The Portland Trail Blazers will play their most significant game of the season on Friday night as they take on the Los Angeles Clippers at the Moda Center at 7:00 PM, Pacific. At stake is 8th place in the Western Conference Play-In Tournament, a position which has twin benefits:
- The 8th-place team only has to win one of two games to advance to the 2026 NBA Playoffs. The 9th-place team must win two straight to advance to the postseason.
- The 8th-place team has a chance to win the 7th seed in the Western Conference playoffs bracket, thus avoiding the Death Star Roster that is the Oklahoma City Thunder. Even if they win through, the 9th-place team can only earn the 8th seed in the playoffs bracket. That will put them directly in the path of OKC, like Alderaan. Good luck with that, and Shai Gilgeous-Vader.
Portland (40-40) and Los Angeles (41-39) are within a game of each other. If LA wins, Portland won’t be able to catch them with only one game remaining on the schedule. If the Blazers win, the teams will be tied as will head-to-head
record, but Portland will own the tiebreaker by virtue of a superior record against in-conference opponents. The Blazers will then be tasked with beating the abysmal Sacramento Kings on Sunday to take the 8th-place position from the Clips.
The question today is simple: will the Blazers win tomorrow’s game? The Clippers have won 7 of their last 10 but one of their 3 losses came at Portland’s hands. The Blazers have won 6 of 10 themselves and are starting to round back into decent strength. Make your call now: Portland or LA? Share your opinion and reasoning in the comments section below.
