At this point, it’s fair to ask whether the Portland Trail Blazers even want to reach the postseason?
Their performance Sunday during a 127-110 loss at the New Orleans Pelicans, when the Blazers trailed by as many as 39 points, more closely resembled that of a team ready to book offseason trips to a tropical resort rather than that of a squad grinding to reach the play-in round in hopes of reaching the playoffs.
The Blazers had every incentive to play Sunday as if it were a playoff game. The fallout from the loss left the Blazers in 13th place in the Western Conference, two games behind New Orleans and three other teams who are all tied for ninth. The Pelicans were without two All-Stars and had played Saturday night. Yet it was the Blazers who looked unrested and uninterested, as if they didn’t need the victory when they very much did.
“It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me either, knowing how pivotal this game is,” Blazers coach Chauncey Billups said. “That team was very short-handed. That team was playing on the back-to-back. That team was very desperate.”
But less so than Portland. The Pelicans, again, are tied for ninth. The Blazers are in 13th, meaning they must find a way to outperform three teams the rest of the way if they hope to reach 10th place and a berth in the play-in. Instead, they were chopped up by a team that had lost eight of its previous 11 games.
Legitimate excuses did exist.
It was the end of a six-game trip for the Blazers. Anfernee Simons returned Friday at Philadelphia and Jusuf Nurkic returned Wednesday at Boston following lengthy absences. Neither has played much with Matisse Thybulle and Cam Reddish, both acquired at the trade deadline. Those two are still learning the system and their teammates. Also, Damian Lillard sat with calf tightness.
But most those things were also true at the 76ers where the Blazers looked tremendous for 43 minutes before blowing a 13-point lead and losing 120-119.
Had the Blazers given that same effort on Sunday – even without Lillard -the game at the very least would have been much closer.
“If we lose this game, it should have been a nail-biter, in my opinion,” Billups said.
Instead, it was virtually over before it began. Simons, who had 34 points at the 76ers, managed just 17. Jerami Grant scored seven. Nurkic went scoreless. Combined, they average 55.5 points per game.
Nassir Little said the final game of a long trip can be difficult mentally.
“It is hard but you have to bring that extra level of focus to get yourself through it,” Little said. “Everybody in the NBA goes through a long road with one more game and you get back home.”
But teams with something to lose must work past that to focus at the task at hand.
“At the end of the day, it’s our job to come here and be ready to compete and we got to do a better job,” Little said.
There could have been a hangover from losing the way they did at Philadelphia. Joel Embiid hit the game-winner with 1.1 seconds remaing to complete a 13-point comeback that began with just under six minutes remaining.
But Billups didn’t want to go there.
“I’m not one for excuses. I don’t do that,” he said. “But I’m also realistic and I’ve played this game for a long time. And it’s very natural when you have a heartbreak like that, to have some carryover. But as the coach, as the leader, it’s my job to try to fight against that. That’s all I’ve been talking about for two days. But it just didn’t work. I have to take responsibility and we all do.”
But this isn’t December. The Blazers have no more time remaining to feel sorry for themselves. Plus, a win over the Pelicans would have meant more than a win at Philadelphia.
Losing at the 76ers (45-22) and at Boston (47-21) made sense. They are far superior to the Blazers. But getting blown out by the Pelicans minus Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram, hurts more because they are a direct competitor with the Blazers in a situation where tie-breakers could become a factor.
Now, the Blazers trail the season series with the Pelicans, 2-1. A victory would have given the Blazers a chance to claim the tie-breaker with a win at home on March 27.
The Blazers needed someone to step up to replace the void left by Lillard’s absence. Nobody came close.
The Pelicans, on the other hand, didn’t miss Ingram at all. In fact, it was like he was there disguised as Trey Murphy III. He entered the averaging 12.9 points per game. He went out and dumped a career-high 39 on the Blazers while making 9 of 14 threes. Most of them wide open.
The lack of interest in making life more difficult for Murphy befuddled Billups.
“Obviously, the young kid, Trey Murphy, had a night going,” Billups said. “Guys are going to have a night. But we didn’t challenge that kid enough. We didn’t foul him one time. We didn’t foul him trying to be aggressive on a play. We just didn’t compete hard enough.”
Murphy did actually shoot six free throws. But the point was clear. And it’s a situation Billups wasn’t used to as a player during his prime years in Detroit.
Billups recalled when his Pistons in 2007 faced LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals. In Game 5, James scored 29 of his team’s final 30 points in regulation and two overtimes to lead his team to a 109-107 victory.
We tried as hard as we possibly could and he was just that great,” Billups said of.
James finished with 48 points in that game and the Cavaliers closed out the series in Game 6 to advance to their first NBA finals.
His team on Sunday, Billups said, did nothing to make life at least a little difficult for Murphy or his teammates.
“We didn’t try as hard as we possibly could against these guys,” Billups said. “And that’s a problem for me. That burns me up. That eats at me. And obviously, that becomes a reflection of all of us. Me as the coach and all the players. So, it’s something that we got to kind of deal with but this never sits well with me. That’s for sure.”
Maybe this team simply isn’t capable. Lillard stressed urgency to his team coming out of the All-Star break. The Blazers are 3-7 since with the three wins coming against Houston (15-52), Orlando (28-40) and Detroit (15-53), three of the worst teams in the NBA.
That’s bad news because the Blazers face one of the toughest remaining schedules in the NBA. They return home Tuesday to play eight of nine at the Moda Center. But site might not matter much.
The Blazers start off with New York (39-30), Boston again, the LA Clippers (36-33). Down the line they face Sacramento (40-26) twice in three days.
Keep in mind that the Blazers have not defeated a team with a winning record since Feb. 8 against Golden State.
They might need to win at least three of those five plus take care of business at home against Utah, the Pelicans and Oklahoma City to have a chance at competing for 10th place.
How are they going to do that when they couldn’t handle the shorthanded Pelicans on no rest?
“We can’t be looking for help,” Billups said. “We gotta be a willing participant in our own rescue. So, we got to play better basketball to give ourselves a chance.”
Little, for one, said he still cares and wants to reach the postseason.
“I can’t speak for everybody but I know for myself, I still believe in us,” he said. “I know that I’m going to hold myself accountable and give what I can every night.”
The margin for error continues to shrink for the Blazers.
“This thing has been very important for a long time,” Billups said. “We just got to be better about having urgency. We don’t have enough urgency and obviously I gotta be better about teaching it and coaching it.”
In all honesty, the coach shouldn’t even need to ask at this point. Either his team has it, or they don’t.
— Aaron Fentress | afentress@Oregonian.com | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook). Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts
