Photos: Blazers 112, Lakers 103

Video: World Select coach talks Hoop Summit

Rob Beveridge, the head coach for the Nike Hoop Summit World Select Team, talks about his squad, the importance of the game to international players and his team's prospects of defeating the USA Select Team.

Don't miss your chance to see tomorrow's NBA stars today. Tickets for the Nike Hoop Summit on April 12 are on sale now with lower bowl tickets starting at $5. You can order tickets over the phone by calling 877-789-ROSE.

Jarrett Jack makes great predictions

Last night's National Championship game was probably one of the better NCAA games I've ever seen, which was a treat considering I found this year's tourney to be, for a most part, a bit humdrum. Congrats to both teams, and special kudos to Raef LaFrentz and Kevin Prtichard, our two Jayhawks-turned-Blazers.

Did you have Kansas making it to the NC game in your bracket? Neither did I, which is just one of the many errors I made when putting together my picks. Now that's it's over, I'm kicking myself for not getting Jarrett Jack's opinion, seeing as how he told KU guard Mario Chalmers four years ago that he'd play in the title game.

Mario Chalmers had been to the Final Four before. In 2004, when Chalmers was 17, he was in the crowd to cheer on his friend Jarrett Jack and Georgia Tech.

The Yellow Jackets lost in the national championship game to Connecticut, 82-73. Afterward, Jack talked to Chalmers and made a bold prediction.

“One day you’ll be there,” Jack told him. “When you get here, make the most of your opportunity.”

Chalmers did just that, hitting the three-pointer that sent the game to overtime. Good advice Jarrett.

Semi-interesting side note: I told someone the other day that Chalmers reminded me of Jack. Strange coincidence.

Video: Brandon Roy after practice

I had a chance to catch up with Brandon Roy after shoot-around today. Sounds like his groining injury has healed up nicely. Good things too, because Roy is going to have to play well if the Blazers are to finish with a .500 record.

Video: Nate McMillan after practice

Nate McMillan addressed the media (as he always does) after practice today to discuss Martell Webster's availability, Brandon Roy's first game back from injury and who might get the start in place of Joel Przybilla. If you've got any questions of Nate that you want answered, leave those queries in the comments.

The book on LaMarcus Aldridge

We're just about at the end of the season, which means it's time to start lobbying for post-season awards. Travis Outlaw has an outside shot at sixth man, though even he would admit that the slump he's currently coming out of hurt his chances. Greg Oden might have had a shot at Rookie of the Year, but you know what happened with that. MVP? Brandon Roy's not there, yet.

But Most Improved Player? That's LaMarcus Aldridge's to lose, in my opinion. If you need some convincing, check out the Rip City Rising online comic book, which makes the case for MIP case for LA.

He's improved his scoring average almost nine points. He's improved his rebounding by two and a half boards per game. He lead the Blazers in scoring 24 times this season and in rebounds 28 times. He's got 11 more double-doubles this season with five games to go. He's improved every part of his game, period. A few other players have had nice increases this year -- Rudy Gay and Hedo Turkoglu come to mind -- but I think the Blazers' improved record tips the scale in LaMarcus' favor.

Notes and Quotes: Spurs 72, Blazers 65

This one was ugly. Nothing but bad news from the tip to the final buzzer. Shooting a season-low field goal percentage was bad. The season low 65 points was worse. But Joel Przybilla sustaining a season-ending broken hand had to be the worst. It's hard to take anything positive away from this one. At least it was LaMarcus Aldridge bobblehead night. On to the note and quotes.

Notes

Blazers 65 points season low (previous low 74 vs. Orlando Nov. 26) and matches fifth lowest point total all-time . . . Tied season low FGS (25) . . . Blazers 34.2 FG percentage season low (prev. low 35.3 Jan. 30 vs. Cleveland) . . . First time since Dec. 14 Blazers have been below .500 . . . Spurs 12th straight victory over Blazers and 18 of last 19 . . . Last Portland win in series Jan. 24, 2005 . . . San Antonio has won five straight in Rose Garden and 9 of last 10.

Quotes

Nate McMillan

“I thought we played pretty well on defense but down the stretch our failure to execute on offense, especially the inability to use our screens to get good looks hurt us.

“You’ve got to have ball movement and set a lot of screens against this team because the Spurs plya you very well one-on-one. Our failure to recognize that hurt us and that’s one reason we shot only 34 percent from the floor. We did have some open looks but tonight they weren’t falling for us.

“The situation with Joel (broken right hand ending his season) is a sad one. He has played so well and so hard for us all year and he’s become a big piece of our team. I know one of his goals this year was to play all 82 games. It’s a shame he won’t be able to do that because of the freak injury. You hate to see that for him.

“I thought Brandon played pretty well once he started to get his rhythm. He didn’t let Bruce Bowen get to him this time. He just ignored him and got some good looks.

“Even though we’ve lost, this was not a nightmare. We’ve done some good things this year but we’ve had a lot of injuries in the last part of the season and we’re playing some really strong teams. And even though we’re not playing our best basketball I think we’ve been pretty competitive against them.

“The rest of the season we’ll call up Josh (McRoberts) and at center we’ll use Channing and LaMarcus and we may even go small and use Travis. Raef (LaFrentz) has done a pretty good job for us lately too, so they’ll all be in the mix.”

LaMarcus Aldridge

“We had open looks, including myself, that we didn’t knock down. It was frustrating at first. That made guys hesitant and not take shots. Of course winning is a goal to finish out the season.

We want to win every game. We wanted to win tonight but the ball didn’t bounce our way. They made some big shots. They’re champions. They made big plays down the stretch.”

Channing Frye

“You can’t control everything. Joel broke his hand doing the right thing. (About Joel going down) Its just part of the game. We’ve got to deal with it. We’ve had injuries all season. Joel’s a big part of this team. He did it playing ball, going hard. He’ll be good when he comes back. I’m upset he didn’t get to play the 82 games this season that he’s been talking about.”

Raef LaFrentz

“San Antonio is coming into form. They’re getting ready for the playoffs, and getting ready for a long playoff push. They’re a great team. They run a great system. They’ve been playing together a long time and they’re playing great basketball.”

Greg Popovich

“A win is never ugly. I thought we played a really good defensive game. That allowed us an opportunity to win. Neither team was very good offensively, but defense got it done for us. Tim and Kurt Thomas did a real good job on a couple of good, talented young players. We just play.

I didn’t know this was 12 straight wins against Portland. I don’t think that makes a difference. We feel great going into the playoffs. We may win it, we may not. Life will go on either way. We’re going to give it our best shot, but so are the other 7 teams. All of them are just as good as we are. I don’t anybody has anything over anybody else. It’s going to be who can play the best over a seven game series. Most always, the best team will win a seven game series so that will tell the tail.”

Manu Ginobili

“Of course I was concerned about the offense. Today, defensively, we were there. We were active and we made them take some tough shots. Defensively we were good but we really struggled again offensively. Tim played a very good game. He was solid, but we were not making shots. We weren’t making many things happening today, especially Tony and me. So it was important to have Tim ready and taking care of the offense.

I think this year there are like 12 teams to beat in the NBA. A lot of teams are having great seasons. Of course we’re the defending champs so we have a target on us. Everything is so tough. Now the difference is what spot. It could one, two or six. We have to try and fight as much as we can to get a spot. This is tough because you can’t take a break. In past seasons with five games to go, you knew you could be first, second, third or even fourth, and that’s it. This year it could be seventh so it puts pressure on everybody. We can’t slow down, we have to keep playing.”

Photos: Spurs 72, Blazers 65

Joel Przybilla: Post All-Star Rebounding Machine

If you've been following the Trail Blazers lately (which I can only assume you have) it should come as no surprise to you that Joel Przybilla has been a monster on the glass. he pulled down ten rebounds or more in ten games in March. He's also had 15 or more rebounds in four of the last seven games. Impressive, no?

So while I knew Przybilla's rebounding numbers were better than average since the All-Star break, I didn't realize that he's statistically the best rebounder in the NBA since mid-February.

Trail Blazers center Joel Przybilla, above, did not win the slam-dunk contest during the All-Star weekend. That honor went to the Magic’s young star Dwight Howard. But since then, Przybilla has been outperforming Howard in the category Howard does best in, rebounding.

Through Thursday, Przybilla led the league in rebounds per 48 minutes since the All-Star break with 18.5 to Howard’s 18.2.

Howard has a large advantage in minutes a game, so his overall average of 14 rebounds per game was higher than Przybilla’s 11.4.

Przybilla was especially dominant in the 10 games preceding Friday’s contests, averaging 12.8 rebounds a game and 19.8 per 48 minutes.

How did Howard do? Not bad: 14.3 and 19.0.

Staying out of foul trouble and being able to get a cheap dunk here and there have allowed Przybilla to stay on the floor long enough this season to make a difference on the offensive and defensive glass. He's playing like a guy who isn't going to cede his starting position at center next season. Having two quality centers is an enviable predicament in this league.

(Thanks to Mike Golub for the tip!)

Video: Nate McMillan talks post-game about the loss to the Rockets

Simply put, the Blazers came down with a case of the McGrady's tonight. Martell Webster's flu-like symptoms along with Brandon Roy's improving but still strained groin left Nate McMillan shorthanded, and it showed down the stretch.

That's four losses in a row.

Here's what Nate McMillan had to say after the game. We'll do it again on Sunday.

Photos: Rockets 96, Blazers 85

Highlights from a loss

These final games of the season are all starting to look alike. We keep it close in the first half, get methodically worn down by the opposition in the second half, make a mini-run sometime in the fourth quarter then eventually lose by about 10 points. That happenned last night against the Lakers, four nights ago against the Bobcats and six nights ago against the Warriors. With each one of those losses, the chance at finishing the season with a winning record dwindles.

But hey, at least Travis Outlaw had some nice plays last night! In fact, Outlaw's high-glass And1 and the dunk over Pau Gasol made NBA TV's Top 10 Plays of the Day. It's hardly as satisfying as actually winning a game, but at least it's something.

Ask a Blazer: Favorite show on television

Today's in-game video ask the Blazers which television shows are their favorites. The Wire is the overwhelming choice for favorite show (which it should be). I was most surprised by Raef LaFrentz's choice. Didn't see that one coming.

Thanks again to Billie Olsen and the rest of the production staff for these great videos.

What would you do without Greg?

An interesting little post at the Dime Magazine blog today regarding how life in the NBA would be different if Greg Oden had stayed another season in Columbus.

... consider all the other events that would have been changed if Oden had stayed in school. Portland would have taken Kevin Durant with the first pick and probably wouldn’t have traded Zach Randolph, making for a core group of Brandon Roy, Durant, Zach and LaMarcus Aldridge. And then who would the Sonics have drafted: Al Horford? Mike Conley? Corey Brewer? Do they still do the Ray Allen/Jeff Green trade since they’re not getting an obvious building block like Durant? And without Ray in the fold, does Paul Pierce demand a trade from Boston? Does KG instead end up being traded to the Bulls or Lakers? It’s almost too much to comprehend.

Austin Burton, the fellow who wrote the post, went on to theorize that, even with microfracture surgery, Oden still would have been a Top 5 pick this season. Sounds about right, though I'd go a step farther: Greg would have been no lower than the No. 3 pick. Mike Beasley still goes first, then it's a tossup between Derrick Rose and post-surgery Greg Oden.

Today in links: April 2

Big game in Los Angeles tonight for the Red and Black. Pau Gasol could make his return to the lineup, which doesn't strike me as all that important, at least tonight. In order to finish the season at .500, the Blazers are going to have to win some tough games. Might as well be against the Lakers.

- Nate McMillan is going to need production from Travis Outlaw on both ends of the floor if the Blazers are to win tonight. Luckily, Outlaw has figured out how to D-up Kobe Bryant:

"You've just got to see what's not going for him and see if you can keep it up. If his shot ain't falling, then you want to keep giving him shots," the Portland Trail Blazers' Travis Outlaw said. "If his shot is falling, see how he does getting it to the rim. He can score, so there isn't anything that ever surprises me."

- Martell Webster, who also needs to have a solid night for the Blazers to win against the Lakers, discusses some of his interests outside of basketball. Turns out Marty like the beats:

If you weren’t playing basketball what would you be doing?

Something with music. I have a studio at home and it’s what I do in my spare time. After I put in all my work in basketball I go home and relax in my studio with my keyboards. I have a couple good friends who come down and we make songs. It’s a hobby for me.

No wonder Jarrett Jack calls Martell "Kanye Webster."

- Brian Hendrickson says the Blazers need to defend better. Tonight would be a good time to work on that.

- Brandon Roy talks about his charitable work, among other things, on a San Diego radio show. (Hat tip to diarist "saregister" on Blazer's Edge).

- More from Blazer's Edge. Dave satirically tackles what it takes to be a coach.

Warming up for the Nike Hoop Summit

Both Americans and internationals attending high school in the U.S. took to the court last week in the McDonald's All-American game. The East team, lead by Junior Select Team member Tyreke Evans, beat the West squad 107-102 in front of 10,914 at the Bradley Center. That attendance number is only about 3,000 less that what the Bucks are pulling in on an average night this season.

As you might expect, both the East and West rosters have a number of USA Select and International Select players who will be taking to the court on April 12 for the Nike Hoop Summit. To get an idea of the skills that will be on display at the Rose Garden, here's a recap of how the Nike Hoops Summit participants fared in the McDonald's All-American game.

6-9 SF Al-Farouq Aminu (Wake Forest): Aminu has the frame of a prototypical NBA small forward. He will have to improve his skills off the dribble as well as both his mid-range and long-range jumpers. Aminu also has to add strength and improve on defense.

6-9 PF Ed Davis (North Carolina): Davis pounds the offensive glass with aggression. He also has a nice left-hand jump hook he does not use nearly enough. Davis needs to continue to improve footwork in the post and add a right-hand jump hook to diversify his game.

6-6 SF Demar DeRozan (USC): Derozan has pro potential given his great size and body for an incoming college freshman. His leaping ability and quickness also make him very intriguing. Derozan has to continue to develop his jump shot, but presently he excels most in the open court on the fast break.

6-6 SG Tyreke Evans (undecided): Evans has the ability to score points in bunches, preferring to use his quick first step to penetrate to the basket as opposed to shooting the perimeter jump shot. When he drives, he generally goes right. Once at the rim, Evans uses his upper body strength, long arms, body control, and hang-time to absorb contact, make in-air adjustments, while still converting the basket. As he prepares for the next level, he will have to improve his jump-shot in addition to becoming a better ball-handler.

6-4 combo guard Jrue Holiday (UCLA): Holiday does everything on the basketball court. He has a never-ending motor and plays great defense with no fear of contesting shots. Holiday adeptly anticipates passes and steps in the passing lanes for steals topped off by finishes at the basket. He has uncanny ability to finish with his left hand (off-hand) after absorbing contact in the lane.

6-5 SG Scotty Hopson (undecided): Due to his quickness with the ball, Hopson relies on getting to the basket for his points. He will have to continue to work on his jumper and add more elements to his offense game.

6-4 SG Malcolm Lee (UCLA): Lee has good leaping ability and quick feet, which helps him to get out on the fast break for lay-ins and dunks. He also plays great defense, moving his feet well. Lee will have to continue to improve shooting skills this summer.

6-10 PF Greg Monroe (Georgetown): Monroe sustained an injury above his eye that hindered his effectiveness in the game. He did not respond well to the challenge of having to guard the East's better players. Monroe also faltered on a number of outlet passes, which probably resulted from the cut above his eye.

6-9 C Samardo Samuels (Louisville): Samuels established deep post position early on in the game. However, as the game went on, his team did not look to get him involved as much. He needs to demand the ball more on offense and make his guards aware he wants the ball. Samuels has really nice footwork in the post and displayed that part of his game more. Samuels has deceptively good athletic gifts he needs to utilize more.

By all accounts, the Nike Hoop Summit is likely to be a much better game than the McDonald's All-American. Expect a little less showboating and a bit more aggressive defense at the Hoops Summit.

Tickets are still available for the April 12 game. Lower bowl seats are only $6 if you buy in advance.

Video: Who's the best dancer?

If you haven't had the chance to make it to the Rose Garden this season, you've missed out on some interesting in arena videos. But now, thanks to Billie Olsen and the rest of the video production staff, you can watch some of this season's in game entertainment.

Video: Nate McMillan talks post-game about the loss to the Bobcats

Not a whole lot to say after a loss like that. When you out-rebound your opponent 57-32, you can usually assume you're going to win the game. Not the case tonight.

Here's what Nate McMillan had to say after the game.

Photos: Bobcats 93, Blazers 85

Nike Hoops Summit guard wins dunk contest

DeMar DeRozen, a senior out of Compton High School who's on this year's USA Basketball Men's Junior National Select Team, makes a lot of high percentage shots. Actually, he makes a lot of shots, period. While leading Compton High to a 24-6 record this season, DeRozen, who has signed to play for Tim Floyd next season at USC, shot a ridiculous 89.0 percent from the field. Not from the free throw line; the field. And he's a 6-5 guard/forward, not a 6-11 center.

A guy who makes 89 percent of his shots must get a lot of dunks, so I'm guessing DeRozen had plenty of time practice before winning the McDonald's All-American dunk contest.

On a night that saw the biggest cheers go up for Julius "Dr. J" Erving, the father of the slam dunk and one of the celebrity judges in attendance, DeRozan, a 6-foot-6 senior from Compton, Calif., drew some noise of his own with two perfect scores on his final dunks.

For his first dunk of the finals, he stuffed the ball under one leg while on the way up and slammed it home.

For his final dunk, he approached from the right wing, bouncing the ball hard off the ground and then the backboard, slapping the backboard with his left hand and then dunking with his right.

"I call that 'tap the baby,' DeRozan said, perhaps in honor of Erving's famed "rock the baby" dunk of years gone by. "You tap the backboard soft, like you're tapping a baby."

Sounds similar to one of Dwight Howard's All-Star Weekend dunk contest-winning jams. Below is a montage of DeRozen's winning dunks from this year's contest. He might not have the opportunity to break out the more difficult dunks at the Nike Hoops Summit on April 12 at the Rose Garden. Lower bowl tickets are only $6 if you buy in advance.