The Trail Blazers have decided to shut Brandon Roy down for at least three games — again — as the All-Star guard continues to endure pain in his balky left knee.

Roy, who has failed to reach double figures in scoring in four of the last five games, has rarely resembled the All-Star player that Blazers fans have grown accustomed to and he looked like a shell of his former self during the Blazers’ 103-98 loss to the Dallas Mavericks Wednesday night.

As much as at any time this season, Roy lacked explosiveness and athleticism and finished with just four points. In a down-to-the-wire fourth quarter, Roy played just 4:42. So when the Blazers returned to Portland, Roy met with coach Nate McMillan, the Blazers’ training staff and general manager Rich Cho, and the group decided sitting out the Blazers’ upcoming three-game home stand was the best course of action for Roy.

“I think at times the guys were watching me and wondering, ‘OK, is this Brandon time or not?’” Roy said, when asked if his play had been hurting the team. “And just not being able to fully engage in some moments out there against Dallas made me decide, ‘Hey, I think this is something I need to maybe rest up a little bit.’ Because I didn’t feel like I was helping the team.”

Roy said he is not experiencing any different or new pain in the miniscus-free knee that has caused him trouble all season. But he has had some swelling and stiffness, in part he says, because the Blazers have played so many games lately.

They’ve played nine games in 15 days this month and just finished playing five games in seven days.

Even so, this is not the first time the Blazers have shut Roy down for an extended stretch. In November, after he hobbled off the court in a game at New Orleans, Roy missed three games when the Blazers sat him for roughly two weeks. A month later, here we are again.

“It’s tough,” McMillan said. “He’s dealing with trying to be productive and having a sore knee at the same time. He’s had some tough times with that. Just after looking at him the last few games and seeing how he felt during that time, the thought was, ‘Give him time off, allow that thing to calm down and look at him in another week or so.’”

The Blazers plan to reevaluate Roy’s knee after the Blazers’ three-game home stand, which starts tonight against the Minnesota Timberwolves and concludes Monday against the Milwaukee Bucks. It’s possible he will miss more than just the three-game stretch. And when he does return, it could be with a different role.

Roy and McMillan will talk next week about the best way to use Roy, whether he should play in back-to-backs and whether he should return to playing under minute restrictions.

It’s yet another ominous sign for the Blazers’ All-Star, who has seen his once-promising career suddenly derailed.

“I think, individually, I just want to get out there and play and be confident in myself and that’s tough,” Roy said. “I’m human. I think as positive as a person as a I am, even I get a little frustrated with things. For me, it’s hard. I want to play, I still feel like I’m capable and I’m just trying to get through this. I was talking to Coach, he told me some of the stories that he had to go through. It’s just something that you have to go through, but you have to be patient.

“So my biggest thing is telling myself, ‘Brandon, be patient.’ I don’t think I’ve been very patient with any injuries. I’ve tried to rush back and get back and a lot of it is I feel guilty. I want to be out there with my teammates. But right now, the best situation for me is to rest and I can’t be what I want to be for them if I’m rushing back or if I play in games that I’m not fully healthy. So I just have to be confident that this is the best thing for me.”

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