Games vs. East helped shape Portland Trail Blazers into team they are now

The Portland Trail Blazers have grown as a team, and several key moments happened against Eastern Conference opponents.

The Portland Trail Blazers fell to the Boston Celtics 105-100 on Friday night. Despite holding a 10-point lead after three quarters, the undermanned Celtics stormed back and pull off the win. Marcus Morris led Boston with 30 points. Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum paced Portland with 26 points each.

With the loss, the Trail Blazers wrap up their Eastern Conference schedule for the 2017-18 season. Portland finishes the year 18-12 against the East, the seventh-best inter-conference record in the West. It’s also a five-game improvement from their 13-17 record in 2016-17.

Inter-conference games only make up 36.6 percent of an NBA team’s total games. However, any number of turning points can occur during those games in a given season. These moments are woven into the fabric of what a team truly turns out to be once the season is complete.

The first major turning point was their 99-85 loss to the Toronto Raptors on Oct. 30. Rip City showed signs of an improved defensive team early in the season. However, their normally potent offense had become inconsistent. Because of this, the Raptors held Portland to six points in the second quarter, a franchise low.

The Blazers would go 6-4 over the next 10 games, scrapping together wins with good defense and stagnant offense. Ultimately, that plan fell flat again in their 101-81 loss at the Philadelphia 76ers on Nov. 22.

This loss prompted Maurice Harkless, who only scored one point in the game, to vent his frustrations about the state of the team’s offense.

"“We gotta figure out ways … not only for me, but ways to get other people going,’’ Harkless said that November night in the Philadelphia locker room. “Every game it’s the same thing … we play through three people.’’"

In an NBC Sports Northwest article published on Mar. 22, writer Jason Quick indicated that the airing of those grievances eventually led to changes. Lillard read the previous article with Harkless’ comments and empathized with Moe.

"“When he said that, I’m sure everybody saw it, but nobody took offense,’’ Lillard said. “Everybody was like, ‘Well, maybe he has a point.’ … The thing is, it made us better. It needed to happen.’’"

This fostered the growth of trust among the team’s offense, allowing more players to get involved instead of relying on Lillard, McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic to score all of the time.

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But the road to becoming a better Blazers team still had a number of bumps along the way. On Dec. 5, Bradley Beal unleashed 51 points on the Blazers in a 106-92 loss to the Washington Wizards. This loss came directly in the middle of a five-game losing streak. Beal’s 51 is the 10th-most points scored by a Blazers opponent in franchise history.

From there, the Blazers went 3-2 on a five-game mid-December road trip. They swept their Eastern Conference opponents: the Miami Heat, Orlando Magic and Charlotte Hornets. However, they won those games by scoring only 96.7 points per game and averaging 5.3 points per victory.

They lost their two games on the trip to the Western Conference squads that bookended the road stretch — the Golden State Warriors and Minnesota Timberwolves.

Portland’s 114-110 victory over the 76ers on Dec. 28 was a subtle, but important turning point. It marked the beginning of an 18-1 home stretch. That was the best home record over the 78-day span it lasted. Their last win of the streak was their 100-87 drubbing of the Detroit Pistons on Mar. 17. They have since lost two straight home games.

Their final big turning point against Eastern teams came over Super Bowl weekend at the beginning of February. The Blazers went on a three-game road trip, taking on Eastern Conference opponents only.

Unfortunately, the Blazers came up short, going 0-3 on the trip. They lost 130-105 at the Raptors, followed that up with a buzzer-beating 97-96 loss to the Celtics and wrapped it up with a 20-point loss to the Pistons.

It was disappointing to say the least. However, it marked the beginning of a major turnaround. A 109-103 overtime win over the Hornets the following game kicked off a 15-1 stretch for Portland. This stretch includes their 13-game winning streak.

Portland picked up a number of major wins during that 13-game streak. For instance, they took down the Warriors (twice), the Timberwolves and the Oklahoma City Thunder. They also defeated four Eastern Conference teams in the process: the New York Knicks (Mar. 6), Miami Heat (Mar. 12), Cleveland Cavaliers (Mar. 15) and Detroit Pistons (Mar. 17).

With the lumps they took early in the season against Eastern Conference opponents, the Blazers have now managed to ascend to the top of the Western Conference. They are now a more confident team with a dynamic offense and staunch defense.

Next: 2017-18 Week 23 NBA Power Rankings

A lot of turning points happen over the course of a season to test what team is. An NBA team only plays 30 games each season against the other conference. However, as the Portland Trail Blazers found out this season, those games are just as important to a franchise’s growth.