The Portland Trail Blazers lost their fourth straight game by double-digits on Wednesday, falling 104-94 to the Golden State Warriors. Even with Steph Curry, pointedly eyeing the league's all-time record for made threes, and his teammates mostly throwing up bricks from deep, Portland never had a realistic chance at pulling off a shocking late-stage comeback.
Don't tell Chauncey Billups moral victories don't exist in professional sports, though. Why? The competitive edge and relentless intensity the sorely depleted Blazers played with from the opening tip on the road against basketball's best team.
“I just thought as a team we played hard,” Billups said. “We played together, we played really hard, and I'm proud of our effort. It's something that we just have to make a constant as our squad.”
Nassir Little, back after missing the last five games with a sprained left ankle, quickly and decisively made up for that last time, scoring 18 points in just 25 minutes. He played with so much energy and force as a straight-line driver, active defender, and transition finisher that Little was forced to leave the game for good early in the quarter, beset by cramps.
Dennis Smith Jr. did his best chasing Curry across the floor, also providing some off-dribble oomph on the other end. Norman Powell and Jusuf Nurkic struggled from the field, but fought their way to productive nights as Portland's primary scoring options. Ben McLemore impressed again in extended minutes, while Larry Nance Jr.'s relentless activity helped keep the Blazers within striking distance in the fourth quarter.
Good intentions, unfortunately, don't mean made shots. Portland, absent Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum and Anfernee Simons against the Warriors, shot 40.7% overall and went an ugly 8-of-30 from beyond the arc.
The Blazers tried their damndest to overcome a massive talent advantage. There's no shame in coming up short. Once his guards get healthy and the scales start to even, Billups is confident Portland, 11-15 and 11th-place in the Western Conference, will be good enough to beat any team in the league—provided an effort like Wednesday's, of course.
“Obviously when you're short-handed, you know you have to make up for it in certain areas. The guys that have been playing, they're just scrapping, man, they're just scrapping,” he said. “But that's what we have to be about, period. Like I said, even when we get healthy, I like our chances against anybody when we play that hard with the talent we have on our roster.”
The first test of that optimism may come as soon as Sunday when the Minnesota Timberwolves visit Rip City and Lillard could make his much-needed return. Fingers crossed.
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