The Portland Trail Blazers find themselves in a very interesting spot with only a few weeks left to go in the regular season. Portland is just a few games back of the final Play-In spot within the Western Conference standings.
After finishing in last place of the West standings a year ago, Portland has massively grown up this year. Entering the season, all the front office wanted to see was real growth from their young core but now the team has a real chance to reach the postseason.
Entering the slate of games on March 24, Portland sat just 2.5 games behind in the standings. The Trail Blazers hold a record of 32-40 for the year and they sit in the No. 12 spot of the West standings.
Just ahead of them are the Dallas Mavericks, Phoenix Suns, and Sacramento Kings. Portland just needs to lap two of these three teams if they want to clinch a spot in the Play-In tournament.
The Suns hold a record of 34-37, sitting in the No. 10 spot. Dallas is also 34-37, holding the No. 11 seed.
The Suns and Mavericks are the main teams for the Trail Blazers to score watch as the year winds down. The Kings are four games up on Portland, making it more unlikely to catch them.
For the upcoming week, here are the schedules of the three teams and who Portland fans should be rooting for:
March 25 vs Cleveland Cavaliers
March 27 @ Sacramento Kings
March 30 @ New York Knicks
The game against the Kings will be massive for the chances of the Trail Blazers. Sacramento is directly ahead of them but Portland just needs to take things one game at a time.
March 24 @ Brooklyn Nets
March 25 @ New York Knicks
March 27 @ Orlando Magic
March 29 @ Chicago Bulls
March 24 vs Milwaukee Bucks
March 26 vs Boston Celtics
March 28 @ Minnesota Timberwolves
March 30 vs Houston Rockets
All in all, the Suns have the toughest upcoming schedule. But the Trail Blazers still need to make sure they are taking care of business and hope to get some help from the teams ahead of them.
It may be a long-shot for this team to reach the postseason but Portland will fight until they are eliminated completely.
More Trail Blazers:
LaMarcus Aldridge Reveals He Tried to Return to Blazers Multiple Times But Former General Manager Stopped It
Jabari Walker Makes Blazers History, Joining Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum
For more news and notes on the Portland Trail Blazers, visitPortland Trail Blazers on SI.