In professional sports, the teams in bigger markets tend to dominate the competition. It seems natural enough. The owners with the most money can buy the best players and assemble the dream team as if they are compiling a roster on a video game. 

However, this year the NBA is undergoing a season of parity that is unusual due to the presence of teams like the Miami Heat and the new-look Houston Rockets. 

The usual powers of the league, like Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Miami, and Chicago have started well in 2013. However, smaller-market teams like the Portland Trail Blazers have risen.

No, they do not have the best record in the league, nor do they lead the Western Conference. Yet, they are the team to beat in that conference and are destined for the playoffs if they continue playing the way they have so far. 

This is a franchise that has not reached the playoffs since the 2010-11 season, which was also the third year in a row that the team lost in the first round of the conference playoffs. 

The Blazers are setting the stage for another run of playoff appearances with their 10-2 start to their 2013 campaign. 

They have already beaten the best team in the conference, the 10-1 San Antonio Spurs. It is still early, but it says something when a team can win a game predicted as a loss on paper. That game was also at home where the Blazers currently have a 4-1 record. 

They have also won the majority of their games on the road, which is particularly important for the Blazers. This team went 22-19 last year in Portland, where the team has traditionally been able to topple NBA juggernauts. On the flip side, the Blazers struggled mightily on the road with an 11-30 record, according to basketball-reference.com. This was detrimental to their playoff chances last season.

Furthermore, teams that currently have winning records like the Thunder, Clippers, and Warriors, have them because of what they are doing at home, not on the road. If the Blazers stay consistent away from Portland, they will succeed. 

When the Rockets came to town, they posed a problem for the Blazers, winning convincingly by a score of 116-101. Then Portland did something that good teams do. It rebounded and has not lost since that game. The longest winning streak the team had last year was five games. The team’s current streak is at eight.

Another aspect that has propelled this team to early success is the offensive production of four of their starting five players. LaMarcus Aldridge leads a talented crew of young pieces that have progressively grown closer. Nicolas Batum, Damian Lillard and Wesley Matthews all average in double-digit points per game. 

Mo Williams provides a spark off the bench as a player who can score, pass and hit shots from the foul line. 

This team’s competition in the Western Conference seems stiff because of reputation, but this is a Blazers squad that has the potential to prove many wrong. The team owns a better record than the Oklahoma City Thunder right now. They can win no matter where they play. They are young, unlike the Spurs, which gives them an advantage as they play more games. 

To call the Blazers a championship team would be premature. However, at this point in the season, calling them a contender is not so ridiculous.