The Portland Trail Blazers have been an infinitely frustrating team in the early season. Now a quarter of the way through the year, Portland sits 10-10, just a half game ahead of the limping Los Angeles Lakers for a guaranteed playoff spot.
Being in sixth place 20 games in isn’t exactly cause for panic, but it’s the way the Blazers have wound up there that is reason for concern. So far, they’ve won exactly one game away from the Moda Center, an expected beating on the league-worst Houston Rockets.
At times, Portland has made it seem like new Head Coach Chauncey Billups and their upgrades in the margins are enough to turn them into dark-horse contenders. On the road, though, and against true contenders, they’ve offered more questions than answers.
The Portland Trail Blazers need a major change
While the Blazers have tread water so far, fans waiting for them to put it all together and rip off a massive win streak shouldn’t hold their breath. It’s not ludicrous to believe that if Portland plays at their fullest potential, continues their good injury luck in the playoffs, and catches some breaks, they could wind up in the Finals. Unfortunately, it’s just not good sense to put faith into that many hypotheticals.
In fact, their .500 record is a little bit of a red herring. Three of their wins have come against the Los Angeles Lakers missing LeBron James, the Denver Nuggets sans Nikola Jokic, and the Philadelphia 76ers minus Joel Embiid. Two other wins came against the rebuilding Rockets and Toronto Raptors.