The Portland Trail Blazers will face off against the Denver Nuggets in the second round of the NBA playoffs, and Brad Botkin of CBS Sports examines how patience has paid off for both teams as they move on in the postseason. Botkin explains how both the Blazers and Nuggets ended up playing each other, given how seeding shook out, and avoided playing the Golden State Warriors. He notes that the quiet strength of Portland meant that while others count them out, the team didn’t count themselves out.
All the while, the Blazers have been a really solid team for a long time: Seven straight playoff appearances in the mighty Western Conference, a top-five seed six of those years, the No.