Living by the 3-pointers, dying by the 3-pointers?
There's more to the story than that, but certainly the 3-point shot has been prominent of late for Portland. And there's no signs of that changing as the Blazers head back to Portland for their longest homestand of the season. The Blazers are 4-0 at home, and now they get to play three in a row at the Rose Garden for the first time this season. They'll face Sacramento on Monday, Miami on Wednesday and New Orleans on Friday. The Miami game will be the first for Portland native Erik Spoelstra as head coach of the Heat.
The Blazers were leading the NBA in 3-point accuracy at .431 after Friday's win at Sacramento. Then they put up 34 long-range shots Saturday night at Phoenix. Showing signs of fatigue, they made just 11 (32.4 percent), and they lost 102-92 to the Suns, who were 8-for-18 (44.4 percent) from beyond the arc.
The addition this year of guard Rudy Fernandez, a good spot-up shooter who went 1-for-8 at Phoenix, has something to do with the long balls. And one of the team's best 3-point weapons, guard Martell Webster, hasn't even played due to injury.
"When our guys have an opportunity to shoot the 3-ball, we want them to," coach Nate McMillan said.
SUNS 102, BLAZERS 92: The game was billed as Round 1 between Shaquille O'Neal and rookie Greg Oden, but Oden spent most of this one on the sideline and was ineffective when he was on the court. Oden had five points and one rebound in 14 minutes. O'Neal, on the other hand, had 19 points on 8-for-12 shooting, plus 17 rebounds.
