Typically losing two games in a row, especially on the road, isn't all that much, if anything, to get too concerned about, especialy less than a month into the season. But when you start the year playing as well as the Trail Blazers have, losing back-to-back games to the Lakers and Timberwolves is more noticable, even with those losses coming during the first two games of a six-game trip that will take the team from one side of the country to the other and back before they return to Portland the day after Thanksgiving.
So despite currently sitting at the top of the Western Conference standings (along with a few other teams), the Trail Blazers dropped a few spots or remained unchanged in this week's Power Rankings, which speaks more to how highly they were already ranked than their performance in the last seven days. One does get the sense than some nationally are assuming the Trail Blazers will fall off sooner rather than later, which might be why they seemed to get judged a bit more harshly than some of their contemporaries, but if they continue to win games at a steady clip, those perceptions will work themselves out.
Now, onto this week's Power Rankings...
• The panel of voters at ESPN has the Trail Blazers at No. 5 this week, one spot worse than last week...
ESPN has the Trail Blazers behind the Thunder at No. 4 and ahead of the Celtics at No. 6.• John Schuhmann at NBA.com has the Trail Blazers at No. 3 this week, one spot worse than last week...
Schuhmann has the Trail Blazers behind the Knicks Bucks at No. 2 and ahead of the Raptors at No. 4.
• Reid Forgrave at CBS Sports has the Trail Blazers at No. 4 this week, one spot better than last week...
Forgrave has the Trail Blazers behind the Bucks at No. 3 and ahead of the 76ers at No. 5.
• Khadrice Rollins at SI.com has the Trail Blazers at No. 3 this week, two spots better than last week...
Rollins has the Trail Blazers behind the Raptors at No. 2 and ahead of the 76ers at No. 4.
• Tommy Beer at Rotoworld.com has the Trail Blazres at No. 4 this week, unchanged from last week...
Beer has the Trail Blazers behind the Warriors at No. 3 and ahead of the Thunder at No. 5.
• Ian Levy at Fansided has the Trail Blazers at No. 3 this week, unchanged from last week...
Levy has the Trail Blazers behind the Raptors at No. 2 and ahead of the Thunder at No. 4.
• Gerald Bourguet has the Trail Blazers at No. 3 this week, unchanged from last week...
Despite the 1-2 week, the Portland Trail Blazers still got bumped into the No. 1 spot in the Western Conference thanks to the Warriors’ recent backslide.
Bourguet has the Trail Blazers behind the Thunder at No. 2 and ahead of the Raptors at No. 4.
• Brad Rowland at UPROXX has the Trail Blazers at No. 6, two spots worse than last week...
Rowland has the Trail Blazers behind the 76ers at No. 5 and ahead of the Pacers at No. 7.
• Zach Harper at The Athletic has the Trail Blazers at No. 5 this week, unchanged from last week...
Harper has the Trail Blazers behind the Nuggets, a team that is being taken seriously despite losing six of their last seven games, at No. 4 and ahead of the Celtics, a team, also taken seriously, that recently went 1-4 on a five-game road trip, at No. 6. Seriously.