I walked toward the doorway of the Trail Blazers’ media room on my way to the Moda Center court and was stopped by an attendant.

“You’re going to have to wait a moment, the players are getting ready to go on the court,” the attendant said.

“No problem,” I replied.

I leaned against the wall to wait as the Golden State players began to assemble for their pregame huddle before running onto the court to face the Blazers in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals on Monday night. I was one of several sports reporters from The Oregonian/OregonLive covering the Blazers’ playoff run, and my assignment was to cover the Blazers’ opponent, be it the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Denver Nuggets or these Warriors.

One by one, the Warriors gathered around each other. As they did, guard Stephen Curry leaned against a wall and started warming up by swinging his leg next to where I was standing. Then he turned, faced me, and wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

“Can I borrow you for a moment?” Curry asked.

“Uh, OK,” I replied.

Next thing I know, I am in the middle of the Warriors’ team huddle, a 5-foot-5 journalist surrounded by players no shorter than Quinn Cook at 6-2 and as tall as Andrew Bogut and Damian Jones at 7 feet. My wife said later that I looked like one of the Smurfs.

"Enjoy the show. Ready?” Curry said as the players closed in.

“Yep,” I replied, not knowing what was coming next.

I don’t remember exactly what the players said during their pregame chant — something about “Aye. Aye. Walk?” — but it was over in seconds and Curry quickly ushered me out of the huddle. Immediately after that, a friend sent me a text.

“What are you doing getting on TV pregame?”

What just happened?

I didn’t think much of it until Dieter Kurtenbach of The (San Jose) Mercury News posted the pregame huddle video on Twitter. Kurtenbach initially described me as a “random stadium employee,” which I thought was hilarious. He later correctly identified me. Thanks, Dieter.

That’s how I found out I was a stand-in for injured Warriors forward Kevin Durant, who normally is in the middle of the huddle. Durant has been battling a strained calf and didn’t make the trip to Portland. In his absence during these playoffs, the Warriors have had to improvise, according to Kurtenbach, by using props such as a mop, a basketball and ... me.

Fast forward to after the Warriors defeated the Blazers 119-117 in overtime to complete a four-game sweep and win the series. I sat in the interview room in the front row, waiting for a player to enter. Warriors forward Draymond Green walked in and sat down at the podium.

I raised my hand to ask a question and was handed a microphone.

“Draymond, can you talk about ...”

Green cut me off.

“You was good luck today."

I played along.

“Are you guys going to fly me down to the Finals?” I asked.

“Absolutely,” Green replied.

“OK, I’ll hold you to that."

“I’ll pay for the ticket myself."

“Let’s get together after this is over."

Green then turned and shouted to Raymond Ridder, the Warriors’ vice president of communications.

“Hey Raymond, I gotta buy his flight to the Finals,” Green said while pointing at me. “I ain’t paying for your hotel, though."

“I can do that."

Just a bit of banter. And that was that. Or so I thought. Soon, my cell phone started blowing up with texts from family and friends about my conversation with Green and the pregame huddle. Someone told me the pregame huddle and my postgame exchange with Green was broadcast on ESPN.

Crazy.

While the thought of going to the NBA Finals would be exciting for any sportswriter, it’s not in the cards for me. I cannot accept gifts such as Green’s offer to pay for my flight because I’m a journalist and cannot accept such things, for ethical and conflict-of-interest reasons. I didn’t think Green was serious about the offer, but I couldn’t accept it anyway.

In the past few days, people have called me a good luck charm for the Warriors. Please. Let’s be real here. The Warriors, who will be appearing in their fifth consecutive NBA Finals, don’t need a short, stubby and graying 60-year-old reporter who couldn’t jump over a piece of paper lying on the court without risk of injury as a replacement for Durant.

Even in the pregame huddle.

-- Geoffrey C. Arnold | @geoffreyCarnold