Portland Trail Blazers: Looking at the West playoff contenders in a different light
After a pair of huge wins over Houston and Denver the past two games, the Portland Trail Blazers have put themselves in a great position. We take a look at how they stack up against the other teams fighting for the eighth and ninth spots in the Western Conference.
At this point, Portland Trail Blazers and all the teams in the hunt have played four games inside the NBA’s Orlando Bubble. The half-way point is an excellent time to analyze the playoff race.
Five teams are within two-and-a-half games of eighth place, so no one is close to elimination yet. Memphis currently holds the coveted eighth spot with a 32–37 record. The Portland Trail Blazers are close on their tails only a half-game back. Next, come Phoenix and San Antonio, tied at two games behind the Griz. Just a half-game behind those two are Sacramento and New Orleans.
Taking a look at the second half of NBA bubble action, we looked at each team’s schedule. To get a better sense of what they are up against, I came up with a quick formula: (opponents winning percentage in 2019–20 + (opponents winning percentage inside the bubble x 2)) x pressure factor.
The record of the upcoming opponents is important, but how they are playing in the bubble is more critical, so it carries double weight. As for the pressure factor, each game gets a score from two to zero. Two is a game against one of the five teams in the mad scramble for the final playoff (or play-in) positions. One is against a team fighting for a better playoff seed. A score of zero means the opponent has nothing to play for; they can’t advance or fall in the standings. The highest possible schedule plus intensity score is 9.96
The results are interesting, to say the least. They shed a different light on each team’s chances. We will start from the bottom of the standings and work up.