The Portland Trail Blazers are in first place in the Western Conference after winning Tuesday, a note both remarkable and unremarkable at the same time.
On the one hand, the Warriors have scuffed with injuries and more taking out Stephen Curry and Draymond Green. The Rockets and Thunder got off to epic slow starts. The Timberwolves had a YA paranormal trilogy’s worth of drama by Nov. 1. The Jazz have been maddeningly inconsistent. The Nuggets have cooled off. The Blazers finished No. 3 in the tough West last season — why shouldn’t they be poised to pounce when the other top contenders struggle?
On the other hand, the Blazers got steamrolled out of the playoffs by a No. 6 seed and made basically no meaningful roster changes in the offseason. If the Pelicans proved Portland fake in the playoffs, why do they look so real again?
Zach Lowe touches the pulse in his big piece on the Blazers: these dudes get along. They are nice. They reject drama. They prevent drama. Damian Lillard is a stellar leader. Terry Stotts and Neil Olshey have one of the healthiest coach-GM relationships in the league. Also, Dame and C.J. McCollum are really, really good, and the team is well-constructed to win games, which is the point of all of this.
Teams are eventually judged by playoff wins, and if Portland crumbles again this spring there will almost certainly be a reimagining of the roster. But it’s so charming to see a team full of good people have success and be comfortable with that mere success. Let’s hear it for the Blazers!
Scores
Raptors 93, Magic 91
Clippers 118, Wizards 125
Nets 104, Heat 92
Blazers 118, Knicks 114
Schedule
On National TV:
Lakers at Cavaliers, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN
Thunder at Warriors, 10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN
Selections from League Pass:
Pelicans at Sixers, 7 p.m. ET
Blazers at Bucks, 8 p.m. ET
Nuggets at Timberwolves, 8 p.m. ET
Grizzlies at Spurs, 8:30 p.m. ET
Kings at Jazz, 9 p.m. ET
Links
Paul Flannery declares the Eastern Conference back on the strength of the top four teams. This is really a matter of leaning on top-line quality vs. depth. The West clearly has superior depth, but you could argue the East has the Nos. 2-5 best teams in the league, after the Warriors.
Ricky O’Donnell has seven college freshmen every fan of a bad NBA team should be paying attention to as the NCAA season heats up.
Michael Pina profiles Rodney McGruder, who has gone from anonymous to irreplaceable in Miami.
Markelle Fultz is off to see the specialist, the wonderful shoulder specialist of Oz. The Sixers seemed blindsided. Elton Brand’s comments were curt.
Speaking of odd Sixers injuries, Zhaire Smith is at risk of missing the whole season.
Kevin Durant needs to take more threes. Meanwhile, Durant told Chris Haynes the incident with Draymond Green won’t have any bearing on his free agency. That seems impossible because major moments like that have ramifications we may not even recognize to those they happen to.
* Note that I call Strickland a ‘90s legend and not a ‘90s basketball legend or a basketball legend. Strickland is bigger than basketball. Need proof? He’s the only athlete mentioned by name on the greatest posse cut of the ‘90s (“Triumph”). Chew on that.
J.R. Smith won’t be with the Cavaliers as they look for potential trades for him.
Is Nikola Vucevic an All-Star candidate?
LeBron is back in Cleveland on Wednesday. George Hill has declared that Cavs fans who boo LeBron are “a--holes.” Meanwhile, Jeff Zillgitt relives the infamous night LeBron first returned to Cleveland in 2010.
Shout out to Willie Cauley-Stein for dubbing Russell Westbrook “Hollywood” and Steven Adams “Aquaman.”
Be excellent to each other.