With his voice cracking with emotion, Allen stood before the Blazers and told them he was proud. Proud of how hard they worked. Proud of how they stayed together. And ultimately, proud of how far they advanced, pushing the reigning NBA champions to the limit during a thrilling 4-1 defeat in the Western Conference Semifinals.
A private and introverted man, Allen has almost always made a short speech to his team after a season. But few could recall one ever rivaling Wednesday’s, both in length and emotion.
“What he said came from the heart,’’ Damian Lillard said. “You could hear it in his voice. He really meant what he was saying. He saw that we left it out there, and he saw how bad we wanted it. And he felt it, he felt what we did.’’
Throughout the season, Allen would pop in on the Blazers and make short visits to the locker room. Mostly he would visit with coach Terry Stotts, but sometimes he would talk with players.
“He’s talked to us, like good game and stuff like that, but he has never given us a monologue like that, never a speech like that,’’ Maurice Harkless said. “He was very emotional, you could tell it was real genuine what he was saying, and I think everybody felt it.’’
