TOUGH ROAD AHEAD

On the NBA • Roy says Blazers won’t back down as others load up

The Portland Tribune, Feb 8, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (2 Reader comments)

L.E. BASKOW / TRIBUNE PHOTO

Brandon Roy and the Blazers will meet Shane Battier and surging Houston one more time before the All-Star break as both battle for a playoff spot.

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All of a sudden, the balance in the West may shift upward.

The Los Angeles Lakers now have Pau Gasol. Phoenix has Shaquille O’Neal.

“The Suns get Shaq, and the Lakers, who were already good, get even better,” Trail Blazer guard Brandon Roy says. “You can expect Dallas to make a move now, too. And San Antonio – the Spurs will just keep doing what they’ve been doing for years.

“Those four teams are trying to separate themselves from the rest of the field in the West, but we’re not going away. We’ll try to give them a run for their money. All the pressure is on them – we have no pressure on us at all.”

Some predict O’Neal – a month from his 36th birthday – won’t fit in the Suns’ up-tempo offense that ranks second in the NBA in scoring. Phoenix is by far the worst rebounding team in the league, though. Shaq will help out there and allow Amare Stoudemire to move from center to power forward.

“It’s a good move for Phoenix,” Portland coach Nate McMillan says. “(The Suns) have been talking about getting a low-post guy to play the 5 and allow Amare to play his natural position. They can still do what they want to do – get up and down the floor.

“The center is now a rebounder and an outlet passer. You can’t switch the pick-and-rolls with the (point guard) and (center), because Shaq is going to be rolling to the basket. They’ve been pretty one-dimensional. This gives them another offensive option.”

O’Neal, out indefinitely with a hip injury, has worn the look this season of a once-great player with not much left in the tank. The change from the league’s worst team to a championship contender may energize him.

“For most guys in a situation like that, it gets them excited,” McMillan notes. “With Shaquille, it may make that injury feel a little better.”

• While O’Neal’s presence may help the Suns in the short term, it shortens their shelf life as a viable contender. Steve Nash is 34 and Grant Hill 35, and they can’t have too many more years left. By the time the Blazers are ready to seriously contend – two years? – Phoenix may be in rebuild mode.

• Where do the Blazers (28-20) fit into the playoff picture? From the outside looking in for the moment.

Entering Thursday night’s play, the Blazers were tied with Houston for the ninth-best record in the West. On the other hand, Portland is only five games out of first place, and is three games behind Northwest Division leader Utah and a game back of Denver. That after going 6-7 the last 13 games.

Up next is a rugged four-game trip with stops at Detroit, Indiana, Houston and Dallas before the All-Star break. The rest of the season includes four games with the Lakers and three with Phoenix, a five-game trip in early March and an April schedule featuring six of eight games against playoff teams.

“We’ve been playing below .500 ball, and we have to find a way to get back to playing the aggressive ball we played in December,” says McMillan, who believes his players are feeling some pressure from playoff contention. “What I want our guys to do is have some fun. We’re a little tight right now, because we’re looking at the standings and we know what’s going on.

“Things have changed from December to now. We need to see if we can loosen them up, get back to playing and reacting as opposed to thinking out there. We talk about where we are as a team and what we need to do these remaining games. The approach is still the same. Win the next one.”

If Portland goes .500 over its final 34 games, it would have 45-37 record. Good enough to make the postseason? In the increasingly tough West, maybe not.

• Roy’s body is banged up, so he will benefit from five days off during the All-Star break next week.

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