One does not simply walk — oh, wait, I’ve already used that. Anyway, despite their sub-.500 record and a recent slump, the Trail Blazers came into this game 16-8 at the Rose Garden, and it would have been a grievous mistake to take them lightly. The Thunder got a reminder of this in the third quarter, watching their 18-point halftime lead shrink to five. This is usually the signal to tighten up already, which they did; with three minutes left and the Thunder up 19, the benches were emptied, and OKC finished off the Blazers, 109-95.

We didn’t see a repeat of whatever it was between Russell Westbrook and Raymond Felton; Felton was excused for personal reasons and did not dress. Rookie point guard Nolan Smith didn’t make much noise. Then again, the usual thorn in OKC’s side was and is LaMarcus Aldridge, and J. J. Hickson, retrieved by Portland after being waived by Sacramento, was similarly pointy tonight. (Hickson had 21 points, Aldridge 20.) Still, the Blazers weren’t going to make much headway on a night when OKC was hitting 57 percent — it was 60 percent before garbage time — and Westbrook, enjoying his unFeltoned self, rolled up 32 points to lead everyone. (Kevin Durant picked up 25; James Harden, who missed only one shot all night, had 21.)

Still, that third-quarter run of Portland’s was scary, and I can’t say I’m going to miss these guys the rest of the season. (The series ends 3-1 OKC.) It would be nice if Golden State could knock the Lakers down a notch later tonight, but if they don’t, well, the Thunder will get their chance Thursday night, or maybe Friday morning. Damn West Coast games.

Sometimes all it takes is a diligent application of the fundamentals. Still smarting from the drubbing they got from the Spurs, the Thunder buckled down early on, jumped out to a 16-point lead after the first quarter, and the Trail Blazers, the first team to beat the Thunder in OKC this season, were sent back to Portland with a loss. The Thunder won this one going away, 111-95 (note: 16-point difference), and now lead the season series 2-1, always useful against division rivals.

OKC actually shot their way to this win: 55 percent from the floor, 61 percent (11 of 18) from downtown, and we’ll tiptoe past the ten free throws (of 28) they missed. Rebounds: OKC, 43-35. Assists: OKC, 24-15. Turnovers: OKC, 15-12. (Well, you can’t have everything.) Once again, Russell Westbrook took more shots than Kevin Durant, but then he also scored more points (28 versus 26) and didn’t once give up the ball. James Harden was not so wonderful from the floor, but he drew fouls like crazy, and got 11 of his 14 from the stripe.

For the Blazers, sixth man Jamal Crawford scored the most points (23) and tied for most technicals (1, with Kurt Thomas). Portland shot a decent 46 percent, and Raymond Felton was effective, though Nicolas Batum was bottled up much of the night. And LaMarcus Aldridge, always a thorn in OKC’s side, was held to 15 points on 6-19 shooting; that may have been the difference right there, since Aldridge usually thinks nothing of dropping 20 or 30 on the Thunder.

Next: a one-game road swing, to Utah on Tuesday, followed by three at the ‘Peake: Clippers Wednesday, Timberwolves Friday, Heat Sunday. No one who can be taken lightly.

One does not simply walk into the Rose Garden: all kinds of scary creatures lurk therein, and the scariest might be LaMarcus Aldridge, who always causes grief for the Thunder and tonight ran up a season-high 39 points. It didn’t help that Nicolas Batum was grabby all night and managed to get called for only two fouls. Then again, Thunder shot selection in the fourth quarter was debatable: after nine minutes, they’d scored only ten points, and the Trail Blazers, who’d trailed by as many as twelve, were up four. OKC fought back to a tie, but Portland was back up by two going into the last minute. Then with six seconds left, Kevin Durant put up a shot, Aldridge put up a hand, and goaltending was called. With the score tied at 103, Batum went for the last shot, and Russell Westbrook made sure he didn’t get it.

With 30 seconds left in the overtime, OKC had outscored PDX 6-4, and a questionable call — one of several this evening — gave the Blazers the ball. Kendrick Perkins obliged with a timely block, and at :02, Durant, in his role as Captain Crunch, slammed the ball into the net. OKC 111, Portland 107, evening the season series at 1-1, and the Thunder managed to walk out of the Rose Garden.

OKC did come up with the bulk of the night’s rebounds (59-39); Serge Ibaka had 13, Perkins 10, and Westbrook (!) 11. Durant rolled up 33 points, Westbrook 28, James Harden 19, and Ibaka 12. We won’t discuss the 19 turnovers.

For Portland, Jamal Crawford started at the point, Raymond Felton having sprained his ankle. Crawford wound up playing almost 45 minutes; he acquitted himself well, scoring 17. Wesley Matthews added 18 more. But as always, the major thorn in the Thunder’s side was Aldridge, who got those 39 on 14 shots and 11 consecutive free throws. Marcus Camby cleared off 15 boards to lead the Blazers.

So it’s 1-1 with three games to go on this road trip. Tomorrow night: Golden State, followed by a Thursday game in Sacramento. No rest for your weary correspondent. (I’ll get over it.)

But the Portland Trail Blazers had somewhat higher aspirations for the evening, and their visit to the ‘Peake resulted in the second straight loss for the Thunder, 103-93.

Not everyone was happy with the officiating, including radio guy Matt Pinto, and Scott Brooks, who drew a technical after reacting to a call. Still, the serious damage was done, not so much by the zebras, but by LaMarcus Aldridge, always a thorn in OKC’s side, who rolled up 30 points tonight. (Four other Blazers landed in double figures.) It was pretty even through the first half, the Thunder taking a two-point lead into the locker room, but after that, Portland cranked it up in classic Thunder style: lots of foul shots and tough second-half defense.

Thabo Sefolosha was scratched for the evening, giving James Harden a start at the two. The Beard led all OKC scorers with 23, though it took him 40 minutes to get there. Russell Westbrook is back to being sparkly — he had 22 — but Kevin Durant was unusually bucket-resistant, putting up 26 shots, only eight of which went. And the remaining bench players could manage only 14 points between them.

Meanwhile, the Blazers got to the foul line 36 times (that you can attribute to the officials, maybe), dropping in 29. (OKC was 16 of 21.) Portland also did sterling glass work, outrebounding the Thunder 46-40. The worst part, of course, is losing to a Northwest Division rival, which may loom large toward the end of the season.

But that comes later. Right now, or two days from now anyway, there’s that three-day weekend with three games. A chastened Scott Brooks will of course point out that you have to play them one at a time.

I mean, really, 48 feet?

We’re talking serious defense here, guys.

“The Thunder defense,” said radio guy Matt Pinto early in the fourth quarter, “has just gone away.” So had the offense; after scoring 59 points in the first half, Oklahoma City managed a mere 11 in the third quarter, and the Trail Blazers, taking advantage of several calls Pinto thought were dubious, turned a six-point deficit into an eight-point lead, which would grow to double digits shortly thereafter. Halfway through the period, the Thunder started to get stops again, though the offense didn’t recover so much, and the Blazers waltzed to a 98-91 win at the Rose Garden, salvaging one game from the four-game season series.

Nate McMillan shuffled his starting lineup, installing Marcus Camby in the middle, moving LaMarcus Aldridge to power forward and letting Nicolas Batum come off the bench. This apparently cut down the Blazers’ rebounding capacity a bit — OKC had a 48-34 advantage on the boards — but Aldridge scored seemingly at will, finishing with 32 points, and Portland’s ball control was sterling. The Blazers shot only 43 percent, but that was two percent better than the Thunder.

And way better than the Thunder’s main offensive threats: Kevin Durant went 9 for 24 (25 points), James Harden 6 for 15 (21), and Russell Westbrook 5 for 15 (16). OKC, not getting points in the paint, resorted to jump shots, especially long jump shots, and they wouldn’t fall: only 7 of 27 connected. If there was any upside, it’s that Kendrick Perkins made both his foul shots.

Now the downside: this is the first half of a back-to-back, and yes, the second half is against the Clippers, but The Other L.A. Team is dangerous on its home court. Seven games yet to play.

When the Thunder and the Trail Blazers meet, you can practically hear the clashing of machines, the testing of both metal and mettle. Oklahoma City won the last two, one here and one there, by a total of three points. It looked pretty much like more of the same through 47:16, at which point the Thunder were up four; OKC worked the clock nicely, and Russell Westbrook ended the possession with his third trey of the quarter. The Blazers had no reply, Kevin Durant sank two free throws to rub it in, and the Thunder clinched a playoff spot with the 99-90 win (and a concurrent loss by the Rockets in Miami).

Of those ninety Portland points, forty were contributed by Gerald Wallace; his shooting stroke was superb, good for 16 of 28 plus seven of nine from the line. LaMarcus Aldridge, anchoring the middle, put up 20 points; however, no other Blazer managed double figures, though Marcus Camby, coming off the bench, did reel in 13 rebounds.

The Thunder showed some uncharacteristically-prodigious perimeter defense, holding Portland to a mere two treys in twelve tries. You could tell things were getting physical when Scott Brooks — Scott Brooks! — drew a technical. Kevin Durant had five fouls, one of which led to the Brooks T; but he also blocked five shots. Russell Westbrook, as always, played well against the Blazers, accumulating 28 points (and also five fouls); Kendrick Perkins pulled down 10 boards, Serge Ibaka eight — and Serge had 18 points on 7-9 shooting. The man’s turning into a power forward, accent on “power.” And the Thunder hit 26 of 29 free throws, a welcome return to form.

The home stand ends Tuesday with the arrival of the Golden State Warriors; immediately afterwards, it’s off to Phoenix (Wednesday), Portland (Friday), Los Angeles (the Clippers on Saturday), and Denver (Tuesday). That road trip can, and probably will be, majorly treacherous.

Eight days ago, the Thunder squeezed out a win at Portland’s Rose Garden, to the tune of 107-106. It requires no great imagination to figure that the Trail Blazers would be looking for payback. But this game was as much of a see-saw as any you’ve seen, with no fewer than sixteen lead changes. With ten seconds left, OKC was up 110-108; Rudy Fernandez back-rimmed a wide-open trey, Russell Westbrook came up with the loose ball at the buzzer, and that was that.

In fact, Westbrook made “that was that” his business all night; he knocked down 36 points, a career high. (Kevin Durant had 34; Jeff Green is still missing in action.) The Thunder actually shot 54.8 percent, a welcome change. What’s more, they put up twelve treys and managed to hit six of them.

Fernandez had had the hot hand earlier, so Portland’s last play was at least defensible. (Speaking of Fernandez, he wound up with 15 points, one more than the entire Oklahoma City bench, which explains why all the Thunder starters played 33 minutes or more.) And Nicolas Batum had a season-high 21; Brandon Roy, obviously playing at less than 100 percent, still made 24. I’m happy we don’t have to see these guys again until March.

Then again, the next two games aren’t exactly gimmes: Sunday against the Spurs at the Dorf Center, followed by Monday at Utah. Still, the Thunder are starting to show signs of being able to play at the .600 level, and they’re going to have to do that and better to nail down a playoff spot.

You may remember this from the Clippers game 24 hours ago:

The occasionally-erratic Fail Blazers aren’t about to lose to this bunch tomorrow night, especially at the Rose Garden.

Well, the Thunder weren’t quite as inept as they were against the Clips, and in fact turned downright competent in the final frame, but the Blazers were a long way from being erratic, and after several minutes on the teeter-totter, regulation time finished at a 100-100 tie.

And in overtime, things got ferocious. Four minutes through, it was only 103-100 OKC; with six seconds left, Russell Westbrook dropped in two free throws to put the Thunder up, 107-103; Armon Johnson made a trey at the buzzer to make it 107-106.

Is this the turning point for Oklahoma City? Who knows? But here’s the line: Kevin Durant, 28 points, 11 rebounds; Russell Westbrook, 28 points, 11 rebounds. And we’re still seeing the Good Jeff Green (19 points).

And now, back home to the Unsponsored Arena for a four-game homestand, and I won’t have to stay up so darn late for a while.

With about three minutes left, radio guy Matt Pinto described Andre Miller and Marcus Camby as “a two-man wrecking crew,” and indeed they laid waste to any plans the Thunder might have had for finishing anywhere higher than eighth seed. How did the Blazers do?

Item: Russell Westbrook didn’t serve up a single assist all night.

Item: Kevin Durant had 21 points in the first half, but only nine in the second.

Item: Serge Ibaka fouled out; Nick Collison finished with five, the last of which was a Flagrant 1.

So Portland goes up 3-1 in the season series with a 103-95 win. Miller and Camby got more than half those points; Camby also reeled in a dozen boards. The Blazers shot 50 percent, and perhaps more important in a Titanic Defensive Struggle, gave up only eight turnovers.

The Thunder did even up the numbers, reboundwise. Big deal. What matters here is that they were tied at 88, and scored only seven points the rest of the way.

The season finale is Wednesday, at the Ford against the Griz, and then it’s Hello Kobe.

The Trail Blazers and the Thunder had met twice this season, and each time the game was won by the visiting team. The pattern continued tonight, with the Blazers edging the Thunder at the Ford, 92-87, tightening up the scene at the bottom of the Western playoff seeds. (At the moment, OKC, 44-28, leads Portland, 45-29, retaining sixth place, but the eighth-place Spurs, 43-28, are playing at Boston tonight, and if they can knock off the Celtics — they’re ahead by 17 after three quarters — they’ll take over sixth by dint of owning the tiebreaker over the Thunder.)

The Camby-enhanced Blazers are even stronger than they were earlier this season: Marcus Camby, holding down the middle, scored 11 points and picked up 12 rebounds. Guards Brandon Roy and Andre Miller combined for 46 points; Portland was outrebounded, 41-34, but they pulled off 11 steals and blocked three shots.

The Thunder weren’t so bad at forcing turnovers themselves; they blocked 10 shots and snagged five steals. There were stretches, though, where it seemed like Kevin Durant was going to have to do it all himself. KD wound up with 29 points and 13 rebounds; Jeff Green came up with 14 before fouling out in the fourth quarter, and Russell Westbrook managed 12.

If the pattern holds, the Thunder should be able to beat the Blazers at the Rose Garden on the 12th. But that’s the next-to-last game of the season. More immediate confrontations: Philadelphia (Tuesday), Boston (Wednesday) and Dallas (Saturday), all on the road.

I don’t think anyone anticipated this: a sweep of a three-game road trip. New Orleans, maybe; Golden State, probably; but Portland? No way. This team hasn’t won in the Rose Garden since the French and Indian War.

Until now. The Thunder shut down the Trail Blazers early on, watched them come back, and then dispatched them handily in the fourth quarter to win it 89-77.

One can argue that the Blazers weren’t at full strength, but they haven’t been at full strength all season and they were still seven games over .500. In Portland, you step up: Nicolas Batum got 12 points in his first start; rookie forward Dante Cunningham had 14 points (a career high) and six rebounds. LaMarcus Aldridge, who always bedevils the Thunder, had 15 points and 15 boards; Andre Miller dropped in 22 points. Yet the Blazers missed 17 of 20 treys; Steve Blake and Rudy Fernandez combined to miss ten of them.

So the Thunder saw their chance, and they took it. Down two after three quarters, they poured it on: James Harden, who had barely been seen up to that point, rolled up 14 points in the fourth. Jeff Green had yet another reliable 17-pointer; Kevin Durant did the double-double thing with 33 points and 11 boards. They weren’t so much better from beyond the arc — five of 16 — and in fact, the Blazers outrebounded the Thunder, 47-41. But OKC pulled off 17 steals, which gives them 33 in the last two games.

The West continues to knot up. Denver is second, 4½ back of the Lakers; OKC, now at 30-21 — did anyone expect this team to have won 30 games at the All-Star break? — is sixth, 4½ back of the Nuggets. And the Grizzlies, in 11th, are only four back of the Thunder.

The Thunder are on pace for 48-34. Maybe I can work up to uttering the P word later on.

This figured to be yet another titanic defensive struggle, and for the most part it was: neither the Thunder nor the Trail Blazers shot particularly well. But Kevin Durant had a really bad night, hitting only three of 21 from the floor, and the Blazers managed to put together enough offense in the fourth quarter to pull away, winning it on a flurry of free throws at the end, 83-74.

That lack of scoring shows you just how hard-nosed both defenses were, but the Blazers were just a little harder: the Thunder were held to a mere six assists, worst ever for the franchise and three away from the league record for futility. Then again, they blocked seven Portland shots. Russell Westbrook, who fouled out in the last minute, scored 23 points; KD, despite his shooting woes, still squeezed out 16; Jeff Green had a double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds. The bench contributed more defense than offense, with Etan Thomas pulling down nine boards; overall OKC shot a seriously-subpar 34.3 percent.

Portland didn’t hit much either, shooting 40.6 percent and managing only 16 assists. And LaMarcus Aldridge departed early with a bone contusion. Steve Blake led five Blazers in double figures, with 18 points. Greg Oden came up with a double-double, 12 points and 10 boards.

Attendance was reported at 16,920, about 93 percent of the new, shrunken Ford Center capacity. Everybody seems to be waiting for the Lakers, who are due in Tuesday night. By then, perhaps the shooters will have remembered how to shoot.

The Thunder jumped out to a 2-0 lead, and that was that; the Trail Blazers managed to snuff out most of Oklahoma City’s offense thereafter, and had no problem putting up baskets of their own. It was 62-31 at the half, and the Thunder managed to shave one point off that margin before the buzzer, falling by a 113-83 count.

Portland played like a playoff team on their home court, which of course they are; Thunder shooting was sub-.400 most of the night, barely squeaking above that figure at the end, and the Blazers controlled the boards, 54-36. Five Blazers scored in double figures, led by Travis Outlaw with 21; three of those five were off the bench.

Meanwhile, OKC’s Big Three managed only 31 points among them, nearly half (15) going to Russell Westbrook. Kevin Durant and Jeff Green were bottled up most of the night. (Leading Thunder scorer was the Forgotten Man, Earl Watson, who rolled up 16 points.) Nick Collison was back, and provided some timely rebounds, but the way the team was playing, just about any rebound they got could be considered timely.

So Portland wins this series, 3-1. The wrapup is Wednesday in Clipperville; if we pull that one out, the Clippers will win that series, 3-1.

What can you say about a game where your best shooter is Shaun Livingston?

Okay, that’s unfair — to Livingston, who has busted a nut trying to get back into the NBA after that godawful knee injury in ’07 just about killed his career altogether. And indeed, Livingston’s return to active duty — he scored 10 points and reeled in three rebounds in 26 minutes — was the one ray of sunshine through the blackness inside the Ford as the Trail Blazers stomped all over the Thunder, 107-72.

I’m serious. Take out Livingston’s five-for-six from the floor, and the Thunder shot barely 32 percent. Then again, the Blazers’ defense was impeccable: they rolled up 57 rebounds (OKC managed only 35), and rookie forward Nicolas Batum bottled up Kevin Durant all night, holding KD to 13 points, the most any of the Thunder could manage.

Meanwhile, Portland poured in the points: LaMarcus Aldridge had 35, plus 18 rebounds to boot; Brandon Roy had 15; Steve Blake had 14 plus 10 assists. And Joel Przybilla hit only one bucket, but he hauled in 11 boards.

So for me, anyway, this was the Shaun Livingston Show, and once again, I marvel at the prescience of Thunder GM Sam Presti, who, unlike apparently everyone else in this league, didn’t think the poor fellow was washed up. One good game perhaps proves nothing; then again, Livingston did score in double figures five times in eleven games for the D-League’s Tulsa 66ers before getting the call. Besides, “all he has to do to earn a consistent spot in the rotation is be better than Earl Watson.”

The Pacers are here Sunday.

You want to win in the NBA, you’ve got to be able to work the clock.

And no, that doesn’t necessarily mean the game clock, as Ric Bucher has noted:

After consulting with doctors and a sleep expert, the team decided the best way to succeed away from home was to act as if they’d never left. So the [Portland Trail] Blazers stay on Pacific Coast time, no matter where they are. On the East Coast, that means 11 a.m. wake-ups and 10 p.m. practices to go with the club-kid bedtime.

So instead of starting a trip with an early-morning flight, the Blazers take off closer to noon. Players get a full night’s sleep in their own beds. That makes them less likely to nap after boarding. And no napping means they rarely miss meals. Sure, the guys can’t explore the local nightlife immediately upon arrival; that’s when they practice. But they do get to skip the traditional morning shootaround on game days in favor of another good night’s rest.

The Blazers haven’t lost their edge back home, either. [Dr. Charles] Czeisler has taught them about circadian rhythms and body clocks, so now they know that by the start of a second half in Portland, an Eastern squad will be feeling the effects of melatonin, the body’s hormone that regulates sleep.

With 20 games left this season, the Blazers are 39-23, and 20-18 against other teams in the NBA’s Western Conference — which means they’re 19-5 against the teams from the East.

Doesn’t offer much hope for those of us in the middle of the country, though.

Well, Greg Oden still gets into foul trouble — he had five tonight — but at home, the Trail Blazers were expected to be tougher opponents than they were at the Ford Center, and indeed they were, leading almost the entire game to torch the Thunder, 106-92.

The Blazers pulled this off by skilled deployment of the trey, hitting 8 of 19, and by keeping Kevin Durant more or less bottled up. The Thunder shot a woeful 39 percent, and it got to the point that players who “weren’t in the rotation” — think Chris Wilcox and Damien Wilkins — actually got minutes in the hope that something might actually fall through the net. (Weezy, in 17 minutes, got 11 points and five boards; the OKC bench shot 48 percent, which should give you an idea of how woeful the starters were, although the Three Amigos still wangled 58 points among them, Russell Westbrook leading with 21 and knocking down 12 rebounds.)

Meanwhile, six Blazers were in double figures: Brandon Roy had 22, and Travis Outlaw, who came off the bench for 35 minutes, had 21 more. Oden was good for 16, ten rebounds, and three blocked shots. Overall, Portland shot 48.8 percent, not great, but more than good enough for the night.

The fun resumes at the Ford Center on Tuesday, with the return of the New Orleans Hornets and the introduction of a large, even-toed ungulate.

We’ve seen it before: Oklahoma City jumps out to a huge lead — in this case, 60-40 at the half — and then the opponents whittle away at it. And the Trail Blazers have some serious whittlers: Brandon Roy got hot in the third quarter, Travis Outlaw in the fourth, and Portland managed to pull within eight. But that was as close as they’d get: the Thunder, for the first time in recorded history never trailing in a game, won it by nine, 102-93.

Two factors helped sink the Blazers: Greg Oden got into foul trouble early and only played sixteen minutes, and they missed rather a lot of free throws in the fourth quarter. Still, they made big shots, Roy finishing with 30 points, Outlaw with 20 off the bench, and LaMarcus Aldridge with 18.

But OKC had big numbers, even outrebounding the Blazers 43-37. Nick Collison got 13 of those boards and 21 points, one of two double-doubles for the Thunder. (The other: Earl Watson, with 12 points and 11 assists.) Kevin Durant knocked down 31 and Jeff Green 20. And OKC kept the turnovers down to twelve, six of which came from Russell Westbrook, who finished with 10 points.

If there was a signature moment, though, it was late in the third quarter, when Earl Watson did a no-look pass to Jeff Green, whose subsequent slam actually ripped the net away from the iron, delaying the game about ten minutes while the basket was repaired.

The homestand is now even at 1-1, with the Kings coming in Sunday.

The Darius Miles saga takes yet another turn:

Miles underwent microfracture surgery to repair his right knee as a member of the Trail Blazers in November 2006. He was released by Portland last April after his injury was judged to be “career-ending” by an independent medical examiner appointed by the NBA and the players union.

Miles, 27, has attempted a comeback this season, playing a total of eight exhibition and regular-season games with the Boston Celtics and Memphis Grizzlies, who waived him Tuesday to avoid having to guarantee his contract for the rest of the season.

This much you knew. But now there’s this:

Put Miles on the court, say the Blazers, and we may sue you.

Say what? Well, it’s like this:

If Miles were to be picked up by an NBA team and play in two more NBA games, his original $9 million salary for this season as well as next season would be reinstated to Portland’s official payroll, pushing the Blazers over the luxury tax threshold this season — costing them millions of dollars — while hurting their chances to sign a major free agent this summer.

If Miles is included, the Blazers have $80 million on the books as salary; the luxury-tax threshold is $71.15 million. And as every NBA GM knows, it’s not just players you actually have who cost you money. Steve Francis has the Blazers on the hook for about $14 million; he’s since been signed by Memphis for a lot less than that, but the original contract remains on the Blazers’ books. (This is hardly unheard of: Donyell Marshall, who represents about $6 million of Oklahoma City’s salary, is lately playing for the Sixers.)

What would make this amusing, perhaps, would be if Miles were to sue the Blazers, charging restraint of trade.

Addendum: And so would this:

Nobody in the NBA loves a good legal battle more than Mark Cuban, whose Mavs happen to have an open spot on the roster. And Miles … did work out for the Mavs this summer.

I doubt the threat of legal action would make Cuban shy away from signing Miles. It might actually encourage him to do so.

We won’t even mention the $200k or so each team stands to receive if the Blazers do in fact hit the luxury-tax threshold.

Addendum, 10 January: The Grizzlies will be signing Miles to a 10-day contract.