8 seed only in the figurative sense.
8 spot in the Western Conference no matter what; Lillard’s scorching performances of late virtually guaranteed that, and Memphis needed to win two games anyway. Even LaMarcus Aldridge was a mainly a mid-range compliment to Lillard before leaving for the Spurs.The Blazers also return Zach Collins, another big man who played only the first few weeks before separating his shoulder. We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us. He had 22 points and 21 rebounds against Memphis while being guarded by a good defender in Jonas Valenciunas.
Ariza is a stretchy defender with quick hands who could have supplied minutes guarding Anthony Davis and perhaps LeBron as well. He's returned 4x or more multiple times since that point.
Before then, the Blazers’ backcourt was heavily imbalanced, with Lillard carrying the team on his, ahem, back for four games.“A healthy CJ is pretty good,” said Blazers coach Terry Stotts.While Lillard gets the applause and franchise tag and this season plenty of MVP talk, all of which is deserved, McCollum’s importance cannot be overstated. Their chemistry is so pure -- helped by their close friendship and absence of jealousy -- that Portland has always resisted any urge to break them apart, despite pleas from a portion of the basketball audience.The theory says Portland can only go so far with a pair of smallish guards who dominate the ball and are average defenders. However, the Blazers will now strut into their series with the Lakers because of what McCollum showed Saturday when he was bouncy and rolling in the fourth quarter of a tight game.His 29 points and overall presence were a big confidence boost for Portland because not only did he help slay Memphis, but maybe the demons in his aching back as well. Anybody following him has seen huge returns. McCollum profile page, biographical information, injury history and news
CJ got going and got rolling. NBA DFS: CJ McCollum and optimal FanDuel, DraftKings daily Fantasy basketball lineups for Aug. 29, 2020 Mike McClure, a DFS pro with almost $2 million in …
Collins played sporadically over the last few games, yet could see his playing time increase to match up with the Lakers’ frontcourt.As complete as they may seem right now, the Blazers will go into this series without swingman Trevor Ariza, who opted out of Orlando for family reasons.
Lillard rates Nurkic as a top-five center in the NBA when healthy.