HOUSTON — When the 20-minute postgame cooling-off period ended Friday night and the doors to the Portland Trail Blazers’ locker room at Toyota Center were scheduled to swing open, a curious thing happened.
The doors remained closed.
After enduring their first blowout defeat of the season — a 140-116 beatdown at the hands of the red-hot Houston Rockets — the Blazers decided it was time to gather for a quick players-only chat.
“Sometimes,” Deni Avdija said, “we’ve got to talk with each other. We’re like family here. And families have to say what’s on their mind.”
Besides, there was plenty to talk about. The Blazers (6-6) were bludgeoned by Houston, which outplayed, outworked and outclassed them in every way imaginable before a sellout crowd of 18,055. For the first time all season, interim coach Tiago Splitter said, a Blazers opponent played harder and “outcompeted” them.
The lopsided final score and accompanying lopsided statistics painted much of the messy picture Friday, when Kevin Durant (30 points, five rebounds), Alperen Sengun (25 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists) and Jabari Smith Jr. (22 points, five rebounds) took turns punishing Portland.
The fast-paced Blazers offense was stuck in neutral, managing a measly nine fast-break points and coughing up 20 turnovers — which led to a whopping 30 Houston points. And the Blazers’ usually stout defense was perhaps even worse, allowing Houston to corral 20 offensive rebounds, shoot 50% from the field, sprint away with 23 fast-break points and build a lead as large as 30 points.
But the meeting was less about the grim statistics and more about the odd vibes.
For the first time this season, the Blazers say, something was off.
“This is the first game where we’ve just really got our (butt) whipped,” Blazers point guard Jrue Holiday said. “Today, a part of us didn’t have a rhythm. And I think that felt weird. I think that was the first time that we actually felt that. And to not have that, I think we just wanted to talk about that.”
Jerami Grant organically started the meeting, Holiday said, but multiple players chimed in, including Toumani Camara, Sidy Cissoko and Caleb Love. The messages varied depending on the speaker, but one thing was unanimous: Now is not the time to fragment.
“It’s a long season — stick together,” Camara said, when asked to detail his message. “Understand what we’re doing wrong, what we’re doing right. Keep talking to each other. I feel like it’s such a long season, you can start drowning if you’re doing good or bad. It’s good to sometimes take time and talk within the team when everybody’s here. Everybody’s growing here, everybody’s got their own life going on. So when we’re off the court, everybody can go their separate ways and talk to their own people about a situation that involves everybody in this locker room.
“So it’s important to take the time and realize that we all think the same way and we can play way better than what we’ve been showing lately.”
The loss was the third in the last four games — and fourth in the last six — for a rebuilding team that is still learning how to win. The Blazers have been a pleasant early-season surprise, earning impressive victories over the likes of Golden State, Denver and Oklahoma City. They pushed Minnesota to the edge of defeat. They suffered close losses to Miami and Orlando on this trip.
Before Friday’s flop, Portland had not endured a double-digit defeat.
So Grant thought it was a good time to chat, just to make sure one forgettable performance doesn’t snowball into something bigger.
“We just wanted to discuss what we need to do better,” Grant said. “Obviously, it’s a really good team we played tonight, so it’s not an overreaction or anything like that. But we just wanted to come together and get on the same page so we don’t let games slip and let this become something bigger.”
The Blazers’ defense hasn’t been as relentless and suffocating as it had been, Grant said, noting that he and his teammates were “backing off a little bit.” And on offense, he added, the Blazers have been committing too many turnovers and settling for too many poor shots.
“Like I said, it was nothing too serious,” Grant said of the postgame meeting. “We’re not overreacting. But when you get your first 20-point loss, you want to make sure that everybody is on the same page going forward.”
There were plenty of built-in excuses for Friday’s face plant. The Blazers are playing without three injured rotation players, including multiple ball-handlers. The poor performance came near the end of a five-game, 11-day trip that has spanned multiple time zones. Houston (8-3), which won for the eighth time in the last nine games, is not only one of the best teams in the Western Conference, but also one of the hottest.
Once the doors finally opened, multiple players pointed out that the Blazers may be battling a touch of fatigue.
But the message in that players-only meeting didn’t focus on any of that.
It focused on staying together, rebuilding the DNA that fostered those wins over the likes of Denver and Oklahoma City, and shedding its new bad habits.
“Nobody’s down,” Camara said. “We’re very positive on the season. I think we’ve been doing a lot of great things. It’s just about staying together. I think we’re going to be fine if we stick to the game plan and believe in each other.”
How would Grant know if the talk was fruitful?
What does he want to see Monday, when the Blazers end their five-game trip with a visit to Dallas?
“A win,” he said, smiling. “No matter how it comes.”
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.