Portland Trail Blazers: Looking at the 5 main lineups at the All-Star break
By Ty Delbridge
3. Damian Lillard, Pat Connaughton, Evan Turner, Al-Farouq Aminu and Jusuf Nurkic
- Games played:18
- Games started: 0
- Wins: 10
- Losses 8
- Offensive Rating: 97.7
- Defensive Rating: 96.9
- Net Rating: +0.8
Because Portland has two elite guards, it can always have one of them on the floor running the offense. Connaughton replaces McCollum at shooting guard, and Turner comes in for Harkless.
Connaughton is an excellent 3-point shooter and teams have to focus on him when he is on the court. Turner can handle the ball on offense and run pick-and-rolls with Nurkic while letting Aminu, Lillard and Connaughton play off the ball.
Turner is not a good shooter, and he needs the ball in his hands to be impactful. He is efficient when he is in the mid-range or near the rim.
Lillard is deadly with the ball in his hands but can be a headache for teams when he is running around screens, and getting open for catch-and-shoot looks. Nurkic will still see one-on-one matchups in the post and passes while he is rolling to the hoop.
This has been a solid lineup for Portland and one we should continue to see the rest of the season.