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Portland Trail Blazers: 5 Things That Will Help Clinch 8th Seed

By Raymond Simms

Mar 28, 2017; Portland, OR, USA; Portland Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic (27) huddles up with teammates against the Denver Nuggets during the fourth quarter at the Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Craig Mitchelldyer-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 28, 2017; Portland, OR, USA; Portland Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic (27) huddles up with teammates against the Denver Nuggets during the fourth quarter at the Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Craig Mitchelldyer-USA TODAY Sports /
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Mar 26, 2017; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Jordan Clarkson (6) hangs in the air as he is surrounded by Portland Trail Blazers forward Meyers Leonard (11), guard Allen Crabbe (23), guard Evan Turner (1) and guard CJ McCollum (3) during the second half at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 26, 2017; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Jordan Clarkson (6) hangs in the air as he is surrounded by Portland Trail Blazers forward Meyers Leonard (11), guard Allen Crabbe (23), guard Evan Turner (1) and guard CJ McCollum (3) during the second half at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports /

4. Continue To Defend The Perimeter Well

Portland’s improvement on offense is impressive. However, they’ve also made some major strides on defense. The Blazers held opponents to a season-low 104.8 points per game on the month. That is a 6.4-point improvement from what they were conceding to opponents in February.

It’s also a 5.4-point drop from what they had been allowing from October through February.

It’s worth taking a look at NBA.com’s Opponent Shooting by zone stats to get a feel of where Portland improved defensively during their 13-3 March.

Defensive FG% Oct to Feb March
Restricted Area 14.9/26.7 (55.6%) (1st) 16.3/28.3 (57.6%) (5th)
Non-RA Paint 6.2/13.0 (47.5%) (29th) 6.3/13.3 (47.4%) (28th)
Mid-Range 8.2/20.3 (40.5%) (15th) 8.7/21.7 (40.1%) (11th)
Above the Break 3’s 8.0/20.6 (39.0%) (30th) 5.9/18.5 (32.1%) (4th)
Left Corner 3 0.9/2.7 (34.8%) (4th) 1.3/2.9 (45.7%) (29th)
Right Corner 3 0.9/2.7 (35.0%) (5th) 0.9/2.4 (39.5%) (18th)

The Blazers saw better defensive returns on two-pointers outside of the restricted area during March, albeit marginal. The team did slip on protecting shots under the basket, however. They lost the “top rim protector” throne they held coming into the month.

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    • Portland conceded 2.0 percent more made field goals under the basket in March.

    But the largest area of improvement was along the perimeter. Portland was able to chase teams off the line, or at least funnel them to the corners. They forced opponents to them shoot 2.1 fewer attempts per game on straight-away or wing threes in March than they had all year.

    Those who remained were punished. The Blazers dropped their opponents three-point field goal percentage above the break by 6.9 percent in March.

    The Blazers are on an eight-game streak of holding opponents to single-digit made three-pointers. They’ve also done this in 11 of their last 12 games.

    Portland was even able to hold the Houston Rockets to this standard on Thursday night. The Rockets average 14.4 made threes per game on the season. However, they were held to 8-for-34 shooting beyond the arc in their loss to Portland.

    Every team in the league utilizes perimeter shooting in some form. Though their remaining opponents’ volume and proficiency from three varies, it’s huge to be able to prevent opponents from comfortably putting up valuable three-point attempts.

    Good perimeter defense will go a long way towards helping Portland secure the eighth seed.

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