{"id":713995,"date":"2026-04-19T15:18:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T15:18:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/713995\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T15:18:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T15:18:29","slug":"portland-trail-blazers-forward-jerami-grant-sees-nba-playoffs-as-opportunity-to-turn-corner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/713995\/","title":{"rendered":"Portland Trail Blazers forward Jerami Grant sees NBA playoffs as opportunity to turn corner"},"content":{"rendered":"

PORTLAND, Ore. \u2014 As odd as it may sound, Portland Trail Blazers<\/a> forward Jerami Grant<\/a> last played in an NBA playoff game in the month of September.<\/p>\n

Grant scored 20 points when the Denver Nuggets were eliminated from the postseason after losing 117-107 to the Los Angeles Lakers during Game 5 of the NBA Western Conference finals on Sept. 26, 2020, in Orlando, Fla. That game took place in the NBA Bubble during the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n

While Grant hasn\u2019t played in a playoff game since then, two of his former teams have won NBA titles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI miss the playoffs so much,\u201d Grant told Andscape on April 10, prior to clinching a playoff spot. \u201cIt\u2019s been a long time. Unbelievable. I can never get accustomed to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The wait will be over for Grant today. He is officially back in the playoffs as the Western Conference\u2019s seventh-seeded Blazers will play the No. 2 seed San Antonio Spurs in Game 1 of their first-round series.<\/p>\n

Without injured All-Star guard Damian Lillard, the young Blazers were expected to rebuild, looking forward to the loaded 2026 NBA draft rather than the playoffs. But led by All-Star forward Deni Avdija, the Blazers are perhaps the surprise team of the postseason after winning their play-in tournament game 114-110 against the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The reward for Portland is long-shot hopes against NBA MVP candidate Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs. As for Grant, the Blazers\u2019 opponent is secondary, because he\u2019s just happy to be back in the postseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a while of not playing very meaningful basketball,\u201d Grant said. \u201cI\u2019m just happy that I have a chance to play when it matters most again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JeramiJerami Grant helped this year\u2019s Portland Trail Blazers secure a surprise playoff berth, the franchise\u2019s first since 2021.<\/p>\n

Kate Frese\/NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Blazers (42-40) finished the regular season with seven wins in their last 10 games. A big win against the Los Angeles Clippers at home on April 10, the penultimate game of the season, led to Portland clinching the eighth seed.<\/p>\n

Behind a 41-point game from Avdija, the Blazers overcame an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter in the play-in win against the Suns. Portland also secured a playoff berth for the first time since 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a versatile team,\u201d Grant said. \u201cA lot of guys that can win us games, a lot of players that can defend and score the ball, so it\u2019ll be a series of adjusting and matchups.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grant, who described his season as \u201csolid,\u201d averaged 18.6 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 29.7 minutes per game for Portland. However, the 12-year NBA veteran missed the last seven games of the regular season with a right calf strain. Grant\u2019s return against the Suns was a needed boost, as he scored 16 points in 19 minutes in his first play-in tournament game.<\/p>\n

Blazers guard Shaedon Sharpe, who averaged 18.5 points per game, also returned to action during the regular-season finale after missing roughly two months with a left calf strain that led to a stress reaction in the left fibula.<\/p>\n

Grant\u2019s return against Phoenix marked the Blazers\u2019 first fully healthy roster, excluding Lillard, who missed the season with a ruptured Achilles tendon. <\/p>\n

Grant and the Blazers also enjoyed a nice break of four days in between games after beating the Suns.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy body is OK,\u201d Grant said. \u201cI had to sit out for some things, but I\u2019ve been getting treatment with my guy [clinician] Mike Davis. He got me back in time for the play-in, and now he\u2019s making sure I\u2019m up to par to keep going, so I\u2019m again just grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Portland Trail Blazers guard Scoot Henderson overcomes injuries to arrive at NBA play-in tournament \u2013 AndscapeRead now<\/a><\/p>\n

Grant was acquired by the Trail Blazers from the Detroit Pistons on July 6, 2022. Prior to Detroit, the 6-foot-7, 213-pound forward also played for the Philadelphia 76ers, Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets. The Nuggets and Thunder have both won an NBA title since Grant\u2019s departure. The Pistons are the Eastern Conference\u2019s top seed.<\/p>\n

Grant has never won an NBA championship, and it hasn\u2019t been easy for him to see his former teams get championship rings.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tough seeing the teams I\u2019ve been on in the playoffs doing well, winning championships and things like that,\u201d Grant, 32, said. \u201cYou want to be able to get there and be able to compete. That is great competition in the NBA, the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s been almost six years since his last playoff game, Grant has 35 games of postseason experience. He expects himself, Lillard and two-time NBA champion Jrue Holiday to talk to their Portland teammates about the high level of play needed for the playoffs. The Blazers\u2019 last playoff win came in Game 4 of their first-round series against Denver on May 29, 2021.<\/p>\n

On the flip side, more pressure will be on Wembanyama and the title-contending Spurs. The five-time NBA champions have reason to be nervous, too, as they haven\u2019t played in a playoff game or hosted one since their first-round appearance in 2019. Wembanyama will be making his NBA playoff debut Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to sit down and talk to them \u2014 me, Jrue, Dame and whoever has been there,\u201d Grant said. \u201cWe just have to explain to them that this is a different level of basketball. Everybody is scouting all the things that you do well. Everyone is playing the game more serious. It\u2019s hard to explain.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou feel like every team should play every game the same, but it\u2019s just different in the playoffs. Its more locked-in. Every coach knows every single player\u2019s tendencies. Every player knows every team\u2019s tendencies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wembanyama and the Spurs are a more global brand compared to this Blazers team, which is relatively unknown unless you are one of their most ardent fans. Portland only played on national TV six times during the regular season, but in the playoffs, basketball fans worldwide will be tuned in.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a solid team. A pretty good team,\u201d Grant said. \u201cWe have a bunch of players that can score the basketball. A bunch of great defenders. We got a little bit of everything. Coming into this season, we felt like we were going to turn the corner a little bit. We\u2019ve definitely done that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marc J. Spears is the senior NBA writer for Andscape. He used to be able to dunk on you, but he hasn\u2019t been able to in years and his knees still hurt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORTLAND, Ore. \u2014 As odd as it may sound, Portland Trail Blazers forward Jerami Grant last played in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":713996,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[7],"class_list":{"0":"post-713995","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-basketball"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116432045556125254","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=713995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713995\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/713996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=713995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=713995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=713995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}