The Portland Trail Blazers have spent the first week of the season looking nothing like a team that was supposed to be figuring things out.
At 6-1, with a perfect 5-0 record on the road, Portland sits alone atop the Western Conference and is playing at a pace that would land it at 70 wins over an 82-game season. That number is so extreme it almost sounds like a typo. Only two teams in NBA history have ever gotten there: the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls, who won 72, and the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors, who won a record 73.
So no, the Blazers probably aren’t about to crash that club.
But this start also doesn’t feel like empty noise.
Portland leads the NBA by averaging 121.9 points per game, and that’s the kind of production that demands a second look. This was a team that came into the year with real questions about its crowded backcourt, its shooting, and whether the pieces would actually fit together on offense. Early on, the answer has been a loud yes.
The Blazers are shooting 35.5 percent from three, which ranks 11th. That’s good, not absurd.
The more interesting part is how much damage they’re doing inside the arc and at the line. Portland is hitting 58.8 percent of its two-pointers, third in the league, and getting to the stripe 31.1 times per game, also third.
They’re also averaging 44.2 three-point attempts and 15.4 makes per game, both fourth. That’s a real offensive profile, not just a hot shooting week.
The eye test backs it up. Damian Lillard is bending defenses with his gravity.
Deni Avdija is getting into the paint, setting up teammates, and drawing fouls. Jrue Holiday has been steady as a shooter and creator.
And Donovan Clingan has given them a strong interior presence while somehow knocking down 46.7 percent of his threes on 2.1 attempts per game.
That Clingan number may be the hardest to believe long term, but it’s not a surprise in this story. He was expected to take a leap before the season, including from outside, and he’s done exactly that.
Then there’s Ja Morant, the offseason gamble that was always going to shape Portland’s ceiling. His downhill pressure gives the offense another layer, but the shaky shooting and injury history came with him too. He looked comfortable to open the year before a hamstring injury took him out, and the Blazers have kept rolling anyway because the offense has so many ways to function.
Wednesday’s 132-119 win over Phoenix was the latest example. Lillard scored 25 points.
Clingan added 24 points and 11 rebounds. Avdija finished with 21 points and 12 assists.
Holiday came off the bench and chipped in 15 points, hitting 5-of-9 from deep.
Still, there are reasons to be careful here.
Portland is unlikely to keep shooting nearly 59 percent on twos forever, especially once opponents start taking away transition chances and loading up the paint. The free-throw shooting is also a concern. The Blazers were at 74.0 percent from the line entering Wednesday, which ranked 27th, and even Lillard is at 82.2 percent, the worst mark of his career, despite being an 89.8 percent free-throw shooter for his career.
Depth is another issue, and durability might be the biggest one of all.
Morant’s hamstring injury has already put stress on the guard rotation. Shaedon Sharpe is still out after knee surgery.
Robert Williams III has been dependable, but his injury history is still hanging over the roster, especially with no other trustworthy backup center. Vit Krejci’s lower-leg fracture against Phoenix only sharpened that concern and raised the question of how thin the wing group really is.
It also leaves open the possibility that Jayson Kent could be pushed into meaningful minutes.
The schedule is about to get tougher, too. Portland has the Lakers, San Antonio Spurs, and Oklahoma City Thunder twice coming up before a brief break against Sacramento. After that comes a back-to-back against Minnesota, a team still viewed as a West contender even without Anthony Edwards.
The Blazers have already shown they can win in difficult spots. Monday’s 118-110 victory in Denver was a strong one, with Avdija putting up 28 points and Clingan delivering 17 points, 18 rebounds, and four blocks against Nikola Jokić.
The bigger point is simple: a 70-win pace is fantasy, but the start itself is real. Even 50 wins would mean Portland going 44-31 the rest of the way, which is a much more manageable 58.7 percent clip.
That’s the real conversation now. Are the Blazers good enough to be a legitimate 50-win team and stay out of the play-in picture, or is this just a blazing opening stretch before things settle back down?
Seven games can’t settle that. They have, though, given Portland more reasons to believe than to doubt. For a team that entered the season surrounded by uncertainty, that’s no small thing.
In Other News...
Damian Lillard Had Every Reason To Explode Over Dillon Brooks
Dillon Brooks managed to turn a routine stoppage into one of those moments that instantly grabs everyones attention. During a game, the Phoenix Suns wing appeared to try to step on Damian Lillards Achilles after a whistle, and Lillard reacted immediately by confronting him before referees and coaches stepped in to keep it from getting any worse. Lillard was not injured, but the sequence still had the kind of edge that can linger long after the possession is over.
For Portland fans, it was another reminder of how quickly things can get heated when Lillard is involved in a physical matchup. He has always carried himself with a calm, steady presence, so when he goes straight at an opponent like that, it says plenty about how serious the moment felt. The incident ended without further escalation, but it left plenty of room for questions about what Brooks was trying to do and how the league will view the exchange. [Read more 🡒]
Blazers Backcourt Takes Another Hit After Vt Krej Scare
Vt Krejs night ended in a hurry late in the third quarter against the Suns, and the sight of him leaving the arena on crutches with a protective boot only deepened the concern around Portlands backcourt. The Trail Blazers were already dealing with multiple injuries in that area, so another setback there is the last thing they needed as the season moves along.
The immediate issue now is the uncertainty around how long Krej will be out, with the team still waiting to learn more about the fracture to his lower left leg or ankle and whether surgery will be part of the recovery plan. For a Blazers group trying to piece together guard minutes on the fly, even a short absence would be a problem, and this one could linger well beyond that. [Read more 🡒]
Dillon Brooks Is Giving Suns Fans The Wrong Kind Of Headlines
Dillon Brooks managed to turn a regular-season meeting with Portland into the kind of night that lingers long after the final buzzer. After a whistle, he kicked the back of Damian Lillards left leg, setting off a brief confrontation between the two before Lillard answered the moment the old-fashioned way, by getting back to work and finishing at the rim with Brooks in the picture.
The Blazers walked away with a 132-119 win, and Lillards 25 points helped make sure the on-court response mattered more than the post-whistle heat. Brooks still finished with 15 points for Phoenix, but the bigger takeaway for Portland was how quickly the game tilted from irritation to control, with Lillard making sure the last memorable play belonged to him. [Read more 🡒]