In recent weeks, the Portland Trail Blazers have been forced to push through the season despite both lengthy absences from featured stars and culture-shifting trades. Yet, their on-court product hasn’t suffered as of late, with wins over the star-studded Los Angeles Lakers, talented New York Knicks and the defending-champion Milwaukee Bucks. In his column today, TrueHoop’s David Thorpe hypothesized that the reason why boiled down to a few key aspects: energy, passion, selflessness and on-court freshness.
After spending most of the season, and many of the last few seasons among the NBA’s basement in passes made and potential assists, the Blazers’ new gritty, ragtag bunch now sits among the top.