For all its global aspirations, the NBA in many ways remains a small world. Take, for example, what happened Tuesday at Portland's Waverley Country Club.

Steve Patterson, the former president of the Trail Blazers, played a round of golf with another former Blazers executive, Jon Spoelstra.

After their round, they went into the grill and ran into a visiting party from Houston: Clyde Drexler, the one-time Blazers great who works as a TV commentator for the Rockets and still has a Waverley membership; Les Alexander, the Rockets' owner; and Carroll Dawson, a longtime team official who currently has the title of senior consultant.

"It was pretty funny to see them all there," Patterson said.

In many ways, the best-of-seven series between the Rockets and Blazers represents an intersection of two big parts of Patterson's life. His father, Ray, was general manager of the team for 17 years, and Steve Patterson succeeded him in 1989, when he was 31.

Patterson served as Blazers president from 2003-07 and also as general manager in his final year.

Patterson, who still lives in Lake Oswego and works as a consultant on arenas and stadiums, primarily for baseball and hockey teams, said he pays attention to his former teams, but feels much closer to the Blazers. Dawson, he says, is the only person remaining from his days with the Rockets, whereas he had a hand in putting together much of the current Blazers organization, including hiring coach Nate McMillan and advancing the career of general manager Kevin Pritchard.

"I certainly feel closer to the Trail Blazers," he said. "I mean, I either drafted or traded for most of the guys --Brandon, LaMarcus, Martell, Joel, all of them. They've done a great job. Nate's done a great job, Kevin's done a great job. They've had a great season, especially for, what, the second-youngest team in the NBA."

Patterson said he's out of town on business about 15 days a month, but he watches Blazers games when he's home. He said the team's struggles in Game 1 weren't a huge shock to him because of the team's lack of playoff experience.

"It's a whole different world," he said.

Two in five: One advantage the Rockets have over most teams is having two of the NBA's best perimeter defenders, in Shane Battier and Ron Artest. On Tuesday, Houston became the only team with two players in the top five of voting for the defensive player of the year award.

Orlando's Dwight Howard won the award by an overwhelming margin. Cleveland's LeBron James and Miami's Dwyane Wade finished second and third in the voting, with Battier fourth and Artest fifth.

"That's pretty good having two guys there," Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. "That's an advantage we've had, having those two guys. If I take Ron out of the game, Shane moves over to (Brandon) Roy. It's a huge advantage for us."

Joel Przybilla was the only Portland player to receive any votes, getting one point for being placed third on one ballot.

Thanks for the Memorial: The ongoing discussion in Portland about tearing down Memorial Coliseum has generated plenty of debate, but Adelman, who played and coached in the arena, doesn't have a strong feeling one way or the other.

"It's got great memories in there," he said.

But when he was told the arena could be torn down to build a minor league baseball stadium, Adelman, who has a daughter, son and several grandchildren who still live in the Portland area, said he could see the value.

"If they build a nice, minor league baseball stadium?" he said. "The one in Sacramento is terrific. So to have that family experience is a great deal."

Mike Tokito: 503-294-7603;

miketokito@news.oregonian.com