Trail Blazers play like also-rans — but can still claim third seed in West
In spite of it all — the four straight losses, the poor three-point shooting, the porous defense — the Portland Trail Blazers still control their own destiny.
The Trail Blazers play the Utah Jazz Wednesday night in the season finale for both teams.
One of these squads has been playing well lately. The other has been playing like an also-ran.
Guess which one is which?
What Happened to the Blazers?
Portland has lost four straight games, including a puzzling and inexcusable loss to the terrible Dallas Mavericks. And — as if that weren’t unpleasant enough — they’ve lost seven of their last 11 games, too, including a baffling and only slightly excusable loss to the awful Memphis Grizzlies.
More from Blazers News
- Blazers News: Portland signs FIBA WC standout center
- Blazers News: Portland re-signing failed lottery pick
- Portland Trail Blazers NBA 2K24 team, player ratings
- Woj: Blazers, Lillard ‘fully prepared’ for star to be with team in training camp
- 3 Underrated Blazers who could make a massive impact this season
Only nine teams have won fewer games than Portland over that 11-game span — and only one of those nine, the Washington Wizards, are playoff-bound. And the Wizards, for the record, are the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference.
To put it another way, the Blazers are playing like a team tanking for the lottery, not one angling for a playoff position.
What the heck happened?
Three and D
In their last 11 games, the Blazers are the worst three-point shooting team in the league (29 percent). That’s significantly lower than their season average of 36.6 percent, which is good enough for 11th in the NBA.
What else?
Defense.
Or the lack thereof.
A strength for much of the season, the Blazers’ defensive rating has fallen off a cliff, too. In their last 11 games, the Blazers’ defensive rating has dropped from ninth to 16th in the league.
Much of this has to do with injuries to Maurice Harkless and Ed Davis. The Blazers have missed both players’ defense as well as Harkless’ three-point shooting.
The Good News
The good news is that, despite all this statistical mediocrity, the Blazers are still in position to secure home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
There are a hella lot of permutations for various playoff scenarios, but the simplest thing for the Blazers to do is just beat the Jazz on Wednesday. Doing so will secure the third seed in the playoffs.
Next: So easy — and yet so hard — for the Blazers right about now
And then, of course, once the playoffs get underway, we can forget all about the Blazers poor play over the last couple of weeks and focus on the issue at hand: Winning one game at a time and advancing to the second round.
Wednesday tip-off against the Jazz is set for 7:30 p.m. PDT at the Moda Center.
Go Blazers.