An Open Apology (Kinda) To The Portland Trail Blazers

I’m sorry, Portland.  More importantly, I’m sorry to the Blazer players I undersold prior to this year’s playoffs.

There, I’ve apologized for my season-long prediction that this team didn’t have what it took to compete in a playoff atmosphere, against playoff teams.  That’s not to say the series with Houston is over, because the Rockets are far from dead in a series without a decisively better team, but rather that regardless of what happens in Games-5, 6, or possibly 7, the Blazers have shown me a level of competitiveness and grit I didn’t think they possessed.

Let’s clear something up; I’m not a hater.  I’ve been accused of such by people predisposed to loving all things Trail Blazers.  While I’m a fan of the local team, I’m not incapable of noticing and pointing out deficiencies that, ahem…do exist.  The bench is thin, they’re subpar defensively, and in spite of quality players throughout the starting line-up, no one had shown the ability to take their game – and subsequently their team – to a level necessary to compete when a quality opponent took them seriously.

Until now.

LaMarcus Aldridge became a different player in this series.  Wesley Mathews – while always a competitor – proved he can inspire his teammates at the most essential of times.  And Robin Lopez, Nicolas Batum, and Mo Williams have displayed an ability to fulfill the necessary roles all good teams need en route to any playoff success.  And I haven’t even gotten to Damian Lillard.

The second-year player from Weber State has shown us all he’s more than just a good young player with a bright future in the league.  He’s a burgeoning great player with a limitless arc in regards to the individual success that equates to championship runs.  Lillard leads by example, seemingly fears nothing, and has been unfazed by his first taste of a postseason popularly known as a “different animal.”  Houston’s Patrick Beverley was feared to be an obstacle to Lillard’s success in this series.  He’d given him problems throughout their regular season contests and Lillard himself had acknowledged Beverley’s propensity to annoy he and his game.  But rather than wilt amidst such a challenge, the first-year-all-star confronted it head-on and has thrived in the face of Beverley, his antics, and the limited history of adversity the Houston point guard had previously provided.  He’s taken a step in the maturation process all great players traverse, and subsequently has upped the ante for a team looking farther.

That’s right, this team is starting to believe.  I think, based on relative lack of experience, the Trail Blazers as a whole questioned their potential prior to Game-1, two Sundays ago.  But with that Game-1 success, coupled with the leadership of players like Aldridge, Mathews, and Lillard, this team now wholeheartedly believes it belongs in a Western Conference playoff bracket littered with talented squads.  What was previously “hope” regarding their chances in the postseason, has become “can” for a team who before that opening Sunday, lacked the proof vital to truly believe.

If they were to advance beyond Houston and this opening round, who’s to say they couldn’t beat an aging San Antonio, talented but flawed Oklahoma City, or now-fragile Los Angeles Clippers?  It’s unlikely due to the fatigue which would ultimately set-in as a result of the aforementioned thin bench, but not the impossibility thought by many more than a week ago, and by this guy weeks, months, and even years beyond that.

The Portland Trail Blazers have impressed me.  They’re effort and fight has reached a level in these playoffs I didn’t think they could reach.  They’ve exceeded my expectations, opened my eyes to their potential, and made me once again proud to call this team ours.  I apologize for not believing, Blazers, now go finish what you started more than 10 days ago…whatever that may mean.