By Shawn O'Neal
SportsLine NBA Editor

It's so easy to find reasons to discount the Portland Trail Blazers.

But then Isaiah Rider stops talking and starts playing basketball.

So far this season, Rider has been doing less of the former, more of the latter, and the Trail Blazers are starting to look something more than legitimate. Especially in the Pacific Division, where none of the annual favorites have shown any desire to take control.

Damon Stoudamire and the Trail Blazers are finally showing stability.(Allsport)

With the Lakers getting their house in order and the Sonics stumbling like a drunken fraternity pledge, the Trail Blazers are looking -- dare it be said -- stable. And stability is the one thing the Blazers have always lacked.

Portland's talent has never been in question. The heart and head, however, have been the suspected cause of the Blazers' first-round playoff meltdowns the past six years. Aside from a puzzling loss to Charlotte, the team has been free of the brain cramps that have tormented it in the past.

Has the maturation process finally been completed? Has the troubled boy wonder finally listened to his therapist? Are the Blazers now a thinking fan's team? It's hard to say, but there seems to be a different playing personality emerging.

No longer does Portland resemble Rider, the mercurial shooting guard who, for years, has left tongues wagging with his play and heads shaking with his behavior. They're starting to seem more like Brian Grant, the fifth-year player who's playing like a poor version of the New Jersey Nets' Jayson Williams.

The 6-foot-9 forward is averaging 11.6 points and 11.8 rebounds and slapped a nasty double-double on the Kings during the Trail Blazers' overtime win in Sacramento Wednesday. While Chris Webber put up 20 points and 14 rebounds for the Kings, Grant upped the ante to 20 and 18.

Then there's Rider. Damon Stoudamire. Arvydas Sabonis. Walt Williams. Jim Jackson. Rasheed Wallace. And don't forget Paul Allen, the billionaire Boy Scout owner who will do anything it takes to get this team to the next level.

That is, if it's not already there.

Speaking of another level, the Los Angeles Clippers seem desperate to find a historic new low.

Or several of them.

The Clippers could reach the league record for most consecutive losses to start the season (17 by the 1988-89 expansion Miami Heat), longest overall losing streak (23 by last year's Nuggets) and lowest winning percentage (.109 by the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers). In order to undercut the percentage mark, set when the Sixers went 9-73, the Clippers would have to go 5-45.

The most disturbing thing for Clippers fans (both of them) is the team has already had ample opportunity to freshen their funk. Among their 14 losses to start the season were setbacks to Chicago, a weakened Atlanta team and two each to Dallas and Vancouver.

Keep the record book handy.

Sizzlin' ... The Countdown

5. Kidd can play

Just to let everybody know what they'll be missing when the 2000 Olympics roll around, Phoenix point guard Jason Kidd has been on his best behavior lately. In a three-game stretch, Kidd amassed 41 assists and just six turnovers. In a Suns win in Seattle, Kidd dished 19 assists and didn't cough it up once -- all while being guarded by Gary Payton.

4. A shot of Joe

It looks like Joe Dumars was all the ailing the Detroit Pistons needed. When the venerable shooting guard was sitting, the Pistons were losing and sniping at each other in the dressing room. Now that he's back, the Pistons have won six straight and are chasing the Pacers in the Central Division.

3. Any questions?

The Philadelphia 76ers have more than one answer. Statistically, Allen Iverson is the best offensive player in the league. Fundamentally, Larry Brown's team has joined the league's elite defensive teams. Having won six in a row, the Sixers are in contention in the Atlantic Division, though it could be short-lived. They play two of their next three against Miami.

2. Welcome to Miami

Hope you packed your hard hat, Sixers. The Miami Heat have won 10 of 11 and, after a tough weekend homestand against Philadelphia and Indiana, head into a favorable stretch of games.

1. New power in the Pacific.

If the Lakers and Sonics aren't careful, the Blazers might be playing at home through the playoffs.

Fizzlin' ... The Countdown

5. Penny can't buy a bucket

The Orlando Magic no longer live and die on the efforts of Anfernee Hardaway. Lucky for them. In his last five games, Hardaway has hit just 18 of 69 shots -- a horrendous 26 percent. As if poor shooting wasn't enough, he also made himself look like a complete pinhead by moaning about the officiating after the Magic's Sunday loss to Miami.

4. That's $2,500 per bird

After getting taunted, booed and pelted upon his return to Sacramento, the city he played for the last four years, Seattle's Olden Polynice saluted the Arco Arena crowd upon his exit Monday night. He opted for the Bryan Cox variety -- the kind done with the middle finger of both hands. Always a bundle of emotion, Polynice apologized, saying he was disappointed for not acting in a "Christian" manner. The NBA still fined him $5,000.

3. The Baker Files

As tiring as it is to list Vin Baker here every week, he's done nothing to forfeit his spot. While Polynice was flipping off the crowd in Sacramento Monday night, Baker was hitting a season-high 31 points on 15-of-19 shooting. There's just one problem -- Baker scored most of his points from the perimeter. He's still struggling in the paint and is still a wreck at the free-throw line. Baker has hit eight-of-46 attempts, good for 17.4 percent from the line. Remember, he was a second-team All-NBA selection last year.

2. Watch your back, coach Cal

Just when you think it can't get any worse for John Calipari's floundering New Jersey Nets, they lose a home game to Charlotte.

1. A league of their own

Anybody who can name five current Los Angeles Clippers is an NBA expert.