The Portland Trail Blazers enter the playoffs relatively healthy and full of confidence. Winners of 10 our of their last 12 games, the Blazers appear to peaking at exactly the right time. Jusuf Nurkiu0107 is playing his best basketball of the season, the three guard lineup of Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum and Norman Powell seems to be clicking, and the defense has gone from miserable to...well, less miserable. Four weeks ago, most of Rip City was ready for the season to wrap up. Now, optimism from most quarters is the rule of the today.
On the other hand, he Denver Nuggets are still smarting from the injury to Jamal Murray on April 12.