Are the Portland Trail Blazers a Team to be Feared?

by James Finneral

Over the season the Portland Trail Blazers took the league by storm with their high powered offense lead by young stars Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Aldridge. They were able to beat many top level clubs and earned a 54-28 record along with the 5th seed in a tough Western Conference.

What really drew attention to the Blazers was their incredible showing in the first round of the playoffs against a Houston Rockets team with an abundance of great talent.

The way this young team went into the Toyota Center and handed Houston two loses showed that they are not fooling around. LaMarcus Aldridge played like an absolute beast all series long averaging 30 points and 11 rebounds a night. Their other star, Lillard put in his fair share of 25 points and 6 assists a game. It was not just the effort by their studs that pushed Portland through the series, they were given many great showings from Wesley Matthews, Nicolas Batum, Robin Lopez and even from Mo Williams off the bench. It was game six that really showed just how strong the Trail Blazers are. With time winding down the Rockets had the lead and the Blazers only had .8 seconds to tie the game with two points or win it with three. The play was simple, get the ball in the hands of Damian Lillard and let him go to work. Lillard swung around the arc and Chandler Parsons got caught sleeping as he left Lillard wide open as he sunk a deep three to win the series.

 The Trail Blazers will be an extremely difficult team to beat in Portland. Their fans are extremely passionate and more excited than ever after winning their first playoff series in fourteen years. With the support from these fans it will be hard for teams to fight back when the Blazers go on runs.

Portland has become a serious contender for the title and will give trouble to any team they face. They have an all around strong starting lineup with amazing fire power on offense and they rebound extremely well on both ends of the floor. They are a hard team to match up with and teams will have trouble focussing their energy on both Lillard and Aldridge.

In their upcoming series with the San Antonio Spurs, the Blazers will really have to show their maturity and unselfishness to beat this team. The Spurs are experienced and have great chemistry amongst their players and coach. Eventually I believe the Trail Blazers will prove that they are the real deal and advance to the Western Conference Finals after defeating San Antonio in a seven game series. Their athleticism will be too much for the Spurs to handle. Damian Lillard will have his hands full with Tony Parker, but he will ultimately win that guard battle. LaMarcus Aldridge will be too much for San Antonio to handle down low and he will be the major difference for the Blazers in this series. The Portland Trail Blazers are a legit team that has the potential to take it all the way.