One of the best parts of playoffs in the NBA is that teams step up their pageantry a notch. The banners are more plentiful outside the arena, the excitement of the crowd is more palpable, and the lights out introductions are astounding. In this case, the fans were all issued, in addition to T-shirts draped on every seat, wrist bands that lit up in various colors and patterns according to wi-fi signals received from a computer within the building, and from the mid-court scoreboard hung a white curtain on which they projected images of the Portland Trail Blazers as they were introduced. Combined with the blinking wrist lights throughout the stands, the projections set the players in a red column of fire surrounded by a sea of stars. It was, to say the least, an exciting way to start a game.
Unfortunately, the game didn’t end with the result the Blazers wanted. Bill Simmons, in his NBA playoffs preview podcast, had predicted that the New Orleans Pelicans, the Blazers’ first round opponent, would give Portland a lot of trouble due to their ability to defend guards like Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. His prediction was perfectly on the mark. The Pelican defenders, particularly Jrue Holiday, got right into Dame’s and CJ’s faces and stayed there all night, knowing that if they tried driving past them their All-Star center Anthony Davis would deal with them at the rim. At halftime, I was astounded to see that Dame and CJ combined had managed only three points; the only reason the Blazers had kept the Pelican lead to single digits was due to the efforts of their reserves. The Pelicans eventually pushed their lead to 19 points in the third quarter, with Davis dominating the paint and well on his way to the 35 points and 14 rebounds that he achieved on the night. At one point Lillard, probably out of frustration, tried to score at the rim against Davis and got beat down like a kid going against his big brother. Give the Blazers credit, though–they didn’t quit. Dame and CJ finally started to hit some shots when the Pelicans got tired in the fourth quarter. Their teammates got some crucial stops on defense, and eventually McCollum hit a three with a minute left to get the Blazers within a point and send the crowd into a frenzy, breaking a few decibel meters in the process. The Pelicans, however, summoned the last of their strength and defended the Blazers’ final two possessions to seal the win, the latter coming from a Holiday block of a Blazer lay-up.
It was only one game, so one can hardly count the Blazers out at this point. It’s abundantly clear, though, that Davis, Holiday, and Company are going to be all they can handle. It would be unfortunate if the Blazers ended up with another first round playoff exit, particularly given the optimistic expectations of having a healthy Jusuf Nurkic this time to accompany Lillard and McCollum, but Portland fans should at least appreciate the privilege of seeing a transcendent player like Davis. Up to now, he has suffered from the common affliction of being a star player on a bad team, and one should not begrudge him the opportunity to show his true greatness on a national stage. From what I saw on Saturday night, we are going to be hearing a lot more about the Brow for many years to come.
