Two-thirds of the NBA have losing road records and of the 10 who don’t only four reside in the West. So, the fact Portland struggles in this area doesn’t make them unique. It does, however, point to the difficulty the Blazers will have repeating as a top four seed in their conference.
Damian Lillard continues to display upward growth and is a delight to watch and whether he’s hoisting shots from deep or outmaneuvering his defensive cover in a myriad of delightful ways. I love watching his ‘game face’ where I swear you can see him calculate in his head how he’ll fly by the opponent.
McCollum has great moments and Zach Collins is the future front court big. But, it just feels like this is the West’s version of the Raptors who consistently put up a quality product with the balletic DeRozan and bulldog Lowry yet could never translate in season success to repeated deep runs.
Can Neil Olshey make a tweak that moves the arrow? And, more importantly, will it require emulating Masai Ujiri’s lead by breaking up his talented backcourt?
Portland Trail Blazers:
Offensive Rating: 7th
Defensive Rating: 19th
Net Differential: 11th
Points per game: 111.6 (10th)
Offensive field goal efficiency: 45.6 percent (tied 14th)
Opponent points per game: 110.2 (14th)
Opponent field goal efficiency: 45.7 percent (15th)
3-Point percent: 35.6% (10th)
Opponent 3-point percent: 37.5% (29th)
Home: 11-4
Road: 5-9
Back to back sets: 4
Versus the West: 8-10, 8th in WC
Versus the East: 8-3
Week nine 1-2: Won vs. Raptors, lost @Rockets, @Grizzlies
On tap for week 10: @Clippers, Grizzlies, Jazz, Mavericks