Portland Trail Blazers: Too early to call the hot start fool’s gold, but some real concerns are mounting

The Portland Trail Blazers have dropped three straight games in disappointing fashion. Some real concerns are becoming apparent amid this skid.

Less than seven minutes. That’s how long into the third quarter it took the Portland Trail Blazers to lose their 13-point halftime lead to the LA Clippers. The downfall began with six missed Blazers three-pointers, it morphed into a 17-4 Clippers run, and it culminated in a Tobias Harris three-point play that gave Los Angeles a 65-64 lead.

Even with Portland winning three of the four periods, they never overcame that disastrous third where they were outscored 38-16. Their impressive first half was ultimately squandered. They fell to a very talented and very scrappy Clippers team, 104-100.

The loss to Los Angeles marks the Blazers’ third in a row and their fifth defeat in seven games.

For a brief moment, Portland was atop the Western Conference standings. They had just beaten the Washington Wizards and improved to 11-5. Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum were scoring at will. The second-unit was becoming the story of the season. The group’s resiliency and continuity was what made them special. And they had just passed their way into a 24-second display of brilliance that set Blazers Twitter on fire:

Life was good.

Was.

Now, the Trail Blazers are 12-8 and sixth in the West. In their two previous games, they suffered a 43-point massacre to the Milwaukee Bucks and a 28-point blowout to help a struggling Golden State Warriors team get back on track – a team that was missing both Stephen Curry and Draymond Green.

After facing such gigantic speed bumps, one might point to the group’s hot start as fool’s gold.

Wins that came simply from continuity rather than superiority. Where other teams were forced to deal with the growing pains of learning each others’ tendencies, the Blazers could come out swinging.

But now, as these same teams begin hitting their stride 20 games in, are the mostly intact Blazers looking around and wondering what happened?

It’s too early to tell – especially as this skid began during a challenging 10-day road trip on the cusp of Thanksgiving. The Clippers loss hurts, but even the best teams can drop a game they have every reason to win.

However, while it may be premature to call the first-place Blazers just a mirage, some very real concerns are beginning to mount for this team about a quarter of the way through the season.