FanHouse NateMcMillan

The Trail Blazers can't win against the Rockets without big games from Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge -- and sometimes even that's not enough. So when you consider the fact that Roy entered Game 5 on Tuesday completely flu-stricken and Aldridge hadn't even attempted a shot in practice for two days because of a swollen elbow, it'd be understandable if you predicted the game wouldn't even be close.

As it turns out, it wasn't -- but instead of Houston closing the door, it was the Blazers who pulled away in the final quarter, winning 88-77. How did they do it? Roy and Aldridge, of course; the duo each scored 25 points, defying their respective ailments to help the Blazers stave off elimination for at least one more night.

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In front of a raucous crowd the Portland Trail Blazers took the court tonight for their first playoff game in six years, and the first of the modern incarnation. They were young, they were excited, and the entire city of Portland was behind them.

Then Yao Ming happened.

Ming scored 24 points, all in the first half, all in only 24 minutes, on 9-9 shooting to put the Blazers down for the count from the very beginning. After the rubble had cleared? Rockets 108, Blazers 81.

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It's trophy time in the NBA, and the FanHouse crew has submitted its ballots. Find out which players deserve to take home the hardware and which ones don't, in our NBA Awards series. Next up: Coach of the Year.

This turned out to be one of those seasons where it would be hard to be wrong in making a pick for Coach of the Year. Eight different coaches were named by our voters, and it was so close that we ended up with a tie for third place. But the one man that stood out above the rest was the one holding the clipboard to your right.

After being sidelined since the All-Star break, Greg Oden participated in a light workout on Tuesday, convincing the Trail Blazers to upgrade his status for Wednesday's game from "out" to "questionable." Does it mean he'll play? It's too early to say, but when you consider how frustrating his absence has been for Oden, his teammates and the fans, it's OK to celebrate baby steps.

You have to wonder about the timing of this decision, though. As Jason Quick of The Oregonian points out, the Blazers are Indianapolis, Oden's hometown. Is the team hoping the chance to play in front of family and friends will serve as added motivation, or is it purely a quirk in the schedule? Only McMillan and his staff knows for sure.

Guessing NBA starting line-ups on a night-to-night basis is a fool's game, and today is no exception. At least two coaches have made surprise changes of heart heading into the season opening slate.

In Portland, Nate McMillan has been talking up the prospects of giving injured Martell Webster's starting gig to rookie Frenchman Nicolas Batum. The fellow, a length of rope who whips around the court (sometimes without aim), didn't impress in the final few Portland exhibition games, though. As such, Travis Outlaw -- more of a sure thing -- has gotten the late call to start, reports Casey Holdahl of the Blazers.

In Chicago, Kirk Hinrich has been slated as the backcourt mate for rookie PG Derrick Rose. Instead, Vinny Del Negro has named Thabo Sefolosha the starting two-guard. To be honest, I didn't expect Thabo to be among the top four guards in the Bulls' rotation this fall, with Rose, Hinrich, Larry Hughes and ... um ... err ... (oh yeah) Ben Gordon (!) filling the spots. Hughes is broken (surprise), Gordon is still persona non grata (bummer), and here comes the Swiss Mister.

No word on whether Brian Scalabrine will take Paul Pierce's spot in the 8PM EST game, which you can follow with us here at FanHouse.

NBA Essentials ranks our six favorite stories of the day.

1. Need4Sheed. MJ always knew Kwame Brown would be pumping gas within 10 years, but this wasn't quite what he had in mind. (FUNNY VIDEO alert.)

2. The Oregonian. Nate McMillan refers to himself, Greg Oden, Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge as "The Diamond." That's surely not going to inspire humorous retorts from opposition fans over the next decade.

3. Detroit News, via Detroit Bad Boys. In 1999, Michael Curry might have saved the NBA.

4. New York Daily News. Bruce Ratner might be selling a controlling share of the soon-to-be Brooklyn Nets. Can anyone loan me $600 million or so?

5. Indy Cornrows. With Mike Dunleavy injured, the immediate fate of the Pacers rests on ... Marquis Daniels and Brandon Rush.

6. Free Darko's Book Website. There are some great illustrations and excerpts available here. Also, the book is incredible. But you don't need me to tell you that.

NBA Essentials ranks our six favorite stories of the day.

1. TrueHoop. Spending a day with NBA referees. Tons of great notes in here.

2. Palm Beach Post. Michael Beasley comes ... err, clean: "And when asked if he was hiding in the hotel room when security first entered Beasley answered, 'Honestly, I don't know.' I'm not sure our young protagonist understands what that word means.

3. Ball in Europe. Highlights from Josh Childress' first preseason game in Greece.

4. OregonLive. Nate McMillan wants to dampen the high expectations facing the Blazers. Good luck.

5. Washington Post, via Bullets Forever. The Brendan Haywood-Etan Thomas war is over!

6. Sactown Royalty. (Self-link alert!) Investigating the causes of Sacramento's bloated salary.

Note: Update at the bottom.

HOOPSWORLD reports the Blazers will announce the addition of Shaun Livingston to the roster later this evening (4PM EST). To be honest, Carl Landry's Charlotte offer sheet is the bigger news in real basketball terms (as in, Houston would lose a lot by shrugging Landry off), but Livingston's a big name 'til he retires, so a lot of ink will spill on this move.

Portland's point guard set fascinates me. Steve Blake is the incumbent, a crafty but restricted shooter who defends better than the others. Clearly, the Blazers aren't satisfied starting him. Sergio Rodriguez had planned to be the flower of the Northwest, but he and Nate McMillan have some sort of disconnect (likely to be defense-related). In successive years, the Blazers have drafted 19-year-old PG prospects: Finland's Petteri Koponen -- a kid the franchise almost brought over the sea for this coming season, someone both McMillan and Kevin Pritchard appear to be very high on -- and Jerryd Bayless out of Arizona. Pritchard moved up in the lottery to get Bayless at #11.

Blake's got to be trade bait if Bayless develops or McMillan gets Livingston minutes at the point. There is, of course, the possibililty Livingston has been acquired to add depth at the swing positions. As Livingston has made his recovery, murmurs that a loss in quickness from his gruesome injury would force Shaun to small forward or two-guard made the rounds. Without Koponen and with Rodriguez in flux, the Blazers would surely like an able point guard should Blake be jettisoned -- Bayless has a learning curve ahead of him. But this could also be a move for the next couple years, where -- should Portland move Travis Outlaw -- depth behind Brandon Roy, Rudy Fernandez and Martell Webster becomes a concern. Roy, Fernandez and Livingston, in particular, are flexible players who can run the offense or play off the ball. There's a lot McMillan can do here, and it'll be interesting to see how it shakes out (assuming HOOPSWORLD's report is accurate).

UPDATE: The Oregonian disagrees with HOOPSWORLD's report, and says Pritchard has told the media Livingston won't be signed. Timberwolves, Heat: you're back on the clock.

It's a quite Labor Day for the NBA, so an excellent Jason Quick Oregonian feature on Blazer mystic Travis Outlaw is drawing some chatter. The news hook basically goes that Outlaw expects more of himself than to be a sixth man in Portland, and there's an inkling he expects more of a chance from Nate McMillan and friends. Some vital excerpts:

[H]e says he would like to average 15 shots this season -- the amount [Brandon] Roy and [LaMarcus] Aldridge averaged last season -- and disputes the notion that he had the green light with the Blazers. "Noooo. Noooo," Outlaw says about the green light, prompting his imitation of Blazers coach Nate McMillan. "'Now Travis, that shot, you can get something better than that.'" [...]

"I shoot jumpers like layups," Outlaw says. "Sometimes I get on a fast break and I want to pull up."

That quote belongs on a Hallmark card, but let's hit the meat: Outlaw will never average 15 FGAs a night on this team. McMillan plays slow and controlled, so this isn't like Golden State or Denver where a sixth-man can average 20 per game. Roy and Aldridge were alphas last year ... and the team is adding Greg Oden, Rudy Fernandez and Jerryd Bayless. Two of those fellows gun by birthright, the other is a potentially dominant post player. Dude's usage will go down, not up.

And that's before all these cats come of age. It will never get better. If Outlaw is spending his September counting potential FGAs, he's obviously not feeling the gameplan. It's awesome that he's talking about not giving McMillan a choice by playing magnificent ball. But the reality: Roy and Aldridge aren't slipping behind Outlaw in the pecking order, Rudy wasn't signed to become a defensive roleplayer, and Outlaw isn't ever becoming a top dog in Portland.

Thankfully, the Blazers have shown a willingness to include Outlaw in trade discussions. He deserves to shoot jumpers like layups somewhere. Maybe he'll get that opportunity in the next year or so.

Imagine Nate McMillan's Olympic predicament. As an assistant on Mike Krzyzewski's staff, he had to concerntrate at the task at hand -- or at the very least, keep a straight face -- as Spain's Rudy Fernandez torched the Redeem Team's collection of All-Stars (and posterized Dwight Howard) for 22 points in fewer than 18 minutes.

Behind the stoic front, though, he was going nuts, just like most of the fans back in Portland. From Jason Quick of The Oregonian:

"I'm sitting there (in the gold medal game) with a straight face, trying not to smile," McMillan said. " (Spain) are the guys we have to beat, but I'm caught. That's my player and I want to (he claps his hands twice) but I gotta (he makes a serious face) because we are going up against him."

[...] "I was so impressed with him that it was to the point where after the second time I saw him, I didn't sleep that night because I was moving my rotations around," McMillan said. "I swear I did not sleep. I could not sleep thinking about him. Because I'm saying, 'We can put him here, do this with him, do that with him and Brandon (Roy), and do this... So he's playing for us. Oh yeah. I see that right now."

So what did he dream up? For now he's planning on using Fernandez on the second team alongside Jerryd Bayless and Travis Outlaw, although Fernandez will occasionaly share the court with Brandon Roy. If Fernandez plays as well as he did in Beijing (which isn't out of the question given the quality of competition he faced), can the Blazers keep him out of the starting lineup? I like Steve Blake as much as the next guy, but I don't see how they could.