C.J. McCollum has raised his status to near All-Star and the Los Angeles Lakers had better recognize!
One of the main reasons why Charles Barkley likes Portland as a possible sleeper title contender is the backcourt combinations of Damian Lillard and his partner C.J. McCollum. It’s something that he covered during an appearance on ESPN’s “Get Up” earlier during the NBA stoppage.
"“The one team in the Western Conference, if they get Nurkic back and Zach Collins, nobody’s going to want to see the Portland Trail Blazers. They got, arguably — other than Klay and Steph — the best backcourt in the NBA.”"
Portland’s roster reportedly did get Jusuf Nurkic and Zach Collins back ready to suit up. If the two big men are ready to go, it opens up lanes for McCollum to operate.
While Damian Lillard gets all of the press (Deservedly!) C.J. is playoff-tested and can close out games as well.
Last year in Game 7 of the 2019 Western Conference semi-finals, CJ McCollum closed the Denver Nuggets season dropping 37 points and 9 rebounds to will the Blazers to victory in a game that Damian Lillard was awful.
Did we mention that it was on the road?
Did we mention that it was a franchise record?
The most important aspect in the game of basketball is putting the ball in the basket, which Lillard and McCollum do at a high level. If there is any team that can take advantage of Avery Bradley’s absence is Portland.
The narrative for the Blazers will be that they haven’t exactly done much this year that is is virtually impossible to win the series. Only a few things will be left out by the media.
- The Blazers have gone into the last two playoff series on a roll ending the season.
- The fact that the Blazers are a topic with all of the injuries says a lot.
- This is a veteran team that has a core group that has been around each other for years.
Portland also has an asset that not many NBA teams have to match the Los Angeles Lakers.