The Portland Trail Blazers entered Friday night as ten-point favorites, playing at home against a retooling Dallas Mavericks team in the midst of a five-game losing streak. Dallas somehow managed to snap that streak at the Moda Center, with a 100-93 victory.
To make matters worse, both the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers won. Indiana Pacers center Jay Huff missed both free throws with 0.1 seconds remaining, which would've sealed the victory over Los Angeles. Now the Blazers find themselves 1.5 games back from the Clippers for the eight seed.
Although they'll have a chance to gain ground with two upcoming matchups against LAC, Portland's play-in seeding won't matter much if they aren't healthy.
Jerami Grant's injury will hurt Portland's playoff chances
Both Jerami Grant and Robert Williams III exited this contest due to injuries. Williams suffered a back injury after completing an alley-oop in the second quarter and didn't return. But at this point, Grant is the more concerning injury.
After the game, Tiago Splitter told Joe Freeman of The Oregonian/OregonLive that Grant "felt a pop" in his calf. Freeman asked what the concern level was for Grant, to which Splitter responded: "100 percent."
Grant will receive testing on Saturday to determine the true extent of the injury. We'd assume his odds of returning in time for the Play-In Tournament aren't great, considering Portland has just seven games left to play.
The Blazers' odds of making the postseason have gone from bad to worse after Friday's unfortunate developments. The frustrating loss is one thing, but Portland's offense absolutely needs Grant down the stretch if they want to have a chance. They've already struggled to generate offense without Shaedon Sharpe, and now it remains to be seen if either will be back to close out the season.
As this loss showed, the Blazers' currently healthy roster doesn't have enough firepower to overcome this amount of adversity. Deni Avdija is still not the same since returning from injury. And as a collective unit, Portland still struggles with turnovers and three-point shooting, which is a recipe for disaster.
This was almost a must-win game for Portland if they wanted a realistic shot at that eight seed. Yet they shot 27 percent from downtown and recorded 24 turnovers. This late into the season, these are problems that won't be solved until the summer. That's only going to make it harder for Portland to sneak into the postseason, especially if they no longer have Grant's floor spacing and shot-creation.
All hope isn't lost for Portland's future, and it could actually be a blessing in disguise if they keep their lottery-protected first-round pick in this strong of a draft class.
Blazers fans should start embracing that timeline, as Friday just added another layer of complexity to their playoff puzzle.