Portland Trail Blazers
Damian Lillard has said time and time again that he is not going anywhere and that he wants to remain in Portland, but he has also made it clear that he wants to win with the Trail Blazers. Suffering early season losses to the Clippers, Kings, Hornets, and short-handed 76ers is definitely not what Lillard and this team had in mind to begin the year, especially with their average margin of defeat being 15 points per loss!
In their three wins over the Clippers, Suns, and Grizzlies this season, three playoff teams from a year ago, the Trail Blazers are winning by a margin of 22.7 points, but this team has been very inconsistent to begin the year.
Their start is not necessarily disappointing, but Portland does have their work cut out for them if they are to be a legit contender in the Western Conference this year. C.J. McCollum and Damian Lillard cannot carry this team on their own, but Dame has had his own struggles to begin the year.
He has scored over 20 points in just three of his team’s first six games and Lillard even recorded two games this season without a made three-pointer. The 6x All-Star recorded three such games last season alone!
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Obviously, Damian Lillard is going to figure things out, but his early-season struggles with the Portland Trail Blazers are definitely somewhat eye-opening for some around the league.
With McCollum looking like an All-Star and Dame going to get things going soon, who is going to be that “third key talent” to step up and lift this Portland Trail Blazers team into the postseason?
Will it be Jusef Nurkic, Norman Powell, or Robert Covington? It could even wind up being Anfernee Simons, Nassir Little, or Larry Nance Jr. off the bench. The point is that the Portland Trail Blazers need their role players to begin playing better, especially if Lillard is struggling.
Winning games that they are underdogs in is great and they have picked up some impressive victories early on in the 2021-22 season, but at the same time, they have also lost some games that they should have won by a wide margin.
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It is going to be very interesting to see how the Portland Trail Blazers play during the month of November, especially with younger teams starting to emerge in the Western Conference.
