Team can’t just pick up where it left off last season
PORTLAND — Portland Trail Blazers guard Brandon Roy searched for an answer.
The Blazers had just fallen to the Atlanta Hawks, 97-91, and Roy was forced to field a volley of questions late Tuesday night about what was troubling his team as it slogged through an early-season slump.
For the first few queries, Roy responded that Portland simply needed to stick together, make plays down the stretch, and take more pride in its work.
But then the Blazers’ all-star guard hit on a different response. And it perfectly echoed a statement made just minutes earlier by Portland coach Nate McMillan.
“I think what we didn’t expect was that we were going to have to do it all over again. I think we thought we were going to pick up where we left off. And that’s not the NBA,” Roy said. “It’s new to me, and I’m sure that it’s new to a lot of these guys in here. … And I don’t think we fully grasped that fact.”
The transition from being a young team on the rise to a proven squad that commands respect has initially proven to be a rough road for the Blazers (2-3).
And while several key members of Portland’s talented team cautioned that the season is still young, Roy and McMillan also pointed out that falling behind and being momentarily out of step in an ever-changing league can quickly hurt teams that have one eye on a playoff spot and another on a championship title.
“Last year’s gone. It’s a new year,” McMillan said. “Not that teams are going to lay down or anything like that. It’s just the NBA. It’s gotten better; teams have gotten better. And we’ve got to be hungry, and you’ve got to want it.”
The issue of “wanting it” has been a major focus point thus far.
McMillan attributed Tuesday’s loss to the Hawks to his team once again being outworked, outscrapped and outhustled. Statistics backed him up — the Blazers trailed a smaller, less forceful Atlanta team in fast-break and second-chance points, as well as rebounds, free-throw attempts and points in the paint.
Considering that McMillan has been asking for more scrap and hustle from his squad since the start of the preseason, though, questions arose for the first time Tuesday night about Portland’s player rotation and starting unit.
Starting center Greg Oden had more fouls (five) than made field goals (four) — the fifth straight game he has recorded such a stat.
Starting point guard Steve Blake was 2 for 10 from the field, only adding to his rough start. Blake is shooting 34.4 percent (11 of 32) from the field, and his 6.4 points-per-game average is considerably less than the career high of 11.0 he posted last season.
Meanwhile, reserves Rudy Fernandez and Andre Miller combined to shoot 2 for 11, representing a second unit that has mixed hot streaks with droughts, blown leads and obvious confusion.
McMillan, though, asserted that any offensive struggles are secondary to the Blazers’ inability to play 48 minutes of consistent defense.
“Regardless of when you go in the game, you’ve got to defend,” he said.
That issue was in full view Tuesday.
Portland initially shut down the Hawks, limiting an Atlanta team that came into the contest averaging 110 points per game to just 15 first-quarter points. However, the Blazers proceeded to give up at least 25 points in the following three quarters, and they were outscored 82-66 by the Hawks during the stretch.
Factor in that Portland is still adjusting to the unexpected loss of forward Nicolas Batum — who started 76 games last season but is now out at least five months following shoulder surgery — and the Blazers’ realization that the path to success this season will not follow the same road as last year has begun to sink in.
“It’s a process. It’ll take time,” Blake said. “As the season goes on, we’ll figure out what’s working for us to win games.”
