Wesley Matthews did a guest analyst spot on the NBA-TV during the weekend, and he started by revealing some news.
Matthews, who had season-ending surgery on March 11 to repair a ruptured Achilles' tendon, said he will discard the walking boot he has been in on Tuesday.
"Coming off on Tuesday, that's the plan," he said. "It's ahead of schedule, and I'm excited for that, definitely."
Matthews transitioned from a post-surgery cast to the walking boot on April 16, also ahead of schedule by five days.
He told the NBA-TV "Gametime" panel - which included host Matt Winer and analysts Rick Fox and Stu Jackson - that he is doing well in his rehab.
"My main focus is getting healthy and coming back better than ever," he said.
In his analysis of the current playoff matchups, Matthews brought significant value to the broadcast, especially as the lone panelist who played against the current teams. He was especially good talking about the Golden State-Memphis series.
At one point, Winer asked: "How little fun are the Memphis Grizzlies to play against?"
Said Matthews: "Me, I'm that kind of player, so it's fun. But they change your game up. Like Rick says, it's going to be a battle of pace. They're two contradicting paces.
"Memphis, they're going to be slow, they're going to be methodical. But what they do that people don't really understand is, they'll push when they get the opportunity.
"Golden State, they like to get up and down, but that also falls into Memphis' plan, where they make you uncomfortable, they pressure up, they almost get you playing faster than you really want to."
Some of Matthews' analysis showed just how valuable he is to the Blazers. For example, he offered great detail about how he approaches defending Golden State's All-Star backcourt of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson:
"Obviously, you want to limit their threes," he said. "Klay Thompson is obviously one of the best three-point shooters in the league. So what I'm trying to do is don't let him get a free cut. I want to be physical as much as possible. As much as you know when screens are coming, they help you out 'cause he's always in constant movement. So I'm going to get contact back with him just so he will never get a free run."
Fox asked Matthews if it's possible to be physical with Curry and Thompson.
Said Matthews: "The trick is, you gotta do it early, because you want to pick those guys up. Usually, you want pick people up at the three-point line because they don't have range. You want to meet them early, and as soon as you make contact, now you can escort them. Now you can walk with them. Now it's tough for an official to continue to call holding and grabbing because if they're running and then you try to meet them and hit, then it's an obvious foul."
Fox then asked Matthews how his strategy changes when Curry or Thompson get the ball.
"Now I just want to make you uncomfortable," Matthews said. "We're all NBA players, everybody's really good in space, everybody's really good in their comfort zone.
"Steph's tough. He's got a great handle. At that point, you want to get into his body because he doesn't need much space to get shots off.
"Klay, still an improved player off the bounce and everything, but I'm going to hash my bets and I'm going to force you left. I'm going to jump on your right hand, and I'm going to use my body as taking up your space."
Matthews then talked about defending against the Grizzlies, who have more of a post-oriented attack, but can also hurt teams with outside shooting.
"The biggest thing is your position," he said. "You want to put yourself in position where you only have to make one movement, whether that's out to the three-point line, or whether it's down to the post. So if the ball is over here (points to perimeter) and my man's down here, I want to get in the middle so I don't have to (move) out, in, out. I want to be able to make as little movement as possible."
And then there's this classic answer when Fox asked Matthews getting an occasional hit on the opposing team's big guys.
"One of my favorite things to do is screen," he said. "I like to get LA open. We have a play where LA and Dame get into a pick-and-roll, and if I get a chance to hit that big, I'm going to (the panel laughs heartily), because he's going to do it to me."
-- Mike Tokito
mtokito@oregonian.com
503-294-7604; @mtokito