Portland Trail Blazers: 3 takeaways from 3-game road trip

2. Lack of depth was on display

The Blazers are a star-oriented team, helmed by Lillard and McCollum. As they go, so goes the team. So it’s no surprise that when one is away, things can get hairy.

With Lillard injured, the rest of the roster had to step up. Players such as Napier, Turner and Al-Farouq Aminu managed to answer the call for most of the trip. However, the rest of the role players offered more or less the same as they have most of the season.

Bench scoring was already an issue for Portland this year. Their 28.7 bench points per game leading into the road trip was already seventh-worst in the NBA. That average dropped to 23.3 bench points per game over the last three games, sixth-worst in the league.

Part of that issue is likely due to Shabazz Napier’s move to starter while Lillard was out. Napier has a team-high 11 double-digit scoring games from off the bench. Evan Turner is second behind him with nine games. However, he has been starting for the past 13 games.

Losing the team’s top two bench scorers to the starting five was naturally going to take some punch out of the second unit offense. Pat Connaughton’s 16 points against the Bulls was the only double-digit performance from the bench.

Even with Lillard’s return, the Blazers are going to need more from their backups if they want to remain competitive in the Western Conference.