The Portland Trail Blazers are off to a hot 7-3 start. There are plenty of reasons to get excited about them. But before you jump headfirst into them: remember, they haven’t faced a real contender yet.
Through 10 games, the Portland Trail Blazers are 7-3. They are the league’s second best rebounding team, seventh best scoring team, and hold the third best point-differential. They’re currently third in the West.
Besides that sounding a little eerily familiar to last year, things look good for the Blazers. Damian Lillard currently sits at fourth in scoring league-wide (28.1 ppg). The combination of Jusuf Nurkic and Zach Collins down low has netted them the fourth best defensive rating in the league. And the Blazers are doing all of this while CJ McCollum hasn’t gotten totally going yet.
You might be thinking it’s time to buy into the Blazers. They’re on pace to win 57 wins, after all!
But before you dive headfirst into Port-Town Blaze-mania, remember that their 7-3 record – though impressive – has come through a fairly light schedule against teams they should be beating.
Six of their nine opponents so far this season currently hold records below .500 through 9 or more games.
This isn’t to say their opponents have been bad. But it is to say that the group has yet to face a real test. There’s a reason Meyers Leonard told Joe Freeman of the Oregonian:
“Couple of us guys were just talking. We could very easily be 9-1.”
Not only have they played with lots of energy and trust in each other as Freeman details in his article, but their loss to the 2-7 Washington Wizards could’ve easily been avoided while they nearly stole the game away from the 4-6 Los Angeles Lakers in their second meeting.
These losses this season have been regrettable blips, while their wins haven’t exactly been triumphs.
Yes, they’ve defeated the likes of the Houston Rockets, New Orleans Pelicans, and Minnesota Timberwolves, all of which were projected to make the playoffs. But all of these teams had hands tied behind their backs: Houston was missing James Harden due to a hamstring injury; New Orleans was sitting Anthony Davis; the Wolves are a mess.
Perhaps their best win came against the 6-3 San Antonio Spurs. Nobody really made a big deal out of it. Probably because they had just suffered the losses of Dejounte Murray and Derrick White and everything was crashing down. But they’re a really solid team; Demar DeRozan has career-highs in points, rebounds, and assists, while LaMarcus Aldridge is remaining as solid as ever.
Still, I have San Antonio a step below the Golden State Warriors, Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors, and Houston (at full strength).
This isn’t to say that Portland can’t be taken seriously until they play one of these four teams, but it is to say that they have yet to make a statement. Going 9-1, that’s making a statement through sheer magnitude of wins. Beating a Houston at full-strength or redeeming themselves against a fully-loaded New Orleans team, that’s making a statement by showing off power.
Securing a respectable 7-3 record in the Blazers’ context is just that – respectable. Something they should be proud of but know could be better, like Leonard said.
While there may already be enough to go off to say this Portland team will be in the playoffs, I’d hold off on fully buying into them yet… not until they show dominance or get a statement win in a big game. Over the last two years, we’ve seen the Blazers crumble under pressure. We need to know they can put up a fight against the best teams in the toughest settings.