What a fantastic couple of weeks from the bright-future Blazers. Going on a 10-win over 12-game run is pretty insane when you think about the expectations set at the beginning of the season. There are lots of positive things to take from this past week: OT W over Phoenix, stellar defensive performances against Indy and Sacramento, and everyone playing great as a team. This team is close to figuring out how to compete for a spot in the playoffs, and while it might not be this year, next season has a lot to be excited about.
Game #50 - 2/3 vs Phoenix (121-119 OT W)
It was a back-and-forth game that gave the Blazers an OT victory and fourth consecutive win (producing the best record in the league over the last 9 games, too). This team is so damn resilient. If it weren’t for a Royce O’Neale three with 2.1 seconds left to send the game to OT, we would’ve won it on regulation. The Sun’s starters scored a collective 63 points, with 61 coming from Durant and Booker. They needed to depend on their bench and flimsy roster to get to OT against these RED-HOT Blazers. Then you look at the balanced scoring from Portland — Ayton scoring 25-point triple-double, Deni scoring 24, Toumani scoring 17, Jerami scoring 14, Ant scoring 13, and Scoot scoring 15 off the bench. Ayton got complete revenge over his former team with his big night, scoring 9 of the 14 OT points and collecting 5 rebounds (4 offensive). Again, idk what sparked this productive play from Ayton, but no one is upset about it. This team might be made up of small pieces, but these seem to be the pieces to a bright future Blazers.
Game #51 - 2/4 vs Indiana (112-89 W)
A WHOLE HAND OF CONSECUTIVE VICTORIES. Man, oh man, are the Blazers red hot and rolling. It helps to have the home crowd behind you, but holding someone like Tyrese Haliburton to 0 points on 0/3 shooting is insane. If I had to peg the team identity as one thing, I’d probably say accountability: they’re switching on assignments, making the extra pass (even two or three), and not getting bogged down by mistakes. Not only that, but they’re also leading the league in net rating and defense, something that hasn’t happened in YEARS. Not only that, but they never trailed in this game. I’m sure that’s happened this season before (maybe), but I wouldn’t count on it having happened more than once. Chauncey’s contract is up at the end of this season, and this success clearly proves his worth to the organization and the players. It all depends upon how the post-All-Star Break goes and if they tank, once again, or continue this new way of winning if he’ll be back for the 2025-26 season.
Game #52 - 2/6 vs Sacramento (108-102 W)
I feel Chauncey will be back next year after these six wins in a row?!? A back-and-forth game vs. the Kings where newly acquired Zach LeVine wasn’t enough to stop the best team in the National Basketball Association (over the last few weeks). Ant led the team in scoring with 30, followed by Shaedon with 24. They didn’t really lock anyone up, but no one going off is the success for winning games against loaded squads. As I’ve said before, this team is both young and figuring out its identity. This streak of 11 games where they’ve won 10 is 1) insane and 2) such a good foundation for next season regarding “look what we did last year.” Who knows what this will lead to for the rest of the season, but we’re getting this production from second and third-year players, which is excellent, especially against teams that are actually good, not just lottery teams. Also, Clingan is still proving to be a beast down low.
Game #53 - 2/8 @ Minnesota (114-98 L)
Did we run out of magic or have a not-so-great game against a better team? It kinda seems to be the latter. Being up 84-76 to start Q4 and then only scoring 14 in the final 12 mins is not the norm for this team. And the TWolves’ defense isn’t THAT amazing to outscore a hot team by 24 in the final quarter. Obviously, it doesn’t help when you shoot 7/35 from three-point range, but shooting 3/17 from the field in Q4 is what will hurt a team. All this talk of accountability has one thinking that it wasn’t present during the game's final quarter. Maybe the whole team hit a mental brick wall. Maybe we needed to sub off guys going cold to inject some juice into the rotation. Who knows. But this kind of meltdown performance isn’t something I’d guess we will see anytime soon. All you can do is erase it from your memory and move on.
Record: 3-1 (23-30)
Next Week’s Games: 2/10 @ Denver, 2/12 @ Denver, 2/20 vs LA Lakers, 2/22 vs Charlotte