The huge spankings, among the worst in franchise historyChauncey Billups starts collecting them with the Blazers. Last night, the Grizzlies were in Portland, without their leader Ja Morant and two of their best players, Desmond Bane and Marcus Smart.
However, they left Oregon with a victory… of 45 points (89-134) in their bags. “ It was embarrassing… We were soft as is not allowed the whole match. Nobody really fought. It was embarrassing for everyone. It's not us. Really not. There's no excuse for that “, Billups lets loose at a press conference.
Accustomed, in front of journalists, to trying to find something positive despite the poor performances of his players, this time, he did not succeed. “ There are a lot of difficult nights in this championship, obviously, but I don't care. It wasn't even that. It's like our guys came because they had to be there, but they didn't want to play or work. And it's embarrassing », he said again.
Embarrassing yes, to only have one starter capable of evolving in his statistical standards (Jerami Grant, 20 points) while the others were sinking. Embarrassing to only shoot with a 34% success rate, and above all to convert only 4 winning baskets out of 42 attempts. Also embarrassing is this lack of permanent commitment.
Several 60-point losses last year
Like this action approaching the break where Dalano Banton's missed pass generated a 3… against 0 situation on the counter-attack for the visitors. Scotty Pippen Jr. could then have fun finding Jake LaRavia after a pass between the legs. “ I'm obviously not going to share what I would have done (as player) in such a situation… », comments Billups.
The latter, in order not to be nuanced, prefers not to “ pin one or two guys, they've all been terrible “. He barely “ appreciated the efforts » at the end of the match from Dalano Banton in particular (13 points but 4/18 on shots). Even if ” overall everyone was rubbish “.
The coach does not forget to take his share of responsibility in this 8th setback in 11 games to start the season. “ In the end, I'm the one responsible. I am the leader of this team. It's our team, but I'm the one who leads it. That's why I take this very seriously […], I have to be better. »
Last year, they had already suffered defeats of 60 points against the Heat, and 62 points against the Thunder. This new spanking is added to the others. And the coach hopes that his players realize: “ I told them that anyone who sleeps well tonight is a loser. It's that simple. If you sleep well after this match, you're a loser. »
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Jeremy Grant | 11 | 32.7 | 39.9 | 33.3 | 77.6 | 0.4 | 3.5 | 3.8 | 1.7 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 1.3 | 1.9 | 18.1 |
| Anfernee Simons | 11 | 32.0 | 38.1 | 30.2 | 91.7 | 0.2 | 1.9 | 2.1 | 4.6 | 2.6 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 1.5 | 17.5 |
| Deandre Ayton | 11 | 29.3 | 51.9 | 38.5 | 62.5 | 3.0 | 7.5 | 10.5 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 13.3 |
| Scoot Henderson | 11 | 25.9 | 40.2 | 27.3 | 81.8 | 0.6 | 2.3 | 2.9 | 4.8 | 2.9 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 2.5 | 11.8 |
| Deni Avdija | 11 | 25.5 | 34.8 | 17.1 | 76.3 | 1.4 | 4.3 | 5.6 | 3.0 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 1.7 | 9.0 |
| Shaedon Sharpe | 3 | 20.1 | 40.7 | 7.7 | 60.0 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 2.3 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 8.7 |
| Dalano Banton | 9 | 10.5 | 47.4 | 29.4 | 66.7 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 1.7 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 8.6 |
| Toumani Camara | 11 | 30.0 | 43.6 | 40.0 | 70.6 | 2.3 | 2.6 | 4.9 | 2.0 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 0.4 | 3.1 | 8.5 |
| Robert Williams | 2 | 14.2 | 66.7 | 50.0 | 100.0 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 8.5 |
| Donovan Clingan | 11 | 13.9 | 53.8 | 25.0 | 76.9 | 2.1 | 2.7 | 4.8 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 1.6 | 2.5 | 4.8 |
| Rayan Rupert | 10 | 11.8 | 51.4 | 40.0 | 50.0 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 1.8 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 4.4 |
| Kris Murray | 11 | 13.4 | 43.2 | 40.0 | 40.0 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 2.5 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 4.0 |
| Jabari Walker | 10 | 9.0 | 40.7 | 22.2 | 87.5 | 0.9 | 1.8 | 2.7 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 3.1 |
| Duop Reath | 6 | 3.4 | 25.0 | 22.2 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 1.3 |
