Portland Trail Blazers: The NBA’s Best Kept Secret

With no big name offseason acquisitions or overly flashy players, the Portland Trail Blazers have flown under the radar and quietly have the second best record in the NBA 

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A little less than half way through the season, most of the headlines around the league are centered around the struggling Cavaliers, early season injuries, the red-hot Warriors or the putrid Knicks and Lakers.

However, amidst the attention and drama across the league, the Portland Trail Blazers have quietly become legitimate NBA title contenders.

Entering their Thursday night matchup against Miami Heat, the Blazers have won 10 out of their last 12 games and are 27-8, which only two games behind the NBA’s best team, the Golden State Warriors.

However, amidst the attention and drama across the league, the Portland Trail Blazers have quietly become legitimate NBA title contenders

Much of the Blazers’ success this season can be attributed to picking up where they left off last season on offense. The Blazers have an offensive efficiency rating of 105.9 and a scoring average of 103.9, both good for sixth best in the NBA.

A large portion of Portland’s offensive production comes from their excellent floor spacing, which results in clean looks for the arsenal of long-range shooters the Blazers employ.

The Blazers are not shy about shooting 3’s either, as 31.2 percent of their shots are from outside the three-point line, which ranks fourth in the league. As a result of their inclination to shoot from deep, they are third in the league in made threes per game, at 10.2. Not only do they take and make a lot of threes, they also are one of the most efficient three-point shooting teams, shooting at 37.8 percent, good for fourth in the NBA.

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With six guys that average at least 1.5 three-point attempts per game and shooting at least 38 percent from three, it is evident that the Blazers are a team that relies heavily on being able to drain three-point shots. However, thanks to some shrewd offseason acquisitions by GM Neil Olshey in the past couple years, they have been able to some add muscle and much-needed inside presence.

In one of the more under appreciated offseason moves, the Blazers were able to sign veteran big man Chris Kaman, a wily seven-footer, who can score in the post. Although he has seen more playing time than expected–due in large part to an injury to Robin Lopez‘s hand–he has shown that he can operate out of the post within the offense, as evidenced by the 9.6 points per game he is averaging.

During Lopez’s absence, the Blazers have also seen steady production from third-year center Joel Freeland. Even though Freeland’s numbers aren’t special, he, like Kaman, has been able to become an obstacle for opposing players when they enter the paint on defense, in addition to his effectiveness grabbing boards when they play small-ball.

Collectively, the Blazers have actually been the best rebounding team in the league, averaging 46.6 rebounds per contest, with that number surely to increase once Lopez returns in late January or early February. And because of their ability to rebound, the Blazers are eighth in the league in second chance points with 14.5 per game.

But offense was never a concern for the Portland Trail Blazers, especially with offensive savants like LaMarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard anchoring them on that side of the court. The question coming into this season was whether or not the Blazers could slow teams down and make other teams play in the mud, rather than constantly engaging in shootouts.

And 35 games into the season, the answer is an emphatic yes.

In the past, teams could slow things down and operate against a finesse Trail Blazer defense, but this season, teams are finding out that the Blazers are more akin to play a grind-it-out game. Despite their high scoring output, the Blazers rank only 12th in the league in pace, meaning that they are more willing to feed Aldridge on one side of the floor and let Aldridge and Lopez/Kaman/Freeland protect the paint on the other side.

Also, the Portland defenders are taking less gambles on the perimeter and playing a more methodical brand of defense. Relying less on individual playmaking and more of a team concept defensively has paid dividends for coach Terry Stotts and and his team, because Blazers now boast the second-best opponents’ effective field goal percentage at 46 percent.

As a result of their newfound defensive identity, the Blazers are also currently third in defensive efficiency (99.0 points per 100 possessions) and second in points allowed per game, yielding on 97 per game.

It remains to be seen whether the Blazers’ newly discovered stout defense and trademark prolific offense will be able to get them over traditional western conference titans, but it will at least keep them in contention deep into the season and late in games–where they may be most dangerous.

The reason why the Blazers are so effective late in games is because of their leader, third-year point guard Damian Lillard.

This season, Lillard has set career-highs in points, steals, field goal percentage, and player efficiency rating (PER). That means Lillard has not only been scoring more, but he has also been scoring more efficiently, and playing a more well-rounded game.

Due to Lillard’s increased effectiveness, he seems to have picked up where he left off last season, in terms of late-game heroics. In recent wins against the Lakers, Spurs, and Thunder, Lillard has topped at least 39 points in each contest, while making several crunch-time shots.

In a league stacked with point guards, Lillard sometimes gets lost in the shuffle, but just like his team, he plays with the intention to gain the respect of national media, and that alone should terrify every other team in the league.

An explosive offense, a top-tier defense and a blossoming superstar, all have the Portland Trail Blazers poised to go deeper in the playoffs this season. In spite of all that though, their rivals in Texas and California will continue to steal attention and headlines, but come April and May it will be tough to ignore the best team the Pacific Northwest has seen in 15 years.

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