Blazers Hold Steady In Final February Power Rankings
(AP Photo/Greg Wahl-Stephens)
The Blazers went 2-1 without LaMarcus Aldridge last week, with their only loss coming by two points and are tied for third in the Western Conference with the Houston Rockets.
Although if the playoffs began today, Portland would be the fifth seed but hosting the Clippers, as they are down 2-1 in the season series with one more game to play against the Rockets.
However, that didn’t stop the Blazers from some of the basketball internet’s power rankers to bring them down a peg.
ESPN.com’s Marc Stein kept the Blazers where they were last week (7th place) but also said they would like to probably forget their 5-5 February so far.
Terry Stotts’ tribute in honor of Dr. Jack’s 89th birthday goes a long way with us. A long way. Yet it’s safe to say Portland would prefer if we forget much of what we’ve seen during this 5-5 February, lowlighted by the groin injury that has LaMarcus Aldridge stuck wearing his own sport coat.
David Aldridge of NBA.com didn’t do a ranking last week, but kept the Blazers in the number four spot where he had them two weeks before.
Swept regular-season series from Utah for the first time in 16 years after beating the Jazz for the third and final time this year on Friday.
The Blazers will have that opportunity to sweep the Jazz when the teams have their final meeting on April 11th in Salt Lake City.
USA Today was one of rankers who moved the Blazer down a spot, moving them from sixth to seventh.
Damian Lillard averages 19.3 points and 6.2 assists in wins, 24.6 and 4.9 in losses.
Matt Moore of CBSSports.com still has the Blazers ranked 12th, behind teams like Dallas, Toronto and the Bobcats. The Bobcats.
Trail Blazers fans can feel the quakes beneath their feet, but the wins keep coming so they keep holding on to the totem pole.
Matt Dollinger of SI.com has the Blazers staying pat at number nine, behind Dallas, Golden State and Phoenix.
The Blazers deserve some credit for hanging tough without LaMarcus Aldridge, as a two-point loss to the Spurs was their only blemish last week. Thomas Robinson helped make up for Aldridge’s absence on Sunday when he finished with 14 points and a career-high 18 rebounds in a win over Minnesota, leading Damian Lillard and Co. to call him “Thomas Aldridge.” High praise, indeed.
Jason Patt of SBNation has the Blazers down two spots from seventh down to ninth, behind the Suns and ahead of the Grizzlies.
The Blazers have run into some injury problems, with several key members of the frontcourt, including LaMarcus Aldridge, dealing with various issues. Damian Lillard has helped Portland survive for the time being without Aldridge, whileThomas Robinson is busy rejecting shots back into the face of Corey Brewer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhdYpW2ocso#t=28
And here are the real standings before the games tip-off on February 24th:
Erik Gundersen
Erik Gundersen is the Trail Blazers beat reporter for The Columbian. He's a graduate of the Allen School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon in addition earning a degree in Spanish. He's covered the NBA for four seasons. You can also occasionally find his work on ESPN.com's NBA section for their TrueCities series. He also fist-bumped with Kanye West once. Follow @BlazerBanter on twitter for more Blazers and NBA news.