A revealing interview with the Trail Blazers’ all-everything guards should remind Rip City that — even though things may sometimes look bad from the outside — the core of the team remains undaunted.
Jason Quick of NBC Sports Northwest published a story Sunday that sheds some additional light on the calm at the center of the Portland Trail Blazers’ storm.
Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum both had subpar games in Saturday night’s loss to the New Orleans Pelicans. But if anybody thinks a Game 1 playoff loss — at home, no less — is going to rattle either player, Quick’s article makes it clear that somebody hasn’t been paying attention.
“A Game 1 loss?” Quick writes. “It fits these Blazers.”
And then Quick quotes Lillard:
"“I literally convinced myself: this makes it better. Sometimes, you have to go through something. If you really are built for it and it’s really what you want, there’s nothing wrong with adversity.”"
Pelicans vs. Blazers
The Blazers and the Pelicans are pretty evenly matched — both in terms of regular season records (Portland at 49-33 and New Orleans at 48-34) and head-to-head match-ups (they split their season series at two games apiece.)
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Game 1 was a good indication of what we might expect from the series — with a couple of notable exceptions. Lillard and McCollum will almost certainly play better than they did Saturday night, yeah?
McCollum didn’t make a shot until the third quarter; he finished with 19 points on 7/18 shooting. Lillard wasn’t much better; he shot 6/23 and tallied just 18 points (along with seven rebounds and seven assists).
Credit the Pelicans’ seasoned and rugged backcourt of Rajon Rondo and Jrue Holiday for stifling Lillard and McCollum.
And this is where we come to a mantra that Lillard has reiterated several times this season.
Mantra
Damian Lillard is a warrior, not a worrier.
“If y’all ain’t figured out that I’m not a worrier by now, then I don’t know when y’all going to figure it out,” Lillard told The Oregonian/OregonLive’s Joe Freeman earlier this season.
Next: How far must Blazers go for season to be a success?
And that brings us back to adversity. Losing Game 1 at home is certainly cause for … what?
Concern? Maybe.
Alarm? Not if you’re Lillard.
“Why not some adversity?’’ Lillard told Quick. “Why not?’’
McCollum agrees, telling Quick that he stays “calm in the midst of chaos. I’ve seen it all. I’ve been through a lot. So this doesn’t faze me. I do what I can do, prepare, and I live with the result.’’
Game 2
Game 2 of the Pelicans-Blazers best-of-seven series is Tuesday at the Moda Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. PDT. And if Twitter is any indication, lots of Portland fans are chewing off their fingernails in uncomfortable anticipation and dread.
Really hope the fans at the game aren't giving up on the Blazers as quickly as the fans on Twitter are
— Nate Mann (@nate_mann13) April 15, 2018
Adversity is to be expected in the playoffs. That’s how we separate the contenders from the pretenders.
But should Portland worry? I don’t think so. Not when Lillard and McCollum are leading the charge.
These players not only embrace adversity, they wear it comfortably, like a badge of honor.