No matter what happens in their first-round playoff series with the Rockets, the Blazers are a budding Western Conference juggernaut, says SI.com's Scott Howard-Cooper. Portland evened its first-round series against Houston with a 107-103 win last night, and there are better days ahead. "This is only the coming attraction," says Howard-Cooper. "The Trail Blazers of opening night in October were the second-youngest team in the league, trailing only the Warriors, yet still won 54 games. A candidate to start at small forward, Martell Webster, missed all but five minutes because of a stress fracture in his left foot and the projected starting center, Greg Oden (left), missed 21 games, yet Portland tied for the second-best record in the West. Without coming close to touching the ceiling, with inexperience and injuries, the breakout season many predicted materialized as if everything had broken right. The franchise's best season in nine years was a shot across the bow to the rest of the league."
