Portland Trail Blazers: 4 positive takeaways from loss to Rockets

2. Al-Farouq Aminu and Maurice Harkless

The Blazers got tremendous performances from their two starting forwards.

He made them pay by knocking down four-3-point shots in the first quarter. After that, the Rockets had to scratch their initial gameplan and make sure someone was keeping an eye on Aminu. Once that happened, it opened up the Blazers’ offense and kept the defense on its toes.

Maurice Harkless finished the game with 17 points, shooting 5-of-5 from the field and 3-of-3 from 3-point range. He played this game with a ton of confidence and did not hesitate when he had an open shot opportunity. Harkless knows his role and doesn’t try to do too much on the offensive end. He sees plenty of good looks with the defense paying attention to Lillard, McCollum or Nurkic.

Since coming back from the All-Star break, Harkless has been hot, shooting 57.7 percent from the 3-point line. He has become the Blazers’ top 3-and-D wing. He was coming off a game against the Clippers where he had 21 points, on 8-of-11 shooting, including 3-of-4 from the 3-point line.

The Blazers need their wings to have shooting game like this if they want to be a threat in the playoffs. Having shooters takes pressure off of Lillard and McCollum on the offensive end. Shooting opens by the offense down low because it spaces the defense out. It also forces more one-on-one matchups because defenses can’t send help and afford to leave Aminu and Harkless open.