Playoff Race Update » Moving Up With McCollum And Nurkic Out

While it's been a rough couple of days for Rip City with the season-ending injury to Jusuf Nurkic, the Trail Blazers have actually improved their chances of securing homecourt advantage in the first round with eight games to play. Thanks to winning five straight, including their first game without Nurkic versus a severely shorthanded Bulls team Wednesday night in Chicago, and the Rockets going 2-2 in their last four games, the Trail Blazers are now in sole possession of third in the West. But that lead is just half a game, the Jazz, Clippers and Thunder are all within striking distance and Portland is likely to face much tougher competition in all of their remaining games than they did Wednesday night, so the Trail Blazers, without both Nurkic and CJ McCollum (left knee muscle strain), will have their work cut out for them. 

But thanks to the work they put in over the previous 74 games, the Trail Blazers are 2.5 games up on the Jazz and Clippers in the race for homecourt, giving them a little bit of wiggle room should they struggle as they try to adjust to a new rotation during the last two weeks of the season. As we saw in the 2018 postseason, matchups are likely more important than homecourt -- if the playoffs started today, the Trail Blazers would host the Clippers in the 3-6 matchup -- but between losing their starting center and the uncertainty about whether McCollum will be able to return to the court for the first round, they'll need all the help they can get. 

Here's the most up to date Playoff Race Update with eight games to go...

Overall record: 51-23 | Conference record: 31-15 | Division record: 11-3Home record: 26-11 | Away record: 25-12 | Games back: 0

Remaining home games: 4 (3/31 vs. Hornets, 4/2 vs. Nuggets, 4/5 vs. Cavaliers, 4/7 vs. Clippers)Remaining road games: 4 (3/29 @ Timberwolves, 4/4 @ Lakers, 4/9 @ Hornets, 4/10 @ Grizzlies)

Remaining games versus teams over .500: 2 (2 home, 0 away) Remaining games versus teams under .500: 6 (2 home, 4 away)

Tiebreaker: The Trail Blazers and Warriors split their season series 2-2, so the tiebreaker then moves to division winner. The Warriors currently lead the Pacific Division by 7 games, while the Trail Blazers are 3.5 games behind the Nuggets for the Northwest Division title. In the event that neither team wins their division, the tiebreaker then moves on to conference record. The Warriors are currently 31-15 in the Western Conference while the Trail Blazers are 24-22. 

Overall record: 50-23 | Conference record: 30-14 | Division record: 9-2Home record: 31-6 | Away record: 19-17 | Games back: 0.5

Remaining home games: 4 (3/31 vs. Wizards, 4/3 vs. Spurs, 4/5 vs. Trail Blazers, 4/10 vs. Timberwolves)Remaining road games: 5 (3/28 @ Rockets, 3/29 @ Thunder, 4/2 @ Warriors, 4/7 @ Trail Blazers, 4/9 @ Jazz)

Remaining games versus teams over .500: 7 (2 home, 5 away) Remaining games versus teams over .500: 2 (2 home, 0 away)

Tiebreaker: The Nuggets have won the first two games of the season series versus the Trail Blazers with two games left to play (in Denver on April 5 and then two days later in Portland on April 7).

Overall record: 47-27 | Conference record: 24-22 | Division record: 4-9Home record: 29-9 | Away record: 18-18 | Games back: 4

Remaining home games: 3 (4/3 vs. Grizzlies, 4/7 vs. Nuggets, 4/10 vs. Kings.)Remaining road games: 5 (3/29 @ Hawks, 3/30 @ Pistons, 4/1 @ Timberwolves, 4/5 @ Nuggets, 4/9 @ Lakers)

Remaining games versus teams over .500: 4 (2 home, 2 away) Remaining games versus teams under .500: 4 (1 home, 3 away)

Overall record: 47-28 | Conference record: 27-19 | Division record: 10-6Home record: 27-10 | Away record: 20-18 | Games back: 4.5

Remaining home games: 4 (3/28 vs. Nuggets, 3/30 vs. Kings, 4/5 vs. Knicks, 4/7 vs. Suns)Remaining road games: 4 (3/26 @ Bucks, 4/2 @ Kings, 4/3 @ Clippers, 4/9 @ Thunder)

Remaining games versus teams over .500: 5 (2 home, 3 away) Remaining games versus teams under .500: 2 (2 home, 0 away)

Tiebreaker: The Trail Blazers own the tiebreaker versus the Rockets by virtue of winning the season series 2-1.

Overall record: 45-30 | Conference record: 27-20 | Division record: 7-8Home record: 25-12 | Away record: 20-18 | Games back: 6.5

Remaining home games: 6 (3/25 vs. Suns, 3/27 vs. Lakers, 3/29 vs. Wizards, 4/1 vs. Hornets, 4/5 vs. Kings, 4/9 vs. Nuggets)Remaining road games: 3 (4/3 @ Suns, 4/7 @ Lakers, 4/10 @ Clippers)

Remaining games versus teams over .500: 3 (2 home, 1 away) Remaining games versus teams under .500: 4 (2 home, 2 away)

Tiebreaker: The Trail Blazers and Jazz split their season series 2-2, with the next tiebreaker being division winner. If neither team wins the Northwest Division, the next tiebreaker is winning percentage against division teams. The Jazz (7-8) currently have a better winning percentage in the Northwest Division than the Trail Blazers (4-9). The Jazz have one game remaining versus a divisional opponent (4/9 vs. Nuggets) while the Blazers have three such games remaining (4/1 @ Timberwolves, 4/5 @ Nuggets, 4/7 vs. Nuggets), so the Jazz clinch the tiebreaker with any divisional win or a Portland divisional loss. 

If the Blazers and Jazz end up with 7-9 divisional records, the tiebreaker then moves to conference win percentage. The Jazz are 27-20 in the Western Conference while the Trail Blazers are 24-22. 

Overall record: 45-30 | Conference record: 26-21 | Division record: 11-3Home record: 23-13 | Away record: 21-17 | Games back: 6.5

Remaining home games: 5 (3/30 vs. Cavaliers, 3/31 vs. Grizzlies, 4.3 vs. Rockets, 4/5 vs. Lakers, 4/10 vs. Jazz)Remaining road games: 2 (3/28 @ Bucks, 4/7 @ Warriors)

Remaining games versus teams over .500: 4 (2 home, 2 away) Remaining games versus teams under .500: 3 (3 home, 0 away)

Tiebreaker: The Trail Blazers own the tiebreaker versus the Clippers by virtue of winning the season series 3-1.

Overall record: 44-31 | Conference record: 25-22 | Division record: 8-6Home record: 24-12 | Away record: 20-19 | Games back: 7.5

Remaining home games: 5 (3/29 vs. Nuggets, 3/31 vs. Mavericks, 4/2 vs. Lakers, 4/5 vs. Pistons, 4/9 vs. Rockets)Remaining road games: 2 (4/7 @ Timberwolves, 4/10 @ Bucks)

Remaining games versus teams over .500: 4 (3 home, 1 away) Remaining games versus teams under .500: 3 (2 home, 1 away)

Tiebreaker: The Thunder own the tiebreaker versus the Trail Blazers by virtue of sweeping the season series 4-0.

Overall record: 43-32 | Conference record: 29-20 | Division record: 9-6Home record: 29-8 | Away record: 14-24 | Games back: 8.5

Remaining home games: 4 (3/28 vs. Cavaliers, 3/31 vs. Kings, 4/2 vs. Hawks, 4/10 vs. Mavericks)Remaining road games: 3 (4/3 @ Nuggets, 4/5 @ Wizards, 4/7 @ Cavaliers)

Remaining games versus teams under .500: 2 (1 home, 1 away) Remaining games versus teams over .500: 5 (3 home, 2 away)

Tiebreaker: The Trail Blazers and Spurs tied their season series 2-2, which means the tiebreaker then moves to division winner. If neither teams wins their division (which is by far the likeliest scenario), the tiebreaker then moves to conference record. The Blazers are currently 24-22 in the West while the Spurs are 29-20. Since the Blazers and Spurs could not end the season tied without the Spurs winning at least two more conference games, they technically own the tiebreaker after division winner.  

Overall record: 37-37 | Conference record: 20-25 | Division record: 4-12Home record: 23-15 | Away record: 14-22 | Games back: 14

Remaining home games: 3 (4/2 vs. Rockets, 4/4 Cavaliers, 4/7 Pelicans)Remaining road games: 35 (3/28 @ Pelicans, 3/30 @ Rockets, 3/31 @ Spurs, 4/5 @ Jazz, 4/10 @ Trail Blazers)

Remaining games versus teams over .500: 5 (1 home, 4 away) Remaining games versus teams under .500: 3 (2 home, 1 away)

Tiebreaker: With eight games remaining, the Kings cannot reach the Blazers' current win total, so the tiebreaker is moot.