Portland Trail Blazers Basketball Team

The healing of Scott Williams: On the outside, there is the scar on the right shoulder, the result of off-season surgery to correct the problem of having it pop out of joint. On the inside, there are no scars because the wounds are still there. But, finally, they, too, are healing. It has been a long time coming, this healing, 4 1/2 years. That's how long it has been since Williams' parents, Al and Rita Williams, died in a murder-suicide.

A day after their coach acknowledged they were out of the playoffs, the Clippers on Tuesday traded veteran Marcus Camby to Portland for guard Steve Blake, forward Travis Outlaw and $1.5 million in cash. The Clippers were willing to part with one of the NBA's top rebounders and defenders, General Manager Mike Dunleavy said, so they could acquire two younger players while giving more minutes to forwards Craig Smith and DeAndre Jordan. The Clippers also waived reserve guard Ricky Davis to clear a roster spot.

Forget the matchups, who can guard whom in the post and all that other stuff. The Western Conference finals could very well come down to Rasheed Wallace vs. the officials, and Wallace and the Portland Trail Blazers just lost round one. Wallace's temper and his reputation cost the Trail Blazers their best player Saturday, and it could cost them the series if he doesn't calm down.

In the good news for the Houston Rockets, they just got out of the first round of the playoffs for the first time in 12 years. In the bad news, they now play, uh, a team to be named later since no one said a word about the Lakers afterward. So there was no bad news, at least Thursday night.

Tim Hardaway, Christian Laettner and Billy Owens were the biggest names to move Thursday on one of the busier NBA trading deadline days in recent years. Six deals involving 19 players were completed, with the Miami Heat making three trades. The Heat added forward Walt Williams, forward-center Chris Gatling and guards Hardaway and Tony Smith. The Atlanta Hawks acquired Laettner from the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Toronto Raptors picked up Sharone Wright from Philadelphia.

Coach Phil Jackson said he doesn't want the NBA to return to the old three-to-make-two free-throw rules of two decades ago in answer to the intentional-foul strategy employed in Game 1 by Portland Coach Mike Dunleavy against Shaquille O'Neal. "I didn't think that the three-for-two was an appropriate rule to have in basketball," Jackson said before Monday's Game 2. "If you get fouled, you should make your foul shots.

The Portland Trail Blazers fined and suspended two players and also fined two others Thursday for their involvement in a teen-age sex scandal in Salt Lake City. Hours earlier, Utah authorities had announced that they would not press criminal charges in the case. Rookies Dave Johnson and Tracy Murray were fined and suspended without pay for three games. Starter Jerome Kersey and rookie Reggie Smith were fined.

A funny thing happened on the way to the uprising. The Portland Trail Blazers turned into trouble of another kind, going from 16-15 the first two months after adding three new starters to 49-33 thanks to a 20-5 finish, beating Utah, Seattle, New York and the Lakers in the process. Miami and Houston had gone down not long before that run started. Just when it seemed that the Trail Blazers should have opened a luggage store. J.R. Rider came from Minnesota with baggage.

Only four spots separated Kobe Bryant and Jermaine O'Neal in the 1996 NBA draft. They were two 17-year-olds who represented either an exciting pair of prospects or a disturbing trend of high school kids jumping to the pros, depending on who was talking at the moment. Bryant, who was born Aug. 23, 1978, became the youngest player to take part in an NBA game when he debuted Nov. 3, 1997. A month later, O'Neal (born Oct.

Greg Oden: Wait till next year Blazermania, catch it and wait till next year. The Portland Trail Blazers' hopes of returning to contention were rescheduled Thursday with the announcement that prized rookie Greg Oden has been lost for the season. Oden, the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft and considered the best young center since Tim Duncan, underwent microfracture surgery on his right knee Thursday. Blazers General Manager Kevin Pritchard, who exclaimed "Rip City again, here we come!"

Blazermania never dies, it turns out, although it did have to go into hiding for all those years while the Portland Trail Blazers tried to find it and kill it. Talk about retro. Remember the birth of the adoring folk movement in 1977 when the team won its title and a headband-wearing Bill Walton pedaled his bike to the victory parade? Remember someone stealing Walton's bike?

Greg Oden: Wait till next year Blazermania, catch it and wait till next year. The Portland Trail Blazers' hopes of returning to contention were rescheduled Thursday with the announcement that prized rookie Greg Oden has been lost for the season. Oden, the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft and considered the best young center since Tim Duncan, underwent microfracture surgery on his right knee Thursday. Blazers General Manager Kevin Pritchard, who exclaimed "Rip City again, here we come!"

Frank and Mary Gill's season tickets at the Rose Garden used to place them among the most coveted locations in the city: second row, Seats 7 and 8, about 25 feet from the middle of the court at every Portland Trail Blazer home game. Now the only thing their seats offer is a prime view of a once-proud franchise in its decline. The Gills occupy them at their own risk; Frank was hit by a piece of chewing gum that Trail Blazer Bonzi Wells threw in frustration last season.

The boos came down hard and authoritatively when Rasheed Wallace's name was announced, for the moment disproving yet another part of Wallace's now-infamous interview. "I ain't worried about that," Wallace said. "That [stuff] don't affect me. I still go out there and play. Just because they're raining the boos, that don't stop me from playing." Didn't stop him from scoring 28 points in a Trail Blazer victory over the Lakers, either.

Damon Stoudamire scored 21 points for Portland, and the Houston Rockets tied a franchise-record low by shooting only 29.5% in the Trail Blazers' 81-66 victory Tuesday night at Houston. The point total was a season-low for Houston, which made only three of 24 shots in the third quarter. Bonzi Wells had 17 points for Portland and Arvydas Sabonis came off the bench to score 11 points. James Posey led the Rockets with 15 points, all in the first half.

It's not a big deal. That's what most of the Golden State Warriors said. Just a little bit of temper, just a little posturing, just a little punching and shoving and taunting. Just a little bit of Chris Mills with a car full of buddies pulling in front of the Portland team bus. Just a little bit of shouting threats and punching on bus windows in the parking lot of a public arena in Oakland, where some fans were still leaving after the Friday night game between Golden State and Portland.

It was a no-look, behind-the-head pass that had no chance of finding a San Antonio Spur. Even Rod Strickland admitted he had lost his head and did not want to look at the mistake that hastened the Spurs' defeat that sent the Portland Trail Blazers to the Western Conference finals. About 30 seconds remained in overtime of Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals with the score tied, 103-103.

Portland Trail Blazer rookie Ramon Ramos suffered brain damage in an auto accident early Saturday morning, doctors said. The 22-year-old forward, who had not played in the NBA, was listed in critical condition after three hours of surgery at Oregon Health Sciences University, according to Dr. Kim Burchiel, the hospital's chairman of neurosurgery. "There is evidence of hemorrhage and damage to areas of the brain related to movement," Burchiel said.

NBA Commissioner David Stern visited Portland on Sunday on his usual tour of playoff sites and watched the Trail Blazers and Lakers play their third game in eight days. There could be more action in the same amount of time if the league adopts a best-of-seven format for the first round. A change from the best-of-five first-round format, which has been in place since 1984, is a collective bargaining issue that would require agreement from the players' union.

Robert Horry from the corner, again. If nothing else, on a Sunday afternoon when they felt the first significant tug of the postseason, when the Portland Trail Blazers worked up the courage to shove back after two years of cowering and infighting, the Lakers had Robert Horry. From the corner. Again. Horry's three-point shot fell with 2.