How the Portland Trail Blazers turned their season around after the NBA All-Star break

When the Portland Trail Blazers fell to the Golden State Warriors in the second round of last year’s playoffs, it seemed like a first step in the rise of a young team.

Fast forward 10 months and Portland looked out of the running for a playoff position in the West. They were flat, their frontcourt looked out of sorts, and their low-assist offence seemed destined to fail.

However Portland have been one of the league’s best in recent times, winning 13 games in March. Even with the recent blow that Jusuf Nurkic will miss the rest of the regular season, the Blazers still look likely to make the playoffs in the Western Conference.

But what brought about the change in fortunes? Here we look in to some reasons why.