Blazers are meeting lowered expectations. (Insider).(Portland Trail Blazers, and other professional basketball news)

The good people of Portland are catching on. For the first time in more than two seasons--a string of 104 games--the Blazers played at home, and good seats still were available.

It was November 20, a game against the Rockets. Tipoff was just after 7 p.m., and you could have walked up to the Rose Garden ticket window at 6:59 p.m., plunked down about three days' worth of salary and gotten yourself a seat for the game. Heck, you could have gotten there at 7:02. If you were lucky, you might have gotten a spot next to an empty seat, which is useful for storing your jacket, your popcorn and your "Trade Whitsitt" sign.

The Rose Garden holds 19,980 fans, but ...