Portland Trail Blazers Wrap Up A Great February

The Portland Trail Blazers have been riding a wave of good feelings for the past 20 games or so, and have just finished one of the best months in team history.

The Portland Trail Blazers have been on a tear since the middle of January, vaulting from the depths of the Western Conference standings into a stunning tie for sixth in the West with the Dallas Mavericks. The Blazers have gone 16-4 since Jan. 10 and now hold a 32-28 record to set themselves up nicely for the stretch run of the season.

The peak of the Blazer run so far has come in the month of February, which the squad wrapped up in style with a 111-102 victory on the road against the Indiana Pacers. In fact, the Blazers had one of the best months of February in team history.

The Blazers were no surprise to post records like that in a month in either of those seasons, considering that they won 59 games in 1999-2000 and 58 games in 1977-78. This year’s team was expected to be one of the worst teams in the NBA, so we can add this record to the Blazers’ growing list of surprises this season.

Portland finishes February with a 9-2 record, third best in the month in team history (12-2, 1999-2000; 11-2, 1977-78).
— Trail Blazers PR (@TrailBlazersPR) February 29, 2016

Only the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs have better record than the Blazers in the month of February, with the Warriors posting a 9-1 record and the Spurs posting an 11-1 record.

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The Blazers have the seventh-best offensive rating in the NBA in February, scoring 110.3 points per 100 possessions, just 1.6 points behind the leading Minnesota Timberwolves.

The offense isn’t a big surprise, as this squad led by Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum was expected to put up points on offense, but the biggest surprise lies on the defensive side of the ball.

Expected by almost everybody in the basketball world to have one of the worst defenses in the NBA this season, the Blazers in February have recorded a defensive rating of 101.8 points per 100 possessions, which is good for eighth in the league.

That’s ahead of defensive stalwarts like the Utah Jazz (10th with a 102.4 net rating), the Cleveland Cavaliers (12th with a 103.2 net rating) and the Warriors (15th with a 105.1 net rating).

When you post top-10 offensive and defensive ratings, you’re certain to have a great net rating. That holds true for the Blazers, who are outscoring their opponents by 8.4 points per 100 possessions for the month, which is third in the NBA behind the Spurs and the Los Angeles Clippers.

While the whole roster has elevated its performance far beyond projections, the bulk of the credit for the Blazer turnaround falls on the shoulders of Dame Lillard. The 25-year-old point guard averaged 29.8 points and 6.9 assists per game in February, shooting 44.7 percent from the floor and 37.4 percent from three-point range.

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Lillard has scored 30 points or more seven times in his last eight games, and his backcourt mate C.J. McCollum has been a more than capable partner in crime.

McCollum averaged 21.2 points in February, raising his season average to 20.8 points per game. According to NBAWowy, when the dynamic duo has shared the floor together in February, they have outscored their opponents 113.7 to 102.3 points per 100 possessions, yielding the Blazers a net differential of 11.4 points.

This is in comparison to their full season numbers, where they are outscoring the opposition just 111 to 106.2 per 100, a margin of 4.8 points per 100 possessions.

The Blazers also shot 39.7 percent from three-point range as a team when they shared the floor in February, and had an effective field goal percentage of 52.9 percent and a true shooting percent of 56.4 percent. To say that their offense takes a huge step forward when they play together is an understatement.

As great as February was for the Portland Trail Blazers, March is going to be that much more important for the young team.

The Trail Blazers have won their last five road games. Portland is fifth team to win five straight road games this year (CLE, GS, LAC, SA).
— Trail Blazers PR (@TrailBlazersPR) February 29, 2016

The schedule gets tougher, as the Blazers continue a six-game Eastern Conference road trip against six playoff teams (the first two games have been Blazer victories, first against the Chicago Bulls on Saturday and the second a victory against the Indiana Pacers on Sunday), and it’s going to be important for them to try to climb out of the bottom three playoff spots in the West, so as to avoid the Warriors, Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder for as long as possible.

The Blazers’ main competitors in the West are the flawed Houston Rockets and Jazz, with the sinking Dallas Mavericks and mortally wounded Memphis Grizzlies (due to center Marc Gasol‘s season-ending foot injury) above them but floundering. The Mavericks and Blazers are tied with 32-28 records, but the Grizzlies are prime for an upset from the young Trail Blazers.

Next: Trail Blazers Defying Expectations

The Portland Trail Blazers have had an incredible season full of surprises, but for it to mean anything they need to follow up on a tremendous February with an even better March.

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