If you look on the schedule/ticket ticker, we play the toughest team twice on March 3rd and March 5th... do you know who it is? Anyone? ... Ourselves.

Matt CalkinsofThe Columbian exploresthe shooting proficiency of Portland Trail Blazers forward Kurt Thomas. ---------------------------- "Who’s the better shooter from 20 feet away, you or Kurt Thomas?" Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge was asked. "Of course I am," Aldridge said. "You can even ask Kurt about that." Fair enough. "Hey Kurt, who’s the better shooter from 20 feet away, you or LaMarcus?" "That’s not even close," said Thomas, Aldridge’s 39-year-old teammate. "Of course he’s going to say he is, but I think everyone knows I can shoot the outside jumper, and I believe I show it night in and night out." It’s true. ---------------------------- Imentionedthis was in the works last week and he didn't disappoint. -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com |Twitter

Good column about the Blazers trading Greg Oden for Kris Humphries. Yes, sounds crazy, but the explanation makes it sound reasonable. Reminds me of when we traded Bowie for Buck Williams. How did that turn out?

NBA referee Scott Foster found himself in a late-game controversy for the second time in a week while refereeing a Sunday afternoon game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Toronto Raptors at the Air Canada Centre. The Raptors had the ball in a sideline out of bounds situation with four seconds remaining in the fourth quarter and the Lakers leading, 93-92. Despite Raptors coach Dwane Casey's attempt to call a timeout, Foster whistled the Raptors for a 5-second violation. The Lakers went on to win the game, 94-92, when a DeMar DeRozan jumper at the buzzer was no good. Video replay of the call was not conclusive, but it did show Casey walking back to the bench as if he had been granted a timeout, only to turn around in disbelief once he realized what had happened. Casey then apparently yelled: "Oh, come on, Scott!"Post-Game Update: Here'sCasey's reactionto the call fromRobert MacLeodofTheGlobeAndMail.comand comments from Raual Butler, who was inbounding the ball on the play. ---------------------------------- “What little money I make I think I like it, so I’m not going to comment on it,” a now composed Casey said of the contentious conclusion when he spoke with reporters about 15 minutes after the game had ended. “We’ll send it to the league, let them review it.” ... “I asked for him [Foster] to count out loud for me, to help me out a little bit,” a subdued Butler said. “He did, I heard four and I turned to call a timeout and he felt like it was five seconds.” ---------------------------------- Foster was the referee who whistled Portland Trail Blazers All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge fora late-game goaltending callon a shot by Oklahoma City Thunder All-Star forward Kevin Durant that helped push OKC to an overtime win at the Rose Garden on Monday. The NBAlater admittedFoster got the call wrong.Update: Top videovia YouTube user RahulRocks1569. Fast forward to the 3:15 mark for the full count in real time. -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com |Twitter

Rob MahoneyofThe Two Man Game writes开拓者需要运行薄gs through forward LaMarcus Aldridge during the overtime periods of a Saturday night loss to the Dallas Mavericks. ------------------------------------- It’s a genuine curiosity that Portland didn’t operate through LaMarcus Aldridge (33 points, 14-26 FG, 12 rebounds, one turnover) on every single offensive possession in both overtimes. Nate McMillan’s teams are typically fantastic at running plays that put the best players in a position to succeed and rely on those players to create (via scores in their comfort zone, passes out of double-teams, etc.), but the Blazer offense was entirely too reliant on Felton and Jamal Crawford (19 points, 6-23 FG, three turnovers) down the stretch. I don’t mean too harp too much on the final 10 minutes alone, but considering how good of a shot creator Aldridge has become, the Blazers’ closing possession distribution was pretty indefensible. Dallas defended Aldridge with Brendan Haywood for much of the game, and despite Haywood’s best efforts to contest shots, deny position, and limit angles for potential hook shots, Aldridge converted bucket after bucket. The man only forced both overtime periods with difficult, contested scores, after all. I’m not precisely sure who should be to blame for Portland’s uncharacteristic misuse of resources (McMillan? Crawford? Felton? Aldridge himself?LeBron James?), but someone in the Blazers’ locker room has some ’splaining to do. ------------------------------------- -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com |Twitter

Jason QuickofThe Oregonian reportsfrom Dallas that Portland Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan acknowledged that he will consider moving reserve guard Jamal Crawford into the starting lineup in place of starting point guard Raymond Felton. ----------------------------- "It's time the play becomes better," McMillan said Saturday. So will he consider taking Felton out of the starting lineup in favor of Crawford? "I have to look at it," McMillan said. ----------------------------- McMillanbrushed off similar questionsfollowing Portland's home loss to the Houston Rockets on Wednesday. Felton shot 4-for-17 ina Saturday lossto the Dallas Mavericks. Whether Felton remains as starter or not, one thing has not changed sincethis lookat his terrible start back in January: he must play less.There is only one playerin the entire NBA who plays more minutes than Felton does while producing a lower PER: Toronto Raptors wing DeMar DeRozan.Sunday update: After Saturday's nightmare, Felton dropped below DeRozan, meaning there are now zero players in the NBA playing as many or more minutes while producing a lower PER. He's back down to No. 53 among point guards. -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com |Twitter

Portland Trail Blazers forward takes a scary blow to the head from Dallas Mavericks guard Delonte West during the third quarter of a Saturday night game at American Airlines Center. West was whistled for a flagrant foul on the play. -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com |Twitter

awesome Grizzlies' Valentine’s Day cards are the key to love... "I would foul out of the game, just to be with you." via Ball Don't Lie

Casey HoldahlofBlazers.com with some quotes从波特兰小道Blazers All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge on dealing with constant double teams during Friday night's game against the New Orleans Hornets. ------------------------------- "Coach Mont [Monty Williams] made me feel like I'm going to get double-teamed even more now," said Aldridge, half joking. "I felt like after last night, getting called an All-Star and then playing these guys, I feel like I'm not going to be able to play anymore! I feel like my one-on-one play is done now. I'm going to try to become a better passer. That's how I felt tonight. I was like, man, every time I took one dribble they double-teamed like clockwork." ... "If we're getting double-teamed and we're not making them pay, then that bothers me," said Aldridge. "As the game went on we started getting to the basket, Jamal (Crawford) started making shots, Ray (Felton) made some threes and I feel like that's when I started feeling better about it, because if I'm getting taken out of the game and we're not getting nothing from it then I'm getting frustrated. I'm not doing my job. But if I'm forcing them to play me and we're scoring out of it, that's what I want. I don't mind not scoring, but we have to get something out of it." ------------------------------- -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com |Twitter