Injuries suck. There’s no two ways about it. When it comes to competitive sport, injuries are, quite simply, the worst part. No fan base knows this more than the Portland Trail Blazers, a franchise that has seen more than its fair share of star players infected by the injury bug.
In a perfect world, we could flip a switch like in NBA2K16 so that every player could stay healthy in perpetuity so that a champion can be crowned based purely on skill and execution. Of course, that’s not reality. Injuries are simply an unavoidable aspect of competitive sports played at such an extreme end of the athletic spectrum.
Unfortunately, the past couple days has been a particularly harsh reminder of this fact for the NBA and its millions of fans worldwide, as three of the game’s biggest names have been betrayed by their bodies at the worst time, throwing a massive wrench into the NBA playoffs.
With the absences of Steph Curry, Chris Paul and Blake Griffin for the foreseeable future, the power balance in the Western Conference has suddenly shifted dramatically. And, due to the way the brackets are set up, the Portland Trail Blazers are in the best position to take advantage of the chaos.
Suddenly, a trip to the Western Conference Finals is, shockingly, on the table for this supposed rebuilding team. Think about that for a moment. Sure, it’s far from likely, but, it’s on the table. That’s pretty incredible considering where this team was just a few short months ago. Talk about being ahead of schedule.
Of course, in reality, this team is still quite far from being a true contender, regardless of how many games (or rounds) they win due to this rash of injuries. Considering that, is playing what amounts to a Clippers team with both hands tied behind their back really what’s best for this Blazers team going forward? That’s a tricky question to try to answer.
On the one hand, the more games this team plays against playoff teams and in playoff atmospheres, the better. There is no substitute for experience, especially when it comes to the NBA playoffs. In that regard, this can only be a good thing. Even if they were to ultimately fall to the gimpy Clippers, the extra game of two of experience can only serve to help the next time around.
If they can manage to make it to the next round, that’s even better. A chance to learn what it’s like to go from the exhilaration of winning a series, right back to 0-0 and with an even tougher opponent staring you in the face is really what the playoffs are all about. Even if it means getting swept by a 73-win behemoth of team (which could easily happen, even without the league’s MVP), there are countless valuable lessons to be learned in that second round. Not the least of which is just how far you have to go in order to reach that ultimate championship goal. For a team on the rise, that kind of perspective can be invaluable.
On the other hand, though, playing against hobbled versions of real championship caliber teams may actually be detrimental to the team’s development. At least, in some ways.
For a team not truly expecting to contend for a title, one of the big advantages of making the playoffs over getting a higher draft pick (or, in the Blazers case, getting one at all), is that you get to see where you really stand amongst teams who are dialed in and gunning for that ring. You see teams like Minnesota and Milwaukee (and Portland, for that matter) take down a team like the Warriors, arguably the greatest team in league history, during the regular season. Yet, you know that things would play out much, much different in the postseason with everything on the line. There’s no such thing as overlooking an opponent in the playoffs. You get the other team’s best shot, every single night.
Through three and a half games against the Clippers, the Blazers were administered a real, honest to goodness playoff test. And, for the most part, they were passing it.
Even before Paul and Griffin went down, the Blazers were in great position to tie the series up at 2 apiece, making it all come down to what amounts to a 3 game series. Sure, the odds of them winning the series was still pretty small, but, that’s not the point. If they could have forced a Game 7 against a healthy Clippers, that would have been a pretty stellar accomplishment for this young team, regardless of the outcome.
Instead, the team is suddenly thrust into a what almost feels like a no-win situation, where winning is suddenly expected and losing becomes a massive failure. That’s a tough position to be in for a team that is just getting its sea legs while navigating the crashing waves of the NBA playoffs.
But, maybe that’s the lesson here. That some things (many things, in fact) are out of your control. In the end, good or bad, it’s about having the ability to adapt to it all on the fly.
What was once a lesson on scrapping together wins against a better team, is now about putting away an inferior opponent who just so happens to be backed into a corner and is fighting for their entire season. That’s a completely different kind of challenge, and one that is incredibly important when trying to make a deep playoff run.
It’s like being knee deep in a math test, and suddenly flipping the page to see an essay question on character development in the Great Gatsby. That can be a tricky curveball to handle for even the cagiest of grad students, let alone a freshman in their first semester.
Getting a chance to feel that kind of pressure in your first playoff series together as a team could prove invaluable in future series. Series that, if all goes to plan over the next few years, might have actual championship implications.
At the end of the day, the grueling nature of the NBA playoffs don’t just reward the best teams, they reward the teams that are best suited to adapt. From game to game and series to series everything is changing during the NBA playoffs. Whether the change is instigated by coaches, players, referees, or faulty ligament, it’s the team that best navigates those constantly changing dynamics that ultimately emerges victorious in the end.
And, that might be the most valuable lesson of all for this precocious bunch of baby Blazers.
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