The Trail Blazers return home from their six-game road trip, the longest of the season, with four more wins and a better idea of what their team identity can be when this roster coalesces as a unit. Behind a third consecutive 2-1 week, Portland is now 6-2 over its last eight games and boasts the league’s seventh-best defensive rating (106.9) during that span. Offensively, the Blazers have had five players in double-digit scoring in nine of their last 11 games. With defensive schemes and ball movement being focal points for coach Chauncey Billups coming into the season, it has to be refreshing to see this team gain some consistency on those fronts after struggling in that regard for much of the season. “I thought it was an excellent trip. I’m so proud of our guys; we’re just becoming a real unit,” Coach Billups said in summation of the trip following Sunday’s victory in Toronto.

This week’s success coincided with the return of CJ McCollum, who is averaging 20.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 1.3 steals in his four games back. Portland is 3-1 since McCollum’s return, and one player who has seen the benefits of McCollum’s gravity as a perimeter scorer is Jusuf Nurkic. Nurkic is leading the league in rebounding in the four games since McCollum has been back at 16.0 RPG. Nurkic (19.8 PPG), McCollum (20.8 PPG), and Anfernee Simons (20.0 PPG) are each averaging about 20 PPG across that span as well. The Trail Blazers are the only team in the league with three players averaging at least 19.8 PPG over the last four games and Norman Powell, who is averaging 18.6 PPG on the season is set to make his return on Tuesday after missing the last eight games. With the return of Powell, Portland will once again have a slew of offensive threats available to them. None by the name of Damian Lillard, who will remain out for most of the rest of the season, but this team continues to show real growth in his absence and has fought their way to an 8-9 record in games without Lillard this season.

Portland has found a way to close out close late-game victories in each of the last two games without the luxury of having one of the most prolific clutch scorers in league history in Damian Lillard. Against the Celtics on Jan. 21, it was Jusuf Nurkic who hit the go-ahead hook shot off of an offensive rebound with 13.1 seconds to go in the fourth quarter. This proved to be the dagger, as Portland went on to beat Boston 109-105. Nurkic recorded 29 points, 17 rebounds, and six assists in the winning effort and became the first Trail Blazer since Bill Walton in the 1977-78 season to record 29 or more points, 17 or more rebounds, and six or more assists. Nurkic has had a knack for recording these anomalous stat lines since his historic performance of 24 points, 23 rebounds, seven assists, five steals, and five blocks against the Kings in 2019, the NBA’s first and only 20-point 20-rebound 5x5 game. Portland also set a season-high mark in 3-PT % against the Celtics shooting 48.5% from deep in that game.

The Trail Blazers shattered that mark two nights later against the Raptors in Toronto connecting on 18 of 32 threes for 56.3% from deep. Portland also reached a season-high mark in assists in that game with 31 despite no one player having more than six assists individually. The Raptors game had the makings of a blowout with the Blazers leading by 30 at the half, but the Raptors clawed their way back into the game in the second half with hard trapping defense to get within four points with just over a minute to go in the fourth. After the Raptors’ on-ball pressure forced a couple of turnovers off of inbound plays late in the fourth quarter, it was Anfernee Simons who proved to be the hero on this night with two late threes to put the Raptors away. “Through it all, we’ve gotten better - obviously came out with some good wins as well,” Simons said in summation of the recent 6-game road trip.

Some good wins indeed, but it hasn’t yet been enough to move the needle much in either the standings or the power rankings this week. After a 4-2 East-Coast road trip, the Trail Blazers have tripled their road win total on the season and now sit at 12-7 against Eastern Conference teams. While this recent stretch has shown promise for Portland, they will need to continue to string together quality wins to get back into the Western Conference playoff hunt. Portland is up just slightly in this week’s power rankings coming in as high as No. 20 and as low as No. 22. Here’s where the Trail Blazers sit in the 15th edition of the weekly power rankings with hope on the horizon.

• John Schuhmann at NBA.com has the Trail Blazers at No. 20 this week, one spot better than last week...

If the Blazers make the Play-In Tournament in the Western Conference (they currently hold a 2 1/2 game lead over the 11th place Pelicans), it could be a result of how well they’ve played against the East. They’re now 12-7 (fourth-best among West teams) against the opposite conference, having gone 4-1 over a trip that ended Sunday. And if they come one game short of their goal (which could be a higher seed), they may look back with regret at their 12-point loss in Miami on Wednesday, when they were outscored by 18 points (scoring just seven points on 17 offensive possessions) in 8:34 with neither Anfernee Simons nor CJ McCollum on the floor, choosing not to stagger their minutes of as much as they could have.
Of course, having the opportunity to stagger the minutes of two potent guards again is a good thing. McCollum looked pretty sharp offensively (goodbye, Max Strus) in averaging 20.8 points (on an effective field goal percentage of 61%) over his first four games back from a six-week absence, while Jusuf Nurkic (29 points and the game-sealing put-back in Boston on Friday) continues to play his best basketball of the season. Most interesting may be that the Blazers have a top-10 defense over a 6-2 stretch.
The Blazers are only home for a back-to-back before they head back out for a four-game trip. They’re only three games behind the seventh-place Wolves (who are at the Moda Center on Tuesday), with three games left in the season series.

Schuhmann has the Trail Blazers behind the Hawks at No. 19 and ahead of the Wizards at No. 21.

• The panel of voters at ESPN has the Trail Blazers at No. 22 this week, one spot better than last week...

The Blazers have won four of their past five games -- all on the road -- and have won three of their past four with CJ McCollum back in the lineup. The guard had 19 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists in a quality win Sunday in Toronto. Slowly, coach Chauncey Billups' team is climbing back into the playoff hunt.

The folks at ESPN have the Trail Blazers behind the Hawks at No. 21 and ahead of the Pelicans at No. 23.

• Zach Harper at The Athletic has the Trail Blazers at No. 21 this week, one spot better than last week...

I know the Portland Trail Blazers just got CJ McCollum back on the court, but I think this is their promising lineup for the rest of the campaign. Damian Lillard is going to be out for a while, and some people have wondered if he’s out for the season. Covington has struggled at times to be consistent. Nurkic is asked to do more than he can likely accomplish, especially on defense. But McLemore continues to be a nice plug-and-play option, and Little is having a bit of a surge. McCollum will be huge for them the rest of the season, but we’ve also seen Simons do some really promising things leading some of these lineups. Let’s see what this one can continue to do as the Blazers try to hang on to the Play-In Tournament.

Harper has the Trail Blazers behind the Lakers at No. 20 and ahead of the Pacers at No. 21.

• Michael Pina at Sports Illustrated has the Trail Blazers at No. 22 this week, the same as last week...

When I profiled Simons a couple summers ago, the hype surrounding his potential was strong and steeped in hyperbole (his trainer called him “a rough draft copy of” Klay Thompson and Damian Lillard. Everyone around Simons since he was young saw legitimate greatness in his dunk-contest-winning bounce and three-point-contest-worthy shot.
Now, in the middle of a nightmare Blazers season, he’s blooming. Simons’s scoring average is almost twice as high as it was last season. His two-point percentage is up almost 10% and, according to Synergy, among all players who’ve finished at least 150 possessions as a pick-and-roll ball handler, Simons ranks No. 1 in efficiency. The jump from intriguing talent to dependable star is never guaranteed, but if Simons played for the Knicks and wasn’t reserved, it’d be treated as a foregone conclusion. He’s still only 22!

Pina has the Trail Blazers behind the Knicks at No. 21 and ahead of the Pacers at No. 23.

• Kyle Irving at Sporting News has the Trail Blazers at No. 22 this week, three spots better than last week...

Sure, the team has missed Damian Lillard plenty this season. The 6-foot-2 guard hasn’t played a single game in 2022 and missed six before then but the team wasn’t doing much even with him, owning a 12-17 record in games he has played. The play of young guard Anfernee Simons has been encouraging for the franchise, however, provided the talent on their squad, they have certainly underachieved with their sub .500 record. It's probably time for a reset in Portland.

Irving has the Trail Blazers behind the Hawks at No. 21 and ahead of the Pacers at No. 23.