The Portland Trail Blazers were lit up in Memphis. Pounded on Sunday, then again on Wednesday. They return home down two games in the series lost by a combined 29 points.
What’s been said, written about, and thought about in the aftermath of two of the worst games in franchise playoff history has been ugly.
Blazer Mania? Right now, it’s more Blazer Hysteria.
You know. You’ve heard. LaMarcus Aldridge is leaving, jettisoning the only team he’s ever known to move back to Texas, where can be close to his family and be either the new Tim Duncan or the new Dirk Nowitzki.
Damian Lillard isn’t an elite player. He can’t defend, he can’t create offense when he’s not scoring, and while his attitude isn’t Rajon Rondo, it’s sure not what the Blazers need right now.
You know all about how the Blazers don’t lose to Spanish players, except when that Spanish player is Marc Gasol and that team is the Grizzlies, who the Blazers are winless against this year.
Aldridge is a free agent. So is the staggered Wes Matthews. Robin Lopez could be gone too, and there are options controlling the fate of Aaron Afflalo, Steve Blake, and Chris Kamen.
It’s not difficult to see how this could end badly. The Blazers get swept, or lose in a ceremonial five against the Grizz amidst acrimony, hung heads, and pointed fingers. Aldridge bolts for brighter lights and greater promises, and right there, a small-market team in a city that has to manufacture and cherish its stars is in major trouble.
Sans Aldridge, the Blazers aren’t a playoff team in the murderous Western Conference. Hell, sans Matthews, they’re barley able to stand up straight against anyone who matters.
And that’s exactly the point. When Matthews went down with a season-ending injury, the contours of a once promising season changed.
The Blazers were not well equipped to handle losing arguably their most influential player, who happened to be, amongst other things, the team’s best and most consistent defender.
Winning a playoff series was always going to be a long shot. Drawing Memphis didn’t help. The Grizzlies were sitting on a two seed in the West for the majority of the year, and only slipped themselves after struggling with their own injuries and dealing with the resurgent Spurs and a suddenly serious Houston team.
Memphis was better than Portland to begin with. Add in a home-court advantage, injuries, and style, and it should be no surprise that the Grizzlies are dominating this series.
It’s time for everyone to relax.
The games will be closer in Portland. The Blazers will play better. Will they win? Maybe. Maybe not. Point is, you shouldn’t expect much. Better effort, sure. Better body language too.
But there needs to be recognition from everyone involved with and covering this Blazers run that if you said in January that Portland would be starting Allan Crabbe in the playoffs, they wouldn’t be getting out of the first round.
Injuries like the one to Matthews do ruin seasons. It’s ruined the Blazers. Kevin Durant’s injury problems ruined the Oklahoma City Thunder and cost Scott Brooks his job.
It’s not fair, but it’s also a simple reality. At full strength, the Blazers are still probably losing this series. And they are full from full strength, not only physically, but also mentally. The season’s twists and turns have left what appears to be a somewhat whiplashed group.
As long as you have faith in the men in charge – Neal Olshey and Terry Stotts – and it seems like most people do, the panic is overblown.
Yes, Aldridge might leave. But the odds are against it. And if Aldridge does leave – be it for LA, San Antonio, Dallas, or anywhere – it won’t be because the Blazers lost this playoff series.
What you’re looking at right now – and what you’ve been looking at since Matthews got hurt – is a season lost due to injury. That fate is one of the cruelest in sports, and it’s felled the Blazers more than most. Sometimes, there isn’t too much more to the story of what broke a season than that.
That’s not to say Portland can mail it in in these next two games. For their pride, at least, and for their fans, they need to show up and represent themselves a whole lot better than they did in Tennessee. On defense especially.
The Blazers – even without their injured players – can and should play better. But what did you think was going to happen? The Blazers were going to ride the Crabbe-Lillard-McCollum backcourt to a date with the Warriors?
Portland faces a pivotal and unnerving summer. But whatever happens in the summer will not be decided in this series. This season was decided by the Matthews injury.
It’s time for everyone to accept that.
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