Though the Portland Trail Blazers were a trendy pick to be “upset” in the opening round of the NBA Playoffs, when they prevailed over the Oklahoma City Thunder, most people chalked it up to the favorite winning a series that they were “supposed” to win.
But against the Denver Nuggets, who were both the higher-seeded team in the playoffs, and a team that boasted the best record in the Western Conference for different parts of the regular season? Surely, Portland’s luck would run dry in the Western Conference Semifinals.
And yet, despite falling behind by both an 0-1 and then 3-2 series deficits, the Trail Blazers continued to prove all their critics wrong, by advancing to the Western Conference Finals after defeating the Nuggets in 7 games.
The fact that Portland was able to defeat Denver was that much more significant, given that their Game 7 win took place at the Pepsi Center in Denver, where the Nuggets boasted the best home record in the Western Conference during the regular season.
For the early part of that series-clinching game, it looked like the Trail Blazers would be heading home to watch the remainder of the postseason from their respective couches. In the second quarter, Portland found themselves down by 17 points, when the Nuggets zipped out to a 39-22 lead. Portland was able to cut the lead down to nine points by halftime, but they still faced a difficult and uphill battle to pull off the win.
But the Trail Blazers came out like gangbusters in the 3rd quarter, outscoring the Nuggets by a 32-24 margin, capitalizing on the fact that the Nuggets had gone ice cold in their shooting; Denver went 7-of-24 shooting in the second half of the game.
Yet even with that, the Nuggets trailed by only one point with just under 90 seconds left in the game. But that’s when Trail Blazers’ guard CJ McCollum hit a 16-foot jump shot that pushed Portland’s lead back up to three points, which would end up forcing the Nuggets in a series of unforced errors that would ultimately spell their demise.
McCollum in particular was brilliant in Game 7, performing the part of “tag team partner” to superstar Damian Lilliard, the latter of whom struggled for the majority of this game. McCollum finished with a game-high 37 points, and finished the series averaging over 26 points and 6 rebounds per game. His scoring output , which was this third game with 30 or more points in the series, helped make up for Lillard’s 3-for-17 shooting on the evening.
What makes this Trail Blazers team so intriguing, and such a threat to pull off the seemingly unthinkable upset over the Golden State Warriors, is the fact that this team isn’t solely reliant on Lillard and McCollum. The Trail Blazers are getting excellent contributions from Enes Kanter, and veteran swingman Evan Turner; that’s not even mentioning the additional minutes provided their rotation guys like Seth Curry, Zach Collins, and Meyers Leonard.
It’s that depth that will serve as the biggest tipping point for the team, as they battle a Warriors’ team that will be even thinner than usual, as a result of the injury to superstar Kevin Durant.
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