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I've long been a fan of the Portland Trail Blazers -- the Bill Walton led championship team of 1977 is one of my historical favorites right along with the classic Knick championship teams. Though I haven't liked every edition of the Blazers in the last decade, I've followed developments with the team and always loved how a city like Portland supports the franchise almost as a civic duty. The relationship between city and team reminds me of the passionate, almost bordering on irrational commitment many cities in England, Spain and Italy have with their soccer clubs.

So last night's Knick home opener against Portland had even more interest for me than usual, and I was struck by how much the similarities *and* the differences between the teams stood out. Both teams young and full of rangy type wing players (especially with every Portland big man succumbing to some sort of injury curse). Lots of similar finesse and hustle and mutli-positionality oozing from both team's benches (Bill Walker, Toney Douglas, Wilson Chandler, Wesley Matthews, Dante Cunningham, etc). Both teams with a highly promising pick from the draft of 2008 (Gallinari, Batum) ready to take the next step toward stardom or at least cult hero worship. Both teams even have a foreign big expected to produce in spot minutes (Oberto a veteran trying to make the most of his waning career, Mozgov a rookie just learning to stay on the floor).

The Blazers have better guards, but the Knicks have their own trump card with Amare the most talented and explosive of the wing-forward types on both rosters. The significant differences between the coaches -- McMillan runs one of the more deliberate and slower paced offenses in the league, D'Antoni obviously geared toward higher octane and more scoring -- tends to mask the commitment of both coaches to efficiency (McMillan runs a very efficient offense), and it shouldn't be forgotten that both coaches have worked together with the Olympic team and have learned a great deal from each other.

The way this all played out on the court early on played to the Knicks' worst case scenarios. Portland used the same formula for its first two wins of the season to confuse and establish distance from the Knicks: posting up their wings, getting good perimeter shots from inside out action, using lots of off-ball and weak side movement to free up cutters for easy layups. The Knicks had little flow to their offense when Amare or Felton wasn't making shots and missed their first nine 3 pointers; Gallinari continued to look like an Italian Steve Novak that had been shot in the leg and looked terrible on every shot he took, even a made runner which came off the wrong foot and looked like a shot put coming off his hand. The Knick bench was no better at first, firing wild shots and ball watching on defense as the Blazers picked them apart.

Fortunately for the Knicks, the Blazers relaxed in the second quarter and stopped running their offense with the same precision, and Chandler led the comeback from 11 points down with tenacious rebounding (10 boards in the first half), excellent defense, and two of his usual pull-your-hair-out 3 pointers that went in. The half ended up tied at 44 when it could have been much worse. The Knicks' improved rhythm continued in the third quarter -- they weren't exactly scoring efficiently, but the Blazers' use of a zone allowed the opportunistic Knicks to get second chances off of an unexpected advantage in offensive rebounds (and win the overall rebounding battle 51-41).

The Knicks also benefited from the Blazers not running (the Celtics the previous night had great success leaking out players on the break against all the Knicks crashing the boards). Brandon Roy kept the Blazers even with 15 third quarter points, mostly against an overmatched Landry Fields, who otherwise had another terrific game. The game was tied going into the fourth quarter, where the Knicks built a nine point lead thanks to a lineup (Amare, Walker, Chandler, Douglas and Turiaf) and a couple of defensive wrinkles that limited the Blazers to eight points in seven minutes -- Chandler bottled up Roy more effectively with his length, and using Walker in place of Felton allowed the Knicks to switch on the off ball screens, minimizing mismatches and defending the cutters more effectively. 

In the end, the Knicks met a familiar adversary -- an inability to execute down the stretch, giving up 15 points in the final 3 minutes, while only scoring 3 points in the last five and half. The Blazers deserve credit with their own improved focus, veteran savvy from Andre Miller making big plays, and the final trump card: Batum entering the game in the final 4:49 and helping the Blazers lock down, including the critical block of a Felton layup in the final seconds. He ended up with a game high +16, a fitting (and depressing for Knick fans) inversion of Gallinari's game low -11.


Fourth Quarter Execution: The Early issues


As painful and familiar as the final minutes were, the ideas and execution weren't always terrible: the failures were more an indication of the lack of on-court chemistry in this early season, and the limitations of the roster, rather than some negative voodoo borne of the spirits of 21st century Knick failure wearing James Dolan and Isiah Thomas masks. With a difficult early schedule and the team still trying to gel, it's no surprise the Knicks may also be looking at a 1-4 start. And the causes of last night's failure were staring everyone in the face:

* Amare Needs the Ball In Better Positions - If Stoudemire can't get the ball in favorable scoring position (15 feet or closer, going to his favored right, isolated against a single defender or with space to go between two larger, less mobile defenders), then it's up to Felton to either create his own shot or find a shooter. The issue was especially acute in last night's fourth quarter, where Amare was most effective setting up opportunities for other teammates to score through screens and motion (drawing the defense toward him). When trying to create his own offense from the left wing 20 feet from the basket, on 3 different occasions Amare was 1) forced to the baseline and bailed out by the Blazers knocking the ball out of bounds, 2) had his shot blocked 3) threw up a rushed contested shot against two defenders. On two other isolations from the elbows, Amare was stripped by Miller and Camby respectively. His only baskets came in the first 2 minutes of the quarter on a broken play and an offensive rebound putback.

* Free Throws - People will point to Turiaf's free throws, and he was especially dire yesterday, but it's a known issue with him; it was more disappointing to see players like Felton and Douglas miss FTs. Being on the second leg of a back to back, not to mention all the pre game hype related to the home opener, probably didn't help, as everyone's legs looked tired -- you'd think if the Knicks had a hand in the schedule, they would have preferred to get the Blazers at home first, then take their chances with being blown out by the Celtics on the road, but life in the NBA doesn't work that way. That's not to make excuses, because the Knicks had a lead and making a few more free throws would have made a big difference.

* Playmaking - Felton had a fine game against the Blazers, and it's arguable the Knicks never would have stayed in the game without his aggressive play. It's encouraging to see him abandon the inert, cautious play of the pre-season (and the worst of his Bobcat days) and attack the basket fearlessly and try to make things happen. With that said, his strengths and weaknesses are the reverse of Duhon, his predecessor: Duhon ran the pick and roll and found shooters off of penetration reasonably well, but he was a poor finisher and had no mid range jumper to keep defenses honest. Felton loves to drive and shows confidence in his jumper, but he's a bit mechanical with the pick and roll, rarely going beyond primary or secondary options, and improvises poorly once he puts his head down to drive -- the ball doesn't often find a shooter or see the other side of the floor unless Ray has it planned in advance.

Currently, playmaking begins and ends with Felton and to a lesser extent Douglas -- though Turiaf showed some promise with his 4 assists, and Amare does a reasonable job of managing handoffs and finding cutters, the other Knicks have no playmaking tendencies. Last night's 16 assists and 17 turnovers are the result, a near repeat of the 12 assist/13 turnover performance in game 1 against the Raptors.

* Shooting - Here's where Gallinari's absence hurt so badly. We can be hard on Felton for not sussing out the best options, and I wish Fields had a couple of better looks down the stretch last night, but Gallo is supposed to be the big target and provide some leadership as well, and he has been absent this season. Coach says he's "pressing", but someone with his talent has to find ways to contribute even when his shot isn't falling and he's banged up. The Knicks have managed to be competitive in every game because Chandler has arguably surpassed expectations, but cue the cheap Halloween jokes and call Wilson a trick or treat player -- the treats are especially tasty, but the tricks come at the worst time (like the three missed shots in the last five minutes), and 3 for 9 shooting on 3 pointers and 3 for 9 shooting on shots inside 10 feet speak to a particularly erratic player that's difficult to rely on, as good as he's been.

Other Notes (and the rest of the weekend):

* Most deceptive Blazer stat lines: LaMarcus Aldridge with 20 points and 10 rebounds, and Wesley Matthews, the $34 million off-season free agent acquisition, with 13 points on 5 for 7 shooting. Both had their moments when the Blazers were rolling, but they also struggled and looked quite tentative in stretches against the Knick pressure, and Aldridge's free throw shooting at the end allowed the Knicks to stay in the game until the final seconds.

* Another weird stat from last night: Knicks with more turnovers (17) than the Blazers (15), but the Knicks with far more points off those turnovers (20) than the Blazers (9). At times I wondered how the Knicks were still in the game with so many turnovers and such poor 3 point and free throw shooting, but credit the Knicks' defense and rebounding for giving them a chance to win.

* Like I said, I don't believe in ghosts or curses or anything like that, but it might not be the worst thing to avoid tempting fate...so Ray Felton should follow my informal Al Harrington-inspired rule of No Jersey-Popping With Less Than A Ten Point Lead and Over a Minute Left To Play At Home. (anyone who's watched the Knicks play the last two years understands this one)

* The Knicks also played Boston on Friday and were much better than anyone expected, though that may have been even stranger from a statistical perspective than the Portland game. During the game I had a running box score tallying offensive efficiency, and it fluctuated as wildly as a penny stock, with the Knicks dropping as low as 70 percent and going to up to 105 given their typical mercurial play, and the Celtics similarly fluctuating based on all their turnovers. In the end, the Cs dominated when they weren't turning the ball over thanks to their rebounding, their defense, and Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo. Loved the effort, though it may be too much to expect the same against Orlando on Tuesday.

I expected a 20+ point rout on Friday and was pleased at how close it ended; I think Orlando will be closer to that 20 point beating given the Knicks have no answer for an improved Howard, but let's see how the journey progresses after the Knicks lick their wounds from their home opener.