Defense, Depth, Make Blazers Biggest Surprise

The Portland Trail Blazers had long since put the game away in the fourth quarter against the Houston Rockets, but they weren’t ready to call it a night.

Damon Stoudamire, Isaiah Rider and their co-stars ran and shot and slammed home dunk after dunk until they had humiliated the proud Rockets by 40 points, as if to emphasize just how far they’ve come.

Without much fanfare, Portland has raced to the best record in the NBA and seems to have outgrown the mental lapses and immaturity that led to six straight first-round playoff exits. While much of the buzz in the Western Conference is about the surging Los Angeles Lakers, the Blazers are quietly putting together their best season in nine years.

“We know how to win now,” said leading scorer Rider, who shows the world how much heart he has by pulling back his jersey to reveal his chest after big shots.

“With all the talent we have, it’s not like it’s a fluke. People should have taken notice a long time ago, but better late than never.”

Portland was 15-3 going into the weekend--its best start since it went 19-1 in 1990--and established itself as a true contender with a 102-100 double-overtime victory over the defending conference champion Utah Jazz on March 2.

Two days later came the blowout victory over Houston, the defining image of which may have been the Rockets’ Charles Barkley sitting on the bench in the fourth quarter, ice packs on his knees, woofing at the officials over calls he failed to get against the Blazers’ Brian Grant.

“It’s just one game,” Barkley said. “I think Utah is the best team in the West, and Portland is right behind them.”

What about the Lakers? The additions of Dennis Rodman and Glen Rice appear to make the West a three-team race with Los Angeles, Portland and Utah. But the Lakers-Blazers rivalry in the Pacific Division will exist only in barroom debates until the teams meet for the first time on April 13.

Until then, the Blazers will keep using their winning formula: a post-up offense featuring Rider, Grant and 7-foot-3 center Arvydas Sabonis; a part-time pressing defense; and a deep bench that’s the envy of every coach in the league.

“You don’t have the burden of having to carry the team all the time,” said reserve guard Jim Jackson, a free-agent acquisition who took a cut in pay and playing time to be on a winning team. “It makes you more relaxed because you know that you might be off one night, but the rest of the team is there to pick you up.”

Jackson, once one of the league’s leading scorers when he played with Dallas, is averaging barely nine points a game for the Blazers but is one of seven players on the team to score at least 21 points in a game this season.

Stoudamire, the point guard, is another example of a player who adjusted to a new role. Before returning to his hometown from Toronto last season, he was scoring nearly 20 points a game for the Raptors out of necessity. Now, at 12.1 points a game, he makes sure his teammates are more involved.

“It’s a lot different. I’ve got to look out for everybody now, keep everybody happy,” he said. “It takes some getting used to.”

The jockeying for playing time hasn’t bruised any egos so far. In fact, the Blazers locker room has been like backstage at a concert, with music blaring and players laughing and trading friendly insults. Salaries, of course, aren’t a squabbling point, thanks to the deep pockets of owner and Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen.

Coach Mike Dunleavy also deserves much of the credit for integrating a rotation of up to 11 players.

He’s platooned the rough-and-tumble Grant with the more graceful Rasheed Wallace at power forward, and often puts them together in the starting lineup.

He’s used outside shooter Walt Williams and defensive stopper Stacey Augmon at small forward with success. Energetic Jermaine O’Neal and shot-blocker Kelvin Cato have filled in for Sabonis when his 34-year-old legs grow weary. And Dunleavy has made the gutsy move of pulling Stoudamire late in games in favor of Greg Anthony, a veteran who’s a better defender and shooter.

“They’ve got two starting lineups,” said Kings forward Chris Webber, whose team lost to the Blazers 103-98 Tuesday night. “They really have the talent from top to bottom--size, speed, quickness, shooting. I don’t see a weakness in this team.”

Impatient fans were even more frustrated when the Lakers beat Portland in four games in the first round of the playoffs last season. The loss ended a wildly inconsistent season in which Portland beat the Bulls, the Lakers twice and the Jazz three times, but lost to Denver twice and to Indiana by 65.

This season, after a 9-0 start at home, fans are crowding the bandwagon for the best Blazers team since the Clyde Drexler-led squad that lost to the Bulls in the 1992 finals.

The crowds are even warming up to Rider, who last season accused Portland fans and the organization of racism after he was suspended for walking out on the team during a game.

Rider, who has fought a bad-boy image for years, seems happier now. And he’s not ready to concede the conference title to the new and improved Lakers.

“They’ve made changes for the better. Rice is a great shooter, but all their offense is still going to go through Shaq,” Rider said. “If you foul Shaq or frustrate him, that takes away a lot from them.

“Teams aren’t scared of us, but they know we have a lot of weapons,” he added. “They can’t just take one person away and think they have our whole team solved.”