Blazers will cope without McCollum

Damian Lillard is just going to assume that the Trail Blazers won’t have backcourt teammate CJ McCollum through the rest of the regular season so that they can respond to his absence effectively.

McCollum, who is averaging more than 21 points a game, has a strained left knee. He’ll be re-evaluated next week, but at this point there’s no timetable for his return.

The injury comes at an inopportune time for the Blazers, who sit in fourth in the tight Western Conference standings with 12 games left to secure homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

“Mentally, I don’t want him to have to rush it,” Lillard said about McCollum’s return. “When he does come back I want him to be himself and be healthy, so in my mind, we’re going to finish the regular season without him, maybe the last couple of games of the regular season. I think that’s how I should think of it, knowing that we have to have a great effort for these last 12 games, planning on not having him out there.”

While the team hasn’t collectively spoken about that possibility, McCollum said Monday night that he wasn’t going to hurry back.

“I think my goal is just to come back when I’m healthy. Obviously, you don’t want to miss games. This is the seventh game I’ve missed in four years, two of them were rest and one of them was being left off the roster,” he said. “So I don’t like to miss games, but I’ve got to do what’s best for myself from a health standpoint, and doctors will sign off when they think I’m ready.”