When I saw the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Los Angeles Clippers back in November, I wrote at the time that the Blazers looked better than expected, while the Clippers seemed to have more than their share of issues. I would have never predicted, though, that the Blazers would not only make the NBA playoffs but beat these same Clippers in the first round. Naysayers will be quick to point out that the Clippers suffered the worst five minutes of bad luck in the history of the NBA, losing both Blake Griffin and Chris Paul to injuries in Game 4. Point well taken, but the Blazers still had to take care of business on the court, and as the likely 2016 NBA MYP Stephen Curry said during his faux apology for the Golden State Warriors’ success last year, you play whomever is in front of you.
Now the Blazers face the Warriors in Round 2, beginning today in Oakland, and at first glance it would seem that their run of luck has continued, with Curry out with a sprained knee at least for the first couple of games of the series. The Blazers’ attitude may be similar to that of golfer Phil Mickelson’s comment some years ago when Tiger Woods was off the PGA tour with an injury: “it doesn’t suck.” They know, however, that they have their work cut out for them. The Warriors won their 73 regular season games by being as close to twelve-men deep as any NBA team in history, and ESPN’s experts all expect them to dispatch the Blazers with or without Curry. The series will probably be more competitive than their predictions, if only because the Blazers, none of whom likely thought they would still be playing this late in the year, will be loose and without the weight of expectations. They also have, with Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, perhaps the one backcourt in the NBA that can score as prolifically as the Steph Curry-Klay Thompson Splash Brothers. When shooters get hot, anything can happen. The Warriors would do well to remember this.
Tip-off today is 12:30 PM Pacific Time.
– Chuck Strom
