NBA scores 2016: The Trail Blazers are the league’s biggest disappointment so far

They’ve lost eight out of nine games now.

Dec 22, 2016, 1:00 PM UTC

NBA: Dallas Mavericks at Portland Trail Blazers

Craig Mitchelldyer-USA TODAY Sports

The Portland Trail Blazers weren’t just a playoff team last season — they were a 44-win squad that defied every expectation, gallivanted into the No. 5 seed against all odds and then even won a series. They were good enough that we expected it to easily happen again.

So why is this season so far off? After spending two months hanging around being average, the Blazers have now lost eight of their last nine games in route to a 13-18 record. Worse, they are officially no longer a playoff team — with a win, the Kings passed them for the No. 8 seed on Wednesday. It’s a startling fall from grace for a team which we had so much hope.

The Blazers almost corrected their mistakes on Wednesday, going into halftime down 24 points to the Dallas Mavericks. Yes, it was those Mavericks, with a 8-21 record this year and while still missing their starting front court in Dirk Nowitzki and Andrew Bogut. And those Mavericks blitzed them, lighting up Portland like there was nothing to it.

It was an exposure of every flaw Portland has shown this year. The Blazers have the worst defense in the league, sitting dead last while allowing a 110.7 defensive rating. They’re bad at rebounding, allow too much penetration, and there’s just too many breakdowns if you push them at all. It might just be the reality of the Damian Lillard-C.J. McCollum backcourt, but there’s no reason they have to be this bad — not when they finished 11 spots high last season with the exact same personnel.

The Blazers’ still-good offense tried to save them in the second half, putting up 33 points in the third and outscoring Dallas 24-15 in the fourth quarter. The Mavericks are a bad offensive team, especially without Nowitzki, so some of their struggles came down to that. But you also saw where Portland could improve, when Mason Plumlee would made a sharp rotation and Damian Lillard wouldn’t immediately collapse on a pick-and-roll, and it just caused heads to shake about why it doesn’t happen like that more often.

The Mavericks are a better team than their record despite the injuries, and they’re not trying to lose even if they could or should be. Harrison Barnes cooked Portland at times, regardless of the defender they threw at him, and Wesley Matthews’ defense on the game’s final possession absolutely smothered Lillard.

But the way they went up in the first half made it seem like Portland was surprised on their own court. How does that happen, especially when the Blazers’ 8-4 record in the Moda Center entering this game was the one decent thing they had going for them?

The Blazers need something — a trade, a surprising Festus Ezeli return, or maybe just a renewed focus based on what they did last year. Whatever this is, it’s not working.

LeBron vs. Giannis prove sequels never live up to the original.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is the closest thing we have to LeBron James right now. The Greek Freak is his team’s best player at every position, and he leads the Bucks all five major statistical categories — something LeBron’s pretty familiar with. In Tuesday’s overtime thriller, James really did view him as a challenger.

Antetokounmpo ended up going step for step with James in that game until fouling out in the extra period, but the two teams played again on Wednesday in Cleveland. While Antetokounmpo still had 28 points, it was James who ran the court with 29 points, nine rebounds and six assists in a 113-102 win.

The plus-minus is even more telling, with James recording a game-high plus-25 during his time on the court. Missing Kevin Love and J.R. Smith, Cleveland’s depth struggled. But as long as James was on the court, there was never any doubt who the better team was. And there was never any doubt who would win.

Still, these two battling it out is going to be one of the best things in the Eastern Conference over the coming years.

Memphis keeps winning games they shouldn’t

Explain this.

On Wednesday, it was explained by Marc Gasol’s 38 points on just 17 shots as Memphis pounded Detroit. I’m sure there are rational explanations for the other seven, too, but it’s hard to see that as possible when you view it as a whole.

Memphis is 12-2 in games within three points, too. ESPN’s Tom Haberstroh had a fascinating look at how the Grizzlies have turned the clutch gene into a reliable factor, and the back-to-backs apparently run in a similar vein. You can’t look to stats or science to explain why the Grizzlies are so good there — you just have to accept that they are.