Despite the valiant efforts of Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum and special guest-star Meyers Leonard playing out of his mind, the Golden State Warriors, sans half of their Death Star Lineup(s), imposed Carthaginian Peace upon the insurgent Portland Trail Blazers in a demoralizing sweep. If Durant had a spirit animal, it would be a dog and once he went down, the Warriors proved they possessed a more ruthless killer instinct than John Wick. Three weeks ago, Lillard was the toast of the basketball world after plunging a 35-foot series-ending Arya Stark-caliber dagger in Paul George?s eyes and through the heart of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Lillard cooled down in their Conference Semifinal battle against Denver, but McCollum?s 36 points per game in Portland?s final three victories of that series bailed the Blazers out. In Game 7, while Lillard?s jump shot drifted wayward, McCollum poured in 37, and stroked his own pair of series-winning fadeaway pull-ups. Yet, this duo was roadkill against the core of the 73-win yesteryear Warriors.
A Warriors squad that gave up a playoff-record 31 point lead against the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round and a 3-1 Finals lead, regularly made it a habit of washing away insurmountable leads with frightening quickness.?Midway through the third quarter of Game 1, Portland led by 15. They wound up losing 22 points, but that reversal of fortunes and the final outcome was chalked up to fatigue as a result of Portland grinding out a Game 7 win in Denver 48 hours earlier. In Game 2, they whittled a 17-point third quarter lead down to three in five minutes of game time. Game 4 saw Portland take another 17-point lead in the third quarter. Golden State promptly liquidated that deficit and sent the Blazers off on their summer vacation.
Lillard averaged a tepid 22 points per game while shooting an abysmal 36 percent from the field as Curry tallied the most points ever in a four-game sweep.? Steve Kerr muttered Dracarys from the sidelines, the Splash Brothers acquiesced, rained fire from above, sinking twice as many triples in Oracle Arena during the first two games of the series as McCollum and Lillard. By the end of the series, Curry had drilled more triples (25) than Lillard and McCollum combined (26).
Portland has been mowed down like this before. Being swept by Golden State was par for the course in Blazers history. From Magic vs. Drexler to Pippen vs. Kobe, the Blazers are used to the feeling of inferiority when matched up against transcendent teams.
The NBA?s Forrest Gump franchise has been a witness to inimitable team brilliance during the Stern-Silver epoch in the same manner of a pedestrian who gets his arm stuck in a departing city bus. Rarely are they driving the action, dictating the playoff navigation and white knuckling the wheel. Stretching back to the Showtime Lakers era, through the Running of Jordan?s Bulls to Shaq and Kobe?s discordant Lakers, the Trail Blazers have been privy to the crushing strength of the NBA?s preeminent empires.
There comes a point when nonpareil weapons simply overwhelm sheer will, strategy and execution.Portland?s run was noteworthy. However, they?ve reached this impasse before.
In 1983, they were cut down by the Showtime Lakers buzzsaw. Winners of 46 games in the regular season. That season, Portland was sprearheaded by a veteran frontcourt of leading scorers with antipodal styles in Calvin Natt and Jim Paxson.
Natt was a brolic low-post glutton and Paxson?s slick perimeter shooting ultimately placed him atop the franchise’s all-time scoring list. But even without rookie James Worthy, who?d broken his leg, the Lakers breezed through to the Western Conference Finals. Those Lakers would get swept in the Finals by the Philadelphia 76ers, but that same core would go on to win three more more titles.
Fortunately, the Blazers would draft future franchise cornerstone, Clyde Drexler with the 14th pick, two months later. In 1985 and 1989, Drexler was leveled by the ShowTime Lakers. Drexler would ferry Portland to the Finals in 1990 before getting decapitated by the defending champion, Detroit Pistons.
Portland?s redemption would have to wait for another two years as they were upended in the Western Conference Finals by an older, heavier Magic Johnson and an aging Lakers squad making one final title push. Despite hosting a trio of All-Stars in Drexler, Kevin Duckworth and Terry Porter, the Lakers dispatched the Blazers in six games after Porter?s mid-range attempt to force a Game 7 rimmed out with three seconds remaining in regulation.
Los Angeles got trounced by the burgeoning Bulls dynasty in the Finals and a year later, the Blazers would find themselves locking horns with the defending champion Bulls. After four games, the series was tied at 2-2. Yet, the Blazers were about to be steamrolled by another juggernaut. The ?92 Bulls won five fewer games than its vaunted 72-10 squad, but the indomitable Triangle offense earned one of the highest offensive ratings in league history during the regular season. Jordan?s 79 points in the final two games of the series propelled the Bulls to their second title during their initial 3-peat.
The 2000 Trail Blazers are considered the gold standard, but in 1999?s lockout-shortened season the West was there for the taking and a void was left behind in the Eastern Conference in the wake of Michael Jordan?s retirement. Led by Rasheed Wallace and Bay Area product J.R. Rider, the Blazers blitzed through the first round, knocked off the Utah Jazz in the second round, but promptly cratered in the Conference Finals against the San Antonio Spurs. San Antonio would proceed to win their first of five titles in the Duncan-Popovich era.
Portland erected scaffolding around their roster, trading Rider for Hawks veteran Steve Smith, then outbid the Bucks, Nets and Lakers for Scottie Pippen. The new look Blazers pushed the Lakers into Game 7 and led by 15 with 10:28 remaining in the fourth quarter. What followed was one of the most notorious collapses in league history, an iconic sequence between Shaq and Kobe and the impetus for a 3-peat.
In 2015, the Blazers were once on course to become a rival to these Warriors. They won 51 games, but were on the upswing one year before the ascendance of McCollum. One year after Golden State?s climbed to the NBA summit and LaMarcus Aldridge signed with the San Antonio Spurs, thereby stunting Portland?s growth, McCollum claimed the 2016 Most Improved Player Award.
Since then, Golden State has attained Game of Thrones? ubiquitous heights in the cultural, hoops and even socio-political zeitgeist. Portland is House of Cards, a similarly complex adaption, which never reached the upper echelons of critical praise or popularity.
During the 2016 semifinals, the Blazers faced favorable odds against the 73-9 Warriors as Curry missed the first three games of the series to continue rehabbing the Grade I MCL sprain in his right?knee. A Golden State squad led by Draymond Green, Iguodala and Klay Thompson, cruised to a 2-1 series lead. Curry?s return in Game 4 was capped by his NBA-record 17-points in the overtime period and memorialized by late Blazers owner, Paul Allen?s awe-stricken face. Rain Men, Lillard and McCollum were no match for the Splash Brothers That Blazers squad was immolated in five games.
Portland made another playoff splash this month, but they were stomped out down the stretch as all pesky challengers to imperial empires do. Lillard is an afterthought next to Curry?s generational talent much like Drexler?s legacy as a 2-guard was overshadowed by the penumbra of the Jordan/?Nique era. Lillard?s supporting cast includes the third Splash Bro, Seth. McCollum is really good, not great. It?s amazing an inferiority complex hasn?t permeated this entire organization. The only positive is that they?ve dominated the Northwestern market since Seattle was orphaned by the NBA.
Perhaps the Blazers can pen a new chapter in 2020 if Jusuf Nurkic recovers from the compound fracture in his lower left leg. The defensive drop-off from Nurkic to Kanter was significant. Prior to his injury, Nurkic was Portland?s frontcourt bulwark. Opponents scored 5.2 fewer points per 100 possessions when he was the imposing anchor in their lineup. Conversely, Kanter is a defensive sieve, who fell off a cliff offensively after he began fasting during Ramadan and Terry Stotts figured out too late that he was downright unplayable against the Warriors.
Portland also lacks an frontcourt ballhandler, who can pick-n-pop, handle the rock and switch on pick and rolls similar to what Milwaukee has in Giannis Antetokounmpo, or Toronto?s Pascal Siakam and Draymond Green.
McCollum?s long-term status is the most conspicuous elephant in the room. He?s a provincial star for the Blazers, but he?s never made an All-Star Game, his contract will expire next summer and he?ll command a near-max deal. Anfernee Simons is a developmental prospect with the most limitless upside you?ll ever see for guard taken outside the top 15 picks. However, he?s still maturing into a viable contributor. Fellow rookie Gary Trent logged only 11 minutes, but set scoring records during his brief G-League stint. As currently constituted, this Portland team needs an upgrade if they hope to channel the Spirit of ?77, but the odds of them creating the upward mobility to break into the NBA’s patrician class is against them.
