Blazers walk the tight rope, win 8th seed
The Nets defense made Damian Lillard work
You’ve heard by now, perhaps, that the Portland Trail Blazers ended the seeding games at the Walt Disney World bubble in 8th place with a crucial advantage going into the play-in series. This means they have to only win one of two games against the Memphis Grizzlies.
But before we look to Saturday, we need to take a deep breath and realize what the Blazers just survived. The Brooklyn Nets might as well have been wearing Suns uniforms the way they were playing, with the Suns watching the results after having gone an improbable 8-0. But Damian Lillard, as much as he lifts hearts, can also be cruel in the best way for the Blazers. So cruel in fact, that the Nets literally went all-out in trying to keep him from winning this game. Coach Jacque Vaughn said they threw the “full boat” at Lillard to slow him down, they are on Lake Buena Vista after all.
Garrett Temple of the Brooklyn Nets was caught on a mic saying telling a teammate “I don’t care if it’s Michael Jordan over there, you pick Dame up. He’ll pull up from the NBA.” On one of the few times the Nets failed to double him, early in the 4th quarter, he rose up from just where Temple said he would. He finished with 42 points and 12 assists even with Brooklyn selling out to stop him.
In a game where the Blazers needed every bit of their 134 points, in a game where Stotts only reluctantly extended his rotation to nine players due to foul trouble, Portland got crucial contributions with their season on the line, the way it has been on the line for the past two weeks. CJ McCollum got the Blazers going early and finished with 25 points, Gary Trent Jr. managed to play most of the 4th quarter with five fouls, Melo had a big 3 and Jusuf Nurkić had his best finish of the seeding games, also playing with five fouls down the stretch. While he may have left a few defensive rebounds out there that allowed the Nets to stay in the game, Nurk gave it everything.
He had 12 points in the 4th quarter and to finish with 22 points, 10 boards, and three assists, including a dive for a loose ball where he went all out, something that needed sufficient icing.
It also isn’t lost on this writer that Nurk’s most crucial performance in the seeding games, recovering from a game in which he did not perform well, came against the Nets. The same team against which he suffered that brutal leg injury in March of last year that somehow did not stop the Blazers from making an unlikely run to the Western Conference Finals. The Nets were relentless, they were physical and they forced the Blazers to play outside of their comfort zone on both ends for much of the game.
Obviously it seems like there are a million stories a minute going on in 2020, but as we did with this game, we need to take stock of what just happened in what has been the most up and down Blazers season in recent memory, with them still standing.
After entering the season with championship aspirations, reality set in that a Western Conference Finalist’s complementary parts had been dismantled. 60 points from Dame wasn’t even good enough to beat the Nets back in November. Aside from the Rodney Hood injury against the Lakers, I don’t know if there was a lower point for the Blazers than that Nets loss. Lillard had a career-high, but it sure didn’t feel like he cared. It felt like he was just clawing for anything then.
Finally, this team can leave that regular season behind. Nurkic and Dame can leave the Nets behind now. When Caris LeVert missed after a red hot night, the miss wasn’t the only thing that Lillard was breathing out a sigh of relief for.
The Blazers played for their lives and have been given a new one. Carmelo Anthony is no longer just a guest at Barclay’s Center watching his friend Dwyane Wade get a retirement send-off, he’s back in the postseason for a chance to rewrite his playoff legacy, which last ended in mockery. Whiteside also has a chance to prove wrong those who have written him off as a malcontent who will refuse to help once he isn’t starting before he goes into a crucial free agency. Nurk will also get the first opportunity to show us if he’s learned anything from 2018’s embarrassment at the hands of Anthony Davis. And Gary Trent Jr. has a chance to prove he’s not just a cute regular-season story.
The play-in is the start of a brand new season. And for a Blazers team that has spent the past few weeks rewriting their season story, they look like a team that’s ready to start with a blank slate. But they would be wise to follow their leader and take a deep breath first.