Trail Blazers Face-Plant in Season-Opening Blowout Loss to Warriors
Chauncey Billups called out the team's "lack of focus" after an embarrassing showing to kick off the 2024-25 season.
📍PORTLAND, Ore. — If you were hoping the Trail Blazers in the second year of their rebuild would at least compete and be more fun to watch than last season, you probably loved the first quarter of the 2024-25 season.
It wasn’t the prettiest in shotmaking, but you could see the outline of the identity they’ve talked constantly about wanting to build. They pushed the pace with Deni Avdija initiating a lot of the offense in his Portland debut, the first time they’ve had a wing this good at making plays since Nicolas Batum. Toumani Camara picked up where he left off in preseason and made his presence felt at both ends. Deandre Ayton was solid and Donovan Clingan looked comfortable and protected the paint. They ended the quarter tied with the Warriors at 21.
And then the other three quarters happened.
Over the ensuing 36 minutes, they were outscored by Golden State 118-83. The Warriors made 20 three-pointers while the Blazers attempted 34 (they made eight). Golden State had 17 more rebounds and 17 more assists. Scoot Henderson led all scorers with 22 points off the bench but was a minus-30 in plus-minus. You can list off many more such numbers; none of them make this look good.
“I didn’t think one guy on our team played well in the game,” Chauncey Billups said afterwards, while also calling out the team’s “lack of focus” in ignoring Golden State’s strengths running the fast break.
The coach didn’t stop there.
“Man, it was crazy,” he said. “It felt like we were two steps slow on everything. Defensively, offensively, we just waited to react to everything, and you can’t do that against a team like that. They beat us at every facet of the game. Every loose ball, they were the first team there. Getting down the floor after makes and after misses. Every single facet of the game, they beat us.”
It reminded me of some of the postgame press conferences Billups used to give after games in his first season on the job in 2021-22, when Damian Lillard was fighting through a core injury, other veterans like C.J. McCollum and Robert Covington were tuning him out and a team that entered the season with playoff expectations was getting blown out every night while their general manager was being investigated for workplace conduct. Back in those days, Billups would routinely air players out at the podium for lack of focus and effort. He’s dialed that back in the years since, as he’s adapted to the political side of the coaching game.
That they’re already back here after one game in a season with expectations that were firmly in the lottery to begin with? That’s tough.
I wonder if the strong preseason showing, punctuated by a blowout win over the Utah Jazz, a fellow Capture the Flagg participant, created a false sense of complacency. In the days between the end of the preseason and Wednesday’s dismal season opener, people in the organization that I talked to were largely happy with the way the last three weeks have gone. The talk was that everyone was buying into their roles and the way Billups wanted them to play. They were sharing the ball, competing on the defensive end and refining their individual skills.
In other words, the complete opposite, across the board, of what happened on Wednesday.
“It’s just one game,” Billups said. “If I’m being honest, it’s the first time I can tell you in a month that we had a lack of focus or that a team played harder than us. You always worry about the first game. So much that goes on, so many jitters. It’s not the end of the world, but it does suck.”
Ayton and Avdija also brought up opening-night jitters and nerves. Not that that fully excuses it.
“Not enough, from all of us,” Avdija said. “I can’t talk on behalf of everybody, but for myself, I’ve got to do a better job pressuring the ball and being disruptive on defense. That’s a part of my job, and it wasn’t there tonight. Other than that, I’m not overreacting to this loss. It might look ugly, it might look like we gave up, but we’re not giving up. People forget we’re a very young team, still learning. Games like that, you can learn from.”
Avdija and Billups are right that it’s only one game, the first of 82. If the rest aren’t better than this, it’s going to be a long next six months.
“This isn’t PDX basketball,” Ayton said.
At least the fans in attendance got a Terry Stotts tribute video out of it.
I would have liked to see that Stotts video.
Totally agree about the preseason game mirage against the jazz. My expectations were that we were going to get blown out and my initial read on the game was much more positive then what I’ve seen from other people!