Blazers on the brink of elimination, desperate to stay alive against Pelicans

The New Orleans Pelicans lead the Portland Trail Blazers three games to none in their best-of-seven series. But it’s the efficiency with which NOP has dismantled the Blazers that has Rip City a little baffled — and searching for answers.

I suppose the first thing I should write is this: It’s not over yet for the Portland Trail Blazers.

And by that I mean: Of course, it’s over — it’s just not over yet, if you know what I mean.

In order to advance to the second round of the NBA Western Conference Playoffs, a team must beat their first-round opponent four times. And although the New Orleans Pelicans have beaten the Trail Blazers so thoroughly — and with such alarming efficiency — that it seems like the series is over, it’s not.

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Technically.

Officially.

But let’s not kid ourselves. It’s not just over. It’s over over.

Especially if the Blazers continue to perform as poorly as they have in the first three games of this series.

Blazers-Pelicans

The two teams must play at least one more game; it’s set for Saturday in New Orleans at 2 p.m. PDT. The only question remaining is whether the Blazers will stave off elimination for at least a few days and return the series to Portland — or if they’ll just offer themselves up as sacrificial lambs.

I can’t help but think that Portland is on the verge of one of its most befuddling first-round exits in recent memory.

Since March 20 — at which point they’d won 13 straight — Portland has gone just 5-10, including the three games they’ve lost to New Orleans in the first round.

Can’t help but wonder: What’s more representative of this team? The 13-game winning streak? Or the team that managed to limp its way into the third seed only to be completely outplayed by the sixth-seeded Pelicans?

How?

There’s a great old song by the band Talking Heads called “Once In A Lifetime.” In that song, David Byrne sings, “You may ask yourself: Well, how did I get here?”

The Portland Trail Blazers are almost certainly asking themselves that same question as they head into Saturday’s Game 4.

How did they get here?

Next: What the Blazers need to do to get back in this series

There will be plenty of time to do a postmortem on this Blazers team — for both the regular season and their thus-far abysmal performance in the playoffs. And we can certainly look into what this team needs to truly move forward. But I’m going to leave that for later.

For now, let’s see what happens Saturday — although, as I said, I don’t have much hope that it will be any different from games one, two or three. But maybe the Blazers can get a win and bring the series back to Portland for at least one more game.

But it’s difficult to have any glass-half-full hope beyond that.

In light of that particular statistic — and considering the Blazers frustrating history in the playoffs — perhaps another line from that old Talking Heads song is more appropriate:

Same as it ever was.