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Trail Blazers fight hard in Game 4, but it’s way too little, way too late

By Matt George Moore

NEW ORLEANS, LA - APRIL 21: Damian Lillard
NEW ORLEANS, LA - APRIL 21: Damian Lillard /
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The New Orleans Pelicans completed a thorough drubbing of the Trail Blazers Saturday, winning Game 4, 131-123, and sweeping Portland out of the playoffs in the first round.

This was not the way it was supposed to end for the Portland Trail Blazers.

We weren’t supposed to be sitting here right now thinking of excuses for Portland’s pitiful playoff series against the New Orleans Pelicans.

It’s the sixth seed that’s supposed to need excuses, not the third.

Of course, as we’ve known all season, in the Western Conference, there isn’t much breathing room between the third and sixth seeds — or the third and 10th seed, for that matter.

The Blazers team that showed up — or failed to show up, if you will — to the 2018 NBA Western Conference Playoffs was more like the one stumbling and bumbling through the dark days of December than the one reeling off 13 straight wins from mid-February to mid-March.

And it ended with a bit of a bang; the Blazers showed some fight in Game 4. But the season itself ended with a four-game-sweep — and thus, a whimper.

Portland was quickly, thoroughly, utterly — and so efficiently — dismantled by the Pelicans.

What Happened, Blazers?

The Pelicans game plan was clear from the opening tip of Game 1: Double team Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum whenever they touch the ball, and let the rest of the Blazers prove they could take up the slack.

They couldn’t.

And that’s been the Blazers’ problem all season: They don’t have a consistent third option when Dame and CJ aren’t providing enough offensive firepower.

You may remember that Lillard spoke to team owner Paul Allen, possibly about this very topic.

For long stretches after the NBA All-Star break, it looked like that elusive third option might be Jusuf Nurkic.

At other times, it appeared to be Al-Farouq Aminu.

And when Maurice Harkless returned from injury, it looked like he might be the one.

Even young Zach Collins made a case for himself — although it’s too early in his career to expect that much of him.

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Exposed

As the season wound down and teams began to perform with playoff intensity, Portland’s weaknesses began to be exposed. And the Pelicans just ratcheted up that intensity. They took Lillard and McCollum out of the game for most of the series.

And Portland was left with little else, although McCollum played like a champ Saturday (38 points on 15/22 shooting), and both Nurkic (18 points, 11 rebounds) and Aminu (27 points, six rebounds) contributed.

But it was way too little, way too late.

Especially when the Trail Blazers never had answers for NOP’s “Big Three”: Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday, and Rajon Rondo, all three of whom seemed to score and/or dish the ball at will — and looked like they had fun doing it.

I imagine that for Davis (47 points, 11 rebounds, three blocks), Holiday (41 points, eight assists) and Rondo (16 assists), this was an enjoyable playoff series.

They ran Portland off the court.

They owned the playground.

And so they got next.

Moving Ahead

We’ll be covering a lot of the things that went wrong for the Blazers. And as I’ve written before, there will be plenty of time for a postmortem on the season.

For now, suffice it to say that despite all of Portland’s problems, most of which have been discussed and dissected here and elsewhere, it still comes as a bit of a shock to already be pondering next season.

The Blazers weren’t supposed to be in this position.

Not now.

Not already.

Next: Series stats tell story we see on TV – NOP defense too much for POR

And yet here they are, pretty much the same team that we expected them to be at the beginning of this 2017-2018 campaign: Good enough to make the playoffs, but not quite ready for prime time.

Not quite ready to make a serious run for the Western Conference Finals.

Not quite ready to hang with the big boys.

And nowhere near elite.