Portland Trail Blazers: Looking back at CJ McCollum’s breakout postseason

CJ McCollum has blossomed into a star for the Portland Trail Blazers. In the 2015 playoffs, he was just a sophomore looking to seize an opportunity.

The breaks weren’t exactly plentiful for CJ McCollum after being drafted 10th overall to the Portland Trail Blazers in 2013.

Coming off four years at Lehigh where he averaged 21.3 points per game, he found himself on a veteran team vying for the playoffs. Rather than a traditional lottery franchise looking to throw him into the fire.

Wesley Matthews was locked in as Portland’s 3-and-D starting two-guard. McCollum didn’t help himself by re-breaking the left foot that limited him to just 12 games as a senior before the season. He appeared in 38 games as a rookie, cracking the 20-minute plateau only six times with a stint in the D-League.

McCollum would bounce back with 62 games as a sophomore but the minutes remained scarce at 15.7 a night. Ankle and hand injuries certainly didn’t help build consistency.

McCollum was polished and composed as a four-year collegiate with encouraging per-36 minute averages. He was also 23 years old trying to find his niche on a team trying to capitalize on its best postseason in 14 years.

The Blazers had the second-most used starting five in the league in 2014-15. They’d also acquired experienced playoff wing Arron Afflalo at the deadline to aid the fourth-lowest scoring bench that season, pushing McCollum further down the depth chart.

Then came the night of March 5 against the Dallas Mavericks. One wrong step ruptured Matthews’ left Achilles tendon, sidelining him for the remainder of the season and shifting Portland’s iron-clad dynamic.

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It was a crushing blow to the Blazers’ season and Matthews as a pending free agent but the opportunity McCollum desperately needed.

Afflalo was inserted into the starting lineup making McCollum the backup two-guard. He’d averaged just 12.4 minutes a game before the injury. After, his playing time rose to 22.3 minutes, where he produced 10.9 points a night on 39.3 percent outside shooting to close out the regular season.

The Blazers entered the playoffs as the fifth seed with a first-round matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies.

They’d been a shell of themselves since Matthews went down, going 10-12 to close out the season. To make matters worse, Afflalo missed the final three games of the regular season with a strained right shoulder and was deemed unavailable to play in Game 1.

McCollum had longed for consistent and plentiful playing time. Thanks to the injury bug, he was now starting Portland’s first game of the 2015 postseason.

Despite the starting nod, Game 1 was hardly a coming-out party for McCollum. He was just 1-of-8 for two points in 36 minutes. The Blazers as a whole fell victim to Memphis’ grinding defense, shooting 33.7 percent as a team in a 100-86 defeat.

Afflalo would remain sidelined for Game 2 but adjustments had to be made for Portland to avoid an 0-2 hole.

Allen Crabbe, another two-guard desperate for minutes all year, was inserted into the starting lineup for his 3-and-D capabilities. McCollum was moved to the sixth man role, where his struggles continued in Game 2 as did Portland’s.

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He shot 3-of-13 for six points in 29 minutes. The Blazers shot under 40 percent once again and headed home down 0-2 after a 97-92 loss.

The eighth-best regular-season defense probably wasn’t the best opponent for McCollum to get his playoff feet wet. Nevertheless, these were the cards he’d have to utilize to further his status in the NBA.

Afflalo returned for Game 3 in Portland while Crabbe moved back to his bench-warming gig. McCollum was the spark plug off the bench in this crucial game for the Blazers. But whether it was the comfort of the Moda Center or a cold streak warmed up, he finally rose to the playoff stage.

In 26 minutes, McCollum finished with 26 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field. 10 of those points came with under a minute left and the game more or less sealed for the Grizzlies. Given his struggles, the performance, which included 8-of-9 from the stripe, was welcomed nonetheless, even in another Blazers loss.

That one-game spark was all McCollum needed to build off of. He followed it up with 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting in Game 4, including the go-ahead 3-pointer to break an 88-88 tie with 1:20 remaining in a necessary win to keep Portland’s season alive.

The optimism was short-lived as the Blazers were eliminated the very next game, but not without McCollum stealing every headline in a Grizzlies win.

To cap off his postseason eruption, McCollum dropped a game and career-high 33 points in Game 5, shooting 12-of-20 and 7-of-11 from beyond the arc. The threes were a previous franchise single-game playoff record and brought McCollum’s name into the national stratosphere.

Even while he was riding high, McCollum never reentered the starting lineup over those final three outings. His minutes simply rose with each game while Afflalo’s trended the opposite direction.

He shot 60.9 percent from the field and 64.7 percent from distance, averaging 25.7 points with 4.0 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game.

The Blazers were a vastly different team the following season with Damian Lillard the only returning starter. They had no choice but to make McCollum a full-time starter, not that he hadn’t already earned a promotion.

He posted career-highs across the board en route to the 2015-16 Most Improved Player award. Another four consecutive 20-point seasons as half of one of the league’s most dangerous backcourts and McCollum continues to seize the opportunity he patiently waited to arrive.