After Sunday’s irritating loss to the Clippers, Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts knew it was time to pull out a rare tactic with his team.
So when the Blazers met on Monday morning for a film session, it wasn’t the normal 10-to-20 minute rundown of offensive and defensive plays from the previous game. Instead, players estimate Stotts held a 45-minute session, which included showing the entire third quarter when the Clippers outscored the Blazers 38-16 to flip the script in what would end up a 104-100 loss.
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The loss Sunday was the exclamation point on an alarming swing in play for the Blazers. After bolting to the top of the Western Conference with a 12-5 record, the Blazers have suffered a 43-point loss in Milwaukee that Stotts called a “train wreck” followed by a 28-point loss at Golden State, and then Sunday’s stunner in which the Blazers led by as many as 15.
Win or lose, Stotts has always led film sessions, but only in extreme cases do those sessions extend past 20 minutes, or include the playing of a full quarter. Last season, after the Blazers blew a 14-point lead against Houston and were outscored 40-19 in the fourth quarter, Stotts showed the entire fourth quarter in a film session the next day.
Sunday’s loss and its third quarter rose to that level.
“The manner in which we lost, and the fact that we’ve lost three in a row, and that we are trending in a bad way, especially defensively … we have to get a grasp on it,” Stotts said.
The first indications whether the session, and its lessons, take hold will be revealed Wednesday when the upstart Orlando Magic play at the Moda Center.
“I’ve said this many times: the NBA season is often defined by how you get through your rough periods,” Stotts said. “And this is one of them.”
One of the more subtle aspects to the Blazers’ consistency throughout the years has been the approach of Stotts. The son of teachers, he is drawn to teachable moments in games, realizing that often it’s the little things that determine whether a play or even a game, translates to success.
And although it is widely known that Stotts is an affable and approachable “players coach,” it might surprise some that when the time calls, he can be critical and direct with players.
Monday wasn’t his most biting commentary, but Stotts admitted he was “blunt” during the film session.
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He talked about side pick-and-roll defense. Communicating in transition. Casual passes that result in turnovers. And examples where the Clippers were the only team getting on the floor for a loose ball.
And a chunk of the session dissected what has become the blueprint to beat the Blazers — blitz Damian Lillard with traps and make the supporting cast beat you.
“It was acknowledging things that we really have to step up against because that’s how teams are going to defend and try to beat us,” Evan Turner said. “So, making the right play out fo the blitz. We have to make teams pay because we are in a 4-on-3 situation.”
Stotts wanted the supporting cast to be better prepared to either take the shot off of Lillard’s pass or know immediately what the next pass should be.
“It was definitely a long session, but it was needed,” Zach Collins said. “There wasn’t anybody sitting in there like, ‘Shit, this is taking forever; Why are we doing this?’ I think everybody understood it was necessary to be in there a while.”
By the time the players left the session, the general feeling was the Blazers weren’t far from regaining the crisp and consistent play that defined their first month.
Meyers Leonard talked about the need to catch simple passes from Lillard. Collins thought about his lapses in concentration that allowed an offensive rebound off a missed free throw, and his fouls that resulted in baskets and a free throw. And Turner knew his entry passes to big men needed to be more precise and near the chest, not the knees.
“Coach has said this before — we don’t have the luxury of not executing and running plays to perfection with crisp cuts and solid passing,” Leonard said. “All the little things matter. There were so many things when we were watching film where it’s like … arrrrgh! If we would have just made a good pass, or swung it one more time, it would have completely changed the entire third quarter.”
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It’s why Collins noted that as he left the film session he remembers what Lillard said.
“He was like, ‘We will figure it out,”’ Collins remembered. “And I know he is right. I mean, it’s such a long season. It’s good that it’s happening now, and we have time to figure it out.”
In the locker room after the Clippers loss, Lillard said two things of note.
One, he brought up the team’s fatigue level. And two, he answered why the Blazers have historically been able to rebound from lulls in a season: their togetherness.
The fatigue issue is real, and should not be viewed as an excuse. The Blazers just returned from a six-game trip in which they traveled nearly 8,000 miles.
“I think we are just hitting a rough patch,” Lillard said. “I think early on, everybody’s body was fresh, everybody’s mind was fresh. And the bounce was going our way.”
Turner said the last trip — when the Blazers lost at the Lakers and Minnesota before beating the Wizards and Knicks, followed by blowout losses in Milwaukee and Golden State — took a toll.
“I don’t even like bringing it up, but that trip was brutal,” Turner said. “In Milwaukee, we were all freaking tired. That Knicks game took it out of us. We were drained. And then the Warriors … they just played like champs. They came out like their assess were against the wall and everybody made shots.”
If the team was fatigued, it hasn’t weighed on the mindset. Both Lillard and Turner said the team has remained together in the aftermath of the blowouts on the road the stinging loss Sunday.
“We are still a team, most importantly,” Turner said. “I always say you can tell what kind of team you have when the first rough patch hits. I’ve been on teams where it hits and everybody separates.
“Nobody here has separated. That’s not us.”
It’s why when Stotts pointed out flawed play in the long film session, nobody got defensive. In fact, players say nobody outside of Stotts spoke.
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“We are not in panic mode,” Leonard said. “At all. We are still the same team. Same players. Same culture. Same work ethic. Same everything. We just simply have to execute better. It’s just sharpening up a little bit.”
That sharpening just might have been forged during a Monday film session. If anything, it left the Blazers feeling better about themselves.
“As a basketball player I can tell you: we are going to be fine,” Turner said. “We are going to be good. We are going to keep ascending. This was a bad spot, a bad week. I mean, I understand there is worry, but I’m not worried. Whatsoever.”
(Photo: Sam Forencich / NBAE via Getty Images)