No. 2. Portland Trail Blazers

There was a ton of hype surrounding the Portland Trail Blazers entering the season and there still is a ton of hype surrounding this team, but do they really have what it takes to win a title? Damian Lillard has put together yet another fantastic season and with C.J. McCollum, Norman Powell and other key players playing at a high-level, Portland finds themselves as one of the better offensive teams in the league. 

While they can definitely keep up with any team in the league offensively, the Portland Trail Blazers are one of the worst defensive teams in the league and are giving up on average 114.9 points per game to their opponents. 

This is not going to cut it for a championship contender and while they have a ton of talent, the Portland Trail Trail Blazers once again find themselves as “playoff pretenders.” If the season ended today, the Blazers would be the 6-seed in the West, meaning their path to the NBA Finals would be: LA Clippers, Phoenix Suns and then either the Utah Jazz or the Los Angeles Lakers, assuming the top teams win their matchups. 

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The Trail Blazers combined record against all four of these teams this season is 1-7 and their only win was against the Los Angeles Lakers in their third game of the season. This team’s defense is going to be their eventual demise in the playoffs and while they could win their first-round matchup, this team is not going to be able to make the NBA Finals this year. 

Defense wins championships and with the top-4 teams in the Western Conference being some of the best defensive teams in the league, the Portland Trail Blazers would have to go on one of the greatest postseason runs in NBA history in order to make the NBA Finals this season.