Blazers Aim to Keep Dimming Playoff Hopes Alive: ‘It’s Definitely Frustrating’

The Blazers are keeping hope alive despite their struggles lately. The playoffs are, after all, still in sight.

“I’m not worried about our team losing their fight,” coach Chauncey Billups said, via Aaron Fentress of the Oregonian. “That’s not been our issue … I do worry about timing.”

As Fentress noted, the Blazers (31-38) could win 10 of their final 13 games and still not make the playoffs. They would need help. And let’s face it … it’s hard to envision the Blazers suddenly going on a 10-3 run to close the season.

There was a time, and not long ago, that the Blazers were right in the mix. Now, it appears that the lottery awaits.

“It’s definitely frustrating,” star guard Damian Lillard said, via Fentress. “When you’re fighting for something and you look at the last two weeks, it’s like, we let a lot of opportunity slip away. And you look at what everybody else does in the same month that we’re in … You see teams taking advantage of these opportunities and us not doing that. We’re just kind of falling behind.”

No doubt about that. 

“We got the next four or five games,” Lillard said, via Fentress. “They’re going to be the deciding factor. … We will know where we are at that point.”