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With Harkless back, Blazers' starting lineup is on fire

Since Maurice Harkless rejoined the Trail Blazers' starting lineup seven games ago, the starters have outscored opponents by 22.2 points per 100 possessions.

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Trail Blazers starting lineup has performed at an elite level since Maurice Harkless rejoined the starting lineup seven games ago.

Over the past year, the five-man lineup of Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, Harkless, Al-Farouq Aminu and Jusuf Nurkic has become one of the best in the NBA.

In 442 minutes together last season, that group outscored opponents by 8.9 points per 100 possessions, with a good offense (110.8 points per 100 possessions) and elite defense (101.9 points allowed per 100 possessions).

This season, the lineup has been even better. In 106 minutes, the team has outscored opponents by 11.2 points per 100 possessions, behind an elite offense (123.9 points per 100 possessions) and mediocre defense (112.7 points per 100 possessions).

The Blazers' starting lineup early in the season, with Jake Layman replacing Harkless at small forward, has outscored opponents by 1.8 points per 100 possessions in 228 minutes.

The best lineup over the course of this season has been Lillard, McCollum, Aminu, Nurkic and Evan Turner, which has outscored teams by 21.7 points per 100 possessions in 138 minutes. But the lineup with Harkless at small forward has been even better than that in the past seven games.

The Blazers' current starting lineup has outscored teams by 22.2 points per 100 possessions in 89 minutes together. The offense is elite (130.1 points per 100 possessions) and the defense has shown improvement, allowing 107.9 points per 100 possessions.

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The improvement of the Blazers' starting lineup has been mirrored by the improvement of Harkless as he returns from a left knee injury. Harkless is averaging just 4.1 points in 17.6 minutes per game this season, shooting 42 percent from the field and 33 percent from the 3-point line.

But since he moved into the starting lineup seven games ago, Harkless has improved his shooting percentages to 48 percent from the field and 46 percent from the 3-point line. He seemed to hit his stride over the past four games, averaging 6.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and 1.0 steal in 23.9 minutes per game, while shooting 58 percent from the field and 71 percent from the 3-point line.

Those numbers are reminiscent of a 20-game stretch last season when the Blazers went 16-4, including a 13-game winning streak, and Harkless averaged 9.4 points, 2.9 rebounds, 1.2 steals, 0.7 blocks and shot 57 percent from the field and 47 percent from the 3-point line.

If Portland's starting lineup has been this good since Harkless moved back into it, why is that not reflected in the team's overall performance? In the past seven games, Portland is just 3-4, outscoring teams by less than a point per 100 possessions.

The reason is that while the Blazers' starting lineup has excelled, the other high-usage five-man lineups have not played as well for Portland. The second-most-used unit over the past seven games, with Turner replacing Harkless, has still been good, outscoring opponents by 5.1 points per 100 possessions, but not as good as it was earlier in the season, when it outscored opponents by more than 20 points per 100 possessions.

The bench unit, meanwhile, such a strength earlier in the season, has been dreadful. The five-man lineup of Turner, Seth Curry, Nik Stauskas, Zach Collins and Meyers Leonard, which has outscored opponents by 12.2 points per 100 possessions over the course of the season, has a negative net rating over the past seven games, being outscored by 11.6 points per 100 possessions during that stretch. The bench unit is still scoring at an elite level (116.3 points per 100 possessions) but the defense has been abysmal, allowing 127.9 points per 100 possessions.

Over the past seven games, the Blazers have found success when they've replaced Stauskas with Damian Lillard. In 12 minutes together over the past seven games, the lineup of Lillard, Curry, Turner, Collins and Leonard has a +25.9 net rating, scoring 118.5 points per 100 possessions and allowing only 92.6 points per 100 possessions.

The problem with that solution, however, is that Lillard needs rest. Lillard has averaged 35.2 minutes per game this season, but over the past seven games he's averaged 37.3 minutes. Increasing his minutes during the regular season isn't a good practice if the Blazers want to keep Lillard fresh and healthy for the playoffs.

For the Blazers to take advantage of the elite production of their starting lineup, the bench unit has to improve. It doesn't need to play at the same level as it was earlier in the season, but it can't continue to give up leads and generate large deficits when it's on the court.

Jared Cowley writes about the Trail Blazers and other topics for KGW.com. He's also the co-host of the 3-on-3 Blazers podcast (listen here). You can reach him on Twitter @jaredcowley.

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