Blazers 80, Hawks 98 Re-Thoughts

Um, ouch. So much for showing those East Coast media types a little bit of that Blazers somethin' somethin'. It's funny how fickle basketball can be (and how dramatic the road can impact you) when less than one week ago the Blazers were blowing out the Lakers and today they go in and lay a second-half egg against Atlanta. That might be saying too much, but the Hawks didn't go on just any home-court run, they thoroughly outplayed and out-ran their visitors.

The easy explanation is that this was the first game of a long road trip and the Blazers had to play at what was 10 a.m. pacific time. And as we know, unlike most other teams, they actually were playing at 10 a.m. since they don't adjust to time zones, staying up hours later just to keep to the same West Coast schedule. It's an excuse sure, but one that at least offers an explanation for that third-quarter pounce-job. I'll buy that for a dollar.

If you're going to blame something other than legs and a number of defensive lapses (What, Josh Smith can dunk you say? Never would've thunkit), some of the fault lies with everyone not named Roy, Aldridge or Joel. This was probably Batum's worst performance since the trade deadline -- he was a complete non-entity. The Blazers have been dependent on Blake's shooting, especially with Oden out, for most of the season, and his 4-of-14 provided a strong example of what can happen when there's nobody else to turn to aside from Brandon, LMA and Outlaw for scoring.

The bench? It wasn't pretty. Aside from Outlaw's 10 points and 6 boards and meaningless numbers from Shavlik and Ruffin, the subs put up a grand total of one point, four rebounds and one block. No steals, no assists (Sergio? Bayless?). You can't blame Rudy for being a little off in his first game back since Ariza-gate, but man a couple of those threes could've changed the complexion of the game. All in all, it was the Big Two and the Thrilla show.

Joel's five turnovers did hurt, but he was the only person who looked consistently interested in playing defense and protecting the rim. Everyone else just went out of their way to give Joe Johnson a coke and a smile on his way to getting a layup and shutting Portland up. Speaking of Joe Johnson, the end result didn't do much for my Roy over JJ argument, but one thing I noticed is that even when the two are going back and forth, Roy just makes it look so much easier. Whether that makes someone better than the other, I don't know, but it makes me appreciate the Maestro's game a little bit more.

There's four more games on this road trip, three of which are very, almost should-be, winnable. If you lose to Cleveland and still end up going 3-2, you're in good shape. Lose to Memphis or the Bucks, then you are probably looking up at Denver or Utah again.