3 ways the Portland Trail Blazers can start a new winning streak

The other starters have to pull their weight

Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum suffered brutal nights against the Rockets on Tuesday. Lillard finished with 20 points, but did so on 5-for-17 shooting, including going 0-for-7 from beyond the arc. McCollum’s eight points were the fewest he’s scored since the five points he mustered on Nov. 22 in a 101-81 blowout loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.

However, the Blazers remained competitive until the final buzzer because of the play of their other starters. Al-Farouq Aminu paced the Blazers with 22 points. His six made 3-pointers tied a career-high. Jusuf Nurkic, normally the third scoring option, was second in points with 21 as well as 11 rebounds. Maurice Harkless chipped in 17 points on perfect 5-for-5 shooting in the losing effort.

Portland averages 28.4 bench points per game, 25th in the NBA. Therefore, it is up to the starters to carry the offensive load for Portland if it wants to continue its winning ways.

This isn’t to say that Nurkic, Aminu and Harkless need to put up big scoring performances every night. We saw over the course of the streak that a big game from any of the three was good enough to get the Blazers the W.

Nurkic reached double-digits in 11 of the 13 wins, including six double-doubles. Aminu had double-figures in six of the 13 games while shooting 39.3 percent from beyond the arc. Harkless has gotten hot of late, hitting double-digits in the last three games of the streak as well as the Rockets game. He also shot 50 percent from 3-point range in the 10 games he played during the streak.

Basically, as long as Lillard and McCollum have at least one additional scorer to keep defenses honest, the Blazers will be in good shape. Portland will need more of that formula heading down the stretch of the season.