The team comes together in the wake of the Darius Miles incident, then comes back to beat the Clippers Saturday, January 29, 2005 JASON QUICK Life is made up of them, Maurice Cheeks likes to say. And they pass, he says. Good or bad, they pass. But on Friday night, Cheeks savored more than just a moment after the Trail Blazers beat the Los Angeles Clippers 90-86 at the Rose Garden. He savored redemption, which came from his players, who witnessed the tongue-lashing administered by Darius Miles the day before. Those same players played their hearts out for Cheeks while overcoming a 12-point deficit. He savored the affirmation of his coaching ability -- increasingly questioned, it seems, on all fronts -- which came by way of the final score Friday. It was Cheeks' decision, after all, to go against conventional wisdom and not start leading scorer and rebounder Zach Randolph, instead using him off the bench. And Cheeks savored the perseverance, which he always preaches to his players but which now had to come from himself. "I wanted that win," Cheeks said. "I wanted that win for me. I wanted it for them. I don't know if I was emotional . . . but I wanted that win more than normal." It didn't look as though it would happen early. The Blazers (17-25) were "flat," as Cheeks called it, and trailed 48-40 at halftime. But then, as quick as you can say two-game suspension, it all came back. Theo Ratliff was back to his old, shot-blocking self. Ruben Patterson was a blur up and down the court. Damon Stoudamire was hitting every shot in sight. Sebastian Telfair was eliciting oohs and ahhs from the crowd. And Joel Przybilla, that unheralded center, again was holding down the fort in the middle. It translated into a second half that produced 50 points, which complemented a second-half defensive effort that produced six blocks and three steals and held Los Angeles to 38.9 percent shooting. In the pivotal fourth quarter, the Clippers (20-23) missed 11 of their first 16 shots. The defensive surge was led by the continued resurgence of Ratliff, who blocked seven shots, including several that had fans leaping out of their seats in amazement. In short, he was the Ratliff of old, even though he said he was "not all the way back, but my timing is getting a lot better." Ratliff is starting at power forward in place of Randolph, largely because when he is teamed with Przybilla, it creates a formidable defensive front that can block and rebound. Przybilla again produced impressive statistics, recording 10 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks in 28 minutes. "I'm just trying to get every rebound," Przybilla said. Stoudamire continued his remarkable surge, finishing with 22 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Since being re-inserted into the starting lineup 10 games ago, Stoudamire has scored at least 21 points in nine games. In the other game, he had 18 points. And Patterson, the epitome of hard work and effort that Cheeks has been preaching to his team, again was in the middle of the game's most exciting moments, finishing with 17 points, seven rebounds, three assists, two steals and about 10,000 gestures imploring the crowd to pump up the noise level. It was a team effort that wasn't any different from those in the past three weeks, but there seemed to be a little sentiment, a little extra oomph by the players to show they still were behind their embattled coach. "Cheeks is a great guy, and he hates it when it comes to something like this with a player, because he is all for players all the time," Ratliff said. "So tonight, I think everybody wanted to play hard, play aggressive . . . and just win for the team. Because anytime you have turmoil, you want something positive to come out of it." Nick Van Exel, who gave Cheeks a book of inspirational sayings after the blowup with Miles, said it wasn't a "win-one-for-Cheeks" scenario. "I don't look at it as us having his back or anything like that," Van Exel said. "I think it comes down to having the passion to win, and we have guys like Damon, Ruben, Theo. . . . we're a team, a team. We've had one instance of negativity, but other than that, guys just want to win. "But the thing is, history shows that when something like (the Miles-Cheeks confrontation) happens to a team, the players tend to find a way to lose a game. We didn't do that, and that was huge." Note: Derek Anderson missed his third consecutive game after having double root canal surgery Wednesday. Another surgery might be required, trainer Jay Jensen said, after one of Anderson's teeth became infected. --

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