With one of the NBA's top backcourts and the rebirth of Carmelo Anthony, Portland has a chance to become the toughest eight-seed in NBA history.
Every weekday, SI’s Chris Mannix will check-in with his Bubble Bits, a quick hit on something notable from inside the NBA’s campus
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – How dangerous is Portland?
Take a spin through social media and you will find a stark difference of opinion. For weeks, many (including me) have billed the Blazers as one of the compelling teams in central Florida. Portland was on the outside of the playoffs looking in, but began the resumed season with one of the NBA’s top backcourts (Damian Lillard, one of the NBA’s most fearsome scorers and the criminally underrated C.J. McCollum) supplemented by the now healthy frontcourt of Jusuf Nurkic and Zach Collins. Portland, I reasoned, wouldn’t just enter the playoffs as dangerous—they might be the toughest eight-seed in NBA history.
Others scoff, largely because of the Blazers would-be first round opponent: The Lakers. L.A. was 2-1 against Portland during the regular season, the lone loss coming in late January, just days after the tragic passing of Kobe Bryant. The Blazer have no one to defend LeBron, social media buzzed. Anthony Davis will dominate Collins.
OK …
Portland is 2-1 in this resumed season, an errant Nurkic pass against Boston from perhaps being 3-0. Lillard has been outstanding. McCollum, too. Nurkic—like so many big men before him—overwhelmed a small Houston frontcourt, scoring 18 points and collecting 19-rebounds.
Then there is Carmelo Anthony.
There’s no more fascinating story in the bubble than the rebirth of Anthony. Discarded by the Rockets after a ten game stint in the ’18-19 season, Anthony spent a year in the basketball wilderness. Many thought him finished. He was in his mid-30’s. He was inefficient. He wasn’t a willing passer. He wasn’t a high-level defender. He wasn’t keen on coming off the bench. He was an analog player in a digital age.
The restart has been Anthony’s welcome back. He arrived back in Portland slimmer, down five pounds, the rest, Anthony said, “redistributed” to better prepare him for a role at small forward. He put up 21 points on a tidy 7-10 shooting in the Blazers resumed season win over Memphis. He was less efficient against Houston (5-14) but finished with 15 points—the last three a game-winning dagger in the closing minute to beat his former team.
“I find it real funny and disrespectful how people speak on him,” Lillard said. “He's a Hall of Famer."
Anthony is a Hall of Famer—regardless of what you think of his team accomplishments in the NBA, Anthony is a college basketball national champion and arguably the greatest player in USA Basketball history, all of which count towards the Hall of Fame—and he has proven there is still gas left in the NBA tank. “Clarity” is the word Anthony used to describe what he got from his time away from the game. And it’s clear how much the Blazers top players trust him. Anthony’s game winning shot came after Lillard, a lethal fourth quarter scorer, drew the defense in on a drive and swung the ball out to McCollum. McCollum, without hesitation, flipped the ball to Anthony, who knocked down the three.
“Honestly, I don't think you lose that. If you have it, you have it," Anthony said. “It's something that you have to want to, you have to be willing to put yourself in those situations and enjoy those moments, take those shots and believe that you can make those shots.”
Lillard says Anthony didn’t show up in Portland stubbornly determined to be the same player he was in Denver or New York. He has done whatever the team has needed from him.
“He knows we need him sometimes to be on the weak side,” Lillard said. “He knows when it's time to do an isolation on the block. He respects coach when he might take him out before he's ready to come out. I just think when you see those type of things from a guy of his stature, I think it says everything to our team.”
Portland can’t think about the Lakers. Not now, anyway. The Blazers are in a dogfight with six teams for the final playoff spot. The Grizzlies are hemorrhaging talent, but still own the No. 8 seed. Zion Williamson is starting to get up to speed in New Orleans and the Suns and Spurs are a combined 5-1 in the restart. Just making the playoffs will be a Herculean task.
But if they do, they won’t be an easy out. The Blazers will have a huge edge over the Lakers depleted backcourt. Nurkic and Collins are two big bodies Portland can throw at Anthony Davis. And defending LeBron? He will have an edge over Anthony, sure. But what an opportunity for ‘Melo, to go head-to-head with James, an all-time great, one of his closest friends, whose team accomplishments have long overshadowed him.
The odds will be stacked against him.
But when it comes to storybook endings, they often are.