Time for some real talk: In early May, things weren't quite going well for me. School had thrown me a curveball that would set me back, a few things beyond my control happened, and I was pretty depressed. Then that shot happened.

I've never been silly enough to define myself by my sports fandom, but like most sports fans I was living and dying by Houston's playoff series. Winning gave me 24 hours of happiness followed by worry over the next game. Losing gave me 48 hours of sadness, depression, and anger (mostly at referees).

After the 2011 Finals, LeBron said he couldn't watch television for months because he would be watching a cooking show and they would say, "Here's how to make an omelette and LeBron choked in the Finals!" Well, that's how things were after that playoff series. "And the Red Sox drop another game, but at least they didn't lose in the heartbreaking fashion that the Rockets did!" (Cue highlights of shot played 100 times in a row).

I know Portland will love that shot forever. Good for them. It will haunt me forever.

I didn't watch a second of basketball in the second round except to see Portland lose. I didn't watch the East or West Finals. I barely watched the Finals. It was too painful, because even when Portland wasn't playing the announcers found any way they could to remind me about it or show it. I couldn't watch ESPN for months. Everywhere I went, there it was. I see Chandler Parsons' outstretched arm in my mind as clearly as if it was happening in front of me right now.

I didn't want to talk about it. I didn't want to to name any of the players on the Blazers, especially You-Know-Who. I called him Point Guard #0 like an NCAA game. On a podcast, Mike joked that he was my Voldemort. The name stuck, and that's what I've called him ever since. Eventually, I got the idea to make this a Harry Potter-themed preview. So, it's The Order of the Phoenix vs. The Death Eaters.

In a perfect world, the Order would face off against the Death Eaters after a week off, like in football. Voldemort's crew would be coming off their fifth game in four nights and would have played a noon game today as well. But you can't determine how the Battle of Hogwarts goes down. You can only try to win.

Tip off is at 7pm CST

Matchups: