After dominating the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round of the playoffs, the Portland Trail Blazers failed to show up in the second round against the Denver Nuggets.
Guard Rodney Hood, however, thinks he knows why. He cited the tensions and drama between Portland and Oklahoma City as part of what fueled the team's strong series.
“We actually need to get back to that,” Hood told Joe Freeman of The Oregonian. “I think that’s a big reason why we played so connected in the first round. There was a thing between us and the Thunder. And it’s not really here now. We’ve got to figure out how we can bring that same tenacity, especially on the defensive end, that we had in that first series. I think it will help us a long way. It seems like a very different type of mood and we’ve got to get back to how we were in the first series.”
“OKC was doing a lot of talking and beating their chest and stuff like that. (The Nuggets) have a certain confidence and cockiness about themselves, but they don’t say anything. But it shouldn’t sway how we play. We should play with the same tenacity and same nastiness that we had against the Thunder. We need to kind of muck it up a little bit.”
The Thunder and the Blazers have a long history. The two teams have never been afraid to jaw at each other, and that was obvious in their first round series. Portland eventually came out on top, brushing off Oklahoma City's antics and draining all their hopes with a Damian Lillard buzzer-beater in Game 5 to win the series.
But so far, the Blazers haven't had that same fire against the Nuggets. Denver plays a different, quiet type of basketball. Portland came out flat with a Game 1 loss in which they allowed the Nuggets to score 121 points.
The teams will face off again on Wednesday night. The Blazers will have to rebound in Game 2 or else they will be in big trouble. To do so, according to Rodney Hood, they need to find that same tenacity they showed against the Thunder.
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