The Portland Trail Blazers Get The Final Word And Last Laugh In Their Defeat Of The Oklahoma City Thunder

When the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Portland Trail Blazers last Friday evening, cutting Portland’s series lead to 2-1, members of the Trail Blazers watched as players on the Thunder not only reveled in their victory, but rubbed the Trail Blazers noses in the loss.

There was Russell Westbrook “rocking the baby” after every shot he made. There was Dennis Schroder mocking Damian Lillard by derisively imitating his “Dame Time” motion. Even the usually mild-mannered Paul George wanted to add one last sprinkle of salt in Portland’s wound when he completed a reversing dunk as time expired in Oklahoma City’s double-digit-point win.

But in any battle, history doesn’t talk about who had the first laugh; rather, it’s all about the “last laugh.”

And those revels were enjoyed by Lillard and the Trail Blazers, as they not only won Game 4 by a 13-point margin in Oklahoma City (in a game in which they never trailed Oklahoma City after halftime), and then closed out the series in the friendly confines of the Moda Center with Lillard’s sensational 37-foot buzzer-beating shot representing the game-winning shot, giving Portland the Game 5 victory and 4-1 series win.

For a fan base that’s watched too many opponents have signature moments against this Portland team (Michael Jordan’s shrug and Shaquille O’Neal’s alley-oop to name a couple), Lillard’s game-winner might already be the most replay-worthy moment of this year’s NBA Playoffs to date, and could go down as one of the most iconic moments in the franchise’s history.

It’s not just about Lillard confirming his status as one of the two best point guards in the Western Conference (alongside Golden State’s Stephen Curry), ahead of the more-often-discussed Westbrook, after hitting the aforementioned game-winner right in the face of one of the best defensive players in the NBA (George) and out-dueling his nemesis (Westbrook) for nearly the entirety of the series.

This was also about Portland exorcising their demons of their ugly playoff exit from last year. You don’t have to remind any player on or fan of the Trail Blazers about what happened in their series against the New Orleans Pelicans last year.

The last thing either party wanted was a déjà vu series against Oklahoma City, especially given how so many talking heads once again declared the Trail Blazers as being the team to most likely get upset in the first round of the playoffs.

Lillard’s shot was the proverbial nail that put said demons in a coffin, and kept them there. Even after going up 2-0 before heading to Oklahoma City, instead of letting a “here we go again” thought affect their collective psyche after the Game 3 loss (and the potential for Oklahoma City to tie the series in Game 4), Portland came out played like a squad that knew they were the better team, taking care of business as quickly and emphatically as possible

So as players on the Thunder chirped at their Trail Blazers counterparts during the series, it was the Trail Blazers who would get to have the last word and the last laugh.