Portland Trail Blazers have a tough road to play offs this season - NBA Feature
Portland Trail Blazers and injuries are two words that go together. With players like Brandon Roy and Greg Oden done for the season, Portland blazed their way to a 7-2 start to the season, but since then, things seems to have cooled down.
On Saturday night after beating the Washington Wizards, 110-99, the Trail Blazers improved to 20-21, but they are still in a serious jeopardy of missing the play offs for the 1st time since 2007-8. For Coach Nate McMillan, this is an unfamiliar territory as he has not coached the franchise to a below 0.500 record in the last two seasons.
However, what is worrying is that Portland has been losing without putting up a fight. They still a dynamic forward combo of LaMarcus Aldridge and Gerald Wallace and also possess an incredible set of reliable guards in Wesley Mathews, Reymond Felton and their prize addition this season, Jamal Crawford.
Wesley Matthews, who is brilliant from 3-point line, has averaged 16.3 points per game, and has by far been the most impressive guard on show. Felton and Crawford have been inconsistent at best. They were brought into the team just this season and it seems they are finding it difficult to adjust quickly.
Portland's wekaness this season have been the road games. They were brushed by the Indian Pacers tonight and with a 6-17 away record, they now take on a slumping New York side, which is on a six game losing streak;
"We haven't had our team to play well as a group consistently. We've had a couple guys on the first unit playing well, on the second unit not playing well. When you are up and down like that you're going to have an up-and-down season." McMillan said before the Pacers game.
Playing a deflated Knicks side might help Portland end the skid, but other than that the only positive thing for the Trail Blazers is that their losing streaks have been short – 3 was the maximum. However, all the same they haven’t had any consecutive wins since January 24th.
The hunt for the 8th seed in the Western Conference though is still on because Minnesota Timberwolves and Houston Rockets have sliding off late.
To capitalize on that the Blazers need to sort themselves out quickly. The chances of any sudden resurgence though look bleak as after making the trip to the Madison Square Garden, Portland will be up against Chicago Bulls on Friday and Oklahoma City Thunders on Sunday.
Tags: