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The Portland Trail Blazers have lost five of six games, and seven of their last 10, behind overall poor defense. But according to Jason Quick of the Athletic, the Blazers aren’t panicking yet.
In his latest piece, Quick talks to point guard Damian LIllard about his history of speaking up when necessary, but Lillard says it’s not needed at this point:
By now, he can sense when a team is drifting, when a team is hurting, or when a team needs his attention.
What he saw, heard and read on Sunday didn’t register on his radar of concern. To Lillard, there was no need to address, confront or discuss anything as a team.
“Usually, when I need to do that is when I feel the environment has changed,” Lillard said. “And like … the environment hasn’t changed. Our energy and everything with each other is still the same.”
The team might be handling their struggles in stride, but a growing amount of conversation over the last 10 days is whether or not this team is actually any better than last season:
The mental challenge now might rest in the Blazers’ faithful, whose patience is surely being tested. Hearing that the players are not pointing fingers or whispering behind each other’s backs might make the team more likable, but it is doing little to reassure that the harsh lessons of the New Orleans sweep are being addressed, or applied.
In the rest of his piece, Quick has additional quotes from Lillard, CJ McCollum, and Maurice Harkless about what exactly is going on with this team right now. Click through to read the entire article.