LOS ANGELES -- The Portland Trail Blazers started their 2021-22 regular season road schedule with a lopsided 116-86 loss to the LA Clippers in front of a crowd of 15,672 Monday night at STAPLES Center.
“It was embarrassing, it was really embarrassing,” said Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups. “Just the effort, I didn’t think that we started the game off with the right mindset. We talked in the locker room about the Clippers, they hadn’t won a game yet, two tough losses, they were desperate to get a win, you’re at home. We tried to defend against that but from the very first play of the game -- we turned the ball over, we couldn’t get the ball where we needed to go, their pressure really hurt us.