Portland Trail Blazers schedule: Crucial stretch ahead
By Bryce Olin
The Portland Trail Blazers have won 13 of their last 15 games and sit alone at second place in the Western Conference, three games back of the Golden State Warriors.
The Trail Blazers next three games, starting Wednesday against the Los Angeles Clippers, may be the biggest three games of Portland’s season and could have major implications on the playoff race in the West.
As Ryan Allison stated in the Blazers-Clippers preview, Portland will try to even the season series with the Clippers, 1-1, with a win. Currently, the Clippers are in sixth place in the West with 25-13 record, five games behind the Trail Blazers.
In the first meeting at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, the Trail Blazers lost to the Clippers 102-106. In the game, Portland dominated the first half, but struggled down stretch. Nicolas Batum had one of his best games of the season, just missing a triple-double with 10 points, eight assists, and eight rebounds.
Hopefully, Batum can have another good game against the Clippers and break out of his season-long shooting slump.
After Wednesday’s game against the Clippers, the Trail Blazers head to San Antonio to take on the Spurs, who are currently 23-16 and sitting in seventh place in the West. The Trail Blazers have already beat the Spurs twice this season, once at home and once in San Antonio in a triple-overtime classic.
Damian Lillard has destroyed the Spurs this season. In the first meeting, Lillard scored 23 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and dished out six assists. In the second meeting, Lillard went bonkers and scored a career-high 43 points.
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With a win over San Antonio on Friday, Portland has a very unique opportunity to clinch the season series with the Spurs and will have won three very critical games in the playoff race. The Spurs and Trail Blazers do meet one more time this season, so a Spurs’ win on Friday leaves open the possibility of splitting the series. To lock in a top seed, like first or second place, in the West, winning the season series against San Antonio may be important.
After San Antonio, Portland squares off against the Memphis Grizzlies in Memphis on Saturday. Portland might be in trouble in that one because the they will be heading to Memphis for the second game of a back-to-back.
In the Trail Blazers only meeting with the Grizzlies in December, Portland got beat up on the interior with Memphis’ frontcourt combining for 49 points and 24 rebounds.
Portland plays Memphis two more times after Saturday’s game, so even if the Trail Blazers win, they’ll have a chance to even the series later on. Still, a win against Memphis is going to be worth more later in the season when the playoff race is bound to get even tighter.
Ultimately, Portland could lose all three games and still be in a great position in the West, but they have the opportunity to expand their early lead in the conference. Winning these big games before the All-Star break is going to help so much down the stretch and should give Portland a decent advantage at getting top seed in the playoffs.
This is one of Portland’s biggest consecutive 3-game stretches of the entire season and a great opportunity to rack up more wins against good competition. Hopefully, the Trail Blazers play like it.