After a rough stretch to end November and start December, the Trail Blazers managed to stabilize themselves a bit last week with back-to-back wins at home versus the Suns and Timberwolves. While there probably wasn’t much to take away from beating a moribund Phoenix team by 22 points, pulling away from in the final two minutes to defeat the Timberwolves, a team that dominated the Trail Blazers in the previous meeting, seemed like a step in the right direction. We won’t have to wait long to find out of Saturday’s win was a sign of better things to come or just one good game in an otherwise disappointing stretch of performances with games this week versus the Rockets, Grizzlies and Raptors.So after going 2-1 last week, the Trail Blazers find themselves basically exactly in the same position as this time last week in the most recent round of Power Rankings… • The panel at ESPN has the Trail Blazers at No. 12 this week, unchanged from last week…
While the offense hasn't been great, it's the defense that has been the real issue, and Carmelo Anthony isn't doing anything on that end to solve the issues Portland has been experiencing.
The panel at ESPN has the Trail Blazers behind the Pacers at No. 11 and ahead of the Pistons at No. 13.
• John Schuhmann at NBA.com has the Trail Blazers at No. 13 this week, unchanged from last week...
Pace: 100.9 (18) OffRtg: 110.9 (8) DefRtg: 109.0 (19) NetRtg: +1.9 (12)
Schuhmann has the Trail Blazers behind the Grizzlies at No. 12 and ahead of the Pelicans at No. 14.
• Reid Forgrave at CBS Sports has the Trail Blazers at No. 10 this week, which is also unchanged from last week...
Forgrave has the Trail Blazers behind the Clippers at No. 9 and ahead of the Grizzlies at No. 11.
• Tommy Beer at Rotoworld has the Trail Blazers at No. 12 this week, unchanged from last week...
Beer has the Trail Blazers behind the Grizzlies at No. 11 and ahead of the Mavericks at No. 13.
• Khadrice Rollins has the Trail Blazers at No. 12 this week, unchanged from last week...
Rollins has the Trail Blazers behind the Grizzlies at No. 11 and ahead of the Mavericks at No. 13.
• Zach Harper of The Athletic has the Trail Blazers at No. 12 this week, two spots worse than last week...
Harper has the Trail Blazers behind the Pacers at No. 11 and ahead of the Pistons at No. 13.