And 8-6 record has left the Portland Trail Blazers in the thick of the NBA’s Western Conference this season. They currently stand fifth, ahead of or equal to everybody except the conference elite. Unfortunately they’re also a tickle and a sneeze away from 12th place. That’s the way the season has gone for most teams so far.
Unsurprisingly, Portland’s first fourteen games have contained plenty of ups and downs. Today I’m going to talk about some of them. In weak imitation of Zach Lowe’s “10 Things I Like (and Don’t Like) About the NBA” column, I’m going to list five of my favorite things about the season so far, then five of my least favorite.