LA Clippers Might Have To Play Portland Trail Blazers In First Round

The LA Clippers could run into serious trouble if the Portland Trail Blazers sneak up the standings and steal the fifth seed.

No other team has been more surprising this season than the Portland Trail Blazers, in their own unique way.

Damian Lillard had the majority of the team he was growing with jump ship, including big man LaMarcus Aldridge who was lured to San Antonio, but has found a way to make what he has work.

And not just work, but excel.

The Grizzlies find themselves in the midst of a major late season slump, going just 2-8 in their last ten games — the worst of any Western Conference team preparing for the postseason.

Teams usually at the bottom of the standings this year like the Portland Trail Blazers and Utah Jazz, however, have remained hot in the same stretch; Portland going 6-4 and Utah making noise with a 7-3 record over that span.

Portland holds the sixth seed as it stands right now, but has crawled up to the point where they rest just a half game behind the Grizzlies for a date with the Los Angeles Clippers in the opening round.

To make matters worse for the Grizzlies, ESPN reports that Mike Conley will be out for the remainder of the season due to an Achilles injury — the team also doesn’t have Marc Gasol available either, who broke his foot earlier this season.

Memphis has five games remaining, while Portland has just four. And when looking at their remaining schedules, even that area isn’t very kind to the Grizzlies.

Two of those last five games for Memphis are against none other than the Golden State Warriors, with their last game of the season taking place at Oracle Arena.

Not a great way to remain optimistic if you were hoping for a dominant finish by Memphis.

Contrary to that, Portland’s last few games look like contests where they’re the favorites with the exception of a clash tomorrow night at home against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Trail Blazers will play the Sacramento Kings, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Denver Nuggets in their remaining schedule.

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Once that’s all taken into consideration, it’s time to look at why Portland would be able to create problems for a team like the Clippers so early in the postseason.

On paper, the Trail Blazers look out-matched compared to the Clippers in the major team categories with the exception of a better team-leading scorer in Damian Lillard.

Lillard averages 25 points per game while the Clippers’ leading scorer, Blake Griffin, averages 23 per game but has missed a lot of the regular season thanks to injuries and off-the-court issues.

Chemistry is the key for Portland to do any damage, and that has a lot to do with how Lillard meshes with C.J. McCollum and Mason Plumlee, who also help lead the way for the Trail Blazers.

What will determine this series, if it happens to pan out this way, will be the fight at shooting guard between C.J. McCollum and JJ Redick.

The last time these two teams played, it took a heroic effort from Reddick — including the game-winning buzzer beater — to put Portland away.

In a series like this, we could expect a lot of high energy, scoring, and efficient ball movement unlike any series across the rest of the playoffs.

The Trail Blazers beat teams by out-pacing them when least expected, whereas the Clippers try to do more damage directly — this is what will make Portland the sleeper team in the Western Conference.

Lillard might be able to find holes in Chris Paul‘s game if he’s not careful because of the fact that Paul has a playoff chip on his shoulder while Lillard does not.

That makes them all the more dangerous.

Next: Jamal Crawford Remains Clippers' Secret Weapon

It’s safe to expect a series like this to go the full seven games, with whoever wins getting by thanks to the slimmest of margins.