The lone other time this year that the Trail Blazers went on a four-game win streak, they went on to lose their next three games. This time, coming out of the All-Star break on a four-game streak, Portland has dropped the last two contests by a combined 69 points. Having shut down Jusuf Nurkiu0107 for at least four weeks with plantar fasciitis, Anfernee Simons has been the longest-tenured Blazer on the court and the inexperience of the active roster has proven difficult to overcome against some tough Western Conference opponents in the Warriors and Nuggets this week.
The Trail Blazers led the Warriors after the first quarter on Thursday and kept it close through one quarter with the Nuggets on Sunday, but the offense sputtered when the starters were off the court as Portland failed to score over 25 points in any quarter excluding the first in each game this week.