The Portland Trail Blazers lost to the Washington Wizards, 124-109, at the Rose Garden on Tuesday night, dropping their record to 15-14 on the season.
Sometimes the symbolism is too irresistible.
Blazers forward Gerald Wallace sat at his locker after his team suffered its worst loss of the season, a double-digit doozy to one of the NBA's weakest teams. He wasn't beating himself up about the loss, he spoke matter-of-factly, and he elaborated on some key points. Then, answering one final question, Wallace attempted to slide his left foot into one of his Jordan Brand sneakers before letting out a loud yelp of pain. "Ahhhhh."
A foot cramp? A few media members still remaining in the locker room inched forward to see if he was alright. No, it wasn't a cramp. After taking a second to compose himself, Wallace stuck his hand into the sneaker, tucking deep inside it, before the big reveal: a large diamond earring.
Quite literally, a stone in his shoe. Literally. Literally.
Everyone knows that particular brand of pain from personal experience, the agonizing discomfort that necessitates an immediate change in circumstances.
I must stop walking. I can't take another step. I must take off my shoe. I must shake this shoe. I must double-check, triple-check to see if this shoe is empty. Pull the tongue there, loosen up the laces, really peer inside this thing. I must carefully put the shoe back on. I must gingerly check to test for a repetition of the pain. I must proceed carefully, doing whatever is necessary to avoid that sensation again. Alright, I'm walking now, so far, so good.
Four losses in five games. All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge lost for an undetermined amount of time with a painful left ankle injury. Five tough games over the next seven days, a schedule that Blazers center Marcus Camby dubbed, "Murderer's Row." The team's current play has turned into a debilitating stone in the shoe for anyone that's been brave enough to keep watching.
Meanwhile, Blazers coach Nate McMillan looked and sounded like he would rather be passing kidney stones than trying to explain this mess. He got a late technical foul as his team allowed uncontested basket after uncontested basket in the fourth quarter, and then he took a swipe at his players without hesitating.
"Right now, pride has to show up here, somewhere, soon," McMillan said. "Pride has to show up on faces, our body language, our effort in what we do. That wasn't there tonight."
If last week's loss to the Houston Rockets felt like an approaching crossroads for the club, this one looked like a Prius getting t-boned by an 18-wheeler. Ish just got really real, really fast.
"We just got embarrassed tonight by a team that's won six or seven games," Wallace said. "At home."
Indeed, the Blazers were picked apart by the Wizards, a franchise that has come here year after year more excited about its annual trip to the Nike Employee Store than about playing competitive basketball in the Rose Garden. Their young guys are growing up ever so slightly, but this was a team that entered the game with two road wins -- over the Charlotte Bobcats and Detroit Pistons -- and the NBA's No. 29 offense. They left the Rose Garden with a season-high 124 points (!) -- their previous high was 111 (!) -- having shot an even 60 percent (!) from the field for the game.
"That's as complete a game as we've played this year," Wizards coach Randy Wittman said. "I thought our guys were in tune."
The Blazers, though, played as out of tune as Wallace's stone-in-shoe wailing. Other than Nicolas Batum, there weren't many bright spots. Even the 33 points from Batum -- tying his career-high -- wasn't enough to provide a level of satisfaction, given that Wizards guard Nick Young went off for a game-high 35 points with John Wall adding 29 points and Jordan Crawford chipping in 21.
"I tried to shoot the ball and do something with the ball," Batum said. "That may be a good game on offense but on defense their guards scored 82 points. Nick Young got 7-for-8 from 3-point shots. Nobody did a good job tonight."
"Their confidence got going," Wallace said of Washington's guards. "If you really look at the stat sheet, they shot the hell out of the ball, excuse my language... They pretty much probably had career nights tonight. Teams are going to have that... The rim looked like the ocean to them and they just couldn't miss."
Portland's night went sideways as soon as Aldridge hit the court, holding his left ankle in severe pain after coming down on the foot of Wizards forward Trevor Booker. The team said after the game that he will not travel to Oakland and therefore will not be available for Wednesday night's game against the Golden State Warriors. His availability after that is not yet known, although X-rays were negative.
"We took a slap in the face when LaMarcus went down, it was kind of a shock for us," Wallace admitted. "To see our leader and the head of our team going down like that, screaming in pain. It put us on our heels a little bit."
Booker appeared to slide under Aldridge during his shooting motion, an act that is generally looked down upon in the NBA, where ankles are vital.
Asked twice if he had a problem with Booker's play, McMillan claimed ignorance.
"I didn't see exactly what happened with LaMarcus," he said. "I didn't really see what happened on that, as far as what happened to his foot."
Batum said he felt no ill will for the play.
"Bad luck. That happens to every guy in the NBA. Every basketball player has had that injury before one time in his life, step on the foot, sprain his ankle, that happens sometimes."
Aldridge's injury comes at a terrible time. The Blazers are clearly reeling, playing their worst stretch of the season, and must now face the Warriors in Oakland, the Los Angeles Clippers and Atlanta Hawks at home, the Lakers in Los Angeles and the San Antonio Spurs at home during the seven days that remain before the All-Star break. That's a tall task, and everyone involved realizes that this team is now without its only consistent player.
McMillan is ticked off, despite his best effort to remain mostly placid after the loss. On Monday, he vented at a small group of reporters for questioning his handling of Batum's minutes. 30 hours later, he was refusing to confirm his decision to move Batum into the starting lineup while edging forward in his office chair, shoulders tense. Another four hours after that, he was calling out his team's pride, unable to really explain what he could do to turn this thing back around.
"No defense," McMillan muttered. "There was no defense."
No rebounding either. No joy to the play. To be frank, there wasn't much heartbreak in the locker room either.
"We are frustrated and angry but all that rah rah talk and frustration and throwing chairs and all of that is not equating out there on the basketball court," Camby said. "I think it's pretty much wasted energy."
The losses don't appear to be eating away at this group like they have in recent years. There's frustration, especially from McMillan, but that wasn't much resolve, especially without Aldridge. Like a canary in a coal mine, frustration without resolve can often foreshadow a fissure in the coach/players relationship.
But both Wallace and Batum said clearly that the poor play was on the team, not McMillan.
"I don't think this has anything to do with the coach," Wallace said. "This is all the players. The coaching staff, they do a great job of drawing up the execution that they want us to do out on the court, it just comes down to us executing.
"The coaches can't get out there, they can't get the rebounds for us. They can't pinpoint the passes where they have to go. Those are some of the main things killing us. Turnovers in bad situations and at the wrong time, and rebounds. We play pretty good for 23 seconds and we give up a big rebound, second chance, that has nothing to do with the coaches."
"Of course, yes," Batum said, when asked whether McMillan was still getting through to the group. "Of course. It's on us now. We're on the court. Now we have to bring everything, bring some game. That was us, not the coach. The coach brings the message and we play, that's us."
Wallace also said that the Blazers share McMillan's dissatisfaction.
"Who isn't frustrated?," he asked rhetorically. "We're all frustrated. I think everybody is frustrated. We're one game above .500 and we're a way better team than that. I don't think it's only Nate, it's everybody, from him to the players all the way up to the front office. He knows, we know, they know and even the fans know we're a better team than that."
Even still, no one has been able to explain the improvement plan when asked time and again.
Blazers owner Paul Allen watched this loss up close and personal, and he doesn't usually dislodge stones with finesse.
Random Game Notes
Wizards coach Randy Wittman was very classy about Aldridge's injury, going out of his way to say that he hoped Aldridge would be okay and that he hoped it wouldn't compromise his availability for his first All-Star game.
Batum started for just the second time this season. The first time, against the Pistons in Detroit, he started in place of Wallace, who sat due to injury (which he later softly disputed). This time, Batum leapfrogged over Wesley Matthews into the two guard role and got off to a nice start offensively, with 11 points and 3 rebounds in his 10-minute first quarter shift. It was difficult to really evaluate the lineup change with Aldridge going down so early.
Batum has been eager for more minutes and happy to play the two, but he didn't want to express satisfaction with the starting lineup change. "We lost tonight so I can't talk about my playing time. We lost anyway, so we'll see what happens."
During last week's loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, McMillan got on Batum for attempting a lay-up on the final play of regulation rather than finishing with a dunk, a decision that allowed Thunder All-Star guard Russell Westbrook to swoop in for a game-saving block. On this third quarter play, Batum responded as desired, throwing down a slam over both Trevor Booker and JaVale McGee, while drawing the foul.
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