PORTLAND — Logic, convention and tradition would seem to dictate that the Trail Blazers will not start both Andre Miller and Steve Blake through the remainder of the season.
However, coach Nate McMillan was not interested in anything resembling convention as he answered questions about the tandem Sunday.
The Blazers have started a three-guard lineup the past two games, picking up victories over San Antonio and Minnesota. Now they hit the road for a five-game trip.
Asked several times and several different ways about whether he eventually will have to settle on a starting point guard, McMillan responded not with a declaration, but with an open-ended response.
One word best summarized McMillan’s coaching logic: “Why?”
To McMillan, having Blake and Miller ready to be inserted into the starting lineup is yet another advantage for the Blazers. It’s a bonus for a team that has a loaded roster filled with tantalizing mismatch possibilities.
Moreover, McMillan said that by not settling on one true point guard, Portland forces opponents to prepare for Miller and Blake — either individually or as a duo.
“To say, ‘Who is the point guard?’ We’ll take advantage of how they’re defending whoever has our point, has one of our guards,” McMillan said. “Now, all of a sudden, if (Timberwolves point guard Jonny) Flynn is guarding Blake, and Blake is running around on the baseline, and a (shooting) guard is guarding Miller, what do they do?”
Sunday night, not much. Blake and Miller punished Minnesota, recording 11 points and five assists in the first quarter, propelling Portland to a 33-24 first-period lead.
The Blazers eventually won the game in a blowout, 116-93.
Asked whether the Blazers become a stronger team with Miller and Blake in the same starting lineup — and easily substituted for each other throughout a game — McMillan said: “I think it does. Certainly. I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t think we could play this way.”
Before the win, McMillan referenced the Triangle offense made famous by Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson as factoring into his decision to play Miller and Blake at the same time.
“Blake can play some off-guard,” McMillan said. “Some offenses, it’s a two-guard front — there’s just guards. The Triangle is just an offense; there’s not necessarily a point guard in that offense.”
Basketball theory aside, statistics support McMillan’s move.
Portland has averaged 106 points and is shooting 46.7 percent from the floor since Miller and Blake were inserted into the same starting rotation. In addition, Miller has come alive. The veteran point guard has played his best basketball of the early season and looks comfortable and energized on the court, following a rough, uneven start when he was coming off the bench.
“I think we’ve played well together so far,” Miller said.
But what happens when Portland faces big-name opponents led by big-time shooting guards, such as the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, Orlando Magic and Detroit Pistons?
While Miller said that opposing defenses will dictate when the lineup should work and when it will be altered, McMillan stated that he has no plans to constantly rotate Miller and Blake in and out of the lineup as starters.
“I don’t want to go that way, and I don’t plan to go that way,” McMillan said. “Your players will dictate that; I’ve said that. And you try to put your players in a position where you take advantage of what they do.”
McMillan also hinted that he has already made a decision about which player will be the team’s official starting point guard if the need arises.
But for now, the Blazers are starting both. And McMillan’s gutsy move is paying dividends.
“I looked at the schedule, and I thought about what we needed, and I went with this lineup,” McMillan said.
