Video: Roy, Outlaw Postgame

In this edition of postgame video, Brandon Roy plays it coy when discussing which team he'd like to play in the first round and Travis Outlaw discusses moving to the starting lineup and the corresponding end to his shooting slump.

McMillan On Playoff Matchups: 'Everybody Wants Us'

Head Coach Nate McMillan claims he doesn't have a preference as to which team the Trail Blazers draw in the playoffs. And maybe he doesn't. But he does have an idea of what teams the rest of the Western Conference is hoping for.

"I think everybody wants us," said McMillan prior to Monday's game against the Thunder. "I would think that all the teams in the playoffs would want the young team. I would want the young Blazers."

But the media on hand, including Yahoo Sports' Johnny Ludden and ESPN's John Hollinger, weren't buying it. The media in attendance seemed to be in of one mind that the Blazers are the team most other playoff teams would like to avoid, but McMillan stood firm in his declaration.

"I think they do (want to play Portland in the playoffs)," said McMillan. "Just think about it: Would you want Utah or would you want Dallas or would you want New Orleans?"

The answer from the media: a resounding "Yes."

McMillan, as always, remained steadfast.

Said McMillan: "If I’m looking at those teams, I would think that they would want a young team coming into the playoffs."

Portland certainly is young, but I don't know that there are a whole lot of teams outside of Houston and Dallas that would like to draw the Trail Blazers. And if the Blazers end up with home court? No team, and I mean NO team, wants to enter a series knowing they have to steal a game at the Rose Garden.

Just don't try convincing Coach McMillan of that.

Video: Oden And ESPN's Sunday Conversation

As Decon points out in the comments, ESPN.com's embed code doesn't seem to work. But if you don't mind navigating away to the World Wide Leader, the video is still available.

Video: Another LaMarcus Aldridge Corner

In the second edition of the "LaMarcus Aldridge Corner," sideline reporter Rebecca Haarlow asks Aldridge about his performance against the Lakers, the importance of keeping pace in the race for home court and the speed which one should drive to the airport.

Video: Fernandez, Roy Postgame

In this edition of postgame video, Rudy Fernandez comments on Sergio Rodriguez's "bad pass" on the alley-oop dunk and Brandon Roy discusses guarding and being guarded by Kobe Bryant.

04.10.09 Trailblazers.com Podcast

This week's podcast is a day late and a host short, but hopefully you'll still find it just as entertaining as before. Dave Deckard of Blazer's Edge and myself, Casey Holdahl, of trailblazers.com talk a little Spurs and a lot of Lakers in this week's edition.

Aside from that, Dave and I delve into playoff possibilities, whether the Blazers need to make the second round to satisfy the fans, the return of Ariza (sans Phil Jackson) and why you should check out the Nike Hoop Summit. It's words you can listen to.



Download the podcast (41 MB)

Audio: Brandon Roy on Wheels At Work

Check out the inaugural "Brandon Roy Show" on Thursday's edition of "Wheels At Work." Roy will be a regular guest on Brian Wheeler's show every Thursday at 2:05 on 95.5 The Game. Be sure to mark your calenders so you can listen live.



Download the podcast (9.2 MB)

Thanks as always to Jay Allen and the crew at 95.5 The Game for the audio.

Don't Sleep On Our Swagger

The evolution that has allowed the Portland Trail Blazers to go from one of the worst teams in the NBA to playoff contenders in just a few short years has been multifaceted.

There’s the continued and accelerated maturation of Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge. The out-of-nowhere emergence of Nicolas Batum. The veteran presences of Joel Przybilla, Steve Blake and Travis Outlaw. The chemistry and playmaking ability of Rudy Fernandez and Sergio Rodriguez. The shear size and intimidation that is Greg Oden. And of course, there’s Nate McMillan and his staff guiding all of it with aplomb.

And during that evolution we’ve seen the Trail Blazers go from young and inexperienced to … young and slightly less inexperienced. Nevertheless, they’ve managed to successfully traverse a talent-laden Western Conference thanks to a gang of hard work, a surprising level of consistency, a rowdy home court and a little bit of swagger, or swag for short.

All of the good teams have swagger. It’s one thing to be humble and unassuming, but through the course of an 82 game season, you’ve got to be able to get your swag on. You need that confidence, that unwavering self-assurance, to play night in, night out against some of the best athletes in the world. Some nights, your legs just aren’t going to be there. You’ll get sick. You’ll be tired. You’ll miss your family and your own bed and home cooked food. You’ll go down 18 points to a team with 22 wins. You’ll go down 19 to a team with 50 wins.

That’s when you break out the swag.

But what exactly is swagger, you ask? Turns out, there are varying definitions.

“It’s not like a kind or a thing,” said LaMarcus Aldridge of swagger. “You just have it. I have it when I do certain things on the court or the way you carry yourself and the way you play with confidence. That’s having a swagger.”

While Aldridge considers swagger somewhat undefinable, Brandon Roy has a much more definitive idea of what swagger means to him.

“Swag is attitude to me,” said Roy.”If I could put it in one word, it’s attitude. That doesn’t mean you’re mean; it’s just the way you carry yourself.”

And according to the players and coaches, everybody has it. Different guys show it in different ways and to varying degrees, but make no mistake, this team is laden with swag, and it starts with team leaders Aldridge and Roy.

“LA, his swag got a lot more demeanor to it, like he walk high,” said Travis Outlaw. “Don’t get me wrong, great person, but you get him on the court and it be like, he thinks he’s everything. That’s a good swag to have.”

“Brandon try to give you that cool, I’m calm look, you know?” continued Outlaw. “That’s kind of his swag.”

“Brandon got cool man swag because he’s never out of control,” said Channing Frye. “He’s always cool about everything. Even when he had 50 I think he showed a little bit of emotion right there at the end but other than that, just cool man swag.”

Besides being cool, part of Roy’s swag is knowing he has swag.

“I ain’t going to pick no one,” joked Roy when asked which Trail Blazers have swagger. “Me, I got all the swag.

“Honestly, in their own way, everybody has a swagger about themselves. Joel be swaggin’, Bayless be swaggin’. I think some guys who don’t really have it. Trav is kind of real low-key. He don’t be swaggin’. LA be swaggin.’ Blake every once in a while, but not really. Sergio, not really. Sometimes he puts those little tight jackets on.”

The idea that clothing plays a role when it comes to swagger, typified by Roy’s mention of Rodriguez’s “little tight jackets,” was echoed by a few of the players. Clothes, as the saying goes, may make the man, but they also make the swag.

“Nic got some French swag,” said Frye. “He don’t really say much, but he’ll hit you with the French words. Nic is a cool cat, man. He’s a little young right now. I think you’re going to see Nic’s swag come out a little bit. With his little chains, his little watch and stuff. You know, Nic got a lot of swag to him, it’s just quiet swag.”

Despite being the quietest guy in the locker room, Batum was singled out by nearly all of his teammates when it comes to swagger, proving that swag transcends languages and cultures.

“Nicolas Batum, Mr. Smooth,” said Outlaw. “You see him, when he block a shot or something, he look out at the crowd. And I’m like, ‘OK Nic, swag on out on ‘em!’ He just Mr. Smooth, the kid from France.”

“Nic definitely has swagger,” said Aldridge. “When he dunked on Pau he put up two (fingers). That’s a swagger.”

Batum wasn’t the only rookie on the Trail Blazers roster singled out for swagger. In fact, the young bucks seem just as willing to swag as their veteran counterparts.

“Jerryd Bayless is just a high energy swag,” said Outlaw. “He scream on everything! He hit a jump shot, he’ll scream. He’s just a motivator. He’s like, ‘Yeah, yeah, I’m good, I’m good. Look at me.”’

“Rudy kind of has the rockstar swagger,” said Frye. “He just goes from the gut at all times. It’s like he just goes on instincts. It’s exciting. He might make one mistake, but that’s not going to deter him from that next one.”

The opposite of the rock star swag is the the laid back swag. It’s reserved, a bit tougher to notice, but it’s there.

“Myself, I got I-am-who-I-am swag,” said Frye. “I think that’s just based on me being who I am all the time. Like screw it, if it works it works, if it doesn’t, I’ll just try something else.”

Finally, for all his talk of swagger, Outlaw was the only player to downplay his own swag.

“I’m about the only one who ain’t got swag,” said Outlaw. "This is me, happy go lucky. If I hit like three shots in a row, you’ll see me start smiling. That’s about my swag.”

Consider your gut checked

First off, all credit to Lionel Hollins and the Memphis Grizzlies. Most teams in their position have long since packed it in for the season, but they're still out there playing their butts off trying to get wins that, for all intents and purposes, won't mean a thing. It's a surefire sign the Grizzlies made the right decision giving Hollins the head coaching gig. Kudos to them.

But even BIGGER kudos to the Trail Blazers. You knew they weren't going to give up, even down 18 and even after OJ Mayo starting draining three-pointers from the concession stand. Trail Blazers teams of old would have folded, but this iteration managed to come away with a bigtime 96-93 victory.

The Red and Black couldn't get anything going on offense in the second quarter, thanks in part to foul trouble for Joel Przybilla and Greg Oden, and they went into the half down 12.

But the third quarter was another story. Rudy Fernandez found the touch from beyond the arc. Przybilla went 5-for-5 from the free throw line. LaMarcus Aldridge scored 10 of his 15 points and Portland went on to outscore Memphis by 10, putting the Trail Blazers in position to pressure the Grizzlies down the stretch

And that stretch fourth quarter run ended up being the Brandon Roy show featuring Travis Outlaw. Roy scored 13 of his 24 points in the final frame, reminding everyone that, despite a sore knee, he's still one of the preeminent clutch performers in the game.

Outlaw once again provided the last-game firepower, banking in a pivotal and1 jumper with 13 second to play that also fouled out Rudy Gay. Sure, Outlaw missed the free throw, but whatever. It's no wonder Outlaw's name always comes up in Memphis trade rumors. I'd try to trade for him too if he kept drilling clutch shots in the grill of my collective franchise.

Winning tonight sets up yet another big game on Wednesday, this time against the Spurs. It'll probably be the last chance the Trail Blazers will have to move up in the race for homecourt advantage. San Antonio played, and won, tonight as well, so they'll be just as tired and motivated. One thing is certain: It'll take a better performance tomorrow to come away with a win.

One step forward ...

Last night's loss to the Houston Rockets is going to go down as one those games you really wish you could have picked up. It could have been a two-for-one in the Western Conference standings, a tie-breaker, a marque road win late in the season. Instead, it goes down as another what could have been road loss.

Portland did clinch a playoff spot thanks to the Mavericks dispatching the Suns with extreme prejudice, but now is no time to be satisfied with simply making the postseason.

“I congratulated the guys for getting there but our work is still not done," said Nate McMillan. "We have a chance for home court and we have to keep working for it.”

Despite the loss, there's some motivation to be found. As many have pointed out, there's a decent chance the Trail Blazers, now assured of a playoff spot, will meet the Rockets in the first round of the postseason. There are probably better matchups for the Blazers, but there are definitely worse.

But according to at least one member of the Rockets, Portland v. Houston is the preferred pairing.

“I think we played pretty good against the Trail Blazers," said Aaron Brooks, who finished with 14 points and one assist. "In a first round match-up this might be our most favorable one, honestly."

I appreciated Brooks' honesty. Looking at the matchups, he may very well be right in his assessment, but according to Brandon Roy, it might not be best to judge Portland by what they showed last night.

“If we play them again we know we can do it," said Roy. "Our attitude today was that we were too relaxed. In the playoffs I think you will see a different team from both of us. We’ll be ready if we have to play them again.”

We're In

Ever since the end of last season, the Trail Blazers have focused on one thing: Making the playoffs in 2009. Now that they're assured of reaching that goal, it's on to the next task. Beat the Houston Rockets and give yourself a chance to get homecourt advantage.

I get the feeling Nate McMillan and the rest of the Red and Black have been focusing on that goal for some time. While most of us have been focused on magic numbers, they've been focused on getting one of the top four playoff spots. That goal is attainable, especially with the way everyone seems to have stepped up their performances in the last two weeks. Something is different, and that's bad news for everyone else in the Western Conference.

Toward the end of the Dallas/Phoenix game, Marc Jackson picked the Trail Blazers as his playoff darkhorse, stating they're too young to know they're not supposed to be playing this well. I appreciate the sentiment, but I have to disagree. It's not that they don't know; they just don't care. They're writing their own story.

Roy: 'Let's be more aggressive toward them'

There are just eight games to go in the regular season, and yet, the Trail Blazers are still learning. They’re learning what it’s like to play meaningful games in April. They’re learning how to play through aches and pains and pulls and strains.

But maybe the most important thing they’re learning that what constituted a foul in November and December might not be the same thing that constitutes a foul in March and April. It’s what coaches and players are talking about when they refer to “playoff basketball.” And it’s rough.

“It’s an adjustment for guys who haven’t been through it before,” said Nate McMillan, who played in 98 playoff games as a member of the Seattle SuperSonics. “All of the sudden you go from playing and having the freedom of moving to not being able to move without someone covering you pretty much every possession. It’s a mental change.”

McMillan has tried to prepare his team for that change all season, but even he admits that there’s only so much you can teach. Sooner or later, the Trail Blazers are going to have to learn for themselves that increased physicality leading up to the playoffs is the norm. Teams, as McMillan has noted recently, are playing every possession now. They’re playing with a greater sense of urgency and with the understanding that referees would rather let the players n the floor decided games.

“You notice (more physical play) from the really good teams, the teams that are in the playoff races like Philadelphia,” said Brandon Roy. “There’s a lot of grabbing. I think it’s good that we’re going through it now because when we played Milwaukee, it was a physical game. A lot of grabbing.

“All the coaches that have been there know what you have to do. I’m excited that we’re going through it now because I’m starting to learn what it takes. Even now when I penetrate, I’m not looking for as many fouls. It’s just trying to be aggressive because that’s what they’re allowing. Hopefully we can continue to be more physical ourselves and not allow teams to try and take us out of our game. Lets be more aggressive toward them.”

But Roy is wise beyond his years. What about the rest of the team? Have they been as quick to catch on as the two-time all-star. According to Roy, you bet.

“I think the whole team has figured it out,” said Roy. “It’s the time of the year where everybody is playing for something. We’re playing for playoff position. Every team in the West, from nine to one, is playoff for position. Even the Lakers are playing for homecourt throughout, so everybody is going for it. I think that’s good because we’re getting a lot of experience.”

Contrary to popular belief, Brandon Roy is not perfect

At least when it comes to reciting lines for commercials. Watch the outtakes from Roy's Footlocker House of Hoops spot, then try to say "It's pretty hard to dribble with gloves on" five times fast. It's tougher than it sounds.

Wishing Coach Luke A Speedy Recovery

Bittersweet news today that assistant coach Maurice Lucas will miss the rest of the season after undergoing successful bladder cancer surgery on Tuesday. The good news is that, by all accounts, Coach Luke is recovering well. The bad news, of course, is that he won't be there on the Trail Blazers bench.

"I'm disappointed that I will be missing this stretch run," Lucas said. "I am so proud of how our guys have played and I'm confident that I will spend a good deal of my recovery time watching us win games."

Coach Luke already beat pneumonia this season, and I've got no doubt he's going to beat cancer as well. They don't come tougher than Coach Luke, that's for sure.

04.02.09 Trailblazers.com Podcast

With eight regular season games remaining, the weekly podcast is rounding into postseason form. Gavin Dawson of 95.5 The Game, Dave Deckard of Blazer's Edge and myself, Casey Holdahl, of trailblazers.com get our playoff voices on for the first podcast of April. It's getting hot in here.

This week we discuss the stellar performances during the homestand, Aldridge's next gear, the matrix that is the NBA tie-breaker system, Joel Przybilla's technical knockouts, Gavin's mancave, the difficulty of winning on the road and which small forward you would pick to play defense for one possession. Time to man up.



Download the podcast (49.3 MB)

By the way, the Nike Hoops Summit is about a week away. It's a super cool event, pitting the best American prep players against their international counterparts. Darn near half of the Trail Blazers' roster played in the game, so it's a good chance to get first peek at the potential future of the franchise. There's also a gang of scouts there, so if you're looking for an opportunity to rub elbows with NBA decision makers, this might be your best bet. Tickets bought using this link are just $5 (plus fees), which is half price.

Read all about it

I can imagine that you've had your fill of reading my thoughts, but if you're a glutton for punishment, my good friend Dave at Blazer's Edge has an interview with yours truly about life on the inside. Dave swears people are interested in this kind of stuff, and he's much smarter than I, so maybe it's something you'll enjoy.

Speaking of Dave, a new podcast will be up sometime around noon, so check back soon for that.

Video: Oden, Roy, Aldridge Postgame

In this edition of postgame video, Greg Oden talks about having Joel Przybilla's back, we find out that Brandon Roy doesn't beleive in the notion of "peaking," and LaMarcus Aldridge talks, as he often does, about staying aggressive.



By the way, you have to have seen it by now, but if you haven't, check out Greg Oden swishing a shot from three-quarters court.

Rudy Fernandez Out For Tonight's Game

The Jazz might be coming off a back-to-back, but the Trail Blazers have back problems of their own coming into tonight's game against Utah. Rudy Fernandez is listed as out for tonight's game due to back spasms. Nate McMillan said Rudy's back was tight this morning at shootaround, and treatment throughout the day didn't seem to work, so he's being held out. I would assume that Shavlik Randolph will be activated in Rudy's place, but I'm not 100 percent on that.

Greg Oden from deep

This is video of Greg Oden going 3/4 court yesterday at the Rose Garden is going to be all over the place soon, so watch it now before it crashes the server.

Staying Up To Avoid A Letdown

I have no idea if there is such a thing as a “letdown game,” but if there is, tonight’s tilt against the Memphis Grizzlies would probably qualify, for a few reasons.

The Trail Blazers are coming off a huge win, both in terms of score differential and playoff positioning. Beating the Suns by twenty points while reducing the magic number to six went a long way toward shoring up a spot in the postseason. Every game holds significance at this point, but as Nate McMillan aptly described after Thursday’s win, beating Phoenix was truly a “two for one.”

And then there’s the issue of the Grizzlies. Memphis has the fifth-worst record in the NBA. They’ve won eight games since the start of the new year. They’re playing for pride and next season at this point.

So it’s it possible that, coming off the Phoenix game, Portland enters tonight’s contest “letdown”? Maybe there’s a feeling in the locker room that the Trail Blazers have reached a point where they can simply take to the Rose Garden floor and win games like tonight’s without having to bring their best.

Does such a thing happen this late in the season? I don’t have the answer to that question, but head coach Nate McMillan has already thought of the solution.

“You avoid (a letdown) by just talking about improving,” said McMillan. “Trying to be even better than we were (against Phoenix), building off of some of the things we did (on Thursday) on both ends of the floor.

“So don’t look at this team’s record. They have some players -- some young players --that can play. For us, we’re still in a race, so our approach has to be business. We come out and we play this game with that sense of urgency we came out with (Thursday night).”

I’m guessing Coach McMillan will mention something to that effect in his pregame speech to the team tonight. We’ll know soon enough whether that message sunk in.