Other than injuries, one of the most common refrains regarding the 2019-20 Trail Blazers is that they don't have many "good wins." Granted, they don't have a lot of wins in general, at least in relative terms, but the majority of their wins have been against teams under .500. Those are games you still need to get, but those wins don't exactly inspire confidence that the tide is about to turn.
But after arguably having less than four "good wins" all season, the Trail Blazers secured four "good wins" in the last week alone, besting the Pacers, Rockets, Lakers and Jazz thanks in large part to never-before-seen performances from Damian Lillard, who won Western Conference Player of the Week in back-to-back weeks. But the play of Hassan Whiteside, the addition of Trevor Ariza and the improvement of the bench has also seemed to have shaken the Trail Blazers out of a season-long funk.
So not only have the Trail Blazers moved up the standings -- they're 1.5 games behind the Grizzlies for the eight-seed with 32 games to play -- they've also received a bounce in the weekly power rankings. Observe...
• The panel of voters at ESPN have the Trail Blazers at No. 15 this week, four spots better than last week...
The folks at ESPN have the Trail Blazers behind the Grizzlies at No. 14 and ahead of the Spurs at No. 16.
• John Shuhmann at NBA.com also has the Trail Blazers at No. 15 this week, a three-spot improvement over last week...
Schuhmann has the Trail Blazers behind the Grizzlies at No. 14 and ahead of the Spurs at No. 16.
• Colin Ward-Henninge at CBS Sports has the Trail Blazers at No. 14 this week, a six-spot improvement over last week...
Ward-Henninge has the Trail Blazers behind the Thunder at No. 13 and ahead of the Grizzlies at No. 15.
• Tommy Beer at Rotoworld joins the list of power rankers that have the Trail Blazers at No. 15 this week, four spots better than last week...
Beer has the Trail Blazers behind the Grizzlies at No. 14 and ahead of the Spurs at No. 16.
• Zach Harper at The Athletic has the Trail Blazers at No. 14, five spots better than last week...
Harper has the Trail Blazers behind the Pacers at No. 13 and in front of the Pelicans at No. 15.
• Phil Watson at Hoops Habit has the Trail Blazers at No. 19 this week, two spots better than last week...
Watson has the Trail Blazers behind the Nets at No. 18 and ahead of the Grizzlies at No. 20.
• Michael Shapiro at Sports Illustrated has the Trail Blazers at No. 14 this week, one spot better than last week...
Shapiro has the Trail Blazers behind the Thunder at No. 13 and ahead of the Grizzlies at No. 15.
• Grant Hughes at Bleacher Report has the Trail Blazers at No. 16 this week, three spots better than last week...
Hughes has the Trail Blazers behind the Pelicans at No. 15 and ahead of the Spurs at No. 17.