Portland Trail Blazers: One Day, Four Teams, Dame Time
Gary Trent Jr., Portland Trail Blazers.
The Portland Trail Blazers wild two-week Orlando adventure comes down to one big day. Four teams are fighting for two play-in spots on their final day of NBA seeding games.
After 73 regular-season games, including seven in the Orlando bubble, the Portland Trail Blazers fate comes down to one day, more specifically, about eight hours. When the NBA came up with the bubble concept, they never could have imagined a four-team scramble like the one they have on Thursday. Welcome to the pro version of survive and advance. It’s August Madness if you will.
Bubble Recap
The Portland Trail Blazers started the eight-game “seeding” round as occupants of the Western Conference’s ninth spot. They trailed Memphis by three-and-a-half games. Behind them were New Orleans, San Antonio, Sacramento, and Phoenix.
Wow, how things have changed since the first game of the restart on July 30. First, the Kings and Pelicans played poorly enough before their Game 7 meeting on Tuesday, that they were both eliminated from contention. San Antonio, who was only one-half game behind Portland, has kept pace. Both teams have played much better than their pre-bubble records would indicate. Each is 5-2 in Orlando.
Memphis was the team that had the easiest road. Take care of business in Orlando, and they might not even have to worry about a play-in. It hasn’t worked out that way. The Griz has looked bad the last two weeks, with a second-worst bubble record of 1-6. That includes a 140 – 135 loss to Portland in the re-opener.
Meanwhile, Phoenix, led by Devin Booker’s 31.0 points-per-game, has been a revelation, winning all seven of their matchups so far.