Mar 15

It’s an important night for the Trail Blazers. We begin a three-game homestand that could set the tone for the final 16 games of the season.

With ten of our last 16 games at the Rose Garden it’s imperative that the Trail Blazers protect home court. Winning the last ten games in Portland will help guarantee a playoff berth and hopefully the ability to breathe a bit easier toward the end of the season. All out battles are coming, are you ready?

Tonight’s game is a potential preview of a playoff match-up. How do you feel about a first-round against the Dallas Mavericks?

Last night's scores and effects:

 Oklahoma City Thunder stomped the  Washington Wizards 116-89 An easy win for the Thunder keeps them in 4th in the West. The Cavs stay in last place in the East.

 San Antonio Spurs were decimated by the  Miami Heat 80-110 This game wasn’t as close as I thought it was going to be. No playoff seeding were changed. San Antonio sits in 1st in the West and Miami remains in 3rd in the East.

 LA Clippers lost to the  Memphis Grizzlies 82-105 Memphis moved to within one game of the Trail Blazers with their win. They remain in 8th. The Grizz are inching closer and closer to the Portland Blazers with every game.

 Denver Nuggets beat the  New Orleans Hornets 114-103 The loss for New Orleans brought the Trail Blazers to within half a game, which we could pick up tonight with a win over the Mavs. The Nuggets win moved them two full games ahead of the Hornets.

 Phoenix Suns narrowly succumbed to the  Houston Rockets 93-95 The loss by the Suns coupled with the win by the Jazz dropped Phoenix to the 10th seed behind Utah and still ahead of  Houston.

 Philadelphia 76ers fell to the  Utah Jazz 107-112 This game had movement implications for the Jazz. The win helped them jump the Phoenix Suns into the 9th seed in the West.

 Orlando Magic were beat by the  LA Lakers 84-97 Playoff seeding remains the same with the Magic in the 4th seed in the East and the Lakers in the 3rd seed in the East. The Lakers win ties the Lakers with the Dallas Mavericks in the games back category and leaves them just barely behind them in winning percentage. This skew is due to the difference in the number of games each team has played, LA has played two more.



Tonight’s games with Western Conference potential playoff teams:

 Dallas Mavericks (47-19) vs.  Portland Trail Blazers (37-29) on NBATV This is an important night for the Trail Blazers. A win will move the Trail Blazers ahead of the Hornets and into the 6th seed. It’ll also widen the gap between Portland teams closing in on them. A Dallas loss will drop them from the 2nd to 3rd seed in the Wes. A Portland loss will keep the Mavs in 2nd and the Trail Blazers in 7th.

Here are the playoff match-ups as of today.



What do you predict for the Trail Blazers tonight?

(Tables courtesy of NBA.com)