The Blazers aren’t necessarily worried about free fall
Damian Lillard could score 50 points, but the Blazers lost at home to the Cavaliers, who could rely on the trio of Darius Garland – Donovan Mitchell – Jarrett Allen for more than 20 points.
It was Portland’s 5th straight loss and 9th in their last 11 games overall. A month ago, the Oregon club was still well established in the Top 6 of the Western Conference (17 wins – 13 losses). He is now out of the top 10 and the current team dynamic is a concern.
“It’s hard to tell if it’s good for those who aren’t in the locker room.” Damian Lillard explained after the meeting. “But we are the ones in place. And that’s how we should see things. »
Chauncey Billups was on the same wavelength as the “franchise player” of his team “too close”. It is very close to rediscovering the taste of victory and positive dynamics in general.
“We are trying to get to the playoffs and be dangerous”
“We expected to be in better shape than we were”the leader acknowledged the same. “I look at the situation and I think to myself that we are not playing our best basketball and we are letting games slip away. But the upside is that many teams are letting plays slip away. One win, one loss, two losses. We are still in the race. If we take advantage of some of those chances, it’s disgusting that we’re giving up chances when we could be 24-17 and we’re looking at these teams and saying we’re losing. We’ve had positive experiences halfway through and now we’re in a tough spot. »
Granted, with a record of 19 wins to 22 losses, the Blazers aren’t too far from the Top 6 with the Clippers (22 wins – 21 losses) barely balancing.
It’s time for Damian Lillard to show what the team has in its belly.
“That tough time in the season, that tough time on the team, you really see who you really are and what you’re made of. Who will dig? Who will keep the same energy? It’s season time for us. Half way means there’s plenty of time left. We have an opportunity to grow and a lot of games to play at home. We played a difficult part of the schedule. On closer inspection, I think we could be in a better position, but we have a few opportunities ahead of us. I am optimistic about how we can move forward. »
The Blazers are still rebuilding, and when Chauncey Billups was asked what his team’s goal was, the coach clearly wasn’t talking about a title.
“We are trying to get to the playoffs and be dangerous” he concludes.
| Shots | It bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Turn off | Def | Early | p.d | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Damian Lillard | 28 | 35.7 | 43.6 | 35.8 | 88.0 | 0.6 | 3.3 | 4.0 | 7.1 | 3.4 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 1.9 | 27.4 |
| Anfernee Simons | 38 | 36.2 | 43.8 | 37.5 | 89.7 | 0.3 | 2.6 | 2.9 | 4.0 | 2.3 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 2.4 | 22.2 |
| Jeremy Grant | 38 | 36.0 | 48.6 | 42.3 | 79.7 | 1.1 | 3.3 | 4.4 | 2.6 | 1.8 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 2.3 | 21.9 |
| Yusuf Nurkic | 35 | 28.7 | 52.8 | 40.0 | 67.5 | 2.6 | 7.5 | 10.1 | 2.9 | 2.6 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 3.7 | 14.5 |
| Josh Hart | 38 | 34.6 | 51.5 | 35.1 | 75.6 | 2.1 | 6.4 | 8.4 | 4.2 | 1.7 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 2.7 | 9.8 |
| Shaedon Sharpe | 39 | 19.4 | 47.5 | 35.8 | 61.1 | 0.8 | 1.7 | 2.5 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 1.6 | 7.6 |
| Justise Winslow | 29 | 26.8 | 40.9 | 31.1 | 71.4 | 1.7 | 3.3 | 5.0 | 3.4 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 3.1 | 6.8 |
| Drew Eubanks | 38 | 18.3 | 74.0 | 66.7 | 66.7 | 1.4 | 2.9 | 4.3 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 2.1 | 5.7 |
| Nasser Little | 21 | 15.3 | 47.3 | 37.2 | 66.7 | 0.3 | 2.0 | 2.4 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 5.5 |
| Trendon Watford | 28 | 16.6 | 54.8 | 34.8 | 77.3 | 0.7 | 3.1 | 3.8 | 1.6 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.9 | 5.1 |
| Keon Johnson | 20 | 12.2 | 36.8 | 33.3 | 38.5 | 0.4 | 1.4 | 1.7 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 5.0 |
| Gary Payton II | 2 | 14.4 | 80.0 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 2.0 | 1.5 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 4.5 |
| Jabari Walker | 24 | 8.9 | 42.9 | 25.0 | 64.3 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 2.3 |
| Greg Brown III | 11 | 6.6 | 42.9 | 16.7 | 41.7 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 2.2 |
| John Butler | 4 | 3.9 | 33.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.5 |
