(No) Chips On Their Shoulders: NBA stars with legacies to defend in the second round of the playoffs

Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers

Enter: “Raptors West” – the team that no one is excited about, even as they carve themselves a top-4 seed year after year, because we all know that the cream of the crop will always rise. Even with Dame flirting with the title of second-best active PG in a top-heavy race at his position, their fate remains the same in many people’s eyes.

Of all the years we’ve watched him, though, this one feels as if it has the most potential. The Warriors, for whatever reason, seem to be their most vulnerable, and may even be felled by trigger happy Rockets who pushed them to the brink last year. The Blazers, despite being written off yet again after the horrific injury to starting center Jusuf Nurkic, look dialed-the-eff-in against a Thunder team many had pegged to defeat them easily.

Now, with Dame smacking 3’s from Curry-range (and frequency) and the rest of the roster stepping up when it counts, this may be his chance to not only silence his haters, but ice his status as NBA cult-hero legend.