THE Portland Trail Blazers I went 1-3 this week at home.
Let’s take a look at how internet power rankings rank the Blazers:
John Schuhmann, NBA.com: n°26 (formerly n°26)
We’re well past the All-Star break, but the Blazers have still been somewhat competitive. They lost by single digits to the Wolves and Thunder last week, and they picked up a win against Toronto on Saturday.
With their overtime win over the Raptors, the Blazers are now 8-3 (with four straight wins) in second-straight games, with only the Celtics (8-2) having a better record without rest. They scored 115.0 points per 100 possessions in those 11 games, compared to 107.5 per 100 when they went 10-42 with the rest. Jerami Grant averaged 22.6 points on 53/44/92 shooting in the first 10 of those games, but was unavailable Saturday when Deandre Ayton returned from a five-game absence and scored 30 points, a season high.
Brett Siegel, ClutchPoints: n°28 (formerly n°27)
The problem with the Blazers is that they haven’t had consistency all season when it comes to scoring weapons outside of Anfernee Simons and Jerami Grant. Malcolm Brogdon and Deandre Ayton have stepped up at times, but have been injured lately.
Another lost season has the Blazers front office questioning their future.
Colin Ward-Henninger, CBS Sports: n°28 (formerly n°26)
The Blazers only won one game this week (in overtime against Toronto), but we all got front row seats to the Dalano Banton Experience. The 6-foot-8 single guard averaged 19 points, six rebounds and five assists on 46 percent 3-point shooting in four games this week, including a career-high 30 points in a loss to Houston. It may not matter in terms of rankings, but it’s times like this that players make a good impression on a front office.
