3 reasons the Portland Trail Blazers still have a shot at the playoffs

Despite the injury nightmare the 2019-20 season has been for the Portland Trail Blazers, they still have a shot at making the post season.

The Portland Trail Blazers have had a season they would rather forget. Injuries have played havoc with their playing roster meaning they are sitting in ninth in the Western conference at the All-Star break. It is a big step down from last season where they made the Western conference finals.

They have not had the services of Jusuf Nurkic all season after he broke his leg at the end of last season. Fellow big man Zach Collins injured his shoulder in the third game of the season and has not returned.

Rodney Hood was playing well for the first 21 games before he tore his left Achilles. Before being traded Skal Labissiere missed 20 games. On top of that power forwards Nassir Little and Mario Hezonja are both day to day with  injury.

Now Damian Lillard has injured his groin before the All-Star break but will hopefully return sooner rather than later. With this injury history, it is incredible that the Blazers are in contention for the playoffs at all.

Part of the reason for this is the Blazers have been playing to their strengths. They have protected the paint well being third in the NBA in blocked shots at 6.3 per game. The Blazers are also strong from deep, going at 37.0 percent from beyond the arc This is good for sixth in the NBA.

They are tenth in the NBA in rebounds with 45.8 per game and eighth in points per game with 113.4. This is despite being last in the entire league in assists with only 20.0 per game. This suggests some strong individual players carrying the team.

The Blazers are four games behind the Memphis Grizzlies who hold the eighth seed. The Trail Blazers only have 26 games left in the season to make these up. Here are the reasons why they still have a chance of making the playoffs.