Inside the NBA | Portland blazing new path into playoff contenders' spotlight with impressive run

                In a year where the Western conference has six likely playoff teams within two-and-a-half games of one another, any team could make a surprise run and reach the championship.
    So why not the Portland Trail Blazers? The young team from the Pacific Northwest is already 46-27 this season after finishing at .500 last year and is clinging to the fifth spot in the tight Western Conference. Many thought that Portland had the look of a playoff team, but few thought they would be this good. And while everyone in the West is chasing the Los Angeles Lakers, who have a sizeable lead at the top of the conference, come playoff time the defending conference champs will not be unbeatable.
    The Blazers appear to be headed for the playoffs for the first time under head coach Nate McMillan and the first time since the 2002-03 season. Portland has been playing well as of late, going 10-5 in March with two of those losses occurring in overtime games. Six of the team's last seven wins have been by double digits, including two straight 20-point victories.
    The Blazers are in the top 10 in points allowed per game — a great accomplishment for a young team — and they have been doing it for the most part without the defensive presence of Greg Oden in the middle, with the rookie just getting back to playing significant minutes after sitting out a recent 15-game stretch.
    Portland is also ranked in the top 10 in field goal percentage and is one of the best home teams in the league with a 30-7 record in the Rose Garden. When Portland scores, they win — the Blazers are 31-4 when scoring 100 points or more, and they average 11.4 points more per game in wins than losses.
    While the Blazers have an array of young talent, this is unquestionably Brandon Roy's team. The third-year guard is averaging 23 points per game, seventh in the NBA, and also averages roughly five rebounds and five assists per game. Roy is the engine that makes his team go, and he is usually responsible for handling the ball as well as shouldering the offensive load; he has led or been tied for the lead on his team in scoring in 46 of the 69 games he has played this season.
    It helps, then, that Portland's other third-year star, LaMarcus Aldridge, has continued his strong play from last season and has gotten better as the year has progressed, posting his highest averages of the season for   points and rebounds in March to bring them to 18.1 points and 7.3 rebounds. Aldridge has great touch on his midrange game and is a good rebounder as well, giving the Blazers a quality big man to team with Roy.
    The Blazers also have some other nice pieces in play, and with an abundance of talent, they are one of the deepest teams in the league. The second unit features the team's third leading scorer in Travis Outlaw, who pours in 12.7 points per game, the duo of Spanish guards, Rudy Fernandez and Sergio Rodriguez, in the backcourt and the team's leading rebounder in Joel Pryzbilla, who has stepped in to start as of late with Oden's injury troubles and is 15th in the NBA in rebounds per game.
    Portland also has other players that do the little things that help a team win. It is often a cliché to talk about role players, but the guys that turn a playoff team into a contender are not the stars, but those who exert their influence on the game without much fanfare.
    For Portland, that means guys like Nicolas Batum, the rookie who provides energy and defense, and Steve Blake, a deadly shooter from downtown who is in the top 15 in three-point percentage in the league and has seven 20-point games this year despite missing 13 games in the middle of the season.
    Unfortunately for the Blazers, the fifth spot where they now stand would set up a first-round matchup with the Houston Rockets. The season series is currently split at 1-1, and the Rockets have been hot, going 11-4 through March. The Western race is so crowded, however, that Portland could easily fall or move up, and the matchups will likely not be set in stone until the final games of the season.
    Whoever it plays, this Portland team has done nothing but exceed expectations all year, and there is no reason to think it cannot silence critics in the playoffs. A championship might be asking a little much in one of the strongest years the league has seen in quite some time. Still, this is a team that is primed to contend in the future, especially when one considers how great they are currently playing.