The Portland Trail Blazers have officially clinched a postseason berth despite not being particularly good at anything. Don't ask me how that's possible, because I am not 100 percent sure... And I watch this team play multiple times per week. Somehow, the Blazers have ridden a good second-half defense and great rebounding to a successful season. If you don't think that's enough to make a team good, I would tend to agree! But these Blazers don't seem to care and keep winning despite it all.
Making the postseason with this statistical profile is a legitimately impressive feat, and I don't say that sarcastically; despite a point differential of minus-1.7, the Blazers have a real chance to finish above .500 with a very soft schedule the rest of the way. If you looked only at the numbers for this team, you would probably guess they're about 12 games under .500. They're closer to the Kings than the Thunder on paper, but somehow keep coming up big in the only stat that really matters — wins.
Offensive fireworks have been few and far between. This team has a bottom-five offensive rating and is the worst 3-point shooting team (by percentage) in the league. It's not ball safety, either, as they also rank dead last in turnovers and turnover rate. It's not free-throw shooting (top 10 in attempts, bottom 10 in percentage), and it's not
But pretty much every night, this team has a chance to win... Even though they rank No. 18 in clutch time net rating.
Blazers' defense and rebounding has lifted them to postseason
Since the All-Star break, this team ranks No. 8 in defensive rating, and that's really what's carried them to this point. The returns of Scoot Henderson, Matisse Thybulle, and Blake Wesley are basically a dream for anyone who loved when NBA games ended with scores of 83-78.
Crashing the glass has also been a friend to this team all year long. Donovan Clingan has become an elite overall rebounder (and perhaps the best offensive rebounder) in his second season, and for a team that shoots as poorly as the Blazers, his presence as a rebounder is so important it's almost hard to quantify.
In 2026, when two-thirds of the league makes the postseason, it doesn't feel like a giant accomplishment. But after four years in the gutter, these Blazers should be proud of grinding their way to a play-in spot (and potentially the No. 8 seed).
Grinding is the key word there, as it has seldom been pretty. But this team has endeared itself to Portland, in part because of how random everything about their existence is. It's a mix of veterans and young guys, former All-Stars and castoffs, defensive specialists and 3-point specialists who can't actually shoot. Their route to the postseason isn't particularly envious, but I don't think they care. It's been fun regardless!