Portland Trail Blazers: Looking at the 5 main lineups at the All-Star break
By Ty Delbridge
4. Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum, Mo Harkless, Al-Farouq Aminu and Jusuf Nurkic
- Games played: 18
- Games started: 13 (6-7)
- Wins: 7
- Losses: 11
- Offensive Rating: 103.9
- Defense Rating: 105.4
- Net Rating: -1.5
This is the lineup that gave the Blazers a lot of success in the second half of the season last year and the lineup they started this season with.
It wasn’t as effective right away as some would’ve hoped, so Terry Stotts decided to switch it up and he started trying new starting lineups.
But with the reemergence of Maurice Harkless, Stotts went back to this starting lineup the last five games before the break and they went 3-2. Here are the modified stats from the past five games:
- Offensive rating: 105.3
- Defensive rating: 101.5
- Net Rating: +3.8
This will probably be the main lineup the Blazers go with the rest of the season. It gives them two long 3-and-D guys with Aminu and Harkless, a rim defender and post scorer with Jusuf Nurkic and two elite guards.
Portland can space the floor with this lineup. They can have four guys behind the 3-point line and have Nurkic set a screen for whoever has the ball. The other team’s defense has to respect the shooters, defend the rim from a rolling 280-pound Nurkic and also try to stay in front of Lillard or McCollum, who are deadly with the ball in their hands.
