2018 NBA Playoffs: Portland Trail Blazers vs. New Orleans Pelicans preview

With the 2018 NBA Playoffs starting April 14, here’s a preview of the 3-6 matchup between the Portland Trail Blazers and the New Orleans Pelicans.

After 82 games of standings turnover that concluded on the final night of the regular season, the Western Conference playoff picture is officially set. There are some enticing matchups out West, but the most exciting lies between the 3-seeded Portland Trail Blazers and the 6-seeded New Orleans Pelicans, who split their four regular season matchups.

The Trail Blazers (49-33) were expected to compete in the 6-8 range in the West, jockeying for position in a loaded conference, but they’ve been one of the more consistent teams this season, and have had the 3-seed in their control for over a month. Damian Lillard is a top-four MVP candidate and led Portland to its best playoff seeding since the 1999-00 regular season.

Their counterparts in this series, the New Orleans Pelicans (48-34), exceeded expectations this season, especially considering they lost DeMarcus Cousins with a torn Achilles. Head coach Alvin Gentry shifted Anthony Davis to the 5 and upped the tempo, turning the Pelicans into a five-out offense that gives Davis and Jrue Holiday ample amounts of space to operate.

To be honest, I’m slightly bummed these teams are facing each other this early in the postseason. Dame has been my favorite player in the association for a couple seasons and I love how both Portland and NOLA play. We’ll dive into some key questions in this series, but we begin by analyzing the individual matchups of both starting lineups.