Think Positively, Portland Trail Blazers Fans

The Portland Trail Blazers’ 2014-2015 season was filled with all kinds of ups and downs. Unfortunately in the “what have you done for me lately” society that we live in, the downs often overshadow the ups.

Coming into this season there was a lot of excitement and anticipation of what this team could do after capturing the hearts of the city, and the nation, with “the shot” against the Rockets that led them to the second round of the playoffs. The expectations coming in the 2014-2015 season were sky-high; a lot of fans thought it was NBA Finals or bust.

The injuries, losses, and disappointments have been, and will be, continually covered. Sometimes we need to take a step back and see the season for what it was … a 50 win season that saw the Blazers in the playoffs in one of the toughest conferences in league history.

Here are a few of the highlights of the season for me:

• Triple Overtime Thriller in San Antonio – Portland played the reigning champs neck and neck the entire game. The Spurs were playing on the second night of a back-to-back but didn’t show it until late in the game. Damian Lillard scored the final 8 points in regulation for Portland and took things to overtime. The Spurs jumped out to a 6 point lead in the first overtime but Portland battled back to extend the game. Déjà vu in the second overtime as the Spur jumped out to a 6 point lead and the Blazers battled back to tie. Then in the third overtime, the Blazers exploded for 17 points and beat the Spurs 129-119. Lillard recorded a career-high 43 points.
• Northwest Division Champs – Ask someone in Oklahoma City about the division title and they will say the only reason that Portland won it was because their MVP Kevin Durant was injured for the vast majority of the season. Ask someone in Portland about the division title and they are likely to say Portland was the better team anyways. Either way, the Blazers will hang a banner that says “Northwest Division Title – 2015”. This is only the 5^th such division title in the team’s storied history, and the first since 1999. Yes, it is a big deal!
• 50+ wins … Again! – The Blazer now have 13, 50-win seasons in the teams’ 44-year history. This year they made is to 50 wins for the second year in a row. That is a huge accomplishment. In the late 80s-early 90s, the Blazers had four straight seasons of 50+ wins. Can this team pass that mark? Time will tell.
• Maturation of the Bench – For being such a relaxed and go-with-the-flow city, Portland can be a little too anxious with their sports franchises. Meyers Leonard and CJ McCollum were both lottery picks. Because of the instant success that Lillard saw his rookie year, I think that a lot of fans expected Leonard and McCollum to have the same learning curve. That was an unfair expectation to begin with. But this season the pair of young, bench players started to live up to their potential and expectations. Towards the end of the season and in the playoffs, Leonard was oozing with confidence. When he shot a three, the whole crowd thought it was going in. He learned how to beat and bang in the post and became a formidable defender. McCollum is a talented scorer and is one of the few special players that can truly create their own shot. In Game 5 of the first round matchup with Memphis, McCollum made Blazer-franchise history by scoring 33 points off the bench, the most for any Portland bench player in the playoffs. Those two have bright futures ahead of them, as evident at the end of the season.
• Rip City Spirit – This is an incredible city to live in and be a basketball fan. The atmosphere in the Moda Center is truly unlike any other. In a lot of other cities, I would almost rather watch the game on my flat screen at home. Not Portland, Portland is special. As the off-season gets more hectic and noisy with free agency and the draft, just think back to what a big game feels like in the Moda Center; the chants, the cheers, the excitement. Unfortunately we don’t get any of that until October.

As you can see, there were plenty of positives to call this a successful season. As a basketball fan these days, you never know what is going to happen next, but as we reflect of this season, remember it with a smile and think of what Brian Wheeler always says, “And once again we can say, it’s a great day to be a Blazer.”