well, Portland is 6-2 against EC playoff teams; like you said, great record...until you examine it. 5 of those 6 wins came in Portland, one against Charlotte, a team 2 games under .500. Another came against Toronto when they were missing Lowry and Valunciunas, plus Siakam for the 4thQ. And another against Philly when they were missing Embiid
in this 'easy' remaining schedule, Portland has a 7 game road trip when 5 of 6 games will be against EC playoff teams. We'll see how they do then
by the way, you need to adjust your narrative about SOS; big time. To this point, Portland has had the 8th most difficult SOS. Their remaining SOS is the 9th most difficult; essentially, no difference. Funny how that changes, and of course, as I've been pointing out, both of those SOS rankings don't account for the fact that Portland has played 5 more home games than road games, the biggest differential in the NBA.