Portland Trailblazers Opening Night Observations

The lights went dark. Thousands of blinking red and white lights surrounded the arena while a thick air of anticipation filled the arena. Opening night was here and it showed why TV does it no justice.

My last observation report was after the Blazers opening preseason game that had about as much excitement as a second grade relay race. While anything in that game could have been shown just as well on TV, when the arena is filled with that much excitement it is very hard to translate through the tube.

Tonight, there was an aura of jubilation due to the return of the city's only pro franchise. Just as the weather turns cold and rainy, the bounce of a ball and the squeak of a sneaker is enough to make you forget about life's problems for two or three hours at a time.

The big question heading into tonight was not who would step up on opening night, or how Nate would manage the rotation that has been shortened to nine players. It was what they would do for opening night pre-game festivities!

OK, OK...I didn't sit down to write about that exclusively, but for those that didn't attend maybe I can briefly recap that part before I get in to my game observations.

Due to traffic delays and unexpected detours, my entrance to the Rose Garden was fashionably late.

I arrived at my seat just seconds before the Rockets lineup was announced to a chorus of booze boo's, all except the PG that played his collegiate ball locally and is quick as a hiccup, Mr. Aaron Brooks.

Soon after they were done being announced the lights went out and all you could see were these red and white blinking necklaces that were handed out to people as they came into the building.

The silence was loud as the crowd was just waiting for the new opening video for this year.

This years' video was filled with footage of old and new Blazers alike as the team is trying reconnect with it's past in this anniversary year.

Pictures of this year's starters were being projected on to the floor and the music was loud enough to shake your beer water out of the cup. Players were soon announced from gates, starting with the bench, as they made their way through the crowd and on to the floor. Starting with Bayless and ending with Roy, the crowd was just glad to cheer for their boys again.

Rip City was finally here.

Enough with what couldn't be seen by the casual TV viewer. On to the game. Here are a few thoughts from what I saw.

• Roy still has a bit of rust on his game. Yes, he ended up with his usual sneaky 20-5-5 stat line, but his moves in the lane were not as sharp as his peak last season. That will come, and I will not worry about Lucky No. 7, but I would not be surprised to see a bit of a hit to his overall numbers this season.

And that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Roy will not have the ball in his hands as much as he did in previous years because of Andre Miller, Rudy Fernandez, and Greg Oden.

Each of these guys will get more touches which will ultimately hurt our newly maxed-out asset, but when the game is on the line we will always have Roy up our sleeve.

• I hate on Outlaw as much as anyone that is a Blazers fan, but tonight Travis took advantage of the injury to Batum and looked to get his patented one or two dribble jump shot at will.

When you jump as high as he does, you don't have to be very creative. Just get to a point on the court where you are comfortable, jump and shoot.

Rhythm is a huge part of his offense and when you knock him out of his rhythm or get him to uncomfortable spots on the court he will show you his ugly side. But tonight he looked good, dare I say—in rhythm and on target.

Just don't expect that consistently and you won't be let down. One thing I know is he will never be able to finish at the rim if he's not dunking. NEVER.

• Oden looked anxious out there. While he is showing a good-to-great ability to pass out of the double team, he now needs to slow down again and execute his offensive set with less brevity.

In the preseason when he was playing so well, he slowed down and took his time in the post. He felt his defender out and made the best offensive move based on what the defender gave him.

Tonight it seemed as if he knew he was going to drop-step and spin with his first touch. Bottom line is Oden gave us exactly what we needed—defense and rebounding. Against a team that doesn't get above 6'9", Oden was able to dominate the boards and paint like a man his size should.

He didn't cut the guard cutting to the basket off with his hips like years past. He's learning. He's still a year or two away from being consistentlycomfortable.

• Andre Miller showed tonight what he brings to the table against all of the league's uber-quick point guards. Tonight he was able to take Brooks into the post and really give himself an advantage. As soon as Houston realized that they probably didn't want to rely on Brooks' post defense against the bigger Miller, they doubled.

Making the decision to double a point guard with Miller's vision is a double-edged sword that gives our offense another dimension that it hasn't had. Double him and he will find the open man. Don't and you will see a bevy of offensive post moves.

Miller will be able to do this quite a bit and I like what it gives us against smaller point guards.

• It is great to see Martell out there. You forget how athletic that guy is until he blocks Scola's shot with his elbow. He will bring an energy that this team needs. Reminds me of a mix between Jerome Kersey and Kiki Vandeweghe. Great energy, hustle, defense, and shooting. Great to see him out there.

• I can't wait till Rudy gets his legs back under him. At times it looked as if he was demanding the ball on offense as he feels he can be a playmaker on offense.

He has the creativity and athleticism. Now he just needs to show us what he's made of. Tonight was a mixed performance but he hasn't really played much as of late.

• Saw a portion of the game where Andre and Blake shared the floor tonight, which I thought was quite interesting. Nate ran the three-guard lineup against Houston's two point guard lineup of Lowry and Brooks.

Execution was iffy, but the mix of lineups you can have with this team will allow us to match up with any team on any given night. A nice problem to have.

The day was filled with anticipation and the night was full of excitement. While the Blazers played a very sloppy game, the defense was able to hold the Rockets to 37 percent shooting and out rebounded them 51-33. 

It's pretty fun to think about the possibilities after just one sloppy game—one game that left our Blazer appetite unfed. With one game in the bag it looks like with a little bit of tuning up and tightening down we can finally win the division outright.

We'll find out on Thursday.