Memphis Grizzlies: Race for the eighth update, Part 2
By Ethan Becker
No. 10: The Portland Trail Blazers, 2.5 Games Back
Previous Standing: 9
Current Record: 30-38
Most Recent Game: Loss vs. Celtics
After holding onto the ninth seed for what has felt like ages, the Portland Trail Blazers finally relinquish their single-seed digit and drop down to 10th in the West after a tough game against the Boston Celtics.
What must sting a little for the Blazers is that they didn’t actually fall any games back. The last time we released a list like this, Portland was 2.5 games behind the Grizzlies, and that’s the case with this list today.
Still, if Portland had won that game against the Celtics yesterday they would be the ninth seed, which has got to make Damian Lillard feel even worse for not risking that potential game-tying 3-point shot in favor of an assisted Jusuf Nurkic layup. But, just because the loss puts them in a tough position, the Blazers are far from being a ninth seed afterthought.