The Po
rtland Trail Blazers are starting to fall back in the Western Conference Standings. They now sit No.4 in the playoff seeding, down from the No.2 seed from just a couple of weeks ago.
Portland is coming off of a four-game East Coast road trip that was trimmed to three games when their matchup versus the Brooklyn Nets was postponed due to a winter storm. On that trip, the Blazers went 0-3.
In their past ten games, Portland is 2-8, and are winless on the road in six games. That’s equal to the total amount of losses they had in the 38 games prior to that stretch. They’re scoring has also dipped to 97.2 points per game, down from the 103.8 points during their first 38 games.
Coach Terry Stotts’ team has been plagued by injuries however. Perhaps the most important one of all has been the hand injury that’s sidelined center Robin Lopez for the better part of six weeks.
Lopez, or Rolo, came back Tuesday night against the Utah Jazz from the thumb injury that sidelined him for 24 games. Here’s his post to Instagram just before the game tipped off.
“Shucks it’s good to see you again #RIPCITY#NeverSayDie”.
Typical Rolo fashion and word choice.
Portland was 14-10 without their man in the middle, and although he isn’t a huge scorer, he rebounds and blocks shots very well for his team. He’s also very strong in the pick-and-roll, especially with Damian Lillard and Nicolas Batum.
The Blazers severely needed to get healthy, and they’re just about there with the return of Lopez. Hopefully he can help turn around the team’s performance and bring some much needed energy to the team. We all know he’s just the type of player to do that.
Stats via NBA.com.