The Portland Trail Blazers tried to look optimistically to the future, but their stunning defeat to the Los Angeles Lakers cast a dark tint to their rose-coloured glasses.
'I'm over it, to be honest with you,' coach Mike Dunleavy insisted. 'I take great solace in how well our guys played and how hard they played, and the fact was that we didn't make mistakes to lose that game. As a coach, you can always live with games you lose when you just don't make shots.' The Blazers appeared headed towards the NBA Finals when they took a 75-60 lead with 10:28 to play in Game Seven. But then they endured one of the great meltdowns in playoff history, missing 13 straight shots and losing 89-84.
'I couldn't find anything that I thought we should have done differently,' Dunleavy said after reviewing tape of the agonising loss and meeting his players. 'Usually when you give up a big lead, what happens is you make mistakes and you turn the ball over. We never did. We had good shots and they just didn't fall for us. The ball was in and out.' The Blazers would have been favoured to win their first title since 1977 had they advanced to play the Indiana Pacers. Instead, they're left wondering how best to fine-tune an already loaded roster for next season. Any move they make has to be aimed at getting an edge on the Lakers.
'We're going to have to beat them to get to where we want to get,' Blazers guard Damon Stoudamire said.
The Blazers have only four players who will be free agents this summer, and all are reserves: Greg Anthony, Stacey Augmon, Antonio Harvey and Gary Grant. There could be significant changes, however.
Blazers president and general manager Bob Whitsitt isn't known as 'Trader Bob' for nothing. Speculation is that he might go after a prime-time free agent like San Antonio forward Tim Duncan.
