The Portland Trail Blazers' chances of earning a Western Conference play-in berth took a blow Monday night.
The 12th-place Blazers lost 130-120 at Golden State on a night that also saw 10th-place Dallas defeat San Antonio. That combination pushed the Blazers to five games behind the Mavericks with 16 remaining.
Blowing opportunities to pick up games on the Mavericks on Friday and Sunday came back to bite the Blazers on Monday.
The Blazers' trend of losing to winning teams is foreshadowing their likely doom. Seven of their next nine games will come against winning teams, starting Wednesday night against the New York Knicks (41-23) at the Moda Center.
Portland had good opportunities to win Friday at Oklahoma City, which sat all five starters, and Saturday at home against Detroit but failed to pick up a victory. On both nights, the Mavericks also lost.
At this point, even if the Blazers go 10-6 the rest of the way, they would need the Mavericks to go 4-12 to surpass them.
Dallas holds the head-to-head tie-breaker over Portland, having won the season series 3-1.
Portland Trail Blazers v Golden State Warriors
Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors is guarded by Toumani Camara #33 of the Portland Trail Blazers during the first half at Chase Center on March 10, 2025 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)Getty Images
Then there’s 11th-place Phoenix (30-35), which leads the Blazers by 2½ and trails Dallas by the same margin.
The Mavericks have an easier remaining schedule but will sorely miss Kyrie Irving (knee), who is out for the season. They had lost seven of eight before winning 133-129 over the Spurs.
If the Blazers can remain within striking distance by April 1, they could have a shot to pull this off.
Their final six games include at Toronto (22-43), at Chicago (27-38), home against San Antonio (26-37) and at Utah (15-50). They then close with home games against the Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers. One or both could seal their playoff seeding by then and decide to rest stars.
On Sunday, Blazers coach Chauncey Billups said he doesn’t like watching the standings and thinking about needing help from other teams. But it’s inching closer to the point where Portland will need a lot of help from many teams to remain afloat.
Dallas plays at San Antonio again on Wednesday when the Blazers host the Knicks.
-- Aaron Fentress | afentress@Oregonian.com | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook)