The Trail Blazers Believe They're Turning A Corner – And They Might Be Right
The Trail Blazers blew out the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night, finishing their Eastern Conference road trip perfect and winning four straight away games for the first time since 2013. They won 11 games in March, as many as any other team in basketball. Portland is just half a game back of fourth-place in the West, finally gaining some distance from a potential play-in fate.
Needless to say, the Blazers are in a stronger position than they've been all season. But to Terry Stotts, consecutive road wins over the short-handed Miami Heat, trade-ravaged Orlando Magic, Kyle Lowry-less Toronto Raptors and bottom-dwelling Pistons aren't the surest signs of his team's progress.
The state of Portland's process, he believes, is more encouraging than its recent results.
"I like how we're playing," Stotts said after the Blazers beat the Pistons. "I like the direction we're going with Nurk getting there, adding Norman, CJ's looking good. It's good to get wins on the road, but more importantly I like the direction that we're going."
Damian Lillard agrees.
The Blazers' defensive improvement of late – to the small extent it exists – has certainly been made easier by inferior competition. But it's also undeniable that the flashes of defensive dynamism Portland's mostly reserved for crunch-time this season have been far more prevalent over the last week of play.
Lillard has noticed, too, stats and narrative be damned.
"I feel like regardless of what people say about our defense, it feels like it's improving," he said. "I think we've had a few dominant stretches on the defensive end without us playing great offensively."
In a different world, where the Blazers stand pat at the trade deadline and Nurkic's return is delayed until the second week of April, there's also a chance they go undefeated on that Eastern Conference trek. Maybe they even win 11 games in March, too.
But the jolt of energy and optimism provided by Nurkic's long-awaited comeback and the addition of Powell is palpable even far outside Portland's locker room.
After the Blazers acquired Powell, Neil Olshey justified the move in part because he feared they were getting "stale" as previously constructed. He was right, even accounting for the return of McCollum. Nurkic and Powell offer Portland things their teammates don't.
The former's instincts and aggression defensively give the Blazers some much-needed teeth, and his high-post playmaking further spreads the floor while affording teammates easy looks at the rim. The force Powell plays with at both ends speaks for itself, never louder and more impactful than when he's attacking in transition.
Even at its theoretical peak, Portland is still a second-rung title contender. The Denver Nuggets will probably pass the Blazers in the standings, and it wouldn't be shocking if the Dallas Mavericks did, too. Dreams of home-court in the postseason are likely to be no more than that.
For the first time in a while, though, Portland's hopeful talk of growth to come seems entirely realistic.
"I think these last four games feel good because I feel like we're improving defensively and it's been a complete team effort," Lillard said. "I just feel like we're complete right now, and we're still trending upward."