The Trail Blazers departed Portland International Airport last week sporting positive mojo, improving health and the status as one of the hottest teams in the NBA.
Oh, what a difference a week makes.
The Blazers ended a forgettable three-game East Coast trip with a humbling 127-97 defeat to the New York Knicks Friday night at Madison Square Garden.
It was the Blazers’ most lopsided loss of the season and it sent them staggering back to Portland in a funk, riding a four-game losing streak punctuated by a discouraging 0-3 trip through Boston, Washington D.C. and New York.
During a postgame chat that lasted less than three minutes, Blazers acting coach Tiago Splitter told reporters in New York that he was disappointed with the Blazers’ turnovers, body language after the turnovers, lack of focus and general sloppiness.
“We’ve got to get better,” Splitter told reporters. “We’ve got to shake that off, watch film, get better and play the game with more force and more purpose and more focus.”
The Knicks pounced on another shaky Portland first quarter by snatching an early 15-point edge and pretty much cruised the rest of the night, pushing the lead to as many as 33 points in the fourth. Along the way, the Blazers coughed up 20 turnovers, allowed 50 points in the paint, shot 43% from the field, including 30% from three-point range, and never held the lead.
Jalen Brunson scored 26 points and ran circles around the Blazers, OG Anunoby recorded 24 points and six rebounds, and Josh Hart added 20 points, six rebounds and five assists for the Knicks (30-18), who won their fifth consecutive game to bolster their second-place standing in the Eastern Conference.
“They just were way better than us,” Splitter told reporters. “Attacking the rim, shooting the ball, rebounding. Everything.”
And the Blazers? Shaedon Sharpe scored 26 points in 28 minutes, Sidy Cissoko added 15 points on 5-for-5 shooting off the bench and that was about it.
Toumani Camara was held scoreless for the first time this season and just the ninth time in 197 career games. Jrue Holiday missed his first five shots and finished with five points and four assists. Caleb Love scored 15 points, but made just 2 of 10 three-pointers.
And Deni Avdija endured perhaps his worst game in an All-Star-worthy season, making just 4 of 14 shots, including 1 of 6 three, on the way to a season-low 11 points. He finished with more turnovers (four) than assists (three).
Avdija, who had missed five of the previous eight games with a lower back strain, didn’t look close to 100% and Splitter said afterward that he and Blazers trainers would have to huddle with the team’s star to “figure out what’s going on.”
“I don’t know if it’s mental,” Splitter told reporters. “Physically, he’s not 100%. He’s not driving with the same force.”
The same could be said about the Blazers on their East Coast trip. Portland opened with a loss at the Celtics during which it made just four of its first 22 shots, never led and trailed by as many as 23 points. The Blazers followed with a loss to a Wizards team that owned a nine-game losing streak and the worst record in the NBA. Then the Knicks ended the three-game no-show with a beatdown in front of Spike Lee, Timothée Chalamet and a star-studded crowd of 19,812.
After opening January with an NBA-best 9-2 record and seemingly building midseason momentum for a second-half surge, the Blazers (23-26) haven’t won since, closing the month with a 9-6 mark that has sent them staggering back to Portland.
“Not very good,” Splitter told reporters, when asked to describe the trip. “Not very good. We know that. We know that we are way better than what we presented these last games. Like I said, we’re going to go home, figure it out.”
Next up: The Blazers host the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday at 6 p.m. at Moda Center.