Anemic First Quarter Ends Trail Blazers' Chances Early In Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA -- There are plenty of things that the Portland Trail Blazers can be thankful for. They get to play a game for a living, are handsomely compensated for the work and have legions of devoted fans. By an objective measure, it's good to be a Trail Blazer.But when they sit down to count their blessings, missing their first 13 shots and finding themselves trailing 16-0 before scoring their first points in their 101-81 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers Wednesday night at Wells Fargo Arena won't make the cut. "I always think our effort is there, I don't think we ever lack effort," said Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard. "I think we defended hard, it was just another case of us struggling on the offensive end. We just weren't able to put up points. I think they started off like 16-0 or something or whatever it was. We just couldn't score points."With the loss, the Trail Blazer are now 10-8 overall and 3-4 on the road this season. Portland has not won a game in Philadelphia since the 2014.