The Portland Trail Blazers on Friday were afforded what has been a rare luxury for them lately. A chance to actually practice.
After playing six games in nine days with four on the road and three travel days, the Blazers took Thursday off and then practiced Friday before hosting Philadelphia on Saturday.
“We just got to talk through some things,” Portland coach Chauncey Billups told reporters. “Clean up some of our offensive and defensive things. We got to watch a fair amount of film also, go through some of the things live. It’s been a while. It felt weird to practice today, to be honest. I thought it was good, though. I thought it was healthy.”
The Blazers (8-8) have won two consecutive games at home after going 1-3 on their recent trip. Both Monday night’s 118-113 win over Toronto and Wednesday’s 112-107 win over Chicago involved comebacks that demonstrated this team’s resiliency.
However, Billups said he would like to get his team to the point where they can avoid falling behind big at all. Especially on the road where they have not been able to bounce back. The Blazers are 7-1 at home and 1-7 on the road.
“We’re figuring out how hard we have to play to win games,” Billups said. “I think that if we can start pairing that with just being a little smarter at times in the game then games won’t be that close. There won’t be one-possession games. We can start kind of getting away from teams a bit.”
Damian Lillard said he couldn’t pinpoint why the team routinely gets off to slow starts.
“I like that we continue to fight and we find a way to win these games but it would be a lot easier on us if we didn’t put ourselves in these holes we have the last couple of games,” Lillard told reporters.
Ironing out some issues in practice, Lillard said, could help immensely.
“It was just a lot of things that you don’t have the time to clean up,” Lillard said. “Going over certain miscommunications. Things that we’ve been struggling with that we don’t have a great understanding of on the defensive end and on the offensive end. Our execution. Some of the things we struggle with and why we’ve struggled. Going from film to getting on the court and talking about it and going through it is really good the season because you don’t get that opportunity a lot.”
Portland hosts Philadelphia on Saturday. The 76ers have certainly been struggling. Hit by injuries, drama and health and safety protocols, Philadelphia has lost five of its last six games but won 103-89 at Denver on Thursday.
The five-game losing streak prior began after star center Joel Embiid went under the NBA’s health and safety protocols. He likely won’t play Saturday against the Blazers.
His absence undoubtedly has contributed to the Blazers being a six-point favorite. However, Embiid did not play against the Blazers on Nov. 1, and nor did Tobia Harris, yet the Blazers lost 113-103.
“They beat us without Embiid, (Ben) Simmons and Tobian Harris,” Lillard said. “They’ve got a lot of guys with ability and they’re capable of beating anybody on any night regardless of who is out there and I think we saw that first hand and then for last night, them to go to Denver and come up big and win like that, it just shows that they have a style of play that it doesn’t matter who is out there. They can come out and beat you. We’ve got to be prepared.”
PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS VS. PHILADELPHIA 76ers
What: Trail Blazers (8-8) vs. 76ers (9-7), 7 p.m. Saturday
Where: Moda Center.
Radio: Rip City Radio (KPOJ 620 AM).
TV channel: Root Sports (in Portland: Comcast 734/34; DirecTV 687).
Watch the game live online: You can watch this game live for FREE with fuboTV (free trial). You can also get this game on DirecTV Stream’s “CHOICE” package (promotional offers), if you are out of fuboTV trials, or simply prefer that platform and their pricing plans. If you already have a cable or satellite provider that carries Root Sports and want to watch online, you can watch this game live on Root Sports Live.
ODDS
Moneyline: POR -250 | PHI +200
Spread: POR -6 | Over/Under: 218.5
INJURIES
Blazers: G Damian Lillard (lower abdominal tendinopathy) is probable.
76ers: NA
NEXT UP
The Blazers conclude their four-game homestand Tuesday against Denver (9-5). What follows is a three-game trip beginning Wednesday at Sacramento before heading to Golden State on Friday and then Utah on Nov. 29.
-- Aaron Fentress | afentress@Oregonian.com | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook).
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