Blazers Remain Focused on Second Round after Early Success

The Trail Blazers have taken a moment to enjoy their victory over the Thunder to open the NBA Playoffs, but they are clearly focused on continuing their string of positive results. On Friday, The Oregonian’s Joe Freeman spoke with Damian Lillard and Moe Harkless about their respective approaches to the next round.

For Lillard, he is using the fan’s reaction to his late-game heroics as fuel.

“After seeing how the crowd reacted, I saw a video of people around the city in bars and stuff reacting to it. And instead of me being excited about that night, I was like, ‘What if we win the second round? What if we go to the Western Conference Finals? How are they going to react then?’ That was my mentality.”

Harkless made it clear that he isn’t satisfied with the Blazers’ 4-1 series win over the Thunder.

“I don’t think anybody in here is satisfied,” Moe Harkless said. “We’re happy that we were able to take care of business in the first round, but we’re not satisfied. We know that we’ve got more work to do. We’re capable of doing more things this postseason.”

The Blazers will find out who they face in the next round after the Nuggets and Spurs complete their seven game series on Saturday.

You can read Freeman’s full article by visiting The Oregonian.