The Portland Trail Blazers are in Atlanta to take on our half-baked Hawks (7:30 PM, SportSouth, CSN Northwest), and looking forward to being the latest team to stop their own three-game slide.

Portland has dropped eight of their last 11 games, the last seven without All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge (back contusion). During their trek across the Dirty South, they got throttled in Charlotte by 30 points, and on Monday got sunk by the lumbering Miami HEAT in the closing seconds on a LeBron layup. Then on Tuesday, they lost on the road to a Magic team that had previously lost nine in a row.

As a result, the Blazers (45-27) have gone from a playoff lock and possible 4-seed to an unwilling participant in the game of Western Conference Musical Chairs. As it stands, they’re two games ahead of Dallas for the 9^th seed, Golden State, Memphis, and Phoenix wedged in between. But when the music stops…?

You’ll hear no cries from the Blazers fans to see their team tank, because their would-be draft pick (Top-12 protected) will go to Charlotte if they fail to get into the playoffs. Either way, Blazers and ex-Hawks Head Coach Terry Stotts is all but assured of a new contract this summer, given the way this team has transformed under his watch.

Portland will be thrilled to have Aldridge return tonight, but they will likely limit his minutes and bring him along slowly as he’s still dealing with some soreness. Distance makes the heart grow fonder, and perhaps the most endeared Blazer to Portland fans is second-year center Joel Freeland, who sprained his MCL a month-and-a-half ago and has yet to return. Aldridge’s and Freeland’s absences further thinned their defensively-deficient frontline, causing them to rely more on Thomas Robinson and Meyers Leonard than they would like. There’s also a report that guard Mo Williams will try to go tonight despite a sore knee.

As for the Hawks? Well…

Pero Antić had a very Hawksian moment went he tripped over a coach after sinking one of the rare three-pointers in last night’s debacle in Minnesota (7-for-28 team 3FG), tweaking his ankle. Perhaps the hoops gods were trying to tell Antić (1-for-4 3FGs in 16 minutes last night, 4-for-22 his last five games) something about his shot selection of late. His status remains a cloudy gametime decision for tonight, along with Kyle Korver.

It appears that without Korver screenin’ outta control and providing some measure of defensive help along the way, Head Coach Mike Budenholzer runs completely out of tricks to pull by the second half of games during Atlanta’s latest swoon. Atlanta’s opponents have rung up 60.5 PPG in second halves of the last four games, fire-roasting the Hawks by an average of 14.7 second-half points in the last three.

The beatings will continue if they intend to play the way they did up in Rip City three weeks ago, the 102-78 game that concluded Korver’s (previous) legendary Threak. Atlanta shot a season-low 33.3 FG% and an Antician 4-for-27 on the night from three-point range, as the team had to rely on Cartier Martin to provide the garbage-time offense. Portland hardly needed Aldridge (1-for-13 FGs) to show up at all.

Without Korver to chase around and Antić at least ineffective from the perimeter if he plays at all, Nicolas Batum (career-high 18 defensive rebounds on March 5) and Wesley Matthews will find themselves freed up to expend more energy on the offensive end. Matthews in particular wants an opportunity to fix his broken jumper. Since the All-Star Break, Matthews is shooting 39.6 FG% and 35.7 3FG%, down significantly from 45.9 FG% and 41.0 3FG% pre-Break.

Jeff Teague did his best Claude Rains impersonation in Minnesota (0-for-5 FGs and no FTs in 19 minutes), and the Hawks’ so-called “lead” guards largely left it to teammates to get the offense going. The result was a brutal 25 turnovers (2^nd most this season, most in a game since mid-December), 17 by Minnesota steals. Against a soft Timberwolves interior, the Hawks failed to get shots inside (eight attempts within 5 feet in the second-half). When the Wolves started taking their offense outside (9-for-18 3FGs in the second half, after 0-for-4 in the first), the Hawks tried to keep up and only went 2-for-14.

To keep doing the same thing over and over again (#3BallThursday!)and getting the same result, they can try avoiding the defensively-limited Robin Lopez and the hobbled Aldridge in the paint, and just hang out on the perimeter like Daft Punk hoping to get lucky. In part due to defensive pressure at the wing spots, Blazer foes shoot the fewest three-point attempts (18.0 3FGA per game), but take the most two-pointers (69.7 2FGAs per game), while Portland is the only NBA team stealing the ball less than six times per game (5.5 SPG). Stotts’ gang would love nothing more than to compete with Atlanta in a contested-three battle and scoop up all the rebounds from missed shots (NBA-high 46.3 RPG).

Teague should be nothing if not well-rested after getting a short hook last night, and should be better able to attack the basket and set up Paul Millsap and Mike Scott around the rim. On defense, Aldridge will be quite satisfied settling for his signature mid-range jumper, so Millsap has to properly defend that shot (no fouling!) and depend on his teammates to box out and secure rebounds.

Meanwhile, Teague cannot afford to have Damian Lillard dictate the pace of the action the way Ricky Rubio (10 assists, 2 turnovers, 6 steals) was able to last night. Lillard is not a pass-first pass-last PG like Rubio, but his Blazers are 11-2 when he manages at least 8 assists. You do want Lillard to play hero-ball and settle for shots at the end of the clock, as he has averaged 20.8 PPG but shot just 33.9 FG% and 20.9 3FG% in the past six games. Don’t bail out Lillard with trips to the free throw line.

Go Hawks!

~lw3