With just over two weeks left in this NBA season, the Portland Trail Blazers remain among the top of the league in a slew of power rankings across different media outlets.
It’s Monday, which means two things. One, it’s the start of yet another work week. And two, and much more importantly, a new slew of NBA power rankings are upon us from a variety of sports media outlets! This iteration of Monday was made that much sweeter when NBA.com, ESPN, and Sports Illustrated all placed the rolling Portland Trail Blazers among the top-7 teams in the league.
Over the last week, Portland is 3-0 with wins coming against the Indiana Pacers, Dallas Mavericks, and Detroit Pistons. Although the club lost CJ McCollum to a knee injury against the San Antonio Spurs on March 16, they have continued cementing themselves at the top of the Western Conference.
The group is shooting the second-best three-point percentage over this stretch (.426) and third-best from the field (.502). Beyond just shot-making, the Blazers look calmer when teams throw more aggressive defenses onto them. They have also found success with a new Zach Collins and Enes Kanter tandem.
Individually, Damian Lillard is putting up video game numbers (30.3 ppg, 12.0 apg); Seth Curry is stepping up in a major way (15.7 ppg, .500 3P%); and Al-Farouq Aminu is quietly becoming an important part of this Rip City offense (14.7 ppg, .500 3P%).
As a whole, the club is firing on all cylinders and each cog is ready to substitute for a missing McCollum. It’s no wonder they ranked highly in this weeks’ power rankings.
NBA.COM
The NBA.com’s John Schuhmann placed the Portland Trail Blazers at sixth in his rankings, sandwiched between the Toronto Raptors and Philadelphia 76ers.
He cites the club’s undefeated record and the fact they scored over 120 points per 100 possessions against the Pacers (3rd) and Pistons (14th) who have solidly ranked defenses as the reason for his placement:
"“The Blazers have remained above the No. 5-8 fray in the West by going 3-0 without C.J. McCollum last week. And even though two of the opponents had better-than-average defenses, they scored almost 120 points per 100 possessionsover the three games, with Damian Lillard averaging 30.3 points (shooting 14-for-25 on pull-up 3-pointers) and 12.0 assists.”"
He also gives Seth Curry a shoutout while pointing to Jake Layman‘s forgettable stretch:
"“Jake Layman has started in McCollum’s place, but Seth Curry has been the team’s second leading scorer (15.7 points per game) over the three games, playing more than 25 minutes for just the third, fourth and fifth times this season. Curry has shot 49 percent on catch-and-shoot threes (the best mark among players who have attempted at least 100) and the Blazers are 17-3 (with 10 straight wins) when he’s played 20 minutes or more.”"
If Portland could get more out of guys like Layman and Rodney Hood, others like Lillard, Curry, and Aminu would have even more room to operate and maintain their rhythm. With slightly more than two weeks left in the regular season, the Blazers could be one more hot streak away from looking really scary.
ESPN
The panel at ESPN placed Portland seventh in their power rankings, between the 76ers (above them this time) and LA Clippers.
In the small blurb beneath the ranking, the Undefeated’s Marc Spears notes McCollum’s injury and the fact the club has made up for his large absence:
"“The next update on injured Blazers guard CJ McCollum is expected Monday before they play the visiting Nets that night. McCollum has missed three games with a muscle strain in his left knee, but the Blazers won each of those contests by way of committee.”"
While Spears’s assessment is mostly right, that “committee” should get more individual recognition. Lillard has led the way each contest with a teammate supplying a much-needed boost more than the entire roster scoring a few more points.
There are a few guys that need to re-find their footing (most notably Layman and Evan Turner). But everyone on the roster has played well at some point in the season now, and more of them are coming together as every game becomes more meaningful.
If that committee that Spears mentions becomes just slightly more egalitarian, the Blazers will be in good shape come April.
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated’s Khadrice Rollins also had the Blazers at seventh in the NBA, between the Raptors and Utah Jazz.
The tagline for Portland’s blurb? Dame being clutch. And that couldn’t be more accurate. After some healthy anxiety over the Blazers’ chances in the playoffs regardless of their seeding following last year’s catastrophe, Rollins harps on Lillard’s importance to this team:
"“Instead, we should enjoy watching Damian Lillard do what he does best and deliver in the final moments of games in a way only he can. If Portland is going to make a deep run in the playoffs, Dame will likely need to go off. And with CJ McCollum still dealing with a knee injury, even more falls on Lillard’s shoulders than previously expected for the time being.”"
Without Dame, the Blazers likely aren’t 3-0. Rollins also credits Jusuf Nurkic for this season, but much of their blurb centers around how central Lillard is to all of Portland’s regular schedule success and how it will be difficult to replicate that next month.
Rollins accurately ranks Portland but is certainly staying levelheaded over just how good they really are.
As the Blazers look to their next week, they will hope to extend their winning streak and further secure homecourt in the Western Conference standings. If getting an impressive power ranking comes out of doing that, so be it!