Blazers lose it in the fourth
Exhibition games can be difficult to get an accurate read on a team, but like beating the Trail Blazers, this time it was pretty easy.
Losing to Seattle 89-99 Wednesday, Portland displayed many of the same qualities that led them to the bottom of the NBA cellar last season.
The Trail Blazers looked young, inexperienced, and though at times they showed blips of potential brilliance, they are a long ways away from regaining this city’s support, and even further from the glory days of “Rip City."
To their credit, Portland fans showed up for an exhibition game in what appeared to be roughly the same numbers as one of last year’s regular season games. But for many of those in attendance, the result bore disappointing and eerie similarities.
The Trail Blazers came out looking decent, if not downright strong at times, and led by two as the fourth quarter began. But Seattle, as so many teams have done, ran right over Portland in the fourth, outscoring the Blazers 29-17.
Whether Portland fell apart or Seattle was coasting at this point is irrelevant; however, there were many moments on the court that should shed light on the season to come.
Zach Randolph, despite dropping sustainable weight, is still in love with the jump shot. Despite reports that No. 50 is going to be muscling his way to the hoop more often, Portland’s go-to power forward spent more time camping just inside the three-point line than scooping up rebounds for easy buckets. Randolph grabbed seven boards, each one coming on defense.
Randolph had a career year in 2003-04, seeing him average over 20 points and 10 rebounds a game, and eventually netted him a healthy contract. Since then, injury withstanding, Zach has not quite reached those highs. But if he goes back to his old ways, fighting it out underneath for those offensive boards, Randolph will be back in that elite 20-10 club. If Randolph can leave the whole “Z-Bo" thing behind and become “Put-Back-Zach," he might be a contender for the all-star team.
But Wednesday, Randolph showed evidence of a more recent self. On a steal, Randolph dribbled coast-to-coast, took the shot clock down around 14 and missed a jump shot, drawing the “boo’s" of many Portland fans.
Feeling their distaste, Zach saved a loose ball on the next play and passed it to the streaking rookie Sergio Rodriguez who then no-look passed the ball behind his head to the hands of three trailing Seattle defenders. After hitting a few three’s early on, Rodriguez seemed a little too eager to impress.
Much alike were the intentions of the other young Trail Blazers.
Martell Webster wanted to match Ray Allen’s range. Travis Outlaw wanted to show he could play defense, and Jamal Magloire wanted to grab the starting nod.
All three tried at their new roles, and none of them really came back too convincing.
On the flip side, Jarrett Jack looked solid and determined as coach McMillan’s new point guard, much like he did anchoring Portland towards the end of last season. The backcourt tandem of Jack and rookie Brandon Roy, which McMillan tested extensively, proved sleeker on both sides of the floor than anything employed last year. Under the young guards, ball movement was a 10-fold improvement, and though Roy made some silly mistakes in his first outing in a Trail Blazers uniform, he never looked clueless or uncomfortable.
When referees whistled Roy for palming, or putting his heel down on the out-of-bounds line, he turned the ball over and began walking back up court while his demeanor said, “Alright, you got me once. And that’ll be the last time."
And despite some hurried shots, Martell Webster had a similar moment of his own. After an offensive lapse Webster snapped his hands together hard in frustration, but turned his overflowing energy into more enthusiastic defense against Ray Allen.
It’s this type of attitude that the Trail Blazers have been lacking, and it’s just what coach McMillan dreams about. But coming from a rookie and a second-year player out of high school, it’s not going to be a recipe for radical change quite yet.
