NBA legend Charles Barkley predicted Thursday that if the Portland Trail Blazers capture the eighth seed for the upcoming NBA Playoffs, they will beat the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round. Barkley shared his thoughts on the latest Inside the NBA:
“If the Portland Trail Blazers make the playoffs, they will beat the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round.”
This continues a recent Barkley trend supporting the Blazers. Last month he chose Portland as the sleeper’s title contender:
“The only team in the Western Conference, if they get Nurkic and Zach Collins back, nobody wants to see the Portland Trail Blazers. Possibly they got, in addition to Klay and Steph, the best back track in the NBA. Whiteside has been playing pretty well all year. But if they get Nurkic and Zach Collins back, no one will want to see the Portland Trail Blazers. “
The Lakers, while led by two MVP candidates at LeBron James and Anthony Davis, have suffered two recent defeats in their depth chart at Avery Bradley (opted not to restart) and Rajon Rondo (fractured thumb, 6-8 weeks). They currently lead the second seeded Los Angeles Clippers by 5.5 games for the first seeded in the West.
The Blazers enter the season restarting 3.5 games behind the Memphis Grizzlies eighth seed. A play-in tournament will be activated if the ninth seed ends within four games of the eighth seed at the end of the initial eight game schedule. In that scenario, the ninth seed would need to win two consecutive meetings to advance to the playoffs, while the eighth seed would only need one victory to seal a playoff spot.
NBA games will resume on July 30 at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida.
