There were difficult cuts to be made from Team USA last summer, and the coaching staff had to make them. When the tough decisions had been made, they announced to the world that Gilbert Arenas was ... injured.

I guess they told that little lie hoping to give Arenas a face-saving moment. (Remember, Team USA wants these players back for two more summers.)

But Arenas wasn't having any of that. The man who reportedly can still recite the names of every player who was drafted before him was going to hold a big, loud, public grudge, and he was going to save his own face, thank you very much. He was going to hang 50, he said, on the Portland Trail Blazers and the Phoenix Suns.

Huh?

Well, getting back at the Team USA assistant coaches D'Antoni and McMillan was just about the only option Arenas had. (Although on his blog Arenas mused about staging an exhibition against Duke to show Coach K what he could do: "I have the chance to go back to college, I'll give up one NBA season to play against Duke. One college game ... that's five fouls, right? ... 40-minute game ... at Duke, they got soft rims ... I'd probably score 84 or 85. I wouldn't pass the ball. I wouldn't even think about passing it.")

And the first time he faced one of those teams? It was like a dream. Game on. Arenas took 37 shots and ended up with 54 points. Wizards won. Face somewhat saved! (The other time they met Phoenix Arenas got 31 in a blowout loss, but whatever.)

Against Portland, though, it has not gone well. Face not saved.

Last night was his second chance, and as Jason Quick explains in the Oregonian, it wasn't pretty.

The quirky, yet talented, Wizards guard scored 19 points while shooting 4 of 16, including 0 for 7 from three-point range. And in the final seconds, with a chance to either win the game or send it to overtime, Arenas shot an airball on a six-foot floater in the lane.

It was the final touch to his now foot-in-the-mouth prediction that he would combine to score 100 points against the Blazers this season in retaliation for what he thought was a snub for not being selected this summer to the USA national team, for which McMillan was an assistant.

In two games against the Blazers this season -- both losses -- Arenas finished with 28 points while making just 7 of 31 shots.

Marc Stein makes a good point on his ESPN Insider blog: If Kobe Bryant promised 50, "you know what would happen." (These days, it happens all the time, in fact.)

Here's the thing, though: if you watched that game, you know that it's insane that all the talk was about Gilbert Arenas. He was about the fifth most interesting player on the floor, on a night when Nate McMillan uncharacteristically encouraged his players to have fun and play freely.

You can see a little of that in these highlights, where Brandon Roy and Sergio Rodriguez both made nice buckets off the dribble drive. But what you'll have to scrounge for on YouTube one day are the two straight drive-and-kick three-pointers Rodriguez created for Martell Webster, Brandon Roy's six crunch time points, and most importantly, the Rodriguez-to-Fred Jones alley-oop.

Did I mention that LaMarcus Aldridge had 25 and eight, filling in for grieving Zach Randolph?

Yes, I'm a Blazer fan. It's a good day to be.

What does all this mean? I guess the big story is one we all knew: careful making promises you can't keep. But the other story is: who wants to make Portland an offer for Zach Randolph?