Damian Lillard said the Portland Trail Blazers are in a good place after opening 6-3, even with back-to-back losses behind them. The team returned to work Monday with a longer film session and practice, then moved on to two games against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
That matters now because Portland entered the week after losing to the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday and the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday, the first time this season it had dropped consecutive games. Lillard said the group is happy to be going through this at 6-3 instead of 2-7, and that the early record leaves room to correct mistakes without panic.
He said the film session focused heavily on turnovers and rebounding, while Micah Nori said the point was to get back to where the team wants to be, especially defensively. The session lasted about 35 to 40 minutes, much longer than Portland’s usual 15 to 20 minutes, a sign that the staff wanted more than a quick review before the next stretch of games.
The Blazers have reasons to treat those losses as a fixable problem rather than a crisis. Through nine games they were 6-3 overall and 5-1 on the road, a start that has given them a cushion while still exposing things that need cleaning up.
That is where the friction sits. Portland was pleased enough with the start to stay calm, but the two losses showed issues with physicality, turnovers and rebounding that could not be waved away. Lillard put it plainly: the film does not lie, and after those games the team had to watch the mistakes, address them and make corrections on the court.
The next test came quickly. The Portland Trail Blazers played OKC on Tuesday at the Moda Center at 8 p.m. PST and were scheduled to face the same opponent again Wednesday night at 7 p.m. PST. Whatever changed in Monday’s long session would show up fast, because there was no time to sit on the answers.
