As the Portland Trail Blazers processed the surprising reality of their Monday night flop against the Los Angeles Lakers, they took turns in the postgame locker room hopping on the grenade.
Veteran guard Jrue Holiday said the 123-115 defeat was his fault because he shot poorly, committed a couple costly turnovers and didn’t bring enough energy.
“I know I played a terrible game,” Holiday said.
Center Donovan Clingan, meanwhile, blamed himself, saying he let too many rebounds slip out of his grasp and didn’t defend his old mentor, Deandre Ayton, well enough.
“I just feel I wasn’t ready to go,” Clingan said.
But, in reality, the Blazers (4-3) suffered a surprising loss because they could not overwhelm a shorthanded team with their trademark defensive will. And part of the reason why — perhaps a large part why — was that Monday marked the first time Portland played without both Matisse Thybulle and Blake Wesley, the menacing and relentless defensive bench sparkplugs who have embodied the team’s identity.
The Blazers’ early-season success has been defined by their imposing defense, their baseline-to-baseline pressure, their all-out effort, their speedy pace of play and their depth.
Wesley and Thybulle have quietly been important components to it all.
Are they the Blazers’ best players? No. Are they the Blazers’ highest-paid players? Hardly. Are they the Blazers’ leading scorers? As if.
But their full-court defensive intensity and full-throttle playing styles have become invaluable parts of Portland’s DNA. Interim coach Tiago Splitter said the Lakers “played harder than us” and the Blazers “were not as aggressive” as they have been and Monday was “one of those nights that we could not dominate with our defense.”
Well, yeah, Wesley, who fractured his right foot Friday, wasn’t around to hound opposing point guards for 94 feet. And Thybulle, who had surgery on his left thumb over the weekend, wasn’t around to wreck game plans and wreak havoc on the perimeter.
There was a noticeable lack of pizzazz in the Blazers’ pace and defensive intensity against the Lakers (6-2), who shot 59% from the field, accumulated 64 points in the paint and bludgeoned the Blazers with midrange jumpers. Ayton punished his former team with 29 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks, Rui Hachimura scored 28 points, and two-way guard Nick Smith Jr. looked like an All-Star, torching the Blazers for 25 points and six assists, while making 10 of 15 shots, including 5 of 6 three-pointers.
The Blazers applied decent pressure in the first half, forcing 11 turnovers and scoring 18 fast-break points. But it fizzled away after halftime, when the Lakers navigated Portland’s press with relative ease.
All the while, it was clear the Blazers could have used a dose of Wesley’s bulldog tenacity.
“He was, most of the games, the spark of our defense and our offense, just the way he plays,” Splitter said before the game. “He brings energy and it’s contagious. I told the guys, ‘We cannot wait for Blake now to come in and just fire everything. Everybody’s got to be better and bring it.’”
That didn’t happen.
But, the Blazers say, that won’t be the new normal.
If Monday’s game was the first test as they navigate the next phase without their injured sparkplugs, it was only that — a first test. It’s easier to replace role players than standouts, even on a team that plays a 10-man rotation and attacks opponents in waves, and the Blazers’ building blocks remain healthy and productive.
“Next man up,” Holiday said. “And that’s the mentality. Everybody here kind of knows what our deal is and it’s defense. So we’ve got to be able to come and hound teams and make it difficult for them.”
So after the Blazers dropped a head-scratcher to a shorthanded Lakers team playing without six players, including All-Stars Luka Doncic and LeBron James, they weren’t making excuses.
Clingan blamed himself.
Holiday said he was terrible.
Both pledged not to make it a habit.
“Obviously it hurts not having (Blake and Thybulle), but we’ve still got to be ready to go,” Clingan said. “We’ve still got to go out there and pressure and do what we do to win the games that we’ve won. It hurts not having them, but we’ll be all right.”
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