After losing their starting center, the Portland Trail Blazers season is in flux. They must use their last games to find winning combinations.
With only nine games left to go, NBA teams don’t often find themselves atop the Western Conference and experiencing an identity crisis simultaneously. But so is life for the Portland Trail Blazers, who were thrown into instant flux after starting center Jusuf Nurkic went down with a fractured left leg on Monday. They will feel his absence in a major way and have very little time to adjust to life without their two-way Beast. Because of this, the club should experiment like mad scientists with different lineup combinations, players, and sets and see if anything sticks to end the year.
Thankfully, the end of their schedule allows for some space to play around with their team. Beyond the fact that their recent win over the Brooklyn Nets clinched a playoff berth, most of the Blazers’ upcoming opponents are simply bad and/or tanking. Besides the Denver Nuggets, who they will play twice, all of their opposition holds losing or .500 records.
Tonight, they get a Chicago Bulls team that is missing almost their entire roster. Next, they get the Atlanta Hawks. Down the line, they will see the Minnesota Timberwolves, Memphis Grizzlies, and Los Angeles Lakers. These are five very winnable games, even without Nurkic (and some without CJ McCollum). There should be space for getting weird throughout and in garbage time.