The Trail Blazers Thursday night, 120-115 loss to Denver felt, in many ways, like a microcosm of this current era of Rip City basketball. Entering the night, the stars were aligned for a statement win following their disappointing Game 2 loss in Denver. It was their playoff home opener with the most fans in the Moda Center in over a full calendar year, the team was eager to exorcise the demons of that Game 2 officiating debacle, and surely the Nuggets’ sky-high shooting percentage was due for a return to earth. Portland was healthy. Denver was not. Yet despite all these factors coalescing in the Blazers’ favor, we once again watched as the team with narrative on their side struggled futilely against the team armed with inevitability.
It felt all too familiar.
Doom-scrolling through Twitter after last night’s loss (I’m a bottomless pit of despair), I hoped to find comfort among those in the “here we go again” camp of disillusioned and jaded Blazers fans. What I found instead, surprisingly, were common refrains of relative optimism. “There’s no way Denver can keep shooting this well.” “Dame is bound to have an insane Game 4 and put the team on his back.” “I’m pretty sure if we just tell Kanter the game is on Sunday that should net us like 17 points.” This optimism struck me for a few reasons. One, because Blazers’ Twitter is a godless land of performative anger, and to see any level of hope from this group made me second guess whether these people had finally been broken. Second, and more significantly, I was painfully aware we’ve been hearing these rationalizations for years.
“If it wasn’t for Wesley Matthews going down in 2015, we could have competed for a Championship.”
“If LaMarcus Aldridge would have stayed with the team, can you imagine what we could have done?”
“What if Jusuf Nurkic could stay healthy for an entire season? We’d be a force.”
“We just need a wing defender.”
“If it wasn’t for the refs…”
At a certain point, the rubber hits the road and results have to supersede excuses; and this series could very well be that culminating point for Terry Stotts and plenty of the non-Damian Lillard figures of the organization. With home-court advantage now back in the hands of the Nuggets, Game 4 is very plainly a must-win for Portland. There are going to be cold stretches. The refs are going to do ref things. Austin Rivers is now Michael Jordan. But if this Blazers team is ever going to take the next step towards contention; they’re going to need to put their heads down and stop acting like victims of circumstance.
Fans make excuses.
Legitimate playoff teams with MVP caliber leaders win.
(I’m now obligated to inform you that due to my writing this; the odds of the Blazers winning Game 4 and making a playoff run have increased tenfold. Will the win-streak happen because I wrote this or did I write this because of the impending win-streak? Real chicken and the egg stuff).
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