Being injured in the NBA is no fun: constantly answering questions about how you feel at that exact moment, constantly estimating how long it will be until you return, constantly receiving all sorts of treatment that may or may not be working, constantly on your way to rehab appointments.  You're only able to watch practices as guys develop on-court cohesion and, often, you're left home on long road trips when the rest of your team bonds away from the court.  You can't move around very well and there's way, way too much down time.  

When you're a rookie like Blazers backup power forward Jeff Pendergraph, who went down with a hip injury that required surgery before playing his first minute as a pro, it's doubly frustrating.  Not only are you sidelined from playing but you're sidelined from making a first impression on your team, coaching staff and fans.  

By all accounts, Pendergraph is eager to please.  The scouts say he will run through a wall for Nate McMillan.  Kevin Pritchard praised his personality during pre-draft workouts and rewarded him with a contract this summer, despite his injury.  Pendergraph gamely showed up on Media Day with a big smile, hopped around on his crutches and said all the right things. In recent weeks, Pendergraph put aside the crutches and got a few shots up after practice. Still, it's a slow recovery and his return to the court remains months away (January is one recent guess).  

That's why it brought a smile to my face this morning as Pendergraph seems to have found something to occupy his downtime... Click through for details... 

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This just in from the Blazers...

Four Trail Blazers were named to this year's ballot, including two-time All-Star Brandon Roy (guard). 

LaMarcus Aldridge (forward), Andre Miller (guard) and Greg Oden (center) all seek their first All-Star appearances. The 2010 NBA All-Star game will be hosted by Aldridge's hometown of Dallas on Feb. 14, 2010.

Click through for a full NBA press release with information about how to vote and to read the full ballots.  Here's a link if you'd like to start voting now.

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In case you missed them, the Blazers won both their games this weekend.  On Friday, they topped the Spurs. Here is a Game Recap and a Media Row Report. On Sunday, they destroyed the terrible Timberwolves. Here is a Game Recap and a Media Row Report. 

The big news of the weekend, of course, was Nate McMillan's new 3 guard starting lineup: Andre Miller, Brandon Roy, Steve Blake, LaMarcus Aldridge and Greg Oden. Congratulations to Brian T. Smith of The Columbian for scooping everyone with the news of the lineup change on Friday night.

Congratulations also to Blazers Broadcaster Mike Barrett (and his father Duane Barrett) for being inducted into West Albany's Sports Hall of Fame.  (link via DwightJaynes)

Here's the single best basketball story you'll read all week: Pete Thamel of the New York Times goes to Israel to check in on high schooler Jeremy Tyler's progress.

As you read that piece I imagine you'll start thanking your lucky stars for Greg Oden.

Click through for this week's trip around the internet...

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More photos » by Don Ryan - AP

Portland Trail Blazers guard Andre Miller, left, shoots as Minnesota Timberwolves forward Oleksiy Pecherov, from Ukraine, pretends to play defense during the second half of their NBA basketball game in Portland, Ore., Sunday, Nov. 8, 2009. Miller led the Blazers in scoring with 21 points as they beat the Timberwolves 116-93. (AP Photo/Don Ryan)

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Interesting basketball game this evening in the Rose Garden. It's hard to really, um, isolate the keys to tonight's Portland Trail Blazers victory. 

As I look through the box score I am noticing a few things that stand out.  

The Blazers scored more points in the first half, scored more points in the second half, shot better from the field, shot better from the free throw line, shot better from the 3 point line, got more offensive rebounds, got more defensive rebounds, had more assists, committed less fouls, had more steals, committed less turnovers, had more points in the paint, had more second chance points, and had more fast break points.

Other than that, you know, it was a fairly even match up. 

Big time kudos to the Minnesota Timberwolves for blocking more shots (4 to 3) and committing less defensive 3 seconds (0 to 1), which really kept things close.

The final score was 116 to 93 which implies that this was a respectable contest, which is incorrect.  Playing at 3/4 speed the Blazers ran out to a 28 point lead against a Timberwolves squad that is most likely the least talented professional basketball team I have seen in the last three years.  Aside from Jonny Flynn, who is already an elite point guard from a "pure joy to watch play basketball" perspective, this team was just bad.  Really, really, really bad.  They conducted themselves with class and dignity through the pre-game, game and post-game, much to their credit, but there is simply not enough talent on that roster to be competitive on most nights in the NBA.

If I charted this game it would read: possession 1, bad; possession 2, bad; possession 3, bad, etc. 

Let's focus on a few Blazers bright spots...

Dante Cunningham

In his seventh NBA game, Blazers rookie power forward saw his first action, stepping confidently into the game (surrounded by players he probably recognized from Las Vegas Summer League) and hit 3 of 4 field goals in 6 fourth quarter minutes.  

His first NBA bucket was especially memorable, as he banked in a 16 footer.  I asked Dante after the game how it felt to get his first run and whether the bank was intentional...

How'd it feel..

It was good. It felt real good. Get out there, get the jitters out. Go out there and have fun and play.

Did you call bank?

Yeah, yeah, I yelled it before I let it go. (smiles)

You gave it some extra juice...

It definitely was, it was a little nervousness, you hear all the time about rookies airballing their first shot, I really didn't want that to happen. So you know I kinda just let it go you know... It went in so you can't be too mad at it.

Was it a different feel out there from the preseason?

I mean, honestly it really wasn't. I took it as whenever you get your shot, take advantage of it. That's all I could do.

Be sure to read Nate McMillan's thoughts on Cunningham's performance below as well.

LaMarcus Aldridge

It was nice to see a little more assertiveness and a little less fadeaway from Aldridge, who quickly recognized that he over-matched his competition and did some nice work in the first half.  Given the relatively-weak caliber of opponents on this upcoming 5 game road trip, hopefully Aldridge uses tonight's game as a turning point and a building block.  

3 Guard Lineup

As expected, Nate McMillan went with it again tonight and was very forceful in his praise for its results.  The Miller/Roy/Blake trio is hear to stay, at least in the short term. Be sure to read Nate's comments on the subject below.

Brandon Roy

One thing to keep an eye on, though, will be Roy's mood as this three guard lineup continues to play out.  Tonight, in a blowout, he didn't seem to have any problem scoring just two points and sitting and watching the bench guys mop up an easy win for most of the second half.  But one obvious effect of more ball movement is less touches (and shorter touches) for Roy.  Overall, in theory, this is a good thing.  The Blazers assist to buckets ratio (35 assists on 41 field goals) was out-of-this-world good.  But tonight wasn't a true test.  The true test comes when the Blazers lose a close game and Roy's touches/shots are less than he'd prefer.  At that point, the feasibility of the new starting lineup will really get put to the test.  

As long as Roy buys into the greater good -- and reaps the benefit of some of Miller's outstanding passes and the easy buckets that go with increasing the tempo -- there shouldn't be a problem.  Easier said than done, I would assume. 

Nate's Post-Game Comments

Best thing about a game like this...

Well, the thing tonight, we wanted to be about business. Go out and try to work and improve and get better. Build off the last game against San Antonio, just play the game the right way. Matter of fact, we had 35 assists tonight. That's always a good sign when the team is moving the ball because it will get everybody involved. I thought defensively we did a nice job of setting that tone right from the start, creating some easy opportunities and then the white group went in there and did a better job. They had an opportunity to practice a little bit and they looked like they had a little better rhythm. Be about business and just play the game and try to improve and I thought they did that. 

Fast break points...

Yeah, that came off of getting stops and running out. I liked the tempo, the movement that we're getting from this group. You've got to get stops and then you can run out and get some easy baskets.

Prepared for a road trip...

We'll see. We've only been out there one time. Now I think we'll play 4 games in 5 days. Some back-to-backs. We split the last road trip. This is another challenge for us. To be better on the road this year. It starts in Memphis and we take that game and, again, try to improve, get that game, and look to do better on the road this year.

Andre Miller and his influence on fast break points...

A lot. No question. A lot of that is he will look up, see the floor and I think he's one of the... he's creating some of that off the defense, coming up with steals and rebounding the ball. Then our guys are learning to bust out and he'll throw it ahead. He sees all of that. He sees the floor. He's delivering the ball.

Second unit...

I thought it was better with them tonight. When I went to that lineup in the San Antonio game, they practiced a little bit but we went over some plays yesterday for that group and what we were looking for. Better ball movement, more spacing, better spacing, with them, defensively I thought they did a nice job. Bayless getting up on the ball. Martell and Rudy, Travis and Joel, being aggressive on the wings, busting out and running again. I think they'll get better as they play together more.

Brandon with only 2 points...

I told him I like the fact that he did other things. He had 6 rebounds and he had 7 assists. These are things that those guys will have to learn to do. Where Greg and Miller and some of these other guys have some things going but don't take yourself out of the game by assuming that you can't do some other things. Later in that game we may need you to score. He kinda allowed the game to come to him and he did some other things. Which is what you need to do. Rebounds, he had the opportunity to distribute the ball. And he did that.

Do you expect to see more balanced scoring...

I think what you do is play the game, take advantage of what the defense gives you and tonight our post-ups were good. They were double-teaming, we were getting something off of that. They take away the post and the perimeter will open up. So I thought our guys did that and tonight they shared the ball, which was great. 35 assists. Everybody gets involved that way.

Aldridge's first half..

I thought he did a better job of getting deep. He's still learning to play against a double team. And they're learning to play off of Andre. He does a great job of moving and getting to the open spot when teams double team. Started to pick up on Andre, where he was at, where he will be and did a better job of attacking the basket, I'd like to see that more.

Line up

I like it. It's moving. You've got two guards out there that are moving and working. That combination is working together. I like the flow that we're playing with.

Dante's first mintues

He's worked hard. I told the guys, let's try to get everybody in this game. I thought that both groups went out there and played hard. Didn't play the scoreboard and stayed solid on the defense. Offensively, kept attacking. Which gave us an opportunity to sit some guys and allow some guys to play. Dante stepped right in and did well. Knocked down a couple of shots. Defensively, I thought he was in the right position. He's a young guy that can play.

More photos » by Don Ryan - AP

Portland Trail Blazers guard Brandon Roy, right, exacts revenge on behalf of PETA on San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili, from Argentina, during the second half of their NBA basketball game in Portland, Ore., Friday, Nov. 6, 2009. Roy scored 24 points as they beat the Spurs 96-84. (AP Photo/Don Ryan)

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Before the game started, the gameplan was labeled a "gimmick" and derided as "desperate," the idea met with scoffs and outright laughter.  Miller and Blake in the starting lineup together?  Really?

In the countless starting lineup polls that we've run here over the past few months, not once did Miller/Roy/Blake/Aldridge/Oden appear as an option.  The idea of going small -- that small -- to start off a game was so unconventional and so risky given the Spurs' height at the 2 and 3 positions (both Michael Finley and Richard Jefferson are 6'7") that it even caught Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, master tactician, off guard.  

Popovich scrambled to inform his guards of the switch shortly before the game and then watched the Blazers run out to a 8-0 advantage in just over 2 minutes of game time, despite spending a 20 second timeout less than a minute into the game to get his defense right.  

The quick start was keyed by Steve Blake's energy -- he was playing like he knew his job was on the line -- and Brandon Roy, who had 7 first quarter points and finished with 24 on an efficient 9-15 shooting. The team's ball movement was the best of the season (8 Blazers scored in the first quarter) and yet the ball control was also solid (just 2 turnovers in the first 12 minutes).  It was by far the Blazers' best overall first quarter this season: the team scored a season-high 29 points and maintained a season-high 15 point lead after the first quarter.  

From there, an ankle sprain that knocked Tony Parker from the game made life pretty easy. The Blazers executed just enough down the stretch to maintain a firm grasp on a game they led the entire way.  The final margin of victory -- 96 to 84 -- was both comfortable and comforting: a return to normalcy for a Blazers team used to winning handily on its home floor.

Asked about his downsized starting lineup after the game, Nate McMillan said that he had already eyed the upcoming schedule and plans to stick with that Miller/Roy/Blake over the next couple of weeks.  The big question mark with this grouping is on the defensive end: a large, potent backcourt trio could present serious mismatch problems for the undersized Miller/Roy/Blake.

Yet surveying the team's upcoming opponents it's easy to see why McMillan might feel fully confident with this lineup for at least the next five games, if not longer.  

• Minnesota Timberwolves: one of the weakest teams in the league features rookie Jonny Flynn (nice potential, not there yet), Corey Brewer (barely an NBA player), Ryan Gomes (nothing to write home about), and Ramon Sessions (not physically imposing).
• Memphis Grizzlies:  Undersized starting guards Mike Conley and OJ Mayo plus the Charmin soft Rudy Gay.
• Minnesota again.
• New Orleans Hornets: a little bigger with Chris Paul (All-World), Mo Peterson (Meh) and Julian Wright (Still waiting for this guy to develop...) but they're off to a terribly slow start and have been reduced to a one-man show.
• Charlotte Bobcats: Not exactly an overpowering offensive juggernaut (held to 59 points... for an entire game... by Boston) with Raymond Felton (hit or miss), Raja Bell (aging defensive specialist) and Gerald Wallace (nice player, not going to carry a team).

After that, it's Atlanta, Detroit, Golden State and the Timberwolves again.  At this point, Atlanta (with good sized wings in Marvin Williams and Joe Johnson plus explosive scoring from Jamal Crawford off the bench) seems like the worst matchup for Miller/Roy/Blake. Detroit has been juggling lineups (starting rookie Jonas Jerebko at the 3!), the Warriors are basically the Oakland Raiders of the NBA and the Timberwolves were covered above.  

So with the exception of that game in Atlanta on November 16, which could give Nate McMillan some pause, there's a chance McMillan talks himself into this starting lineup for the next 9 games.  

Who would have thought we'd be here?  

It's not clear whether anyone did, outside of McMillan.

Asked after the game what he thought about the new starting lineup, Brandon Roy said, "I'm fine with it. Whatever we go with, my thing is to continue to be aggressive. Defensively we can't have a drop off."

That's the spirit!  Roll with it. If you're going to go with something new, might as well embrace it with open arms and an open mind. It's different, it's weird, it probably won't win a playoff series but it's something.  This team -- lackluster through five games -- needed something, and tonight it got it. 

Just a few notes late on a Friday night...

Rudy Fernandez

The biggest loser with this new lineup juggling? Rudy.  He played just 11 minutes (less than 2 minutes during the fourth quarter) and despite attacking the bucket a little bit more than he has in the past, and throwing an absolutely spectacular backdoor pass to LaMarcus Aldridge for a dunk, he was a shell of the Rudy Fernandez that electrified the Rose Garden last year.

If and when he returns to form, it will be game-changing.  Because right now, he's giving McMillan as close to nothing as possible.

Jerryd Bayless 

Rex got some run!  Interesting that his first playing time of the season would come against San Antonio and George Hill, a team and player he dominated during Las Vegas Summer League.  In perhaps his best performance of last summer, Jerryd hung 19 and 5 (and, yes, 7 turnovers) on Hill and locked him down pretty well on the other end, holding Hill to 6 and 3.  

Tonight Bayless did what we've seen him do before -- attack the basket, draw fouls -- and didn't do what we haven't seen him do before -- truly run an offense, make his teammates better.  It's clear that a Bayless/Fernandez backcourt is not the best pairing to maximize the strengths of both players.  

Nevertheless, you can't help but be happy to see Bayless in the rotation rather than rotting on the bench.  Bayless even has the potential for steady first-half minutes as long as McMillan continues to start both Miller and Blake. How quickly fortunes change.

Greg Oden

You guys thought I was lying through the preseason, didn't you?  Greg Oden making shots?  Playing calmly?  Dribbling the ball without travelling?  It all sounded preposterous, didn't it?  Well tonight a television audience finally saw the offensive flashes that Oden treated the Rose Garden crowd to during the preseason.  He drew oohs and ahhs during the game and big-time post-game kudos from Nate McMillan (not to mention a number of writers) for how he stood toe to toe with Tim Duncan, getting the best of Duncan physically on a number of occasions down the stretch.  

Both Duncan and Oden finished with 14 and 8.  McMillan will surely take those numbers 100 times out of 100 this season.  And I didn't even mention the four blocks, 3 of which came during the fourth quarter.

Nate's Post-Game Comments

Do you feel like a genius?

No, I'm happy to see the movement. That felt more like a flow, more like a rhythm on both ends of the floor. What we wanted to see I thought we saw. I thought Dre, we got more from him. He got everybody involved. A lot of communication, just looking in sync, even though that team hasn't played a lot together. I thought we got the ball movement, we were attacking. When we stopped attacking, and started back isolating and going one on one, they were able to get back into the game.

When you started to sputter in the 4th quarter did you intentionally put the ball back in Brandon's hands?

Yeah because we were in the penalty. So we were going to drive the ball and we went with the power set to drop the ball low, ended up getting a 3. I think Blake hit a big 3 off of that. For the most part, having that lead with Tim being in the game, basically we were going to spread the floor. I went with Travis, Blake...

But before that, when you had five straight possessions where you didn't score. Andre was bringing it up and then Brandon was bringing it up, did you make that call?

I did. I did.

They adjusted after the early energy. Late in the game you pounded it into Oden. What are you seeing from him offensively?

What I was hoping for was with Miller in that game, he would be able to get Greg the ball. A lot of the calls tonight, Dre called those sets. He did a nice job of mixing it up. He got Blake involved. He got Greg involved, deep post position. He called the right sets. Greg had deep post position, they were playing him straight up, a couple of times he got himself in trouble trying to beat him with speed as opposed to just taking his time and going over the top. I thought he was, for the most part, patient and did a nice job establishing himself down there.

Does that give you another option?

That is an option. We want to take advantage of that option. We don't want to be stagnant and just pound, pound, pound. I thought we had movement, with pin downs and pick and rolls that led to the post ups as opposed to coming down and just pound it. Sometimes the best way to get into the post is starting with the pick and roll to get some movement to get it there, then that defense is not set. Normally when we try to pound it, they trap us, they're set defensively and they take it out of the posts' hands.

What does this win mean?

It's a good win for us. We're trying to find our rhythm. I felt like we haven't played well. Even though we have two wins. Tonight I felt like we had a good rhythm. The offensive execution, the movement was better. We got the tempo we wanted. Defensively we did all the things we wanted to do. It was a game we needed. At home, against a very good team. This game, games like this, you want to take and build off of it. It should give us some confidence that if we do those things again, against any team, play together, move the ball, play defense, you can win ballgames. It's something to build off.

Will you go back to the three guard lineup again to start?

I looked at the schedule. The schedule that we're playing here in the next week or two, we can stay with that. I'm going to look at that lineup. I'm going to stay with that for awhile and we'll see. I thought it was good. It was what I was hoping for. Some movement with those guards being in there. We were able to get the ball to the bigs when they were open. It was a good unit tonight. 

What happened during the 4th quarter dry spell?

We stopped moving. We stopped reversing the ball and getting into our pick and rolls. We became stagnant, trying to play just an option. It was a lot of dribbling, holding the ball, and not that quick swing, run out into a pick and roll. That team is too good and most teams are to just go isolation, raise up. Pretty much the way we were beat the other night against Atlanta. You gotta have hot shooting to do that. We got a little stagnant, we were able to knock down some shots and get a little more movement and eventually put it away.

Greg's defense.

I thought he did a nice job. I thought he did a real nice job of being big and getting him off the block and for the most part we played him straight up. Andre was quarterbacking that defense and doing some things that we don't normally do. With his communication we double-teamed a couple of times and got out of those rotations and was able to cover the perimeter. We did some nice things. It started with Greg, just getting him off and being big.

Rudy.

He hasn't knocked down... his shooting is off right now. He has to keep shooting the ball, getting some movement, attacking the basket, getting something easy would be good for him.

Bayless.

Bayless I wanted to try to get him somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes and see how he went. They cut into that lead going into the fourth quarter and I wanted to get the first group back out there. We'll keep doing this. The guys, they go out there and make some things happen, we'll keep them on the floor.

Scoring balance.

Yeah, I was hoping to get that, more movement with that group. It's been one or two guys scoring. Brandon and LaMarcus, or Brandon or Travis. Tonight we had four guys in double figures, a guy with 9 and a guy with 8, we do have some balanced scoring, and more guys putting the ball in the basket.

As you wait for Dave's recap and my Media Row Report, vent and/or celebrate here! 

-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter

Second half talk goes here!

-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter

First half talk goes here!

-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter

Will Nate McMillan change his starting lineup?  Will the Blazers be able to slow down Tony Parker? Will Manu Ginobili kill any bats? Will DeJuan Blair grab 84 rebounds in a single game? Pressing questions that you should discuss here.

-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter