These are the times when I miss Kevin Hudson. The senior sports reporter for the Emerald, as you may have guessed, has moved on to the greener pastures of OregonLive.com.
As the NBA playoffs rapidly descend upon America, we are bereft of Kevin’s almost-weekly updates on those plucky Portland Trail Blazers, and their fight to clinch a playoff berth for the first time since 2003.
I am more than happy to pick up the slack.
Whether you rooted alongside Kevin or rolled your eyes at his columns, the Blazers kept racking up victories, dispatching the Oklahoma City Thunder 113-83 last night for their ninth win in 10 games. Outside of the Denver Nuggets, who clinched the Northwest Division with a win last night, they are the hottest team in basketball.
And it couldn’t come at a better time. The Blazers are the second-youngest team in the NBA, and they will end the longest playoff drought in the NBA the moment they step onto the court for their first-round matchup. To their credit, the discussion of youth is slowly giving way to discussion of milestones, from the 42nd win (Portland went 41-41 last year in missing the playoffs) to beating the San Antonio Spurs at the AT&T Center (first time that’s happened since 2002). The Blazers haven’t posted a record quite like 53-28 since the 1999-2000 season. That year, the team won 59 games and made the Western Conference Finals, losing to … well … do I have to explain it? No? Thanks.
The best part about Portland’s success this season is its sustainability. Portland is currently 33-7 at home and has outscored its opponents by an average of 5.06 points a game. That number is fifth in the league but second in the Western Conference to only the Los Angeles Lakers. Portland also leads the league in rebounding differential, meaning it’s careful with the ball, a mentality that always translates well into the playoffs.
Some younger, overzealous fans have taken to comparing this incarnation of the Trail Blazers with the 1976-77 squad that won the NBA Championship. That team, after all, had finished above .500 for the first time in franchise history and was a convincing underdog throughout the playoffs. Of course, during the offseason the Blazers acquired Maurice Lucas with the second-overall pick in the ABA dispersal draft. A comparable scenario might be if Portland had gotten Shaquille O’Neal as he is presently, without compensation, before the start of this season. Lucas, a 20-10 player that season, was that good.
The point they’re trying to make, however, is a valid one: How far can the Blazers go? The Western Conference Finals, it would appear, is possible but wishful thinking. To reach the NBA finals, Portland would likely have to go through at least the Lakers or the Houston Rockets, two teams with the talent and match-ups to wreak havoc on the Blazers. In the bizarro world where Portland actually makes the Finals, it’ll likely be greeted by the Cleveland Cavaliers, who have to be the championship favorites at this point in time. The Cavs are 39-1 at home and dealt Portland one of its seven home losses this season. Mo Williams has become the first-ever LeBron James sidekick to figure out how to play off the man who will probably win the league MVP this season. “Scary” doesn’t quite sum up how powerful the Cavs are when all the pieces work together.
So Portland will rely on its standby rallying point for this season: boundless optimism. It’s worked so far. There’s no reason to limit the potential of a team that sets game-by-game milestones. And the city of Portland will rally around them. Televised Blazers games expose a playoff atmosphere as the regular season winds down, and a rally is scheduled to be held in Pioneer Courthouse Square that will indubitably fill up Portland’s living room. To quote an overheard line from the guy who served me Subway: “It’s like the Trail Blazers have the city of Portland spellbound.”
Then, overheard, not five minutes later: “I’ll go gay for Brandon Roy if you get me courtside (tickets).” Spellbound indeed.
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Blazers’ improbable run draws parallels to ’77 title team
Daily Emerald
April 14, 2009
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