The Portland Trail Blazers faced the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night just one win shy of an nearly-incomprehensible 5-1 late-season road trip. With opponents like the Brooklyn Nets and Boston Celtics already vanquished, the Cavaliers were hardly a threat on paper. But Portland has a way of making easy games hard, so nothing was guaranteed.
As it turned out, the New Look Blazers took the floor tonight, leaving behind their wayward ways. Instead of playing down to the level of their competition, Portland came out strong and shored up their few weaknesses as the game progressed.