6 Things We’ve Learned About The Portland Trail Blazers

The playoffs are in reach

It’s really amazing that we’re here, but the playoffs are entirely in reach for the Blazers. In fact, at this point, it would require an impressive failure on the part of the Blazers to not get in. In fact, according to the two leading NBA playoff prognosticators, 538.com and ESPN’s Basketball Power Index, the Trail Blazers are big favorites to get into the playoffs.

ESPN’s BPI was last updated on Feb. 23, before the Mavs lost to the Thunder, and it predicts the Blazers will finish 41-41, giving them a 78.5 percent chance to make the playoffs. 538’s prediction is more recent, having been updated Thursday morning after Wednesday’s games went final.

Their projection accounts for the Mavs’ loss, and it give the Blazers a 92 percent chance of making the playoffs with a 43-39 record.

It’s important to note that the Blazers lead the season series against the ninth-place Houston Rockets, having won two of their first three games against each other, with the final meeting coming Thursday night at the Moda Center in Portland. If the Blazers win that, they’ll hold the tiebreaker against the Rockets if that should come into play at the end of the season.

On the flip side of that, the Blazers have lost their only meeting against the Mavericks, with two more games coming against them in the form of a home-and-home series on March 20 and 23.

The other major threat to end-of-season tie breakers comes in the form of the Utah Jazz, whom the Blazers have already claimed the season series by a 3-1 margin.

In other words, the Blazers have full control of their destiny, and a record just a bit over .500 should get them in pretty comfortably, particularly if they can win the series’ against the Rockets and Mavericks.

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As a result, the biggest game of the season for the Blazers will be Thursday night against the Rockets, and with a win they’ll be able to take a lead of three full games over Houston.