Well, that’s a wrap on the Portland Trail Blazers season. Now that the escalating cycle of terror and elation that sprang forth from the team’s regular defiance of low expectations has slammed into a wall, we can just appreciate this team for what is was: fun as hell.
They were an Oceans 11 crew of basketball brilliance, a Fox Force Five of fun. Damian Lillard was the leader, both bland and exciting in all the right ways. He’s the Trail Blazers’ Leonardo (the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles‘ version.) He always says the right thing, he doesn’t pop off in the media, and even his rap songs perfectly toe the line of braggadocio. He may come off as bland, but then those swords come out and he slices through the opposition, and does things on the basketball court that seem impossible and make you question how the two of you are even the same species of animal, and you’re like, “Oh yeah… this is the farthest thing from bland,” and you’re reminded that he’s the Trail Blazers’ Leonardo (the art version).