James Jones is expected to return to game action Friday night when the Portland Trail Blazers play host to the Los Angeles Lakers at the Rose Garden.
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| Portland's record since Jones' injury shows how much they've missed him and his sharp shooting. (Getty Images) |
The 6-8 small forward -- who has missed the past 12 games with a sore left knee -- was the Blazers' Jesse James through the first half of the season, gunslinging opponents from beyond the 3-point line.
Until the knee began to act up in late January, Jones was leading the NBA in 3-point accuracy at .519. Not coincidentally, the Blazers were in the thick of the playoff race in the wild, wild West.
Favoring the knee over the next four games, Jones made two of 12 from 3-point range before Portland medical personnel decided to shut him down for a while. Still, he ranks second in the league in 3-point precision at .483.
Jones is also shooting a solid .467 from the field and an uncanny .892 at the foul line while carrying a 9.1-point scoring average. Pretty amazing stuff since, in his first four years in the NBA -- two with Indiana, two with Phoenix -- he shot .395 from the field and .385 from 3-point territory.
"It's really about playing time," says Jones, 27, who came to Portland in a 2007 draft-day deal with Phoenix that included a trade exception and $3 million. "When you get two or three shots a game, it's hard to find a rhythm. When you know you're going to get six or seven shots, it's a lot easier."
While Jones sat to rest the knee, the Blazers went through a spell of losing eight of nine games and, at 30-28, are teetering toward extinction in their drive to make the postseason for the first time since 2002.
Maybe Jones can help. Lord, did he ever help when his knee was right.
Case in point: Portland is 22-12 when Jones plays, 21-8 when he plays at least 17 minutes and 8-16 when he sits.
"The record speaks for itself," says coach Nate McMillan, who has often pointed to Jones' presence as a key ingredient to his team's surprising early success.
Through Jan. 21 -- the last game Jones' knee didn't hurt -- Portland ranked second in the NBA in 3-point percentage at .391. Since then, the Blazers have shot .262 on treys and have fallen to eighth at .374. For a team that ranks last in the NBA in fast-break points and is one of its poorest at rebounding, the falloff has been cataclysmic.
But Jones' contributions haven't been limited to shooting the lights out from downtown.
