Young Trail Blazers ride a wave of 6 straight wins and defying expectations

The sullen faces that were so common after losses earlier this season have given way to chest-bumps and high fives as the Portland Trail Blazers ride a sustained — and somewhat surprising — winning streak.

The Blazers have won six straight and 10 of their last 11 games, prompting perhaps too-soon speculation about a playoff berth.

While postseason dreams may be premature, Portland certainly is having fun.

The young team that went into the season looking at another rebuilding year is now 23-29, exceeding its win total from last season (21). While still sitting at 13th in the Western Conference, they are edging closer to those play-in spots with 30 games remaining.

“I think it’s fun, not only with the wins and losses, but the way we’re playing,” guard Scoot Henderson said. “That’s really fun, the way we’re playing together and sticking together.”

Portland is four games back of the eighth-place Dallas Mavericks in a cluster of teams — the Sacramento Kings, Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs — all jostling for the advantage.

The Blazers’ latest win came on Thursday night at home against Sacramento. Anfernee Simons had 30 points, including eight 3-pointers, and Portland hung together in the final quarter for a 108-102 victory.

Turning up the pressure and maintaining focus in the waning minutes is new for Portland — as is the growth of the team’s defense, which has ranked atop the league over the last 11 games.

“We know that that’s the way that we’re going to be able to compete with all of these teams,” coach Chauncey Billups said. “We got to be flying around.”

The last time the Blazers won as many games in a stretch was in the 2017-18 season, when they won 13 straight.

Ahead of the 2023-24 season, star Damian Lillard was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks and the Blazers went all-in on a rebuilding project, committed to developing young players, including Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe.

Ahead of this season, they made a couple of key additions in Deni Avdija and draft pick Donovan Clingan, joining existing veterans Jerami Grant and DeAndre Ayton.

Billups, in his third season with the team, has been tasked with developing the youngsters — and getting them to play together.

“We’ve got so many guys contributing and playing well, no longer do guys think about who is getting it done, it’s `Let’s make sure it gets done.’ Nobody’s really caring about who’s scoring the most, who’s closing the game, who’s starting. Nobody’s worried about that. Whatever we say we’re trying to do, let’s just try our best to do it.”

The turning point was a meeting in late December.

“Coach asked us, one by one, if each of us is able to be held accountable. And we all said yes, and from then on, it’s been like that, we’ve been playing together, playing well, and sharing the ball,” Henderson said.

There’s still a good chunk of the season left, and Portland’s current surge in all probability won’t continue. But that hasn’t dampened guarded hopes that the Blazers could end a three-season playoff drought.

Last year, Portland lost 15 of their last 17 games and turned toward the NBA draft lottery.

General manager Joe Cronin didn’t make any moves at the trade deadline Thursday, but he said the winning streak had nothing to do with it. He said no potential trades made sense in the big picture.

Cronin was also asked if it would be fair to the team to set a goal of making the playoffs.

“I think it’d be unfair to take it away from them,” he said. “I’m so proud and so excited about these guys that the sky’s the limit, like `Go guys, go win. Let’s see what you can do.’ And I’m here to support it.”

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