The Portland Trail Blazers are using consistency as their main asset to become one of the toughest teams to play against in the current regular-season, and two of their star players continue to make significant impact.
The current No 2 team in the Western Conference – behind the Golden State Warriors – the Blazers (22-7) is making the most of LaMarcus Aldridge’s 22.8 points and 10.7 points per game.
To make the Blazers a team to watch out, point-guard Damian Lillard is averaging crucial 21.3 points and six assists per game, while Wesley Matthews, Nicolas Batum and Robin Lopez remain as crucial as ever.
As the regular-season goes along, Portland continues to build on its playoff contender credentials in the West, not only because they have beaten the reigning champions San Antonio Spurs on two consecutive games this season, which prompted coach Terry Stotts to describe the moment as “probably our best win of the season,” but also because the Blazers are playing great.
This is a team, which scores more points on the road (104) than they do at home (102), and move towards the end of the year, knowing that stepping up their defence and playing consistent basketball could make a major difference late in the regular-season.
However, a key factor for the Blazers lies on the Aldridge and Lillard’s health.
Monday’s 110-95 defeat at Houston Rockets, which also broke their five-game winning streak, raised question marks about the team’s capability of competing without Aldridge.
In that game – the first against Houston since Damian Lillard’s three-pointer eliminated the Rockets from last season’s playoffs first round – Aldridge sat out with an upper-respiratory, and Portland, the Northwest leading team, conceded their biggest losing margin, and seventh defeat in the season.
No doubts that Aldridge has become a big factor for the Blazers.
He was named the Western Conference Player of the Week on Monday for the eighth time in his career.
The 29-year-old is the only player in the NBA to rank in the top-10 in both scoring and rebounding this season, as he is currently ninth in scoring (22.8 points per game) and eighth in rebounding (10.7).
The Blazers visit the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night, and will close the calendar year, hosting the Philadelphia 76ers, New Knicks and the Eastern Conference leaders the Toronto Raptors.
