Portland Trail Blazers: 3 reasons the season is over

The Portland Trail Blazers’ 2017-2018 season is over. They went down in the first round to the 6-seeded New Orleans Pelicans in four games.

This was the second straight season the Portland Trail Blazers have been swept. This was the first time since 2008 that the Blazers had home-court advantage, and they came into the playoffs with high expectations. Portland finished the season 49-33 and had the seventh-best record in the NBA this season.

The Blazers dropped the first two games at home and then arguably had their worst game of the season in Game 3. The New Orleans Pelicans had a fantastic game plan, stuck to it and it bothered the Blazers all series long.

Game 4 Saturday night was no different. The Pelicans played tough defense, and their two star players, Jrue Holiday and Anthony Davis, combined for 88 points. The Blazers were not going to lose this game without a fight, and they played their most physical game of series. Both teams seemed sick of seeing each other and multiple guys on both teams finished the game with a technical foul.

The Blazers were down 15 at one point in the fourth quarter before they made a run and to make it a one-point game at 112-111. But the Blazers could never find a way to take the lead and lost Game 4, 131-123, for their 10th straight playoff loss.

The Blazers had a very successful season that nobody can take away from them, but the way they ended the year was very disappointing. This team should have accomplished a lot more, but it didn’t. Let’s take a look at three reasons the season is over for the Blazers and what went wrong in the series against the Pelicans.