PORTLAND, Ore. — If the season ended today, the Portland Trail Blazers would be in the NBA playoffs.
That statement may be hard for some Blazers fans to believe, but it’s true. The bottom of the Western Conference is not as strong as it’s been the last couple seasons, and Portland has taken advantage of a fortuitous weak stretch of the schedule to currently be the No. 8 seed in the West.
After starting 5-12 the Blazers have won 9 of their last 13 games to pull to a 14-16 record through 30 games this season. That includes four straight wins over below average teams with a potential fifth win on the horizon when Portland hosts the New Orleans Pelicans, who are 7-23 this season, on Monday night.
Despite the improvement in the win column, there are still plenty of fans who are skeptical of the Blazers, and rightly so. Without Jusuf Nurkic, Zach Collins and Rodney Hood, they don’t have the same firepower. And Portland only has three wins over teams with a winning record, one against the 19-10 Dallas Mavericks and two against Oklahoma City, who has won four straight games to improve to 15-14 on the season.
Despite the lack of quality wins, is just winning, even against the bad teams, good enough for the Blazers to make a surge in this week's power rankings? Let’s take a look.
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The Athletic: Blazers rank No. 14 (up 2 spots)
What they wrote: The Blazers also found a soft part in their schedule, and they’re taking full advantage of it. Four straight victories over Phoenix, Golden State, Orlando, and Minnesota has helped them get very close to being a .500 team. Considering their struggles earlier in the year, I don’t expect them to apologize for winning the easier games. As they start to at least gain some momentum as a team, I’m hoping CJ McCollum is finally back to being what we expect him to be. It feels like McCollum has seen some wild swings with his efficiency this season. It mostly has to do with him shooting poorly (for him) from the field and not getting to the free throw line.
In October/November, McCollum put up 22.0 points on 43.9 percent shooting and just 2.3 free throw attempts per game. He had a 52.3 percent true shooting and a 25.9 percent usage rate. Those aren’t bad numbers, but they also weren’t lifting the Blazers enough to get them out of the concerns of Blazers fan’s minds. In December, McCollum looks much more lethal. He’s giving 23.3 points on 49.3 percent from the field and 3.0 free throws each night. His usage is down a bit at 25.1 percent (Carmelo effect?), but his true shooting is up to 60.3 percent. This is the deadly McCollum efficiency the Blazers need to see more. He can help them get over .500 and into the thick of the middle of the playoff race. – Zach Harper
CBS Sports: Blazers rank No. 15 (Up 5 spots)
What they wrote: Guess who's quietly creeping toward .500 after a 4-0 week? A fan at the Blazers' home win over the Timberwolves held a sign that read, "Depleted, not defeated," and that perfectly summarizes Portland, which lost Carmelo Anthony in the latest of a string of frontcourt injuries. Thankfully Anthony's knee injury doesn't appear to be serious, but Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum and Hassan Whiteside have dragged this team back into contention. – Colin Ward-Henninger
ESPN: Blazers rank No. 15 (Up 5 spots)
What they wrote: A 4-0 week has the Blazers right back in the playoff mix and feeling much better about themselves. They've won five of six, all against sub-.500 teams, but the Blazers hadn't been taking advantage of those kind of games before. Damian Lillard is looking healthy again, averaging 30.7 points on 47% shooting during Portland's winning streak. – Royce Young
NBA.com: Blazers rank No. 15 (Up 6 spots)
What they wrote: Since Rodney Hood was lost for the season and Kent Bazemore was moved into the starting lineup, the Blazers have ranked last in bench scoring (20.3 points per game). But the lineup with Bazemore has been much better defensively than the Hood lineup, and the starters have increased their production on offense. In their four-plus seasons starting together, the Blazers had never gotten at least 25 points from both Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum in more than two straight games ... before last week, when both guards had more than 25 in each of their four games. More important is that the Blazers won all four to climb from 12th to eighth place in the West. They'll get another game against a bad defense on Monday, but Carmelo Anthony is dealing with a knee contusion and the opposing defenses will be much tougher in their first two games after Christmas. – John Schumann
