In the Eye of Chaos, Trail Blazers Play—And Win—A Normal Basketball Game
The Blazers blew out the Warriors one day after head coach Chauncey Billups' shocking arrest.
📍PORTLAND, Ore. — Well, that was...shockingly uneventful.
The Trail Blazers played their second game of the season on Friday, cruising to a 139-119 win over the Golden State Warriors. Everything positive from their season-opening loss to Minnesota, from the swarming defense to the pace and ball movement on offense, carried over, and this time they didn't give away the game with a shooting dry spell in the fourth quarter.
Everyone, from the players to the coaching staff, felt like the Blazers played well enough to win on Wednesday and felt as encouraged as anyone could by a loss. On Friday, they played just as well, and this time they did win, doing a lot to suggest that their new identity isn't a fluke.
If it weren't for the fact that it was Tiago Splitter and not Chauncey Billups roaming the sideline as head coach, you wouldn't know that anything unusual had happened in the 48 hours between the two games. The Blazers sure didn't play like a team weighed down by being at the center of the biggest scandal in the sports world at the moment.
About that...
