tlongII
05-05-2014, 10:21 AM
http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/index.ssf/2014/05/quick_trail_blazers_board_plane_sunday_harboring_e .html#incart_big-photo
http://imgick.oregonlive.com/home/olive-media/width620/img/blazers_impact/photo/14864656-mmmain.jpg
Blazers coach Terry Stotts and shooting guard Wesley Matthews say Portland is at its best when facing adversity, or when people count them out.
It was March 10, an off night in Memphis, when Wesley Matthews entered a BBQ restaurant, spotted me in line and revealed part of the DNA that makes this Trail Blazers team special.
The previous night, the Trail Blazers were in Houston, where they had squandered a big lead and lost in overtime to the Rockets. After a sensational start to the season, it felt like the Blazers were losing their edge, and becoming an ordinary team.
I wrote that night in Houston that if the Blazers were going to win a playoff series, LaMarcus Aldridge needed to start making more big shots. And Damian Lillard needed to start playing better defense. And after a rash of poor passing, Nicolas Batum needed to focus less on being a playmaker and more on scoring.
When Matthews spotted me that next night, he was at the end of the line, butted up against the front door. I was at the front, readying to give my order. He walked past all the patrons, hands raised above his head, clapping.
“Appreciate you, Quick,’’ he said, mockingly. “Appreciate you.’’
I asked him what he meant, but he ignored me and continued to clap, continued to say he appreciated me, before he went back to the end of the line.
During my meal, I went to use the restroom, passing Matthews’ table as he dined with teammate CJ McCollum and player programs director Hersey Hawkins. He glared at me.
The next day at shootaround, I tried to ask Matthews what the scene was all about. He declined to talk about it, saying everything was fine.
On Sunday, nearly two months later, I revisited that scene in Memphis with Matthews.
Know why he was upset?
This paragraph in the March 9 story:
“With apologies to Wesley Matthews and Robin Lopez, who are so important to the team’s success, Aldridge, Lillard and Batum are the Blazers’ big three, the pillars who support the weight of expectations of this team. And those pillars need to become stronger.”
“You basically said I wasn’t a core guy,’’ Matthews said. “That pissed me off.’’
It was more kindling for the fire that has been burning within Matthews since he went undrafted out of Marquette in 2009, and yet another ripple to an undercurrent that has propelled the Trail Blazers’ improbable journey this season.
The Blazers have reached the Western Conference semifinals, and they have done it with a roster that harbors enough slights to fuel their plane ride to San Antonio, where they will take on the Spurs for Game 1 on Tuesday.
“It’s just kind of who we are,’’ coach Terry Stotts said. “Some of the guys feel like they have been overlooked throughout their career.’’
• • •
Like they were against Houston in the first round of the playoffs, the Blazers will be decided underdogs against the Spurs, who are the NBA’s top seed after winning 62 games this season.
It’s a storyline, and role, the Blazers embrace and almost relish.
“It fits our team,’’ Lillard said. “We have a bunch of dogs on our team, guys who are competitive and come from underdog situations. Whether it’s being a second-round pick, a mid-major player, a guy who got counted out … we have them.’’
Lillard, the starting point guard, was overlooked as a recruit out of high school, given only two of five stars. And coming into the NBA from Weber State, there were questions whether he could perform against elite competition.
Batum, the starting small forward, said he still reminds himself of the words he heard six years ago, when he came to the Blazers as a gangly 19-year-old from France.
“They said I was going to be a D-League guy, a guy for the future, blah, blah, blah,’’ Batum said. “He’s not this, he’s not that, he’s not aggressive. Nobody expected anything from me when I got here. But I’ve been here six years now. So yeah, I’ve got my own things.’’
The team’s star, LaMarcus Aldridge, has always used slights as motivation, from not being the No. 1 overall pick in 2006, to his snub from the 2011 All-Star Game when the NBA picked Kevin Love over him as a replacement, to constantly being overshadowed by former teammate Brandon Roy.
And the team’s center, Robin Lopez, isn’t even regarded as the best center in his family. His twin brother, Brook, is paid twice as much as Robin, and has been an All-Star.
“This is who we are,’’ Batum said. “ Our starting lineup has all been through their ups and downs, we have all been through a lot. And from Day One, nobody expected anything from us, except the people in here. So, underdogs … we are good in that spot.’’
• • •
If there has been one constant to the Blazers’ season, it’s their uncanny ability to thrive in the face of adversity.
When their cushion to make the playoffs was threatened in March with eight losses in 11 games, the Blazers responded by finishing the season with nine wins in the final 10 games.
And repeatedly during their first-round series with Houston, when they trailed for 65 percent of the series, the Blazers hung around, hung around and then thrived at the end.
“We’re at our best when our backs are against the wall, have something to prove, whatever phrase you want to use,’’ Stotts said.
On Sunday, the euphoria of winning their first playoff series victory in 14 years had not dulled the Blazers’ edge. In fact, in the case of Matthews, it might have sharpened it.
I asked him if even now, in the second round of the playoffs, if he is still fueled by being counted out.
He might as well have been back at the Memphis restaurant, clapping above his head.
“You are going to ask me if I’m fueled by being counted out?’’ Matthews asked incredulously. “Of course. I’m always fueled by being counted out. And we are going to be counted out in this next series. But it doesn’t matter. We have competed with every team in the West. We have beaten every team in the West. We know we can play with, or beat, everybody.’’
http://imgick.oregonlive.com/home/olive-media/width620/img/blazers_impact/photo/14864656-mmmain.jpg
Blazers coach Terry Stotts and shooting guard Wesley Matthews say Portland is at its best when facing adversity, or when people count them out.
It was March 10, an off night in Memphis, when Wesley Matthews entered a BBQ restaurant, spotted me in line and revealed part of the DNA that makes this Trail Blazers team special.
The previous night, the Trail Blazers were in Houston, where they had squandered a big lead and lost in overtime to the Rockets. After a sensational start to the season, it felt like the Blazers were losing their edge, and becoming an ordinary team.
I wrote that night in Houston that if the Blazers were going to win a playoff series, LaMarcus Aldridge needed to start making more big shots. And Damian Lillard needed to start playing better defense. And after a rash of poor passing, Nicolas Batum needed to focus less on being a playmaker and more on scoring.
When Matthews spotted me that next night, he was at the end of the line, butted up against the front door. I was at the front, readying to give my order. He walked past all the patrons, hands raised above his head, clapping.
“Appreciate you, Quick,’’ he said, mockingly. “Appreciate you.’’
I asked him what he meant, but he ignored me and continued to clap, continued to say he appreciated me, before he went back to the end of the line.
During my meal, I went to use the restroom, passing Matthews’ table as he dined with teammate CJ McCollum and player programs director Hersey Hawkins. He glared at me.
The next day at shootaround, I tried to ask Matthews what the scene was all about. He declined to talk about it, saying everything was fine.
On Sunday, nearly two months later, I revisited that scene in Memphis with Matthews.
Know why he was upset?
This paragraph in the March 9 story:
“With apologies to Wesley Matthews and Robin Lopez, who are so important to the team’s success, Aldridge, Lillard and Batum are the Blazers’ big three, the pillars who support the weight of expectations of this team. And those pillars need to become stronger.”
“You basically said I wasn’t a core guy,’’ Matthews said. “That pissed me off.’’
It was more kindling for the fire that has been burning within Matthews since he went undrafted out of Marquette in 2009, and yet another ripple to an undercurrent that has propelled the Trail Blazers’ improbable journey this season.
The Blazers have reached the Western Conference semifinals, and they have done it with a roster that harbors enough slights to fuel their plane ride to San Antonio, where they will take on the Spurs for Game 1 on Tuesday.
“It’s just kind of who we are,’’ coach Terry Stotts said. “Some of the guys feel like they have been overlooked throughout their career.’’
• • •
Like they were against Houston in the first round of the playoffs, the Blazers will be decided underdogs against the Spurs, who are the NBA’s top seed after winning 62 games this season.
It’s a storyline, and role, the Blazers embrace and almost relish.
“It fits our team,’’ Lillard said. “We have a bunch of dogs on our team, guys who are competitive and come from underdog situations. Whether it’s being a second-round pick, a mid-major player, a guy who got counted out … we have them.’’
Lillard, the starting point guard, was overlooked as a recruit out of high school, given only two of five stars. And coming into the NBA from Weber State, there were questions whether he could perform against elite competition.
Batum, the starting small forward, said he still reminds himself of the words he heard six years ago, when he came to the Blazers as a gangly 19-year-old from France.
“They said I was going to be a D-League guy, a guy for the future, blah, blah, blah,’’ Batum said. “He’s not this, he’s not that, he’s not aggressive. Nobody expected anything from me when I got here. But I’ve been here six years now. So yeah, I’ve got my own things.’’
The team’s star, LaMarcus Aldridge, has always used slights as motivation, from not being the No. 1 overall pick in 2006, to his snub from the 2011 All-Star Game when the NBA picked Kevin Love over him as a replacement, to constantly being overshadowed by former teammate Brandon Roy.
And the team’s center, Robin Lopez, isn’t even regarded as the best center in his family. His twin brother, Brook, is paid twice as much as Robin, and has been an All-Star.
“This is who we are,’’ Batum said. “ Our starting lineup has all been through their ups and downs, we have all been through a lot. And from Day One, nobody expected anything from us, except the people in here. So, underdogs … we are good in that spot.’’
• • •
If there has been one constant to the Blazers’ season, it’s their uncanny ability to thrive in the face of adversity.
When their cushion to make the playoffs was threatened in March with eight losses in 11 games, the Blazers responded by finishing the season with nine wins in the final 10 games.
And repeatedly during their first-round series with Houston, when they trailed for 65 percent of the series, the Blazers hung around, hung around and then thrived at the end.
“We’re at our best when our backs are against the wall, have something to prove, whatever phrase you want to use,’’ Stotts said.
On Sunday, the euphoria of winning their first playoff series victory in 14 years had not dulled the Blazers’ edge. In fact, in the case of Matthews, it might have sharpened it.
I asked him if even now, in the second round of the playoffs, if he is still fueled by being counted out.
He might as well have been back at the Memphis restaurant, clapping above his head.
“You are going to ask me if I’m fueled by being counted out?’’ Matthews asked incredulously. “Of course. I’m always fueled by being counted out. And we are going to be counted out in this next series. But it doesn’t matter. We have competed with every team in the West. We have beaten every team in the West. We know we can play with, or beat, everybody.’’