The Portland Trail Blazers in 2015-16 look nothing like last season’s edition. A lot of key players left, and they’re going to take wins along with them. But as the Oregonian says — and we agree — this year’s Blazers should still be plenty of fun to watch:
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The latest and perhaps most dramatic example of this came in an exhibition game Sunday night, when the Blazers overcame a 21-point deficit to beat the Utah Jazz in overtime, 116-111, before 16,532 at the Moda Center.
Never mind that three Jazz starters didn’t play. Or that most of Utah’s key rotation players rested for the bulk of the fourth quarter and overtime after building that sizeable lead. The young-and-hungry Blazers refused to end the night without putting on a show, riding the hot hand of CJ McCollum, the prolific scoring of Damian Lillard and the impressive defense of Ed Davis to outscore Utah 50-27 over the final 17 minutes.
“This is a young team, athletic and we have an All-Star point guard, so every night we’re going to be in games,” Davis said. “We’re going to fight, it’s going to be a long season, it’s going to be a lot of up and downs. But every night we’re going to fight and give it our best effort.”
For much of the night, it looked like it would be one of those nights where the effort wasn’t enough. Instead, with more than one memorable highlight and plenty of late-game drama, the effort and success went hand-in-hand.
