The Portland Trail Blazers are coming off their first consecutive defeats of the NBA season, losing in a barnburner to the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday and in a blowout to the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday. Despite the tough 48-hour stretch, the team is still off to a strong 6-3 start (5-1 on the road) and pleased with the early-season foundation they’ve established.
“It just shows that as good as we’ve been to start the season, we can get a lot better,” Blazers star Damian Lillard told reporters
Monday. “I think where we are, everybody is happy to be experiencing this and trying to figure out how we keep improving, being 6-3 instead of 2-7. So, it’s a good place to be.”
Looking to build off that strong foundation and get back in the win column, the Blazers hit the practice floor and the film room in Tualatin on Monday ahead of a tough back-to-back test against the Oklahoma City Thunder and another looming road trip.
Below are some key takeaways from Monday’s after-practice media availability session, which included interviews with Lillard and head coach Micah Nori.
Studying the Film
Following Portland’s largest defeat of the young season, Lillard said the team responded great at practice on Monday, noting that starts with having a “direct” head coach like Micah Nori. As part of that directness, Nori began Monday’s practice with a 35-to-40-minute film-room session, as opposed to the team’s typical sessions that last about 15 to 20 minutes.
“[The film session] was about getting back to where we want to be and who we need to be, especially at the defensive end,” Nori said. “I wouldn’t say there’s slippage, but just with the physicality and imposing our will a bit more and showing them the difference of when we do that and when we don’t do that.”
“The film doesn’t lie,” added Lillard, who said the session also focused heavily on turnovers and rebounding. “When you have two games like we had with the Lakers and the Spurs, you gotta correct yourself. You gotta watch the film and see what mistakes we made to just see what the truth is. And that’s what we did. We addressed it. We got on the court and made our corrections.”
While the film session included lots of constructive criticism after the recent losses, Nori’s assessment of the team’s early-season start was still similar to the one Lillard gave up top: The Blazers have put themselves in a good position through the season’s first three weeks.
“[The film session] was good,” Nori said. “It was a lot of conversations, a lot of good stuff. And like I told them, these conversations are much better to have when you’re 6-3 as opposed to 3-6 and pushing the panic button. So, to their credit, they’ve found a way to win 6 of their first 9.”
The Blazers face the Thunder on Tuesday at the Moda Center at 8 p.m. PST. Then, Portland faces OKC at home again on Wednesday night, with tipoff scheduled for 7 p.m. PST.
You can watch the full interviews from Monday’s practice below:
