The Blazers Are Rolling Out a Bizarre Starting Five, and It Might Actually Work

The Portland Trail Blazers are rolling out a starting lineup on Tuesday that looks like a 2K auto-generate glitch.

According to Underdog NBA, Portland is starting Damian Lillard alongside Sidy Cissoko, Deni Avdija, Toumani Camara, and Donovan Clingan against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

"Underdog NBA tweeted: 'Lineup alert: Blazers will start Lillard, Cissoko, Avdija, Camara, Clingan on Tuesday.'"

You have a franchise legend who just recovered from a torn Achilles sharing the floor with four guys who sound like a randomly generated draft class. It is the kind of roster construction that makes you wonder if the front office is playing 4D chess or just throwing darts at a whiteboard.

But here is the truly absurd part: it is actually working. The Blazers are sitting at 6-3 and a ridiculous 8-3 against the spread. If you have been blindly fading Portland because they look like a rebuilding project, your bankroll is probably in intensive care.

Deni Avdija has quietly turned into a legitimate offensive engine, leading the team with 22.3 points and 6.3 assists per game. Meanwhile, Donovan Clingan is vacuuming up 10 boards a night. They surround Lillard with enough length and defensive chaos to hide the fact that he is not exactly a lockdown defender at this stage of his career.

Portland is coming off a brutal 125-103 reality check against the San Antonio Spurs, which means this Tuesday night clash with the 8-2 Thunder is a massive prove-it spot. Oklahoma City is a buzzsaw, and this game will tell us if Portland's weirdly effective start is a fluke or a real problem for the Western Conference.

The Blazers get the Thunder in a brutal back-to-back set starting tonight. If Lillard and his island of misfit toys can cover the spread against one of the best teams in the league, it might be time to stop laughing at Portland and start paying attention.