Three Losses in Past Week Drops Blazers In Power Rankings
(AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
The Blazers went 1-3 over the past week and predictably, they fell respectively across the blogosphere’s power rankings.
ESPN.com’s Marc Stein dropped the Blazers from 7th to 12th in his latest power rankings:
Losing at home to these Lakers is obviously troubling. Losing at home to these Lakers before tipping off a killer road trip with agonizing losses in Dallas and Houston made it sting worse for an out-of-rhythm LaMarcus Aldridge, who increasingly looks as though he’ll have to settle for a No. 5 seed.
Yahoo! Sports’ Marc Spears dropped Portland just one spot from 7th to 8th:
Portland, losers of two straight games, continues its road trip at Memphis, San Antonio and New Orleans. Depending on how the trip goes, the Blazers could slip more.
David Aldridge of NBA.com dropped the Blazers four spots from 4th to 8th:
Blazers blowing a great chance to make up ground on struggling OKC.
Aldridge’s NBA.com colleague John Schuhmann dropped Portland three spots from 8th to 11th:
Portland (42-21)
Pace: 98.0 (10), OffRtg: 108.5 (4), DefRtg: 104.5 (18), NetRtg: +4.0 (8)
The Blazers’ offense has been rather mediocre since LaMarcus Aldridge’s return, because Aldridge hasn’t shot well from mid-range and his teammates haven’t shot well from beyond the arc. And after heartbreakers against the Lakers, Mavs and Rockets last week (in which they committed 10 clutch-time turnovers), they’ve lost six of their last eight games that were within five points in the last five minutes,
This week: @ MEM, @ SAS, @ NOP, vs. GSW
Matt Dollinger of SI.com moved Portland from 7th to 9th:
Despite the return of LaMarcus Aldridge, the Blazers have lost three of four to relinquish hold of home-court advantage in the first round. Portland faces a difficult week in its bid to make up ground, with road games against Memphis, San Antonio and New Orleans and a home game against Golden State
Matt Moore of CBSSports.com has the Blazers down from 8th to 9th:
Even after the Rockets loss, they’ve really impressed by improving on defense. The offense flips between bad habits and overall awesomeness. They’re the talented creative writing student you hope sticks with it.
Jason Patt of SBNation dropped the Blazers three spots from 7th to 10th:
The Blazers lost three of four last week, with all three losses being of the heartbreaking variety. Portland lost at the last-second against the Lakers and blew late leads against both the Mavs and Rockets.
USA Today’s panel has the Blazers down one spot moving from 7th to 8th:
Their rankings slide comes more from the other top teams playing well than their own faults.
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.