I started in Game 1 of the first round rooting for Terry Stotts and the Blazers and there’s no reason to stop just yet.
On Wednesday night in the very same Pepsi Arena in which my son, my daughter-in-law and my grandson watched their first Colorado Av playoff game the night before—the Portland Trailblazers pretty much led wire to wire in drawing even at one game apiece in the Western Conference Semifinals.
I find it odd a Portland Trailblazer fan now writes on his own Oklahoma City Thunder blog, but when the home team goes all in punk stupid…sometimes you gotta go with the flow of things.
Portland was alpha mentally tough in this game. It was a game where Damian Lillard only shot 5-17 from the field and scored but 14 points. But the Blazers showed their heart with five other players scoring in double figures.
My new favorite NBA player CJ McCollum, led Portland with 20 points and was the No. 1 star of the game. Former Thunder center Enes Kanter continued his magical playoff run with 15 points and Terry Stotts somehow found a way to keep him on the floor 31 minutes. Yes…that was a dig at the Thunder’s SEC college coach.
Mo Harkless only played 12 minutes after turning an ankle, but not to worry—Al Farouq Amini scored 11 points while Rodney Hood and Zach Collins both came off the bench and played huge for Stotts in a critical road game.
Portland grabbed home court advantage and is going home for Game 3 and Game 4 before what will be a rowdy home crowd in Rip City.
Could these Blazers be magical? No one saw the iconic Jack Ramsey-Bill Walton team coming as they did in ’77 bringing home a world championship to the Northwest.
Portland has the two star guards, a nice supporting cast, possibly the best bench in the West and Terry Stotts.
Why not?