NBA Power Rankings: Here comes the trade deadline

Portland continues to play well, helping firm up their case for a top-10 spot in my power rankings with good wins over the Clippers and Bulls and a good loss against the Celtics. Damian Lillard had 28 points in their first game, helping make sure that the Clippers wouldn’t upset his team without Blake Griffin. The Trail Blazers took advantage of Griffin’s absence on the offensive glass, grabbing 18 boards to help counter a 37 percent effort on field goal attempts in the game. Things were much easier for Portland against Chicago, with CJ McCollum dropping 50 points in three quarters to help absolutely steamroll the Bulls, 124-108. McCollum probably could have gone for 65 against the Bulls guards, who were helpless against him the entire game. The Bulls win was their eleventh of the month, tops in the league.

The Trail Blazers defense had an off night north of the border, giving up 130 points in a loss to the Raptors, continuing their recent stretch of struggling on the road. Lillard became the fastest player in Trail Blazers history to score 10,000 points, and finished with 32 points against Toronto. They were done in on Sunday by Al Horford, who knocked down a fadeaway jumper at the buzzer to send the Blazers to a 97-96 loss. Lillard had given Portland a one-point lead, going on a stretch of eight points in a row for his team, but the clock ran out with the Celtics ahead this time.