It's by no means an easy win, but I think if Portland wins this series we'll remember it as easier than the first round. There's no guarantee that things always get harder in later rounds--the Mavs said our first round series with them during their championship run was their hardest.
I was pretty worried about the superstar play of Harden and Howard, and Howard really did destroy us. Any time you face a dominant center who goes off for 24/13/55%/27PER, and you still win, you should count yourself damn lucky. With better coaching he could easily have racked up 30-35ppg and there wasn't anything we could do. And then you also have to contend with the best Shooting Guard in the game, and role players in Asik and Beverley who seem custom-made to contain our two best players. And then there was always the potential to get fucked massively by refs.
The Spurs have a great collection of players and a fantastic coach. But I feel like Portland will compete well with them. We may lose, but it won't be a sweep or blowouts. It's going to be a battle, but unlike with the Rockets I don't think we risk getting utterly embarrassed out there.
It's the difference between fighting a guy who is slightly smarter and slightly bigger than you, and fighting a retard twice your size. If you lose to the smart guy after 15 minutes, well, that sucks but you live with it. If the retard swings a haymaker and you go down in the first 10 seconds, that just fucking sucks.
