Portland Trail Blazers Must Flex Defensive Muscles Leading up to the Playoffs

First they were down, then they were out. Then they rallied around their misfortune, and now they are back, but with a new found confidence down the stretch.

The Portland Trail Blazers began the season as a team brimming with confidence, and by mid-January, they were a team starting a 37-year-old, 6' 11" Juwan Howard at center and had a coach that was going to go under the knife.

Things looked grim. 

But even when their All-Star shooting guard was hampered and eventually sidelined with a nagging hamstring injury, they never quit. The national media picked them to be on the outside looking in when the playoffs started, but that was when everything started to come back together.

The teams' summer acquisition began to show why the team signed him, the team acquired a defensive leader in Marcus Camby, and Brandon Roy came back into action without missing a beat.

Not to mention that, arguably, the most important piece to the puzzle was Nicolas Batum returning and being inserted back into the starting lineup after October shoulder surgery.

After struggling with the ups and downs of February, the Trail Blazers took the month of March by force, winning 12 out of the 14 games and dominating lesser opponents.

As they look to continue their success into the playoffs, one thing must be noted:

The Trail Blazers had struggled with uncertainty throughout the entire first half of the season. The players didn't know who would be in the starting lineup on a night-by-night basis, nor did they know if the guy next to them would end up rupturing something or another within the week.

Long story short, the Portland Trail Blazers' season prior to February was plagued by instability.

Once they were given the chance to put the definitive starting lineup in place, they played like the fans expected them to before the season even started.

Let it be known that this season's Portland Trail Blazers have one of the most difficult lineups to match up against.

Each player can score the ball in bunches, and there is not one true weak link to exploit in their defensive armor.

With the edition of Marcus Camby at the center spot, the comeback of Nic Batum, and the foundation of Lamarcus Aldridge, the Trail Blazers have a long defensive unit.

This length on the Trail Blazer front line can make it difficult for other teams to score in the paint.

When the Blazers are on-point defensively, they are a difficult team to stop.

That is the attitude the team must take over these last four games in preparation for the playoffs.

No one can stop us when we play sound defense.

Looking ahead to the next four games, a win this afternoon (Sunday, April 11) would give the team an excellent chance to win out and have a first round meeting with either Dallas or Denver.

But the Trail Blazers cannot be afraid of anybody.

Take that swagger that you had in March and play every single game of that seven-game series like you know you can.

How the team plays defense over these final four regular season games will dictate how well they do against any first round matchup.

But whatever you do, don't be afraid to kill the fly with an axe.