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2014: The time Wesley Matthews locked down James Harden, and threw away the key

Wesley Matthews, Portland Trail Blazers (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images)

The Blazers can begin to at least think Playoffs again. Today, we remember a Blazer who personified Playoff grit in Wesley Matthews, and the time he successfully stepped to the challenge of guarding James Harden.

Before James Harden would become one of the greatest scorers of all-time, growing pains were aplenty. By the time his Houston Rockets met the Wesley Matthews and the Portland Trail Blazers in the 2014 First Round, he’d generated the reputation as a talented, yet flaky scorer in big moments, and a superstar who spent as much time at the club partying as at free throw line.