Playing the song Animals on extreme in Just Dance might be challenging, but it’s nothing compared to getting back to the playoffs in the NBA after a drought lasting many years. You might think that adding the play in the tournament makes it easier, but that makes it easier to get a shot. 

Even if you qualify for the play-in tournament, you still have to win at least one game to lock yourself into one of the worst seeds left, and if you lose your first game, you now have the insane pressure of a win-or-go-home single playoff game. It’s single elimination for some teams, double elimination for others, and full-on panic mode for all involved. You basically have to play the elite eight of the March Madness bracket before playing your first playoff series. It’s not for the faint of heart. 

And once you get to the first round of the official playoffs, you play one of the best teams in the conference, and they have home-court advantage. It’s a best-of-seven series at that point against a rested opponent that didn’t have to travel: no pressure or anything. 

Pressure and panic aside, this is a cause for celebration. Portland is back in the playoffs, baby, and that means the five-year drought is over. The Trail Blazers have not been in the playoffs since the end of the 2021 season, and they have not won a playoff series since the spring of 2019, way, way, way back before any of us had any idea what Covid was. Portland went on its first deep playoff run in two decades in 2019, so who knows what could happen if they manage to win a series or two this time around. 

More incredible than reaching the playoffs is that Portland did so with a bunch of inexperienced kids. They are the 6th youngest team by average age, the 13th in minutes played by their youngest players, and their youngest players are 14th in usage. As for playoff teams in the Western Conference, only the defending champions and top-seeded Thunder have a younger roster overall, and it’s by a fraction. 

Portland would not see the Thunder unless they reach the Conference Finals, but first, they have to get past the San Antonio Spurs.

The Spurs have one of the oldest active rosters, but their younger players get the bulk of the minutes and usage, so they lean on their veterans for roster depth, not unlike Portland. San Antonio has a first-time head coach in Mitch Johnson, which is interesting, since Portland also has a first-time head coach in Tiago Splitter, who used to play for the Spurs. One of these two young coaches will get their first playoff win in a couple of weeks. 

Spurs center Victor Wembanyama has missed all three games against Portland this season, with his team winning two of them, so we have no idea how Portland will play against him or if their roster is up to the challenge, as they have not faced a Spurs team at full strength to this point. Pretty scary stuff when you consider the Spurs won 62 games this season, including one over Portland just a week ago. The Spurs played OKC six times in the regular season, winning five of those, and that’s against a team that won 64 games this season and had the best record overall. 

If that doesn’t sound tougher than Animal on extreme, then I don’t know what does. 

Whether Portland wins their series or not, it’s awesome that they get to play in one again. It’s not likely Damian Lillard will make an on-court appearance in uniform, but man, that would be amazing. It would bring back memories of this moment for a lot of us.   

As long as they avoid getting swept and win at least one game while being competitive in the others, this should be fun. The first game is Sunday at 6pm, so it would be a perfect time to introduce your kids to the playoff Trail Blazers, in case they weren’t old enough to watch them last time they got this far. If they were in elementary school the last time Portland made it, it’s probably a different experience as a teenager. And if they weren’t even born yet, like some kids, then this is something brand new. They may not want to watch all or even most of it, but playoff basketball is never a bad time to catch your first game. It might even get you hooked. 

Personally, I’m excited to see how Portland center Donovan Clingan fares against Wembanyama, as they didn’t get to face each other this season and had few chances against each other during Clingan’s rookie campaign. Battles of the titans are always fun, especially when they are both huge people and can actually play the sport well, which a lot of big men struggle to do. 

Clingan gives up some length and height but has an advantage in overall size and strength, so that it will be an interesting matchup of literal giants. It’s always fun when the two tallest guys on the court are two of the best players in the lineup, and that will be the case this time. Clingan doesn’t have the sport-redefining talent that his counterpart has, but he is a big body with plenty of skill who can do a lot of things from within twenty feet of the hoop. 

The Trail Blazers winning game or even two (let alone four (gasp!)) would be great, but just seeing them play again in the playoffs will be a blast from the past. Time to teach your kids the lyrics to bust a bucket and watch with the pride only a Rip City Maniac can know and feel. 

Welcome back to the playoffs, Portland. I hope you stick around for a while.