All summer long, Neil Olshey appealed to the strength of the Portland Trail Blazers' starting lineup as a major reason for optimism in 2021-22. Chauncey Billups parroted those talking points almost immediately upon being named Terry Stotts' successor. When Media Day finally came in early September, multiple players extolled the virtues of Portland's opening quintet, too.

The Blazers are already singing a different tune less than a month into the regular season.

That ballyhooed starting five began 2021-22 at least somewhat living up to the hype, but has struggled enough recently to possess a net rating below Portland's +1.9 overall mark, per Cleaning the Glass. Its net rating last season? A whopping +13.9, fifth-best in basketball among lineups league-wide that played at least 500 possessions. The starters were even more dominant during the Blazers' disappointing loss to the short-handed Denver Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs.

Billups, thankfully, hasn't let that past success dictate his lineup choices of late. Portland's consecutive come-from-behind wins were sealed in crunch-time, with Nassir Little and Larry Nance Jr. finishing next to Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum and Norman Powell. Robert Covington and Jusuf Nurkic watched Powell and Nance play the entire fourth quarter of the Blazers' victory over the Toronto Raptors on Monday. Two days later, Nance joined Little in the closing frontcourt with just over 90 seconds left on the game clock, helping Portland close out the Chicago Bulls.

After the game, Lillard explained why lineups with Little and Nance alongside the Blazers' three starting guards have been so successful.

“I think both of their athleticism and activity has been really good for us, especially when other teams are small, we're not trying to play a bigger lineup or do what we wanna do,” he said. “It's like, we have a small lineup that we can go to. Those guys are tough to deal with in a small lineup, when you've got them crashing the glass, playing in the paint, catching lobs and running the floor. It's been working for us. The athleticism and the activity and the motor that both of those guys play with is tough to deal with when you got us guards out there running around as well.”

Lillard, obviously, knows circumstances of opponent, time and score influence lineup decisions as much as anything else. Still, he clearly believes the Blazers have discovered some synergy with Little and Nance closing games up front.

“We've found a way the last two games with that lineup,” Lillard said. “It's been really good for us. It makes sense to kind of run with that.”

Billups teased changes to the starting lineup following Portland's ugly loss to the short-handed Denver Nuggets on Sunday. Both Nurkic and Covington have been far better since then, and it's true that both Toronto and Chicago downsizing late made it much easier for the Blazers to do the same. Nurkic's frank admission about his changing role after Wednesday's game still spoke volumes, though. As close-knit as this team often seems, rocking the rotational boat is still bound to muddy the waters of chemistry.

Good thing for Portland, then, that results speak for themselves.

“One thing that you can't argue with,” Lillard said of the Blazers' recent closing five, “is the fact that it's working.”