The Portland Trail Blazers head out on the road for the final time this season. What is at stake over their next four games?
The Portland Trail Blazers clinched a playoff berth for the fifth consecutive season on Sunday evening. The kicker is that they did so before even stepping on the court. The Utah Jazz‘s decisive 121-97 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves helped assure Rip City a spot in the 2018 NBA Playoffs.
With the playoffs a certainty, Portland set out later that night and easily handled the Memphis Grizzlies, 113-98. The win allowed the Blazers to avenge their 108-103 loss at Memphis on March 28. In that game, Portland failed to manage without Damian Lillard, who missed the game due to the birth of his son. After going 12-3 in the month of March, this Grizzlies win helped Portland start April on the right foot.
Now, the Portland Trail Blazers have one final test to take on this season: a four-game road trip through the states of Texas and Colorado. From April 3-9, the Blazers have road dates against the Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs and Denver Nuggets, respectively.
Portland is 21-16 on the road this year. That record gives them their first 20-win road slate since 2013-14. Sweeping the road trip would give the Blazers their best season on the road since going 29-12 during the 1999-00 campaign.
Sweeping this road trip will be a tall task, as this schedule presents a formidable challenge. Dallas is the only team on the docket that is out of playoff contention. Houston has the best record in the NBA at 62-15 and recently defeated Portland in a 115-111 thriller on March 20. Needless to say, the Blazers will be seeking payback when they meet again.
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Meanwhile, the Spurs and Nuggets are still fighting for one of the final five playoff seeds in the Western Conference. San Antonio is fourth in the West at 45-32. Denver sits only three games behind them with a 42-35 record. However, that is only good for ninth place in the West, one game behind the eighth-place New Orleans Pelicans.
The Blazers no longer have to worry about getting into the playoffs. Instead, their next challenge is reaching the 50-win plateau. Doing so would give Portland its first 50-win campaign since 2014-15. Despite the tough schedule, Portland is well on its way to accomplishing this goal.
Rip City also won the Northwest Division championship during the 2014-15 season. The Blazers are on the verge of achieving that feat this season as well. Portland sits 3.5 games ahead of the Oklahoma City Thunder in the divisional standings.
According to Blazers.com‘s Casey Holdahl, they only need to win two more games to clinch the title. That number could possibly be fewer if the Jazz and Thunder lose along the way. It would be Portland’s second title in the Northwest Division’s 14-year existence and their sixth division championship in franchise history.
The Blazers have such a solid hold on their playoff destiny that this trip could be the last extensive playing time Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum receive this season. The Blazers have one final home game against Utah once they return from the road. If the Blazers reach 50 wins by that point, the team’s dynamic duo could conceivably sit out that last game to rest up for the playoffs.
Lillard earned his third Player of the Week award of the season for the week of March 26 through April 1. He averaged 28.3 points, 8.7 assists and 6.3 rebounds per game on the week and helped them win all three games he played. Lillard’s best game saw him drop 41 points on the Pelicans in a 107-103 victory on March 27.
McCollum came away with 20.5 points, 5.0 assists and 1.5 steals per game on the week. He had 42 points in their game at the Grizzlies on March 28, but did so in a losing effort.
Portland will also have to carry on this road trip without key rotation pieces Maurice Harkless and Ed Davis. Harkless has been out since March 27 after undergoing a left knee arthroscopy. Davis is out due to a sprained right ankle he suffered in Portland’s 105-96 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on March 30. Both players will be re-evaluated closer to the end of the season.
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The Portland Trail Blazers have earned their fifth straight playoff berth and currently hold the third-best record in the West. They will look to prove how they accomplished those feats over the next four games.