Blazers' Postseason Path Diminishes After Costly Bulls Loss

As Kevin O'Connor of Yahoo Sports observes, the Trail Blazers may have been angling for a loss, in an effort to juice their draft lottery odds.

With Portland small forward Deni Avdija on an absolute heater, perhaps on the cusp of his own triple-double, head coach Chauncey Billups yanked him from the game. The Trail Blazers were only down by two possessions with three minutes remaining in regulations.

Avdija's game-high 37 points arrived on 12-of-25 shooting from the floor (2-of-7 shooting from 3-point land) and 11-of-14 shooting from the foul line.

More Portland Trail Blazers: Celtics, Hornets Games Could Kill Trail Blazers' Postseason Hopes

The defeat dropped the Trail Blazers to a 34-44 record on the year. Portland trails the No. 11-seeded Phoenix Suns (35-42), losers of five straight, by 1.5 games, and the No. 10-seeded Sacramento Kings (37-40), losers of seven of their last 10 bouts, by 3.5 points.

For their final five games of the year, the Suns will face off against the 49-28 New York Knicks, the 46-31 Golden State Warriors, the 64-13 Oklahoma City Thunder, the 32-45 San Antonio Spurs (who are also still in the play-in hunt), and the Kings.

Across their last five bouts, the Kings will play the 62-15 Cleveland Cavaliers, the 43-35 Detroit Pistons, the 47-31 Denver Nuggets, the 45-32 L.A. Clippers, and finally the Suns.

Though the Trail Blazers will have to face off against the Warriors and the 47-30 Lakers, they'll also first play against a pair of sub-.500 clubs in the Spurs and the lottery-bound Utah Jazz (16-62).

Since they're 3.5 games behind the Kings, the Trail Blazers will need to essentially win out if they want to nab their spot. If Sacramento goes 0-5 and Portland goes 4-0, Portland will earn the better record. If the Kings go even 1-4 and the Trail Blazers advance, however, Sacramento would still advance, as it boasts the first tiebreaker (the better inter-conference record at 25-24, which Portland cannot catch at 17-31).

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For more news and notes on the Portland Trail Blazers, visit Portland Trail Blazers on SI.