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The Portland Trail Blazers harnessed the power of a four-game winning streak to bounce back in the latest round of NBA power rankings. Thanks to their unblemished record last week the Blazers returned to the fringes of the top 10 and moved out of the NBA play-in field for the time being.
ESPN’s latest rankings moved the Blazers up one spot to No. 11. Contributor Royce Young explained that Portland is headed in the right direction as the postseason inches closer.
After an awkward few weeks, the Blazers have righted the ship and have gotten out of the play-in spot. They’ve won four straight, all on the road, with CJ McCollum working back to full strength and the role players stepping up. For Portland, avoiding the play-in is the priority; with a favorable schedule to close out, chances are looking much better than they did a week ago.
The Athletic’s Zach Harper moved the Blazers up six spots to No. 10. Harper touched on the Blazers’ improvements, but he is still not convinced that Portland is out of the woods.
Huge bounce-back week for the Blazers, which was desperately needed. I’m not sure if they’re fixed, but they’re certainly not looking lost anymore.
Bleacher Report’s Mo Dakhil moved Portland up four spots to No. 12. Dakhil pointed to Anfernee Simons and Jusuf Nurkic when detailing the Blazers’ turnaround.
The Blazers have gotten an important jolt off the bench from Anfernee Simons. He averaged 12.5 points and shot 60.9 percent from deep. Jusuf Nurkic had his best week since coming back from his injury, averaging a double-double with 15.8 points and 10.3 rebounds.
The Blazers will look to keep things rolling with another four-game slate this week. After two road games, coach Terry Stotts’ squad returns to the Moda Center to host the Lakers on Friday.