The Portland Trail Blazers will soon enter a stretch of games that may determine their season. They play five of the top eight teams in the Western Conference.
Good morning, Rip City! What’s going on out there in Trail Blazers land?
It’s been a couple days since Portland wilted in the fourth quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers. What was an entertaining and competitive game got out of hand late; the Cavs outscored the Blazers by 20 points in the second half.
In the Trail Blazers’ defense, they were playing the second game of a back-to-back. And it was their third road game in four nights. They finished the road trip at 1-2.
No More Excuses
But enough with the excuses.
One of those losses, you’ll no doubt remember, came in Atlanta against the Hawks, the team with the worst record in the NBA.
One game later, though, the Trail Blazers looked good in an overtime win in Chicago against the Bulls.
It’s been that kind of season for Portland: hot, cold; glass-half-full, glass-half-empty – glass falling off the table shattering on the floor.
You get the picture.
The Short Term
The Trail Blazers are off Thursday but will return to action Friday against that same Hawks squad that embarrassed them in Atlanta. It will be a chance for some redemption, especially since Damian Lillard has returned to the lineup. (He did not play during the loss to the Hawks because of a hamstring injury that kept him out of five games.)
Friday’s game is at the Moda Center – and for most teams, a home game would be a good thing. But as we’ve learned, these Trail Blazers are not most teams. They’re just 8-10 at home this season.
And then? Well, then things get decidedly more difficult.
Tough Road Ahead
After the tilt against Atlanta on Friday, the schedule gets a lot rougher for the Trail Blazers.
It starts with a Sunday matchup at home against the San Antonio Spurs. Then, over the next seven days, the Blazers will play on the road against Oklahoma City, Houston, New Orleans and Minnesota.
That means in the span of a week, the Trail Blazers will play five of the top eight teams in the conference.
It’s easy to think of this as a make-or-break stretch of games for the Trail Blazers, who are currently 19-18 and in seventh place in the Western Conference.
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Make or Break
If the Trail Blazers can’t at least break even on that four-game road trip against the Thunder, Rockets, Pelicans and Timberwolves, they’ll fall even further down in the standings.
And as we’ve seen from this year’s Blazers, there’s no certainty that they’ll be able to climb out of a hole that deep.