As a Portland Trail Blazers fan, or a basketball fan with a heart at all, it’s slightly shudder-inducing to hear Brandon Roy talk about the season that was ahead, back in the Summer of 2009. He talks of rallying Greg Oden, Rudy Fernandez and LaMarcus Aldridge and drawing upon the strength learnt through defeat at the hands of the Houston Rockets during the 2009 NBA Playoffs.
He talks of mental toughness and using the skills of the likes of Oden to pull the Blazers over the top in their quest for playoff success and getting past the first round. If only he saw the trap-laden path that lay ahead.
By now we all know that the Blazers have endured a season of injury layered upon injury, upon injury, like a super-thick lasagne of doom. The mental toughness that they have instead needed was one of overcoming what has been termed by some as a curse and by others at a minimum, as some of the worst luck imaginable in an NBA season.
Of course, the playoffs are not yet upon us and there is still more than a glimmer of hope for the team from Portland, OR. However, much has been decimated in their ranks — not the least of which being the two centres they started out the season with and numerous games which could have been used to bond the team together on-court. Will that mental toughness serve them well in the playoffs ultimately? Let’s see.
Also: take a look at Rajon Rondo‘s pre-season goals and predictions.
