Portland Trail Blazers: 4 players who have stepped up in NBA restart

The Portland Trail Blazers have posted a 5-2 record since the NBA restart. Here’s a look at the four players most responsible for the team’s recent success.

The Portland Trail Blazers weren’t playing very well before the season was placed on hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic. They were eight games below the .500 mark at 29-37 and it appeared that the Memphis Grizzlies had all but locked up the No. 8 seed in the western conference.

Fortunately for the Blazers, the Grizzlies have not fared too well in the bubble. In fact, Memphis has posted losses in six of their seven contests, including back-to-back losses to the defending champion Toronto Raptors and the Boston Celtics. Meanwhile, the Trail Blazers have won five of their seven games during that stretch, including victories over the Philadelphia 76ers and the Dallas Mavericks.

And as a result, Portland now leads Memphis, the Phoenix Suns, and the San Antonio Spurs by a half-game in the standings in the race for the No. 8 seed with one game remaining on the schedule. Another positive for the Trail Blazers is that they own tiebreakers against each of these teams (via winning percentage), should they finish with identical records.

With a win in their final seeding game against the Brooklyn Nets — who are the No. 7 seed in the east — the Trail Blazers will secure a spot in the play-in series and they would need to beat the No. 9 team only once to qualify for the postseason. Obviously, the team has gotten contributions from multiple players during the restart.

That being said, let’s take a look at the players who have stepped up in the bubble.