The Trailblazers did it. They squeaked by the Nets, they made the playoffs. Everyone for the past few years has been mocking the teams that chase the 8th seed for no reason, but now, the teams that are doing so are receiving nothing but praise.
Not from me! I laugh at Portland’s feeble Cinderella-story, soon to be crushed by the reality of high-level playoff basketball against the West’s elite teams. I laugh at the concept of Dame Time. I laugh at Jusuf Nurkic’s horrid facial hair. And I save my heartiest laughs for their fans, who have deluded themselves into believing that their team is more than a first-round exit.
Granted, this is THE BUBB. Anything can happen, I guess. Lots of weird stuff has already happened. Certainly, Portland has a better chance of making some BUBB NOISE than a team like Memphis. Maybe my sneering laughter will be silenced by the ascendant play of Lillard and his mostly injury-free squad of sweet role-players.
Nurkic’s return is the main reason that the Blazers are even in this position. He just adds stuff when he’s on the court. His aggression. His spin moves that should never work but do, somehow. His rebounding. Remember when he was trying really hard to emulate Nikola Jokic for a while there? He can still do that sometimes as well. Not tonight, though, which was more of a showcase of how much he could dominate Jarrett Allen and Rodions Kurucs.