The Portland Trail Blazers story is a nice one this season even though it's destined to end in a few weeks in the opening round of the playoffs.

The Blazers came into this season ripe with the reputation of a bickering group of overpaid, overly pampered and overly obnoxious athletes.

They staggered off to a 19-20 start and out came the grave-digging shovels. But, a strange thing happened on the way to the cemetery.

Portland had hired a new coach over the summer, veteran assistant coach and former sterling playmaking guard for the Philadelphia 76ers, Maurice Cheeks.

Cheeks was possibly nonplussed when he first ran into the concrete heads in the Portland locker room. Some even surmised that the coach's reign would be short-lived.