Twenty-three thoughts on the wildest series of a wild second round:
It is easy to dismiss this as the consolation series: Win, and Golden State or Houston tramples you. Yeah, the winner here will be a huge underdog in the Western Conference finals. The Portland Trail Blazers and Denver Nuggets have to be exhausted. Damian Lillard has looked fried for portions of this series, including for the last hour or so (!) of the epic four-overtime Game 3 of this conference semifinal. He spent extended stretches acting as decoy, loitering on the wing as CJ McCollum ran the show.