Portland Trailblazers Are That Good

Portland Trailblazers are not just a top team in the West, but they are a true championship contender. Photo credit NBA 

by +Rodney Fisher 

How does an NBA team go from ending the season with a 13-game losing streak to a 31-9 record at the midway point of the next season? The Portland Trailblazers with second-year head coach Terry Stotts have figured it out.

Playing in Portland, albeit a great city, does not expose anyone to the NBA world like playing in the other corners of the United States, like Miami, Southern California, or New York. To follow the progress of the Blazers this season, you would have to have the NBA league pass and nothing to do early in the morning.

If you follow the NBA, you can’t help but to watch the numbers. Any team that opens the season 13-3 after the first full month warrants attention. Then I saw them play in person for the first time in Dallas, for what was arguably their best game of the season so far; or could be Dallas’ worst depending on how you look at it. The fact is, the Blazers are really that good.

Coach Stotts has worked with the team to take a more defensive mindset than in years past. During the game against Dallas, the Blazers limited the Mavs to only 18-points in the third quarter, limiting the Mavs to 39% from the field for three quarters.

“For the first three quarters, particular to me the third quarter, having the lead at halftime [and] keeping the defensive focus in the third quarter I felt was a really good sign for us”, commented Stotts.

Part of the success has to be given to the front office. When GM Neil Olshey took over the duties from Kevin Pritchard in 2012 he did not try to tear everything down. He knew he had a great core group led by LaMarcus Aldridge and Nick Batum so his “guards win games” philosophy was the perfect mesh. They drafted a 6-foot-3 guard from Weber State named Damian Lillard that became the 2013 NBA Rookie of the Year sixth overall. The following year the draft Lehigh point guard C.J. McCollum, along with bringing in veteran Mo Williams.

Overall, the Blazers have one of the leagues best mix of veterans and young talent.

“I think teams are starting to respect us”, says Nick Batum. “We just try to come in and win games and do our thing.”

The team is currently only half a game out of first place in the Western Conference. That team they are chasing is the defending conference champion San Antonio Spurs. They have an impressive 2-0 record against them this season.

“It feels great to be on a winning team”, says rookie McCollum. “I’m very fortunate to play on a winning team with veterans and guys that have done it before so you can kind of learn from them.”

If you to find any flaws with a winning team, for the Trailblazers it is experience. Although they have a handful of players with playoff experience, they have an even number without. Oklahoma City Thunder are only a half game behind them in the Northwest Division standings. Portland’s big advantage over the NBA is location. Having home court in front of their crowd for a visiting team is hard to overcome. They need that advantage in the playoffs to have a championship chance.

They have only lost two games to Eastern Conference teams by a combines three points. That includes a one-point loss to the Miami Heat at home.

They may not be as entertaining to watch as Lob City or the Splash Bros., but they are the  better team. We all need to know it.

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