Sports Column

Blazers’ decline easy to predict

On Sports

By dwight jaynes

The Portland Tribune, Feb 22, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (50 Reader comments)

We’re already hearing the question, “What’s wrong with the Trail Blazers?”

Short answer: Nothing that wasn’t wrong with them earlier in the season.

So don’t panic. Climb down off the ledge. Chill. The Blazers aren’t really much different than they were in December.

This team played over its head for a month or two, and it was easy to believe what we saw during that time was what the team would be capable of producing throughout the season.

But even when the Blazers were rattling off 13 wins in a row, there were obvious signs of trouble.

Yes, everyone knows the point guard who will lead this team to the playoffs isn’t in a Portland uniform yet. We don’t know who he is. At least we know that the eventual starting center is over on the sideline in street clothes.

The biggest problem the team has had from Game 1 to Game 52 has been a lack of easy baskets. During its spell of outstanding play, the team made a ton of outside shots. That all evens out during a long season, and Portland doesn’t get enough close-in shots to balance the misses from outside.

The Blazers get no fast-break points. And I mean almost none. You might say that’s because they’re a poor rebounding team (24th in the league in rebound differential), but you’d be wrong.

Phoenix and Golden State are the bottom two teams in rebound differential, yet they are among the highest-scoring teams in the NBA. Fast-breaks are a mind-set and a playing style. If you want to run, you can run – either by forcing turnovers or by running off made baskets. That is, you can run if you are coached to do so.

Players say they want to run. Fans buy it. The real truth is that coaches have to force their teams to run – they have to push them. Running is hard work. Coaches have to demand it to get it.

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