Currently ranked 30-40, we have now lost 4 consecutive games and are 9th in the standings for the lottery. A loss tonight, combined with Washington beating Charlotte (entirely possible) will see us move into 8th again. If we had lost to Utah and Denver during that mini winstreak we had, we'd be in 8th already and looking to jump into 7th. Being in 7th has a 10% higher chance to end up top 4 than being in 9th. Now we see why every loss matters.
Tonight we take on the 41-26 Portland Trailblazers, who are currently 4th in the West and are coming off two straight wins against Phoenix and the Clippers, which is a fairly large range in terms of quality of opponent. Phoenix suck beyond belief and the Clippers are actually pretty good most of the time.
Portland are having a great year, with the league's 4th best offense and a top 15 defense to go with it. They're not elite as some of the other teams have been, and they're definitely not threatening a finals push or anything, but they should be more than enough to polish us off tonight. As usual right now, we are without Jrue and Moore, and AD has already been ruled out for rest: he is going to play the next game against Phoenix.
Let's go out there, get the young guns plenty of run, and enjoy the show. #DoItBig!