NBA Week 12 Power Rankings: Questions for each team after the break

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11. team. 34. . 22-15. Previous: 10th. Portland Trail Blazers

Last Week: Lost to Phoenix Suns 127-121, Beat Minnesota Timberwolves 125-121

This Week: 3/14 at Minnesota Timberwolves, 3/16 vs. New Orleans Pelicans, 3/18 vs. New Orleans Pelicans, 3/19 vs. Dallas Mavericks

Question: Will the Portland Trail Blazers ever be close to 100%?

Still without Jusuf Nurkic, CJ McCollum and Zach Collins, the Portland Trail Blazers have done well to stay as competitive as they have. Damian Lillard has been the driving factor for this continued success but eventually something has to work out for them to do any meaningful winning in the playoffs.

The timetables on a return for their missing players are slowly clearing up. McCollum returned to full practice this week and is simply awaiting being cleared by team doctors to get back on the court. Nurkic’s trajectory is slightly more muddled given the additional issues surrounding his calf of late. There is no update on Collins’ timeline.

Ultimately, the Blazers will have to do more of the same to weather the storm until the rest of their roster returns. Damian Lillard has been exemplary, averaging 29.7 points, 8.0 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game. Anfernee Simons has done more than win the Slam Dunk Contest, knocking down 41.1 percent of his 4.9 3-point attempts per game. Carmelo Anthony continues to climb up the all-time scoring list, passing Hakeem Olajuwon for 11th all-time on Saturday night.

Health is the priority and it will be needed for the Blazers to reach their ultimate potential. Slowly but surely, they appear to be getting closer that goal.