It was earlier this winter, when the Trail Blazers season started going wayward amid a flurry of injuries, that Damian Lillard became more resolute than ever to make the playoffs.



He has led the Blazers to the playoffs six consecutive seasons, but he said getting this team, in this season, to the playoffs would be his greatest accomplishment.



“Because no other season in my career looked like we wouldn’t be in the playoffs more than this one,” Lillard said. “And we haven’t had this much adversity since I’ve been in the league either.”



So while much of Portland has been teetering between giving up or losing interest in the struggling Blazers after injuries to Zach Collins, Rodney Hood, Pau Gasol, Skal Labissiere, and recently CJ McCollum, Lillard has dug in deeper, holding onto that obsession with making what he calls “the tournament.”



“I want that on my resume,” Lillard said in...