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Trail Blazers on the attack, look to stop streaky Lakers: Monday Morning Blazer

Matt George Moore|
PORTLAND, OR - MARCH 3: Zach Collins
PORTLAND, OR - MARCH 3: Zach Collins

Welcome to the post-Oscars Monday Blazer after-party. We’d like to thank the Academy and all our fellow Trail Blazers fans who have made this such a special day for us. You like us! You really like us!

Happy Monday to you, Trail Blazers fans. And it should be a happy Monday, at least as far as basketball is concerned. Especially since Portland has beaten the Los Angeles Lakers 14 times in a row. Can they make it 15?

Speaking of Happy Mondays … does anybody else remember that band? Or am I just an old guy pretty much talking to himself at this point?

Trail Blazers!

The Portland Trail Blazers (37-26; third in the Western Conference) have won six games in row. They’ve won eight of their last nine. They have the fifth-best winning percentage in the NBA.

They’ve picked off giants (Golden State, Oklahoma City, Minnesota) and semi-giants (Utah) alike. Their defense has been spectacular. Over the course of the last few games, the Blazers’ defense has been frenzied, active and completely disruptive — especially in the final two minutes of games.

In fact, no team has a better defensive rating since the All-Star break than the Portland Trail Blazers. And for the season, the Blazers are seventh-best in defensive rating.

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They’re getting contributions from all over the lineup, including a rookie-season-defining game from Zach Collins against the Thunder; he scored a career-high 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting (2-of-2 from three), grabbed five rebounds and blocked two shots. He also provided pivotal defense down the stretch and was a real difference-maker for perhaps the first time in his short NBA life.

Even Evan Turner — Even Evan? Yes, even Evan! — has had a hand in the Trail Blazers’ surge toward the top of the standings. Turner scored 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting, including 3-of-4 from three, against the Thunder.

Lemme tell ya: When Evan Turner is hitting three-pointers — when he’s somehow getting those ugly line-drive shots to go in — then it’s a good sign that the Trail Blazers are firing on all cylinders (a cliché I just grabbed out of my handy pocket dictionary of sports clichés and phrases).

So Now What, Dawg?

Now what? Well, the first thing to do as part of the Oscars after-party is pat ourselves on the back for being right all the time. We’ve been on the Collins Hype Train for a long time now. And the game he had against OKC is just the start of his impending and inevitable dominance.

We also sorta predicted the Trail Blazers’ current awesome-ness:

"Maybe, just maybe, despite a season that has often been filled with frustration and inconsistency, the Trail Blazers are actually in perfect position to make their strongest push yet — one that vaults them out of the suffocating depths of mediocrity and into the fresh air of the Western Conference’s titans."

And, of course, we pinpointed the “secret” reasons for the Blazers’ continued success moving forward:

"But if Portland continues to play as well as it has lately, we may look back come season’s end and say that this was the time the Blazers staked their claim as one of the top teams in the NBA. Not only for this season, but for the foreseeable future."

Why the self-hype? Because we want to impress upon you that the RCP is the only source you need for Blazers-related news and information.

Want to write for us? C’mon! Join the Always Right Party! Click here to find out how.

OK and Then What?

Next up for the Blazers is a Monday night game in Los Angeles against the Lakers (28-34), who are feeling pretty swell themselves, having won five in a row.

But the Lakers are streaky as all get-out. Going back to the Friday before Christmas, they (in order) lost nine, won four, lost two, won four, lost two, won four, lost three, won five.

Looks like the perfect time for the Blazers to bash the Lakers into the start of another losing streak. This is the third and final match-up between the Blazers and Lakers this season, with Portland having won the first two.

The Western Conference playoff race is not for the faint of heart. The Trail Blazers absolutely must stay on the attack; otherwise, they risk undoing all their recent good work. Losses are deadly this time of year.

Next: Tiebreaker scenarios for the Trail Blazers come playoffs

Tip-off at the Staples Center is set for 7:30 p.m. PST.

Go Blazers. Beat them stinkin’, streakin’ Lakers.

And Happy Monday(s)!