Portland Trail Blazers: 3 takeaways from 4-game road trip

What can the Portland Trail Blazers take away from their 1-3 road trip against some of the Western Conference’s top teams?

The Portland Trail Blazers lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves 120-103 on Sunday night. The defeat capped a 1-3 road trip against some of the top teams in the Western Conference.

Specifically, according to the current standings, they took on the second-, fourth-, fifth- and sixth-best teams in the conference on their home courts.

The team started the trip off well. They extended a three-game winning streak by defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder 117-106 on Jan. 9.

Unfortunately, that was followed up by three consecutive losses. The Blazers fell 121-112 to the Houston Rockets on Jan. 10 and 119-113 to the New Orleans Pelicans on Jan. 12 before Sunday’s loss in Minneapolis.

This obviously wasn’t the outcome the Blazers wanted from this road trip, but the worst is likely over. Nine of Portland’s next 17 games are on the road. However, the only other stretch this season where they will face consecutive high-caliber teams is a three-game Eastern Conference road trip at the beginning of February. They don’t have another four-game road trip until the beginning of April.

As the Blazers return home, what are some lessons they can take away from their grueling 1-3 road trip?