Alessandro Pautasso
It was not supposed to end like this for Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers. Not this year.
Dealt what seemed like a fatal blow in March when Jusuf Nurkic, Portland’s most valuable indispensable inside presence, was lost for the season with a broken leg, the team somehow grew stronger. The Blazers entered the postseason ready to vanquish their playoff demons, and Lillard — so long in Golden State’s shadow and driven by a first-round exit last season — seemed up to the challenge.
That feeling only grew in the first round when he almost single-handedly dispatched the Oklahoma City Thunder, a plucky (and star-studded) underdog that some had predicted would pull off an upset.