Closing in on a minute to play in the third quarter, Utah Jazz point guard Deron Williams drove along the right baseline, and leaped with full intention of scoring at the rim. But caught in mid-air against the Portland Trail Blazers converging defense, he alertly passed the ball behind his back between two defenders to power forward Carlos Boozer, who was left open. Boozer drove to the rim and scored. The pass by Williams and the finish by Boozer were just a pair of stellar plays in a game full of them by the duo.

The Blazers struggled out of the gate, just as they did against the Memphis Grizzlies the night before, while the Jazz had a difficult time missing. Portland’s defense was lackadaisical to start, as Utah jumped out to a 13-2 lead backed by six points by Williams and Boozer. Boozer then swished three-straight uncovered 18-footers, Williams hit a three-pointer from Boozer, and then Boozer slashed to the rim and made two free-throws. At this juncture, the Jazz lead was fifteen, 24-9, and the combination already had seventeen points. The game was only seven minutes old.

The Blazers scored a few baskets in succession, but a recurring theme recurred, as the Jazz, like many other opponents, answered their scores. The lead grew even when Boozer and Williams took a break, as other cast members got into the act. Andrei Kirilenko made a jumper from Williams after Portland guard Brandon Roy scored off a nice feed from Andre Miller. Forward Paul Millsap, whom the Blazers signed to an offer sheet this past offseason only to see the Jazz match, was set up by Williams for a jumper to counter a hook-shot by LaMarcus Aldridge, then hit another outside shot before Rudy Fernandez’s 21-footer, and another after the Spaniard’s make. Even by matching Utah’s baskets late in the opening frame, the deficit increased to fifteen as the quarter’s buzzer sounded.

The second quarter was much of the same, as Williams and Boozer scored their points while their teammates put in their two cents from time to time. But one substantial thing was different in this period: Portland managed to force some misses and capitalize, translating to an impressive run. It started after Kirilenko’s 11-footer from Boozer increased the margin to 19, 45-26. Center Greg Oden made a layup, and explosive guard Jerryd Bayless, having already played a few minutes, scored on, by my count, his millionth drive to the rim of the season. The deficit was down to 16 with his drive, 15 on a jump-shot by Aldridge, and then 12 once Roy made three free-throws after being fouled shooting a three-pointer from the left-wing.

Bayless followed a jumper by Williams with a cross-over twenty-footer. He was not only getting significant playing time, but possessing something other than a drive to the rim. That jumper was made possible by hours of practice in the gym with assistant coach Bill Bayno, and though he spent the rest of his time on the floor going back to his bread and butter, his repertoire is clearly expanding. Hard work paid off for him and Oden, as the duo worked like clockwork. They were Portland’s version of Williams and Oden, and there would be no reason to ruin the good thing they had going.

But, inexplicably, head coach Nate McMillan did. After Oden made a layup with just under three minutes remaining in the first half, Fernandez and Roy made a pair of free-throws to cut the margin to nine, 52-43, as the clock neared two minutes to play. Portland had the opportunity to finish the quarter strong and, with the way they were clicking offensively, take lead at intermission. Oden had two fouls as Roy stepped to the line. McMillan, refusing to acknowledge his impact defensively and offensively, took out his center, scared he may pick up his third foul in the final minutes. Plain and simple, he didn’t trust him to play good defense. So, with 2:16 remaining, Oden took a seat on the bench, and the wheels fell off Portland’s train, which was nobody’s fault but McMillan’s. Utah finished the quarter on a 7-0 run after Oden’s exit, restoring order to grab a comfortable 16-point lead.

It was an awful decision by McMillan, and wasn’t a coincidence that the Jazz awoke with the big man on the bench. The life was sucked out of Portland after that move, and Utah’s momentum carried over to the second half. They made four of their first six third-quarter field goal attempts, and quelled every attempted rally by the Blazers for the remainder of the period.

McMillan overlooked Oden’s first-half impact, but not Bayless’s. Point guard Steve Blake began the quarter on the floor, and instead of inserting Miller to give Blake a rest midway through, Bayless jumped off the pine and entered. The Jazz lead had swelled to twenty, it’s largest, and McMillan went to the most aggressive player on the Blazers roster to provide a jolt. Bayless didn’t do much over the remaining 4:40 of the third, scoring one point, a free-throw near the end of the frame, but certainly made his presence felt in ‘garbage time’, which spanned the entire fourth quarter.

The Williams/Boozer combo scored twenty points in the third period against a dreadful Blazers defense, helping the Jazz to a 89-67 advantage heading into the final frame. Portland, with this huge deficit, used the fourth quarter as a way to get their younger players a considerable amount of time on the court; 99 percent of their roster is young, but in this case it was Bayless and rookie forward Dante Cunningham’s opportunity to strut their stuff. They did, along with Oden, in a very satisfying final quarter.

With the Blazers behind by 27 points early in the period, Fernandez rifled a pass downcourt to Cunningham. The forward out of Villanova grabbed the pass, took two hurried steps to the rim, evaded a leaping Kyrylo Fesenko, and ferociously threw down a right-handed slam. He was a little off-balance driving to the basket, and didn’t have a firm footing, but he showed off his hops, gliding aggressively. Blazers announcer Mike Rice said this dunk is nothing new, as Cunningham apparently puts on an exhibition in practice, but for the sprightly 230-pounder to play with such passion and aggression in such a lob-sided affair illustrated his will to prove his worth.

Bayless, the third-string guard who said “I don’t know what my role is” prior to this season, also had reason to keep playing hard. He drove to the rim, made two free-throws, looked on as Cunningham and Martell Webster clawed for offensive rebounds, fed Oden for a layup, and then drove over and over again. He made four consecutive free-throws after being fouled at the basket, found Webster for a three-pointer, and hit another jumper that, I’m sure, made Bayno smile. With nearly a minute left in the blowout loss, he passed to Cunningham for a smooth 18-footer, and then gave Fernandez the reigns for the final score, as El Mago found Cunningham for the same jumper to make the margin a semi-respectable 16 points, 108-92.

McMillan’s reluctance to stay with Oden to end the first half fueled the loss; there is no doubt about that. But Portland fought to the end, just as they did against Memphis last night. And though Portland started slow offensively, was terrible defensively, and was hurt considerably by McMillan’s wrong move, this loss had two positives–Bayless and Cunningham. Two players whose  performances hopefully notified the other nine players that heart, enthusiasm, and aggression in all four quarters can right the ship, and turn the Blazers team that showed up in this game into the winner they can be.

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Game Notes:

Utah shot 61 percent from the field for the second-straight game, making 43 of their 71 attempts. They had 36 assists, made 7 three-pointers, and took care of the ball, committing only 11 turnovers.

Williams finished with 24 points on 10-16 shooting, and dished 15 assists, grabbed 6 rebounds, and collected 3 steals.

Boozer was similarly efficient and similarly filled the stat-sheet, scoring 26 points on 11-16 shooting while snatching 12 rebounds and dishing 7 assists.

The Blazers shot pretty well, 45 percent, but missed 15 of their 18 three-point attempts and 8 free-throws.

Miller only played six minutes. There are three possible reasons for this: one, he may have rubbed McMillan the wrong way; two, he has been nursing a pair of sprained ankles, and could have been given a precautionary, prolonged rest; or three, the most plausible, McMillan felt, with the game getting out of hand, that Bayless’s aggressive nature was more apt to drag Portland out of the gaping hole.

Speaking of Bayless, he played 22 minutes, a season-high, and scored 14 points. He made 3 of his 7 field goal attempts, but lived at the line, where he made 8-11 free-throws. He also had an offensive rebound and three assists.

Cunningham played 16 minutes, scored 6 points, grabbed 5 rebounds, including 2 offensive, and blocked a shot.

With the loss, Portland dropped their fourth-straight game against Utah, and have now lost 11 of their past 12 against their division foe.

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