It’s been a decent start for the Portland Trail Blazers in Orlando. Losing to the Celtics after rallying from down 24 was unfortunate, but everything else has pretty much broken Portland’s way throughout the first five days of the NBA’s 22-team restart at the Walt Disney World Resort. The Grizzlies and Pelicans both lost their first two games, the Pelicans beat the Grizzlies in the third game for both teams and the Kings have started 0-3. Other than the Spurs starting 2-1, there’s been little bad news thus far for your Trail Blazers.
Of course, they still have a lot of work to do. While the Trail Blazers control their own destiny with regard to forcing a play in for the eight-seed, their schedule, never all that easy to begin with in the first place, gets tougher starting with Tuesday’s game versus the Rockets. Basically, even with help, they’re going to have to do the bulk of the work themselves if they want a chance at extending their playoff streak to seven seasons.
Here’s how the Trail Blazers shake out in the first “NBA Bubble” edition of the weekly Power Rankings...
• The panel at ESPN has the Trail Blazers at No. 14 this week, one spot worse than their last ranking...
• John Schuhmann at NBA.com has the Trail Blazers at No. 15 after a week in the bubble, one spot better than their last ranking...
Schuhmann has the Trail Blazers behind the Magic at No. 14 and ahead of the Grizzlies at No. 16.
• Colin Ward-Henninger has the Trail Blazers at No. 14, a four-spot improvement from their previous ranking...
Henninger has the Trail Blazers behind the Jazz at No. 13 and ahead of the 76ers at No. 15.
• Zach Harper at The Athletic has the Trail Blazers at No. 17, two spots worse than their last ranking...
Harper has the Trail Blazers behind the Grizzlies, which makes a ton of sense considering they’re a team that lost their first two games of the restart, including their opener versus Portland, at No. 16 and ahead of the Suns at No. 18.
• Corey Rausch at Fansided has the Trail Blazers at No. 13 this week, one spot worse than their last ranking...
Rausch has the Trail Blazers behind the 76ers at No. 12 and ahead of the Jazz at No. 14.
• Michael Shapiro at SI.com has the Trail Blazers at No. 14 after the first weekend of play in the bubble...
Shapiro has the Trail Blazers behind the Pacers at No. 13 and ahead of the Grizzlies at No. 15.