in playoffs

T hey used an anvil on the Lakers. And a sledgehammer on San Antonio. And the Trail Blazers steamrolled the Clippers, and Oklahoma City got the business end of Travis Outlaw's jumper.

And so the Blazers pulled out the scalpel against Denver Wednesday.

Portland sliced up Denver 104-76.

The Blazers bench accounted for 72 points. No Portland starter scored in double figures. And that's cruel stuff, fellas.

And so there is great poetry in seeing Portland with the home court, matched up with the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs. As much as teams love to say they enjoy the big stage and the grand challenge of postseason Basketball, I'm not so sure anyone wants to meet the Blazers in a dark alley. And that's exactly what the Rose Garden is right now.

I've long believed the Rockets were the worst possible playoff matchup for the Blazers. Ron Artest is too strong. Yao Ming is a walking mismatch. Aaron Brooks is trouble. But after seeing the Blazers over the last three weeks I'm not sure there's a team on the planet that can beat Portland on its home court.

That includes the Lakers. And certainly includes the Nuggets. So why not the Rockets?

So maybe there was something extra there in watching the Blazers whack that disjointed, me-first, Carmelo-ized bunch.

The Nuggets may have more tattoos. And they may throw more elbows. And if we're being real, they probably remind you a lot of the unlovable 1999-2002 Blazers. But anyone who has watched Portland play in the last month understood the Nuggets were toast the minute the ball went up.

Portland is 13-3 since March 13. The Blazers went 7-1 on the road in that span. They blew out the Spurs. They clobbered the Lakers. And down went the Nuggets (nine assists) in a game in which the Blazers had 29 assists.

What we have here is a team that believes very deeply in itself. The Blazers are playing their best Basketball of the season, at the time in which playing your best Basketball matters. And so the challenge here isn't just to win a series, and build some experience for the future, but to get themselves a date with the top-seed Lakers.

Portland is a scary matchup right now.

The Blazers may still be the league's second-youngest team, but what counts today is where the team ranks in its Basketball ability. If there's a team playing better Basketball, it hasn't visited the Rose Garden lately.

I know the Blazers' marketing department is busy promoting that outsiders believe the Blazers to be "too young," and "too soft." As if they're underdogs, or the uninvited guest to this postseason. But you'd have a difficult time convincing any of the Blazers victims over the last month that Portland is anything but a legitimate threat to win the Western Conference.

I thought I'd write that someday. Just not so soon. And that's what Brandon Roy and his followers make you do after you watch them on a consistent basis.

It very well could be that we were watching a preview of the Western Conference Finals on Wednesday, by the way. So be it if it comes to that, because watching the Nuggets and Blazers is like watching a ghost from the franchise past run up and down the floor against Nate McMillan's team. By the way, Carmelo Anthony went 3 for 18, which is understandable because his elbow was aimed at Outlaw's throat the entire evening.

Also, there's the matter of the gauze that was stuffed up Chris Andersen's nostril after he met an unkind Greg Oden hand movement. And so it seems we have some natural storylines should the Western Conference's biggest antonyms meet again this season.

The next couple of weeks are not about survival. They are not about saving face. The Blazers should not be satisfied just being happy to be a participant in the postseason. There is unfinished business for this team, and anything short of winning a series would be a monumental disappointment.

Is there pressure in knowing you can win?

I'm not worried about the Blazers folding.

Portland just won 10 of 11, including six games by 20 or more points. I'd use the word "smoked" to describe the activity, but I'm worried it's just too soon to pull that one out.

The attendants just inside the front doors to the entrances at the Rose Garden Arena peeled off Trail Blazers team posters and handed them to fans who skipped into the building.

There was one large word printed on them.

"TOGETHER."