The second week of restart games in Orlando was a relatively successful one for the Portland Trail Blazers. Fading away down the stretch versus the Clippers on Saturday easily qualifies as Portland's biggest disappointment through six "seeding" games, but tallying wins versus the Rockets, Nuggets and 76ers to put themselves in position to potentially move up into eighth, and thus, securing an easier path to the postseason, helps to ease the pain of missing two free throws late versus L.A.
And with at least two games to play this week and four teams -- the Grizzlies, Spurs, Suns and Trail Blazers -- fighting for one playoff spot, the end of the regular season in the bubble is likely to play out like it does seemingly every year in the West, with the playoff table still to be determined until the end of the final game. In this case, that finale will be the Trail Blazers facing the Nets on Thursday at 6 p.m.
With Moving Day set for later this week, here's where the Trail Blazers come out in the second edition of the NBA Bubble Power Rankings...
• The panel of voters at ESPN has the Trail Blazers at No. 12 this week, two spots better than last week...
The folks at ESPN have the Trail Blazers behind the Pacers at No. 11 and ahead of the Jazz at No. 13.
• John Schuhmann at NBA.com has the Trail Blazers at No. 14, one spot better than last week...
Schuhmann has the Trail Blazers behind the Jazz at No. 13 and ahead of the Suns at No. 15.
• Colin Ward-Henninger at CBS Sports has the Trail Blazers at No. 7 this week, seven spots better than last week...
Ward-Henninger has the Trail Blazers behind the Bucks at No. 6 and ahead of the Nuggets at No. 8.
• Corey Rausch at Hoops Habit has the Trail Blazers at No. 13 this week, unchanged from last week...
Rausch has the Trail Blazers behind the Jazz at No. 12 and ahead of the 76ers at No. 14.
• The staff at The Score have the Trail Blazers at No. 14 in this week’s rankings...
The folks at The Score have the Trail Blazers behind the Mavericks at No. 13 and ahead of the Spurs at No. 15.
• Zach Harper at The Athletic has the Trail Blazers at No. 13 this week, four spots better than last week...
Harper has the Trail Blazers behind the Mavericks at No. 12 and ahead of the 76ers at No. 14.