Portland Trail Blazers: 5 Things That Will Help Clinch 8th Seed
1. The Blazers Must Play The Opponent In Front Of Them
The Portland Trail Blazers have seven games remaining, and control their own destiny. But that doesn’t mean that the playoffs are a done deal. If Portland stumbles down the stretch, and Denver plays well, the Nuggets could swoop in and take back eighth place.
That’s why it’s important to not underestimate any of the opponents that lie ahead.
For some teams, that can be tough to do. Despite two games against the Utah Jazz and one against the San Antonio Spurs, the Blazers still have a strength of schedule of .472. That’s sixth-lowest in Western Conference.
But Portland seems to have the right mindset heading into the month of April. Jusuf Nurkic tweeted to his fans his pleasure in beating Houston while also understanding the next game is around the corner
https://twitter.com/bosnianbeast27/status/847705145282514944
Damian Lillard also stated postgame that he notices the team is playing with more focus.
"“Right now we just got to continue to focus on having that same mentality, and approaching each game with the same level of urgency. And playing complete games. I think we’re playing really complete games right now.”"
Portland playing complete games is a huge step forward. The team fell victim to blown leads on multiple occasions this year. The toughest one was on March 11 against the Washington Wizards. A 21-point lead dissipated, leading to overtime and a loss decided by a controversial no-call.
More from Hoops Habit
- The 5 most dominant NBA players who never won a championship
- 7 Players the Miami Heat might replace Herro with by the trade deadline
- Meet Cooper Flagg: The best American prospect since LeBron James
- Are the Miami Heat laying the groundwork for their next super team?
- Sophomore Jump: 5 second-year NBA players bound to breakout
After that point, Portland has managed to hang on to their large leads. On March 23 against the New York Knicks, the Blazers went up by as many as 23 points. The Knicks began chipping away at the lead midway through the third quarter.
However, the Blazers were able to hang on and put the game away late in the fourth quarter.
On Thursday against the Rockets, the Blazers held a game-high 13-point lead early in the fourth quarter. However, Houston fought back and tied the game at 105 with 2:28 left in regulation. From there, Portland unleashed a 12-2 run to close out the game.
It’s good to see Blazers players took the Wizards game as a learning opportunity. They just as easily could have packed in the season after such heartbreak.
Next: The Greatest Player In Every Franchise's History
But instead, Portland are within arm’s length of clinching a playoff berth. If the Blazers can stay focused over their final games of the season, that magic number will be zero before they know it.