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Not many times does an NBA team get the chance to start fresh and carry on a season the way it first envisioned it. See, the offseason is often time for optimism, wild prediction, and overwhelming anxiety.
When the Portland Trail Blazers started their 2019-20 campaign after being swept in the Western Conference Finals by the Golden State Warriors, no one was hot-takey enough to dart them and Damian Lillard out of the playoff picture. Not by a long shot.
The Blazers got off to a 5-9 mark to begin the season before Carmelo Anthony was signed as a reinforcement following Zach Collins' injury. While he was a welcome addition, Portland had a steep climb to make with other teams also vying for the last playoff spot.
Then the coronavirus pandemic hit … and it looked like the Blazers' season may come to a disappointing end.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver had a playoffs-only format in mind before resolving to invite 22 teams to the bubble at Walt Disney World in Orlando. The initial optics were that the league was trying to help teams meet their TV revenue quota, which prompted Lillard to say the following to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports back in late May:
“If we come back and they’re just like, ‘We’re adding a few games to finish the regular season,’ and they’re throwing us out there for meaningless games and we don’t have a true opportunity to get into the playoffs, I’m going to be with my team because I’m a part of the team. But I’m not going to be participating. I’m telling you that right now. And you can put that [expletive] in there.”
Oh, how things have changed.
The return of Zach Collins and Jusuf Nurkic has Portland looking like a very different beast, one that now stands a very realistic chance of leapfrogging the young Memphis Grizzlies, who have struggled to an 0-4 start in the restart.
Lillard and the Blazers, meanwhile, have gotten off to a 3-1 restart, including an opening win against the Grizzlies, now standing a mere half-game away from the eighth spot.
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Not many envisioned the tables turning the way that they have, as it could be Ja Morant and company — or even Devin Booker and the thriving Phoenix Suns — fighting to wrestle away the pole from a red-hot Blazers team.
The clearest case was on Thursday, when Lillard put forth his best Klay Thompson Game 6 performance, burying 11 triples against the Denver Nuggets in an incandescent 45-point, 12-assist effort.
Lillard, CJ McCollum, and Gary Trent Jr. accounted for 21 of the Blazers' 23 3-pointers in the game, firing away against a Nuggets team that dealt a heavy dose of Michael Porter Jr. without Jamal Murray, Gary Harris, or Will Barton available.
23 THREES. That's a team record.
11 THREES FOR DAME. That ties HIS OWN franchise record.
22 THREES FOR GARY IN ORLANDO. That's the most in the bubble. pic.twitter.com/KDYZFDkv21
— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) August 7, 2020
The Blazers might have struck some luck against an off-kilter Grizzlies team and an unarmed Nuggets squad, but that is what making the most of an opportunity is all about.
There are so few chances to gain a second wind; they almost never happen. Sometimes it's a midseason trade, sometimes it's a coaching change, but there has never been a four-month hiatus and the ability to get two key cogs back in the lineup close to full health.
Portland was given a talisman to go back into the past and fix what was broken, so rest assured that Damian Lillard and company won't take their foot off the throttle with such a big chance at hand.
Their remaining four games aren't easy, but it's no murderer's row. First a matinee clash with the Los Angeles Clippers on TNT, followed by a matchup against the likely Ben Simmons-less Philadelphia 76ers on NBA TV the very next day. Games against the struggling Dallas Mavericks and Brooklyn Nets will close out the remainder of the seeding schedule.
Damian Lillard and the Blazers know exactly what's at stake in this unprecedented opportunity — a second wind like no other that would give their trip to Orlando some meaning beyond the anecdotes of an oddball 2019-20 NBA season.
