The Blazers keep winning

PORTLAND — Back in early February, when the Trail Blazers used to actually lose once in a while, I asked Damian Lillard if he felt like he had a team that was capable of competing at the highest levels of the Western Conference.

“Yeah,” he said without hesitation. “We can.”

It’s been over a month since the Blazers lost a game. During that time, a team many considered a lower-level playoff team has elevated itself to third in the Western Conference. So, perhaps we should add fortune-teller to Lillard’s litany of accomplishments this season. That’s in addition to the all-star spot, a likely All-NBA nod, and a potential top-10 finish in the MVP race.

“I’m not going to say I knew it would take off like this,” Lillard told me earlier this week. “I knew it would be better. I knew we could be a top-five team in the West. Our focus and determination had to be at a high level. Mentally, our team is there from top to bottom.”

The Blazers won again on Thursday, holding off a late charge from LeBron James and the Cavaliers in a 113-105 victory. That continued a pattern the Blazers have established over the past month. They got off to an early lead and then extended the advantage through the second and third quarters before making enough plays down the stretch to take home the victory.

They’re up to 11 straight wins, their longest streak since early in the 2013 season. That team won 54 games and reached the second round of the playoffs. This team has a shot at 50 wins and homecourt in the first round. The circumstances, however, are entirely different.

That Blazers team featured veterans like LaMarcus Aldridge, Wes Matthews, and Nic Batum, along with Lillard, who was coming off a Rookie-of-the-Year campaign. This Blazers squad is much younger and unproven, but in Lillard they have a player who has developed into a full-blown superstar.

They’ve also developed a knack for playing well down the stretch of the season. Last year, they took off following a trade deadline deal that brought Jusuf Nurkic to town and won 16 of their final 22 games to sneak into the playoffs. This season, again, feels different.

“We were playing very well at the end of the season last year, but I think we’re playing better basketball now,” coach Terry Stotts told me. “We’re more experienced. There was a freshness when Nurk came in. Damian carried us and that got overlooked. We know what we have to do and how we have to do it.”

Lillard is still carrying a heavy load, but he’s been able to pick and choose his spots. His ability to manage a game is his biggest area of improvement this season. On Monday night against the Heat, he rode Nurkic early before taking over late in a 115-99 win. Against the Cavs, it was C.J. McCollum who had the hot hand with 29 points.

Late in the game with the lead down to just three points, Lillard kicked it out to a wide open Al-Farouq Aminu, who buried a three-pointer. Aminu, who had been struggling with his shot coming into the game, scored 17 points on 6-for-10 shooting. For the last few days, Lillard has been telling everyone that his confidence in Aminu remained high and he’d start making shots again like he has all year.

The Blazers are feeling it. Their confidence in each other is growing with each successful performance and they believe, like Lillard believes, they have what it takes to compete in the West.

There are some who will say that they have been the beneficiaries of good regular season luck. They’ve been home for all but one game in March, and they’ve become almost unbeatable at the Moda Center, winning 17 of their last 18 home games. (That loss was also their last defeat, on Feb. 11 against Utah.)

They’ve also run into some good injury fortune. They beat the Thunder without Carmelo Anthony, the Timberwolves without Jimmy Butler, and the Warriors without Steph Curry. Even the Heat were without Hassan Whiteside.

The Cavs came into Thursday’s game incredibly banged up with injuries up and down their roster. Among the inactives were Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, Larry Nance, and Cedi Osman. Swingman Rodney Hood returned from a back injury but played only 18 minutes before being shut down.

All of that’s true, but it’s also beside the point. The regular season isn’t for making excuses, it’s for taking advantage of your opportunities and no one has been more opportunistic than the Blazers over the last month.

However they got here, it’s well past the point where we should take them seriously. They’ve had a top-10 defense for most of the season, and after hitting a lull in January, they are back among the top defenses in the league.

Their offense has also made great strides during the second half of the season. But it’s the defense that makes them legit, and it’s Lillard, along with the underrated McCollum, who makes them special.

What makes them dangerous is when players like Aminu and Nurkic perform at a high level. Those are the players who will have to continue having big nights in the postseason when their opponents focus their defensive attention on stopping Lillard and McCollum.

Where this gets them ultimately is an open question. Because the Rockets and Warriors have set such a high bar, everyone else in the West is playing for third. One bad spell down the stretch could send Portland tumbling back into the thicket of the postseason weeds.

For now, though, It’s all coming together just like Lillard thought it would. In fact, it’s been even better than he could imagine.