It was the worst night of his season, but while everyone wanted to look at Wesley Matthews missing all seven of his shots Sunday against Memphis, the Trail Blazers guard knew he had to look deeper.

"I looked into myself,'' Matthews said.

The shooting statistics -- 0-for-7 from the field, including 0-for-4 from three-point range - didn't bother him so much. That happens, even for the best of shooters.

No, what kept him up that night was the absence of what defines him as a player. The grit, the fight, the "dawg" as he likes to call it, was missing.

"What hurt me,'' Matthews said, "was I tried to count how many times I went to the floor. How many times I ran back to deflect something out of bounds? How many times I took a charge? How many steals did I get?

"And I can't remember one. I can't remember one.''

On Wednesday, in a game that was bigger than any Trail Blazers player let on, Matthews was the tipping point in a 111-95 win over San Antonio that cauterized some festering anxiety in Rip City.

With 31 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals - and a handful of court burns - Matthews helped stop a two-game losing streak and provided what could turn out to be a game we circle at the end of the season as an important date.

Every once in a while during the long and winding NBA season, there comes a game, or a moment, that goes a long way to changing a team's season.

Last season, the benchmark date came at the end of March, in Orlando after a loss to the lowly Magic. It was the eighth loss in 11 games for the Blazers and suddenly their cozy playoff standing was not only slipping, it was in jeopardy.

In the locker room after that game Matthews stood before the team and gave a spirited and to-the-point speech that it was time to wake up.

The Blazers closed the season winning nine of their final 10 games.

After the season, LaMarcus Aldridge said of the team's turnaround: "Wes did it. Give all the credit to Wes. His speech.''

Fast forward to this season, and Wednesday at the Moda Center. In a different way, Matthews once again provided an important wake-up call.

The Blazers were sputtering out of the All-Star Break, a thumping at Utah followed by a paralyzing fourth-quarter collapse to Memphis. And now, after blowing a 19-point lead in the first half, the Blazers were squandering yet another fourth quarter lead.

In the opening minute of the fourth, a 10-point cushion had been reduced to 81-77 after Patty Mills made a three.

Another late-game meltdown, coupled with a surging Oklahoma City team on its way to Portland for a Friday matchup and a daunting March schedule on the horizon?

The angst would have been palpable inside and outside the Blazers locker room.

In the face of that anxiety, Matthews stood up and delivered.

It wasn't quite as important as his late-season stand in Orlando, and it wasn't as dramatic as the expletive-laced speech in that locker room, but it sure felt like a team fighting to regain its mojo sure had a load lifted.

"It's time to right the ship,'' Matthews said.

That Matthews was the one steering Wednesday is not what many would have expected.

As Mills netted his three to bring San Antonio within 81-77, Matthews was mired in his biggest three-point shooting slump of the season. Dating back to the second half of the Utah game, Matthews had missed 12 consecutive three-point attempts.

"Gotta keep shooting it,'' Matthews said.

So with a sold out crowd squirming in their seats, and with visions of another fourth-quarter fiasco unfolding, Matthews let fly.

He answered Mills' three with his own three. And by the end of the fourth, Matthews had hit all four of his three-point attempts, scored 16 points and earned a "WES-LEY MATTHEWS (clap-clap-clap) serenade from the upper reaches of the arena.

When Matthews was surrounded by media in the locker room, Aldridge emerged from the showers and recited the late-game chant by the fans.

"Definitely heard them,'' Matthews said of the chants. "Felt good ... until I missed a free throw. I've given everything I've had and they've welcomed me with open arms since I stepped off the plane.''

While Aldridge and Lillard remain the stars of this team, and Nicolas Batum the enigma, Matthews has become what center Robin Lopez calls the heart and soul of the team.

"He plays with a chip on his shoulder and symbolizes our squad,'' Lopez said.

So it means something when Matthews looked not only at himself but at the Blazers after the Memphis loss. His assessment?

The team was losing its edge.

"It's almost like we let it get too easy,'' Matthews said. "We can't get bored doing what got us a 13-point lead against Memphis, what got us up big in Dallas ... we can't get bored with that. Tonight we didn't.''

He said the team "got away from who we were" against Utah and Memphis.

"Our emphasis this week was ball movement. Spacing. Attacking,'' Matthews said.

There are now 26 games left in the season. The Blazers (37-19) hold a 5.5 game cushion over Oklahoma City for the Northwest Division lead. Matthews said when he looked at the stinging losses of the season, nearly all of them were self-inflicted.

On Wednesday against the Spurs, a lead dwindled, and perhaps too did the Blazers' confidence, but once again, the heart and soul was there.

"It wasn't just me. The team woke up,'' Matthews said. "We don't have time to blow leads. We don't have that luxury anymore. We needed to take a stance. That's why everybody in here, coaches included, said if we are going to lose, somebody is going to have to beat the hell out of us.''

And with that, the groundwork for an important victory was laid, the type of win that can change a season.

It sure seemed that way in the locker room, until Matthews processed the bevy of questions and surveyed the scene around his stall.

"We really have to avoid looking at this as the Super Bowl,'' Matthews warned. "It's a game."

And with that, the heart and soul of the Blazers left the locker room, looking for the next challenge while relishing a moment in a long, winding season.

"Tonight,'' he said, "it was fun again.''

-- Jason Quick | jquick@oregonian.com | @jwquick