’ season made a stop with the defending champion Miami Heat last Sunday night.

From the opening tip, Portland looked like a veteran squad one year removed from a championship run. In the first two quarters, Portland shot an astounding 57.1 percent from behind the arc, and despite early foul trouble for Randolph they led 52-60 at halftime. In the first half, rookie guard Brandon Roy topped the Portland scoring attack with 16 points. However, Miami’s flip-flopping Dwyane Wade, who had 25 points, outmatched him.

All of the momentum from the first two quarters went to the wayside during the second half for the Blazers. The potent scoring attack that drained shot after shot to the tune of 30 points in each of the first two quarters seemed to remain in the locker room throughout the third and fourth quarters as Portland scored 30 second-half points. Roy, also limited by fouls, could only muster 2 points in the second half, including zero in the final period.

And while Portland’s best defender, Ime Udoka, held Wade in check during the third quarter, the superstar regained his groove when it mattered in the fourth, scoring the Heat’s final 6 points down the stretch.

“Miami was aggressive going to the basket in the second half,” coach McMillan said. “I thought they got some breaks and a few calls. We had good ball movement in the first half, which forced them to move, and our pick-and-rolls were good. In the second half, we stopped moving the ball and started holding onto it, and at times tried doing too much with it.”

In spite of the Blazers’ poor execution in the second half, a win was still possible, as they were down 90-93 with just 8.6 seconds remaining. The Blazers put the ball in the hands of their most lethal weapon on the night, Roy, and he was expected to either run a designed play or fire a desperate three-pointer.

Due to a quick read of the play by Miami, Roy was forced to throw up a three with Wade in his face. The shot clanked off the rim and hit the hardwood with a thud. Portland had just lost their 21st game of the season.

“I’m still learning. I’m still trying to find my spot and be consistent for 48 minutes,” Roy said. “We had control of that game in the first half, but they have been to a championship and know how to tighten up on defense, and that’s what they did in the second half. On that last shot, I was just trying to run coach’s play but they read it. Wade got a good hand up there. Tough shot, tough miss.”

After a frustrating loss to the defending champs, the road doesn’t get any easier for the Blazers. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Portland heads south for an old-fashioned duel with two of the Western Conference’s best, the Spurs and Mavericks. Portland’s youth better turn into sage wisdom quickly, or things could get very ugly for Rip City.