The Portland Trail Blazers are dealing with injuries to their two best scorers right now. Deni Avdija has some lingering back problems, which is frightening, and Shaedon Sharpe will miss most of the rest of the regular season with a calf injury.
Those are both bad things! There is a silver lining, though, for Blazers fans hoping for a postseason appearance from this team; the Blazers will probably make the play-in no matter what happens over the next month-ish.
Right now, the Blazers have a 4.5-game lead on the Memphis Grizzlies for the final play-in spot, and are just one game behind the Los Angeles Clippers for the No. 9 spot. The Grizzlies aren't trying to win in earnest right now (they traded two of their best players in the past calendar year, after all) and they have the second-hardest strength of schedule the rest of the season.
Meanwhile, the Blazers are trying to win — even if you couldn't tell watching that Hawks game. That winning much more difficult without Avdija and Sharpe, obviously, but the Blazers are buoyed with the easiest remaining schedule in the league. They are about to play a lot of games without their best players against teams trying to lose. A modern-day David vs. Goliath.
Blazers can ease Avdija and Sharpe back into the rotation
The lack of interest from Memphis to move up in the standings means the Blazers shouldn't feel rushed in getting Avdija and Sharpe back in the lineup. Of course, any postseason appearance this year would be a big step in the right direction — but the Blazers shouldn't risk the health of its two franchise cornerstones for the potential chance to be obliterated by the Thunder in the first round.
Luckily, they probably won't have to do that. Giving up five full games to a skeleton Grizzlies game in the next 20 games would be a stunning fall for the Blazers (and rise for the Grizzlies), even without two starters. In the meantime, expect Jrue Holiday to lead the charge, Scoot Henderson's minutes to keep increasing, and new addition Chris Youngblood to get some run.
Being good is cool, but sometimes just being better than the teams around you is good enough, and that's where the Blazers find themselves right now. It will be hard to be worse than the Grizzlies over the next 20 games, and no that is not a challenge.