With the New Jersey Nets fighting for their first win of the season and their head coach, Lawrence Frank, fighting for his job, Portland Trail Blazers forward Dante Cunningham did his best to extend their woes, screening Rudy Fernandez’s defender on the right wing, 30 feet from the basket. Fernandez came off the pick, grabbed the shovel pass from the rookie out of Villanova as the shot-clock ticked under three seconds and hoisted a rainbow three-pointer in rhythm. As the ball swished through the hoop, El Mago turned to the crowd and just nodded his head, as if to say “Yep, that just happened.”

This wasn’t the first three-pointer set up for The Magician by the rookie in the fourth quarter. Cunningham passed up his bread and butter, a mid-range jumper, a minute earlier to find the Spaniard on the left wing for three. The power forward, with his family in attendance from Washington D.C., did much more than pass to Fernandez in his first significant playing time of his young career. Cool, calm, and composed, he played nothing like a 22-year old rookie, meshing with the team like a seasoned veteran, doing all the little things to help lift his team.

As their backup power-forward, he first entered the game with just over ten minutes remaining in the second quarter. Portland held a 32-25 lead, which was, at that point, their largest after a tight-knit first quarter. Guard Jerryd Bayless, upon his entrance with 32 seconds left in the first, drove to the rim and scored to put a capper on a 28-point opening frame that Greg Oden fueled. The center opened the contest by scoring two baskets, assisting on a third, and then made two free-throws. Cunningham’s impact was similar to Bayless’ and Oden’s, as the forward scored on his first possession in, just as Bayless did, and continued to produce, just as Oden did.

He didn’t so much score, but execute the intangibles. He grabbed rebounds, and though he wasn’t shy to shoot, as a miss on their next possession showed, he played off others and did everything and more. In his seven-minute stretch in the second quarter, he played extremely well on defense, grabbed a few rebounds, and took a few more shots. His offensive input was that lone basket, but he provided a substantial amount of energy, which doesn’t show up in the stat sheet, and just played intelligent basketball. If he committed a foul, he was lauded for his aggressive defense. Everything was positive, which earned him an ovation as took a seat on the bench with 1:44 left in the half.

The Blazers team didn’t deserve much of an ovation, just him. They failed to increase their lead against New Jersey. This was in part because they committed some turnovers and missed some shots on offense, but the lack of an increased margin was mainly because the Nets were playing very inspired basketball–desperately trying to nab that vaunted first victory. They were carried by second-year forward Brook Lopez. The Stanford grad knifed through Portland’s defense, showing off a full repertoire that included a silky smooth outside jumper, a mid-range hook, and a very savvy inside game. He had a superb first half, scoring 18 points and grabbed nine rebounds to pull the Nets within five at intermission.

Portland couldn’t stop him in the opening two quarters, and had similar difficulties containing him in the final two. A jumper a step inside the three-point line swished through four minutes into the third, then he made a nine-footer on the baseline to cut a Blazers lead that Cunningham had once stretched to eight down to two, 54-52.

The Rose Garden crowd clapped nervously, trying to wake up their Blazers, and they showed signs of life. After Nets point guard Rafer “Skip to My Lou” Alston tied the game with a layup, Portland went on a 8-0 run that featured a dunk by Oden’s replacement, Joel Przybilla, from guard Brandon Roy, a stellar fade-away jumper by Roy over a stellar defender in Trenton Hassell, a shot-clock beating jumper off the dribble by point guard Steve Blake, and a transition dunk by LaMarcus Aldridge from last year’s NBA leader in alley-oop lobs, Andre Miller. Four of Portland’s six field goals and eight of their 13 third-quarter points came with this run, and because the Nets tallied only twelve in the period, a six-point lead was theirs entering the fourth.

To begin the final quarter, Oden made a jump-hook over Lopez. Cunningham, who entered with seven seconds left in the third, remained in the game to begin the fourth and immediately made his presence felt, hitting a jumper from the top of the key from Oden. He followed by setting up those two extraordinary three-pointers by Fernandez, but then missed his first two free-throw attempts of his career, a display from the line that spread throughout the team.

Portland, which entered the game leading the NBA in free-throw percentage, had a case of the clangs, especially in the fourth. Cunningham’s misses fueled a particularly terrible performance from the charity stripe over the final ten minutes, which allowed New Jersey to hang around. Before the clangs continued, the Blazers appeared to go on a game-changing run. Oden missed a hook over Lopez, and immediately knowing it was off, glided to the middle of the key, grabbed the rebound, and made a left-handed layup while taking the contact from Nets center Josh Boone Cunningham followed Oden’s three-point play with a jumper from Miller, and then against a seldom seen zone defense from New Jersey, Fernandez drained his fourth and final three-pointer. Oden stretched the margin to sixteen, 82-66, with a dunk after the defense converged on a driving Miller. The lead was its largest, but would slowly decrease as Blazers announcer Mike Rice tried to curse his team.

At the five and a half minute mark, he said, with Thanksgiving on the horizon, that Portland was “looking forward to the turkey, [and] the cranberries.” After that premature remark, his partner Mike Barrett tried to get him back down to reality, but the Basketball Gods had heard Rice, as the Nets went on a 5-0 run spanning the ensuing two and a half minutes. Lopez cut the deficit to nine with a tip-in with two minutes on the clock, but the crowd and Blake saved Rice from a nightmarish sleep. The crowd jumped to their feet, and Blake, as he has done so often throughout his Blazers career, hit a big shot, nailing a three-pointer courtesy of Aldridge.

Portland had restored order, as Blake’s dagger gave them a twelve-point lead with a minute remaining. New Jersey wouldn’t quit, fighting for the next forty seconds before waving the white flag. They lost their fifteenth straight game to begin the season, 93-83, and somberly walked off the court just as the fourteen times prior.

The Blazers stayed on the court, celebrating their twelfth victory. Cunningham, appropriately, was interviewed as the fans serenaded him and his team. He, who played all four years and graduated, was very articulate, discussing the teams play, not necessarily his own, with sideline reporter Rebecca Haarlow. This was Portland’s official introduction to the young man, and what an introduction it was. He was unselfish, putting his team first on the court and off of it, displaying intelligence well beyond his years. This was just a taste, a glimpse, but given his increased role and the impact he made, he will certainly have a similar if not greater say in more victories to come for the Blazers.

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Game Notes:

Lopez had a huge game, scoring 32 points while grabbing 14 rebounds, including 12 offensive.

The Nets scored 30 points in the paint in the first half and finished with 52, 24 more than Portland.

Oden had another superb game, making 7-11 shots for 18 points. In his 25 minutes, he also grabbed 8 rebounds (6 offensive) and blocked 4 shots.

Portland had six players score in double figures, shot an even 50 percent from the field, but missed ten free-throws, including six in the fourth quarter alone.

In 17 minutes, Cunningham had a little bit of everything. He scored 6 points on 3-6 shooting, grabbed 5 rebounds (2 offensive), dished two assists, both to Fernandez, collected a steal, and though he never was credited with a block, he affected multiple shots around the rim.

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