NBA Playoffs 2014: Portland Trailbllazers Crash Rockets Ambitious Finals Goal! Will Kevin McHale Get The Axe?

The Portland Trailblazers completed their first round charge in dramatic fashion! A buzzer beating three point shot by Damian Lillard brought the dagger to the heart of the ambitious Houston Rockets.

The Rockets had bold declarations to win a championship after they acquired Dwight Howard through free agency. They started with a few bumps, but for about half a month from the All-Star break, they looked like the best team in the NBA.

They received a shock from the playoffs when the Portland Trail Blazers, who also held the best record in the league early in the season, beat them twice at their own homecourt.

The Rockets fought strongly, beating the Blazers in Portland in overtime (one of three overtime games in the series). Portland took the first home win in Game 4 before the Rockets had the most convincing win of the series in Game 5 at Houston.

Game 6 went back to Portland, and it was a must-win for the LaMarcus Aldridge and company. They did not want to go back to Houston to battle a resurgent team supported by a strong home crowd.

It came down to one play:

ESPN had sound bites from the game: Nic Batum - "The play was for LaMarcus but [Lillard] was so wide open, we had to break the play."

Coach Terry Stotts of Portland: "To be honest, I didn't think Dame would come that open. Aldridge] was probably the first look, but Dame came wide open."

Damian Lillard hit a three pointer with 0.9 seconds left. The series-and the season of the Houston Rockets went down with it.

Damian Lillard vivdly recalls: "It felt real good leaving my hands. Once I saw it on line, I said, 'That's got a chance.' When Chandler Parsons made that layup with 0.9 seconds left, everybody was like, 'Man, we've got to go back to Houston. The first thing I did after he made it was look to the other end to see how much time was left. I knew we would get a shot off. I didn't know the quality of the shot, but we got as good a look as we were going to get."

Fourteen years. It was 2000 when the Portland Trailblazers marched to the Western Conference Finals only to be shot down in Game 7 by the Shaq and Kobe led Lakers. They have not won a playoff series ever since. Until now.

Most of the blame for Houston's collapse was placed on Kevin McHale. But reports say he's not getting the axe. From ESPN:

"ESPN.com's Ramona Shelburne and Marc Stein reported last week that team officials believe McHale 'deserves more than one season' working with the youngest team in the playoffs."