Portland Has A Problem: They Aren't Playing Houston Any More

Some defense would be nice

Remember when the NBA Playoffs had games that were decided by less than five points, went to overtime a lot, and had exciting runs that demanded your complete attention?

Yeah, me neither.

The late game saw the Spurs race out to an early and ominous lead behind Tony Parker, who owned his matchup with Damian Lillard. Tim Duncan double-doubled in just 24 minutes, Kawhi Leonard had his now annual emergence, and Portland just couldn't put it in the ocean, especially from beyond the arc. Combine that with a turnover deficit, and you get a game that's just never in doubt. The Spurs led by 29, which makes the final of 116-92... well, exactly representative, really.

So we're four games in, the road teams are 2-2, the games have been snoozefests, and honestly, I can't blame you if you've tuned out by now. It should get better soon, in that it can't get worse, and the conference finals should be good. Hell, the Finals might be good as well, especially if Miami has saved up all of their good basketball for the last two months of the year, or the Wiz can come up with the best stretch of their careers. And maybe Portland revives in front of their actual crowd, and we get a decent series in this round after all. It's not as if the Spurs haven't suddenly gone south in a series before. (Um, see last June.)

But man alive, we've had ten hours of utterly uneven ball, after two weeks of nothing but joy. I like being right in my predictions, but not this much.