The lone other time this year that the Trail Blazers went on a four-game win streak, they went on to lose their next three games. This time, coming out of the All-Star break on a four-game streak, Portland has dropped the last two contests by a combined 69 points. Having shut down Jusuf Nurkić for at least four weeks with plantar fasciitis, Anfernee Simons has been the longest-tenured Blazer on the court and the inexperience of the active roster has proven difficult to overcome against some tough Western Conference opponents in the Warriors and Nuggets this week.
The Trail Blazers led the Warriors after the first quarter on Thursday and kept it close through one quarter with the Nuggets on Sunday, but the offense sputtered when the starters were off the court as Portland failed to score over 25 points in any quarter excluding the first in each game this week. Portland averaged just 93.5 points per game over the last two contests, 14.2 points worse than the season average.
Much of this week’s struggle can be attributed to the relative inexperience of the active roster with four rookies, two of whom were undrafted, getting substantial playing time, and most of the others having only played a handful of games with each other at most. “We have a lot of guys that are just learning how we play,” said coach Chauncey Billups of this week’s performance. “Can’t be frustrated with that,” he added. Portland has had just about everything in the book thrown at them in terms of players missing games this year, having to field a ton of different lineups out of necessity. Through 61 games, the Trail Blazers have fielded 22 different starting lineups this season.
Portland added Drew Eubanks and Brandon Williams to the roster earlier this week to help add some bodies to an injury-thinned roster. Williams, who played a few games for Portland earlier in the season, has shown some playmaking flashes, scoring 12 points in both games this week and adding seven assists against the Nuggets. Eubanks recorded a double-double against the Nuggets with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Two games into a six-game stretch against teams over .500 and the relative inexperience and unfamiliarity of the roster has reared its head. With nine of the next 10 games on the road, Portland may be in for a rough stretch ahead, especially if they can’t steal one of these next four games against teams over .500. The schedule gets substantially easier to end the year and the new guys will get plenty of opportunity these next four games to gain some valuable experience against some of the league’s top teams.
As it now stands, Portland is 11th in the West with the same record as the 10th-place Pelicans. If the Pelicans’ pick falls between fifth and 14th, it conveys to Portland by way of the CJ McCollum trade. If the Pelicans retain their pick, the Trail Blazers will receive a top-four protected 2025 first-round pick from the Bucks. If that Milwaukee pick lands in the top four, Portland would instead receive two future second-round picks from New Orleans.
The Trail Blazers have the longest active playoff streak in the NBA with eight straight seasons in the playoffs. They haven’t missed the playoffs since 2013. They also haven’t had a top-10 pick since 2013. That pick became CJ McCollum. Portland also missed the playoffs in 2012 and drafted Damian Lillard that same year. These ended up being franchise altering moves, as outlined by Portland’s playoff streak since then. This season feels similarly pivotal, but with the potential for two top-10 picks, more roster flexibility, and one of the NBA’s Top 75 all-time in Damian Lillard, there seems to be even more potential for upward mobility.
With just about a quarter of the season left, there’s still plenty of time for anything to play out, but as it currently sits, Portland is on the outside looking in for the Western Conference playoff picture. Despite not having the best results this week, Portland didn’t drop significantly in the power rankings. Coming in as high as No. 21 and as low as No. 23, here’s where the Trail Blazers sit in the 20th edition of the weekly power rankings after a small post-All-Star sample size.
• John Schuhmann at NBA.com has the Trail Blazers at No. 23 this week, one spot worse than last week...
The Blazers went into the All-Star break in 10th place in the West, having won four straight games for the first time since before Thanksgiving. Over that streak, they were 28 points per 100 possessions better with Jusuf Nurkic on the floor (plus-16.3) than they were with him off the floor (minus-11.7). Nurkic averaged 21.5 points on 59% shooting over the four games, going into the break with just the fifth 30-point game of his career, a 32-point performance against the Grizzlies’ top-10 defense.
Portland came out of the break with Nurkic (plantar fasciitis) shut down for at least the next four weeks and with … [checks notes] … Drew Eubanks starting at center. And the Blazers lost their first two post-break games by a total of 69 points, scoring an anemic 92.6 points per 100 possessions against the Warriors and Nuggets. The two losses dropped them to 11th place in the West, in a tie with the 10th-place Pelicans, but having (somehow) lost their momentum from before the break. Nurkic has had a few tough injuries in his eight seasons in the league, and this may be the most untimely of them all.
The Blazers have four more games on this stretch of six straight against teams with winning records. And they’ll now play nine of their next 10 games on the road.
Schuhmann has the Trail Blazers behind the Wizards at No. 22 and ahead of the Knicks at No. 24.
• The panel of voters at ESPN has the Trail Blazers at No. 22 this week, one spot worse than last week...
After winning four straight, the days following the All-Star break have not been kind to the Blazers. They lost center Jusuf Nurkic for at least four weeks due to plantar fasciitis, and they have now lost two straight without their big man. Anfernee Simons and Josh Hart will have to carry a serious load to try to keep Portland in the 10th spot in the West
The folks at ESPN have the Trail Blazers behind the Pelicans at No. 21 and ahead of the Spurs at No. 23.
• Zach Harper at The Athletic has the Trail Blazers at No. 23 this week, three spots worse than last week...
The Portland Trail Blazers are definitely not where they hoped to be when the season began, but they’ve managed to do something in this disappointing plight of the season. They’ve managed to get fans excited for this final stretch run. The Blazers are still very much in this Play-In Tournament hunt despite missing every starter from the beginning of the season. Some of the hope comes from that. But mostly, that hope is because of the emergence of Anfernee Simons. In the 26 games since Damian Lillard went down with an injury, Simons has played in 25 of those contests and averaged 23.3 points on 45.8/41.2/85.3 shooting splits. It’s the perfect thing to help the Blazers soften the blow of this season and it’s the perfect thing for Simons to do heading into restricted free agency.
Prediction for the final stretch: Simons averages over 25 points per game for the final stretch of the season, but the Blazers just miss out on the 10-spot in the Play-In Tournament.
Harper has the Trail Blazers behind the Lakers at No. 22 and ahead of the Pacers at No. 24.
• Kyle Wood at Sports Illustrated has the Trail Blazers at No. 21 this week, two spots worse than last week...
Is the tank back on? It sure looks like it the way the Blazers came out of the break. The same team that beat the Bucks and the Grizzlies on the road two weeks ago was outscored by 69 points on its home court over its last two games. Well, there was one big difference: Center Jusuf Nurkic was shut down for a month, further weakening the core of a team on the verge of ending its seven-season playoff streak.
Wood has the Trail Blazers behind the Lakers at No. 20 and ahead of the Pacers at No. 22.