Get Ready for The [possibility of] L*kers!!

By securing homecourt the Blazers have greatly increased their chances of reaching the second round! This is farther than I thought they would go last November.

Ever since the possibility of getting fourth seed occurred I've been salivating because it means two things:

1. We'll probably go into the second round. Portland has been unbeatable at home, just crushes opposing teams; 6 wins of 30 or more. In the last 3 home games we have a point differential of 17.7; best in the NBA. For the season it's 9.9, 4th best.  
2. Fourth Seeded second round means the L*kers. Face it; Utah isn't getting out of round one. It'd like to see the upset happen. It's gonna hurt rooting for the Jazz but I will. Still.... 

Some of my favorite memories come from the 2000 WCF run. I attended one of the early playoff games, watched or listened to the rest.

Who among us doesn't remember where they were during the WCF Game Seven?
I still occasionally youtube it (just make sure no one's around to see you cry); most recently last week to get myself fired up for Friday's game. The botched calls against Sabonis, specially in the end of the third quarter, make me furious.

And until last friday, every L*ker and L.A. fan refused to admit to the Rivalry. Kobe made this rivalry real on both side. L.A. wants this; Portland wants it more!

Any game between L.A. and Portland is amazing. A Second Round battle is going to be awesome! It's the beginning of a new era. I'm actually glad we are seeded fourth rather than third, just so we have a greater chance of playing L.A.

[*Edit*] Fair enough; Houston is gonna be tough. Really tough; my least favourite team we could be playing. terrible matchups for us. Homecourt should help some, but I'm not sure it'll be everything. We're gonna need to play like we've been doing for the last month. It's hard to gauge how we'll play against them at home as our first and only game was in early November.

That said, this isn't a post about the upcoming series. I never made any claim that we'd get through it for sure. But the Second Round against L.A. is open because we're in the Fourth Seed specifically.

 As a young child, the last time I cared about Blazers Basketball was that series. I was in 4th grade. I remember where I was when Game seven happened. I'm sure lots of you do too. After that season I stopped paying attention for a few; became more involved in other activities and rode out the ugly years.

This post is about the chance for that to happen again. the hope that my inner child can maybe get some vindication.

But like I said upfront; this is Higher and Farther than I ever expected us to go this season, and am so happy and excited just to have playoff games to attend!