<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Jones: What was your best year? What is the highlight of being the owner of the Portland Trail Blazers? Allen: There are quite a few highlights. I think potentially the first year we went to the finals. If I remember correctly, we beat Phoenix and we went to the finals. Being in the finals that year is something that was incredibly intense and was pretty unexpected. Even last year - that series against Dallas when we came down from 3-0 - that was fun, too. Whenever you play in the finals in any sport in the championships - those are some fond memories. I remember the series we played against Chicago and Jordan hit all those three's, and he couldn't even believe that he was shooting like he was. That was certainly a highlight. Then our series against the Lakers just a few years ago when we were leading by quite a bit in the fourth quarter. I can't tell you that's a fun memory, but that is certainly a memory of intense competition, and then eventually, disappointment at being that close to the finals and then not getting there. Jones: When you get that close and you lose how do you handle the loss? Allen: I think it's just human that for the first two or three days it's a huge disappointment and then you got to say to yourself, or at least I do, "Ok we came that close we have to reload, we have to get back to it. What can we do next year and come back out and get going again and surpass what we accomplished that last year?" Those things, to me, make you want to achieve more because you want to get beyond what held you back. Jones: Because there seems to be this misconception about your competitive spirit and your desire to win because you don't make a lot of public statements about 'I'm angry because we lost I'm going to change the whole team I'm going to do this' -- you are pretty even. But you're a very competitive person, aren't you? Allen: This is true, I am competitive, but I certainly believe we have done a lot of things with the team over the years to be competitive and to stay competitive, and try to get over the hump in the playoffs. On the other hand you can't let any one particular game or loss in the playoffs get you down to the point where you are not excited about jumping back into it. I don't think it is appropriate always to show your disappointment when you are trying to tough it out. You've got to have your game face when you go through a playoff series, and then when you get a chance, to sit back and think about what changes need to be made. </div> Full Story Paul Allen is a very mature owner. Hopefully some of it will start to rub off on the players now that some of the negative locker room influence is/will be gone.
