The Portland Trail Blazers season ended on a whimper at the hands of the defending champion Golden State Warriors. After bulldozing through the first round and getting the improbable Game 7 victory over the Denver Nuggets, the Blazers had momentum going into the Western Conference Finals (WCF). In three of four games against the Warriors, Portland managed to build up double-digit leads late in the third quarter.
Ultimately it was the team’s own inexperience that left them unable to close out. Now with the Blazers staring down a long summer to ponder how to get over the hump, one thing they can build upon is the surprising emergence of Meyers Leonard.