The Portland Trail Blazers have put the rest of the league on notice with wins in nine of their last 10 games to climb to within a half game of the Golden State Warriors for first place in the West. Armed with one of the league’s best duos and tremendous depth, Portland has been absolutely dominant all year – especially at home.
However, when it comes to the power rankings conversation, the Trail Blazers don’t get much love. They entered Friday with the most wins in the NBA but are still available at 18/1 odds on the NBA futures to win a Championship. To contrast, the Spurs are +380, the Cavs are +325 and the Bulls are +550.
Here are three reasons why the Trail Blazers are the best team in the NBA right now and why the 18/1 is a pretty shrewd investment at this point.
The Aldridge-Lillard Tandem Is One Of The Best In The NBA
Any talk about Portland’s dominance must begin and end with their dominant superstar tandem of LaMarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard. They have emerged as one of the best one-two punches in the NBA. Aldridge has dominated on the interior at both ends of the floor with 22.9 points, 10.7 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game while Lillard has averaged 21.9 points, 6.4 assists, and 1.5 steals per game this season. Aldridge and Lillard have the ability to take over games and they have great chemistry as their skill sets each make the other player better. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are the obvious NBA go-to tandem in terms of ranking the best, but Aldridge and Lillard might be the best inside-outside duo.
They Have Tremendous Big Men Depth
Aldridge is the star up front for Portland but the organization has also done an excellent job assembling strong depth – especially in terms of its big men. Robin Lopez has started all 25 games he has played in for the Trail Blazers while contributing 9.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. Behind him, the Trail Blazers boast Chris Kaman, who has previously started in his career and has averaged 9.9 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.
The ability to rotate Aldridge, Lopez, and Kaman is a big reason why Portland ranks No. 1 in the NBA in rebounding and No. 2 in points allowed this season. Both of those areas will be key come playoff time. And don’t forget about Thomas Robinson, who is a former lottery pick that the Trail Blazers picked up on the cheap. He’s spelled Aldridge a number of times this season and stepped up with big games including his monstrous 15-point, 16-rebound effort versus Milwaukee in December. With Aldridge, Lopez, Kaman, and Robinson filling out the 4’s and 5’s, the Blazers undoubtedly boast one of the best big man rotations in the NBA this season.
They’re Dominant At Home
No team in the NBA has more home wins than the Trail Blazers this season, as the Moda Center has become one of the toughest venues for opponents to play (although the Golden State Warriors entered Friday with a better home winning percentage at 12-1). Portland is 15-2 at home and if they can find a way to pass the Warriors and clinch the top seed in the Western Conference, they will be very difficult to stop come playoff time. Trail Blazers fans have waited a long time to be able to watch a true contender and this season they have finally gotten their chance to watch one up close on a nightly basis.
There is still a lot of basketball left to play but if they can continue to dominate then the road to the NBA Finals could very well wind up having to go through Portland when it is all said and done. It’s clear that this is one of the best teams in the NBA that everyone is sleeping on.
