Six minutes left, down by 30 points, summer began. Guard Damian Lillard went first, checking out of the game. Many at Moda Center stood to applaud the Trail Blazers' star guard, then gathered their belongings and headed into the off-season themselves.

Golden State beat Portland in Game 4, 128-103 on Monday. Exit interviews are scheduled for Tuesday. Cancun, I'm assuming, on Wednesday.

Before the beach, though, let's linger a moment on those exit interviews. Because in addition to boilerplate media interviews, coach Terry Stotts and general manager Neil Olshey will meet privately with players. They'll discuss off-season plans. They'll talk roles and goals. It's what they always do. But if you ask me, they're interviewing the wrong people.

Tuesday's exit interviews should be with the Moda Center ushers, security staff and ball boys. Because as much as we'd like to make the shortcomings of the Blazers organization about the broken roster, the organization's culture is busted, too.

The Warriors didn't just sweep Paul Allen's NBA franchise in four games. They made Portland look as refined as a Winnebago jacked up on four blocks of wood. And my suspicion is that if Portland doesn't fix the franchise culture, any summer personnel moves won't matter.

Ask the employees who shagged balls for Warriors star Kevin Durant during warm-ups at the visiting end of the floor on Monday night. Durant was declared active after sitting out Games 2 and 3. All eyes were on his strained calf. Even teammate Draymond Green stood for a while, arms folded around a basketball, watching.

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Durant wore a pair of headphones during warm-ups. He dribbled. He spun. He shot. Then, he dribbled while spinning and shooting. There were a couple of violent dunks, too. For 15 minutes, Durant broke a sweat and wore out the nets. Then, the guy making $26.5 million a year did the most interesting thing -- he slid the headphones off his ears and he walked around shaking hands with each of the half dozen ball boys and staffers who had chased balls down for him.

"Thank you, I appreciate it," the eight-time NBA All-Star said to each of them.

Give those witnesses exit interviews, too. Ask them what they believe good culture has to do with championship success. Then, ask the security staff at the Moda Center what they thought of Steph Curry's performance on Tuesday night.

Not the 37-point, eight-assist performance. Rather, the act Curry pulled with the Moda Center ushers who work the route between the court and the visiting locker room, making $12 an hour.

Curry walked by each of them on Monday night, stopping to shake their hands and thank them. Charlie, a long-time Moda Center staffer who works the spot just beyond the darkness of the tunnel opening, held up his hand and examined it after Curry passed. He announced, "This is the hand that Steph Curry shook."

Ask Charlie what he thinks the most impressive thing about the Warriors is. Bet he doesn't start the conversation with how gifted and deep the roster is. Bet he talks about Curry's leadership. Or the way Golden State majority owner Joe Lacob positioned himself along the locker-room route after the sweep, fist-bumping his players, but refusing to smile. We've all seen Olshey out-dress and out-groom the league, so I'll bet Charlie noticed that Warriors GM Bob Myers arrived at the arena on the team bus, disheveled.

The collar of Myer's white dress shirt was popped up. The executive who assembled what could be the greatest team in NBA history was trying to put on his tie while walking toward the court and talking with a reporter. The pair finally stopped in the tunnel, and worked together to get the thing straight.

Warriors beat reporter Connor Letourneau, in his first season on the beat for the San Francisco Chronicle, told me on Monday afternoon that the organization's transparency is remarkable.

"I joke that it's easier for me to get a one-on-one with Steph Curry than it was for me to get a one-on-one with the back-up quarterback at Cal when I covered Cal," Letourneau said. "It's a very open, family-type atmosphere and I think that's a big part of why they're successful.

"Yes, they have a phenomenal personnel and have a great roster, but they get it. They get how to work with media. They get how this works. I thought (Sunday) was a great example of that. The fact that (coach) Steve Kerr came and announced himself that he wasn't feeling well and didn't know what was going to happen... that said a lot to me. It wasn't supposed to be Kerr making that announcement. It was supposed to be Bob Myers, who was supposed to talk... but I know that Ray Ridder, their media guy, said to Kerr, 'Hey, if you feel up to this, it would be a lot better if you came and spoke yourself.'"

Ridder, incidentally, showed up in the primary press tribune in Section 113 minutes before tip of Saturday's Game 3. He scrambled up the stairs from the arena floor and walked the rows of media, asking members of the Trail Blazers' press corps, "Do you have everything you need from us?"

I told Ridder I was good. Now that I think of it there is something I do need. I need Ridder to meet with Allen and Olshey and help them understand that fostering good working relationships with media, and by extension, the team's fan base, is a symptom of larger organizational health. Remember, the Blazers mid-season slide? The team's media partner, Comcast Sportsnet Northwest, fired an employee who criticized Olshey on Twitter. The Warriors would never have been so myopic and reactionary.

The Blazers have a line of decent, hard-working employees. But they work under heavy-handed guidelines and directives. They play scared. The whole operation feels paranoid and clouded by the sticky culture of Vulcan, Inc.

For example, Olshey instituted a rule at the beginning of the 2016-17 season that prohibited media from occupying the folding chairs near the team bench during the pre-game period. Those 20 or so seats are off limits. Media now assembles on the baseline area during warm-ups. The rule change was pitched as if it were the creation of some kind of NBA-player sanctuary. But guess which franchise employee used that off-limits space prior to Games 3 and 4 in Portland to sit and avoid having to answer questions about his roster?

Answer: Olshey.

Former GM Kevin Pritchard commented after he was unceremoniously fired in 2010 that when you're hired by Allen you have a ticking clock dangling from your neck, counting down the minutes. Olshey must hear the tick. He knows the salary and title came with an expiration date, one that feels a couple of cycles away. Olshey's hair isn't built for rain. Also, he knows how this ends. So the hunch here is that Portland isn't his forever place. And you just can't build winning culture while simultaneously wearing a "Get me out of here!" look for the rest of the league's owners.

The Blazers need to get Lillard more help. It's absolutely true. They have nice guards in he and CJ McCollum. Also, they made a nice trade for center Jusuf Nurkic. But don't drink the Kool-Aid being peddled right now. The Nurkic deal was a good trade, but that's all it was. Portland is busy selling the deal as if the organization has discovered its own "Big Three." That, framed against, the NBA Draft has everyone believing this is fixed.

With flawed culture comes flawed results. I have reasonable doubt that the roster can be repaired in one summer given that the Blazers find themselves married to Evan Turner ($70 million) and Meyers Leonard ($41 million). Turner is a reserve who struggles to shoot. Leonard's confidence is shot. He hasn't been the same since Olshey fired his personal coach, Kim Hughes, in summer 2015 for speaking honestly about the organization's worst-kept secret (everyone knew LaMarcus Aldridge was leaving, right?). The only value with Turner and Leonard right now is that the size of the contracts might help make the numbers work on a possible trade.

But again, isn't there a deeper, more troubling issue here?

In this 4-0 playoff sweep didn't the Warriors demonstrate that they're not only more gifted and talented, but also, that they're more culturally sound? Airtight, in fact? Quite possibly, the best culture in major professional sports. Sitting Durant was a wise move. Golden State has bigger game to hunt. Meanwhile, on the other side, the Blazers acted like Game 3 had been changed to a half-court game and rolled out a center (Nurkic) with a fractured leg.

The Warriors get it. The Blazers just don't. I know, silly things, handshakes and humility. I know, it's petty that transparency and the ability to relate to your fan base is held up as a symptom of greatness. But really, didn't we just see it proven first-hand?

Remove a perennial All-Star and the head coach for a couple of games each and it didn't make a lick of difference to the winning side. Not just because the Warriors are as deep as a well, but because they're wound as tight as rope. They have wonderful character combined with brilliant talent combined with great leadership and culture.

The result is a remarkable sight.

Like those 'I appreciate it' handshakes Durant offered up.

-- @JohnCanzanoBFT