The final week of the NBA regular season is starting next week, and it’s looking like the Blazers have the 10th pick locked up. With games against the Jazz, who have no desire to win, and the Warriors and Lakers, who are desperately looking for wins, the team will most likely be 1-2 on the week and 36-46 on the season overall. This is great for us since there isn’t much of a cause for our draft positioning to worsen. Lots of “wait and see” during the last week, but it will at least make for a great time seeing how the West’s seeding will look.
Game #76 - 4/1 @ Atlanta (127-113 W)
A 15-point lead that quickly diminished in the fourth quarter eventually led to a W in Atlanta. Once again, Deni showed why he is the driving force behind this team. As I’ve said, how we got him from Washington for almost nothing is confusing as everything gets out. But we’re not here to overthink good things. Another good thing is that Shaedon is in a groove and is starting to prove his worth as a #7 NBA Draft pick. But outside of this, it was a battle of defensive prowess: Toumani vs Dyson Daniels. From a +/- perspective, Toumani outplayed Dyson +9 to -20. You could even toss Matisse in there too if you want to add more defense to this game. But this game had everything the Blazers wanted in a game. It had a crazy 30/15/10 Deni triple-double. It had a defensive Toumani celly. It had some steals from Matisse. It even had some big man threes. It’s clear we can beat the middling teams, and that, in and of itself, is a massive improvement from last season when every game felt like a coin toss.
Game #77 - 4/3 @ Toronto (112-103 W)
Shaedon Sharpe is every player’s favorite highlight reel. With Anfernee still out, Dalano got the start and continues proving he has a valuable spot on this roster, scoring 23 points. Deni did Deni things with 26 points and 15 rebounds. This game was back and forth until the Blazers fully grasped the lead in Q4. This Toronto team isn’t scary, but when it’s the end of the season, you never know what will happen, so it’s great to see us take control of the game late. Shaedon was the best player on the court and set a new record for a Canadian player scoring the most points against Toronto. The growth of Shaedon this season has been detrimental to the development of this team.
Game #78 - 4/4 @ Chicago (118-113 L)
A 15-point, fourth-quarter lead was too much for Portland to overcome against the Bulls in Chicago. A 15-2 run over 5:44 cut the lead to 106-108, but it wasn’t enough for the Blazers to prevail. Once again, in back-to-back games, it was the Deni, Shae, and Dalano show, with each scoring 37, 17, and 21, respectively. Unfortunately, Nikola Vucevic, Coby White, and Josh Giddey had other plans as they led the charge for holding off Portland. This was a weird one from Chauncey. Amid the late run, he subbed out Deni and Shaedon with 3:00 left on the clock. In a game that technically doesn’t matter since the Blazers are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, it matters emotionally for the season. I get the rationale to help us with a better draft pick, but ultimately it seemed pretty lame and reminiscent of Chauncey’s tenure in Portland late in the season - tanking. Either way, this season has already proved a lot to the city of Portland and the rest of the league that we, as an organization, have decided how this team will operate moving forward - winning.
Game #79 - 4/6 vs San Antonio (120-109 W)
The good guys won a game that ultimately didn’t matter. (That’s us. We’re the good guys.) We took control midway through the first quarter and never released it. Deni couldn’t continue his hot streak of scoring due to a right thumb sprain. BUT we got back to some of our original ways of balanced scoring, with four guys scoring 18+ points and Shaedon and Toumani providing double-doubles. Great to see a solid performance from Kris Murray, too. He’s not getting tons of minutes, but Chauncey is doing the right thing by having some guys like Kris and Jabari get real minutes outside of the fourth quarter. Although the season is ending and they’re officially out of playoff contention, it’ll be interesting to see what happens with Chauncey’s starting lineup decisions. I’d assume it’ll be similar to tonight, but who knows?
Record: 3-1 (35-44)
Next Week’s Games: 4/9 @ Utah, 4/11 vs Golden State, 4/13 vs LA Lakers