The Portland Trail Blazers clocked in for a 130-99 no-frills win over the injury-ravaged Milwaukee Bucks Wednesday night at the Moda Center in a game that was the epitome of late-March basketball in the Association.

Following a 134-99 beatdown of the Brooklyn Nets on Monday, Wednesday’s win marked Portland’s second consecutive blowout victory over a sub-.500 bottom-dweller. Some onlookers may take those results for granted or find them nothing to write home about. However, compared with earlier Portland games this month — such as narrow bouts with the Jazz and Pacers or a bad loss in Philadelphia — the Blazers taking care of business against inferior opponents is an important step in the right direction.

According to Blazers acting head coach Tiago Splitter, the shift is likely the result of a change in Portland’s mentality and hammered-home messaging from the coaching staff over recent weeks. It all has to do with the stretch-run race for positioning in the NBA Play-In Tournament.

“The whole mentality now is ‘we have a very special thing going on to finish the season here,’” Splitter said. “ … They know that in all these games, [they] cannot sleep. We gotta take this very seriously. This is our playoff, and that’s the mentality. That’s how we’re approaching every game, and I think they’re responding to that.”

With eight games remaining in the regular season, the Blazers sit in ninth place in the Western Conference with a 37-37 record. They’ve clinched a play-in berth, but they’re still jostling for that all-important eighth seed with the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers. Wednesday’s results put the Blazers 1.5 games ahead of the Warriors and a half-game back of LA in eighth, with two matchups against the Kawhi-led Clippers still looming on the calendar. Following two more home games against sub-.500 teams this week, the first of those two LA matchups comes on the road next Tuesday.

“We gotta take care of the job,” Splitter said. “Win all these games at home and then go to war with the Clippers.”

With the margins paper-thin in the standings, the Blazers are working to keep that in mind on every play and sharpen their attention to detail. It showed on Wednesday as the Blazers put forth what Splitter called a “serious” performance and jumped on the shorthanded Bucks from tipoff.

Seven Blazers reached double-figures, including all five starters, and Scoot Henderson led the balanced attack with 23 points, four assists, and no turnovers. The Blazers buried the Bucks on the boards 54-34, registered 30 assists, shot over 50% from the field and knocked down 19 3-pointers. Twenty turnovers marked the only true blemish for Portland, but they didn’t matter much. The Blazers built a lead as large as 33 and pulled their starters with over nine minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

“We’re finding a rhythm,” said Blazers forward Toumani Camara, who produced 10 points and two steals. “The way we’re playing, no matter who we’re playing, we’re playing together. We’re playing hard on a lot of possessions, and we have a small amount of drops.”

Despite pestering from reporters, the unflappable Camara repeatedly said the Blazers aren’t overly concerning themselves with conference standings or the future; rather, they’re just focused on the day-by-day. A few lockers over, Henderson was more revealing.

“Honestly, it’s pretty often,” said Henderson, referring to how much the team discusses the play-in race. “In our film sessions or whatever. It’s Tiago preaching like ‘Come on, this many games left, they’re all gold.’ And we all understand that, and we all want to play in the playoffs and win a lot of games.”

Partly because of a softened schedule, it had appeared the Blazers were poised to hit their stride after the All-Star break. But any sort of push was delayed by lingering back issues for All-Star Deni Avdija, who missed six straight games between Feb. 24 and March 6 — the latest obstacle in a season plagued by injuries.

“I think there was always something going on that you guys may not be aware of,” Splitter said. “Like a guy coming out of injury, he’s not in shape yet, minutes restriction the whole season. So there was always something that was pulling us so that we could not go at 100% or I could not be as accountable as I wish I could because you’re worrying about so many things.”

Splitter said Portland’s emphasis on the postseason push began a few weeks ago once the team’s health cleared up for the most part. Outside of guard Shaedon Sharpe, all of Portland’s core pieces are available again, headlined by the return of Avdija, who has played in 10 straight games. The Blazers have gone 7-3 over that stretch. That anticipated post-All-Star break surge has finally started to materialize just in time to make one last push.

“Right now, I think we’re just playing free,” Splitter said. “Free minutes. Just go in there and play hard. And the guys know that now it’s time to win.”