“Portland 107, Sacramento 102: Pieces fall into place as Blazers hold off Kings - Oregonian” plus 1 more

Portland 107, Sacramento 102: Pieces fall into place as Blazers hold off Kings - Oregonian

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Published: Wednesday, March 02, 2011, 10:03 PM Updated: Thursday, March 03, 2011, 12:08 AM

SACRAMENTO --The Trail Blazers defense has been an unsightly bunch of late, way too soft inside and far too lackadaisical on the perimeter, leading to a particularly hideous defeat Tuesday against Houston.

So imagine the satisfaction Wednesday when a tooth-and-nail game against the Sacramento Kings was won thanks to a series of big defensive plays by the Blazers, most notably Wesley Matthews.

It was Matthews' steal and subsequent fast-break lob and Gerald Wallace's ferocious dunk that finally established some separation from the pesky Kings, helping the Blazers end a two-game losing streak with a 107-102 win at newly named Power Balance Pavilion.

The Blazers

Next up: Charlotte at Portland, 7 p.m. Saturday (TV on CSN Comcast 37, radio on KXTG 95.5)

It was the fifth consecutive road win for the Blazers (34-27), who moved into a tie with New Orleans for sixth place in the Western Conference with 21 games remaining.

After Matthews' steal and Wallace's dunk gave the Blazers a 100-95 lead with 2:30 left, LaMarcus Aldridge stripped Samuel Dalembert, and one possession later, Matthews recorded another steal. The game was sealed when Aldridge blocked a shot by rookie sensation DeMarcus Cousins with under a minute remaining.

"If we want to win, we have to play that type of basketball," coach Nate McMillan said.

Still, it wasn't a defensive masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination. Sacramento (15-44) shot 53.2 percent, and scored 52 points in the key, the second consecutive game the Blazers have allowed that many points from close range.

But there might have been a shred of carryover from the team's morning meeting, when per usual, McMillan showed what he called "a torture session" film review of the team's 103-87 loss to Houston the night before.

"It was a challenge to a lot of guys to get down into a defensive stance and play some ball, and I thought guys responded tonight," McMillan said.

McMillan praised the defense of Nicolas Batum (three steals, one blocked shot), who once again guarded everyone from point guards to power forwards, Marcus Camby (13 rebounds), who headed many traps, and Matthews, who had three steals.

The offensive heroes were widespread, ranging from Matthews' team-high 21 points to a career-high tying 14 from Patty Mills off the bench. Mills was so effective that McMillan said the Australian jitterbug has permanently earned a spot in the rotation, three games after McMillan contemplated taking him out to make room for Brandon Roy.

"Even when Brandon comes back, even when Rudy (Fernandez) is back, I've got to get Patty some minutes in there. I like the tempo we play at when he is in the game," McMillan said.

The Blazers were down to 10 available players Wednesday because Fernandez was ill and Roy is not yet allowed to play on consecutive nights as the team eases his surgically-repaired knees back into shape.

McMillan used eight players and six of them scored in double figures. Batum was stellar, scoring 17, his biggest shot a three-pointer that broke a 95-95 tie with 2:51 left.

Aldridge, who was named Western Conference Player of the Month earlier in the day, finished with 20 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots, but he went 9 for 27 from the field, and had seven consecutive misses down the stretch.

He ended that string, however, with a top-of-the-key jumper at 51.3 seconds left that gave the Blazers a 102-95 lead.

"That one felt great," Aldridge said. "I finally made it. I had some really good looks, they just weren't falling. Every night is not going to be pretty. They just kept telling me to shoot. I didn't know I had 27 shots until now, but as long as we win, it doesn't matter to me."

What does matter to the Blazers is their defense, which continues to be a question mark even though they continue to say it is a priority.

The funny thing is, the roster is constructed to be a good defensive team.

Camby and Wallace are both former first team All-Defensive team members, with Camby a former NBA defensive player of the year.

Batum and Matthews each are noted more for their defense than anything else. But here are the Blazers, in the bottom third of field-goal percentage defense.

"We have the pieces," Matthews said. "But in the NBA it's really, really hard to play defense. Everybody is good. You can't sit in the paint, you can't sit in a zone. And individual defense is trumped because if you are not a team, defense doesn't matter. There are teams that dont have noted one-on-one defenders, but they are top defensive teams because they are helping and buying into the concept.

"It's not that we aren't buying in, we just have to be disciplined to do it," Matthews said.

Notes: Portland matched its longest road winning streak from last year. It hasn't won six in a row on the road since the 2001-2002 season. The Blazers' next road game is Monday at Orlando. ... Andre Miller had 19 points and six assists and Wallace had 12 points, five rebounds and three steals. It was the first win in three games with Wallace. "It was a much needed win for me," Wallace said. "My first two games here we lose, so it was a lot of emotion for me. And as a team, we needed the win, so it feels good." ... Cousins had 28 points and 11 rebounds and Marcus Thornton had 26 points for the Kings.

-- Jason Quick; follow him on Twitter

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Avengers teaser coming soon, and are these the devious villains? - JoBlo.com

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It's still a long way until Marvel's movie heroes assemble on screen in THE AVENGERS, we may get a peek relatively soon -- like when THOR hits screens just two months from now.

AICN says that Marvel has put together a specific teaser trailer for THE AVENGERS to play before their Thunder God's debut, which makes sense considering who Latino Review claims will be the movie's villain: Thor's wicked adoptive brother Loki. But that's not all -- they also say the manipulative and vengeful Asgardian will have assistance from the Skrulls, a green-skinned race of extraterrestrial shape-shifters with an affection for purple outfits.

Aliens and Loki as the villains won't be a surprise to anyone who's folllowed the rumors and rumblings about the project, or to those who read the comic series THE ULTIMATES, which seems to be the version of Marvel's heroes dictating the movies more than its original universe (the Sam Jackson Nick Fury was plucked from ULTIMATES pages).

THE AVENGERS writer-director Joss Whedon has undoubtedly poked at the scripts for THOR and CAPTAIN AMERICA to sprinkle some bread crumbs leading down this path, which will be exciting for fanboys/fangirls to look for (obsess over) when those movies arrive this summer.

Loki seems like a perfect choice, especially to further tie in the Asgard aspect (and LR claims he'll also be using an object from CAPTAIN AMERICA to achieve his evil goals), but I'm honestly not sure how I feel about the Skrulls. Yes, it would provide ample opportunity for spectacle as the heroes go at it with an army of resilient (and occasionally superpowered) alien invaders... but on the other hand it's also the first time we're seeing the major characters collected in one movie, and then we'd have an added distraction of constantly wondering if we're seeing the real deal or a treacherous doppelganger (aka, The Mystique Syndrome).

What do you think?