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Weakness
Portland Trail Blazers:
As earlier mentioned, the Blazers are heavily dependent on their center rotation and wings to ensure their defense is top-notch, something they have shown all season.
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Mo Harkless, although not a huge contributor, is a key part of the team's rotation. He is a huge asset to the team's schemes of switching and creating match-up problems in the frontcourt. Although ranked well, their defense isn't great at forcing turnovers - opponent turnovers (12.6 - 29th) and steals (7.0 - 26th).
For a defense, that's built on a team playing together, it doesn't help that they are going to miss a key wing player. And unfortunately, he's scheduled to miss the first round due to an arthroscopic left knee surgery.
Another small possible weakness is the reserves' Playoff experience. Three key rotation players - Zach Collins, Shabazz Napier, and Pat Connaughton - have close to no recognizable Playoff experience. Also, they have survived the season without their offense completely clicking and we are assuming Lillard and McCollum will carry them in the postseason but relying on them far too much is a recipe for disaster.
New Orleans Pelicans
Doing it because of a necessity is one thing but can the Pelicans sustain their regular season momentum, which they picked up after Cousins, into the Playoffs. That's the question which Game 1 will answer but it's a huge question. Portland has been doing what they are doing all season, whereas the New Orleans has been doing only over the past month, that too out of necessity, with no other option but to play through Davis.
When a team like the Blazers studies the scouting report, do the Pelicans have the talent and ability to change on the fly?
With or without Cousins, the Pelicans defense is ranked in the bottom 10 in terms of points per game given up. For the entire season, they are ranked 29th, whereas that number improves to 21st since Cousins' injury.
Another underrated weakness, similar to that of the Blazers, is the Pelicans' possibly playing through AD on every play. The Blazers are smart enough to adjust and if someone else doesn't step up, this is going to be a short series for New Orleans.
