PORTLAND — Nobody forks over their $10.50 at the box office just to watch the trailers. However, sometimes those quick glimpses before the feature film leave the movie-goer saying “whoa. I can’t wait to see that.”
Perhaps there’s a basketball equivalent.
Yes, the Blazers 115-86 drubbing of the Clippers in their preseason debut Tuesday may have been just slightly more significant than the 11-year-olds playing four-on-four on the Rose Garden floor at halftime. The Detroit Lions, after all, had a perfect preseason the year they went winless in the NFL.
But if Portland’s dominance didn’t raise expectations, it may have at least raised some eyebrows … for the time being, of course.
“We can build off of that…as a group, we stood out.” said Blazers coach Nate McMillan, whose team hit 16 of its 27 3-point attempts. “We’re committed to each other. There was good intensity.”
The preseason is generally more of a glorified practice than it is a regular-season simulation; and in practice, growth and education are a greater point of emphasis than the end result.
Before Tuesday’s game, McMillan preached the importance of coming out with energy and continued to exhort the team’s commitment to defense — emphasizing key stops and scoring points off of turnovers.
Well, by game’s end, the Clippers had committed 26 turnovers, a stat that figured prominently into Portland’s 64-36 halftime lead.
But perhaps more than anything, the preseason serves as a barometer for returning players’ rust (or lack there of) and an audition for newer players trying to prove themselves or move up in the rotation.
Making arguably the biggest impression Tuesday was Wesley Matthews, the undrafted former Jazz guard who signed a five-year, $34 million contract with the Blazers in July. Matthews entered the game at the same time as Jerryd Bayless, received far louder cheers than his third-year teammate and lived up to the fanfare by scoring a game-high 20 points while hitting 3 of 8 of from beyond the arc.
“It felt good. It felt good to play against someone else,” said Matthews, who returns to Utah Thursday night. “This is fun, but at the same time it’ serious. It’s still preseason, but it feels a little better.”
The reception for Rudy Fernandez — who’s made no secret of his desire to return home to Spain — wasn’t quite as warm.
Fernandez entered the game with the Blazers outscoring the Clippers at a 3-to-2 rate. His cheer-to-boo ratio was about the same.
But after knocking down 5 of 6 of 3-pointers en route to 15 points — he seemed to have temporarily justified the sign wielded by a young fan reading “I still love you Rudy.”
McMillan asserted after the game that he “coaches what he sees,” and while he’s acutely aware of Fernandez’s feelings, added that “as long as he continues to play the game hard, we’re going to take advantage.”
Conspicuously absent for the Blazers Tuesday night were Greg Oden, Marcus Camby and Joel Pryzbilla, all of whom sat out due to injuries, and all of whom happen to be centers.
The 6-foot-9 Jeff Pendergraph got the start in the middle as a result, and scored eight points on 3 of 4 shooting. But Portland’s lack of size was overshadowed by the efficiency of its second unit, which showed a level of versatility that impressed McMillan.
“With that lineup, we can take advantage. All of them can handle it, all of them can score and defensively they’re doing a good job,” he said. “They’re interchangeable.”
McMillan also said beforehand that he wasn’t too concerned about his established players’ production at this point in the preseason, assuring the media that he’s quite certain of what players like Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge and Andre Miller can do. For the record, Aldridge had 17 points on 6 of 12 shooting, Roy added 12 on 4 of 11, and Miller posted eight points alongside five assists.
Nicolas Batum, the fifth starter, had 10 points — eight of which came in the first quarter.
Reach Matt Calkins at Matt.Calkins@columbian.com
