NEW ORLEANS -- The Trail Blazers finished up a six-game road trip, their longest of the season, with a 127-110 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans in front of a crowd of 16,676 Sunday night at Smoothie King Center.
"Definitely disappointed,” said Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups. “We knew that (New Orleans) team played last night, it’s a tough loss and to me what you just seen was one team that was very desperate and you seen the other team really kind of get taken advantage of. And that was us. Of course me, as the competitor that I am, it burns me up for us to come out like that, just kind of cave in from the start of the game.”
The Trail Blazers are now 31-37 overall, 14-22 on the road this season and finish up a six-game trip with a 2-4 record. And with the loss, Portland remains in 13th in the West, but fall to two games behind the Jazz, Thunder, Lakers and Pelicans for the last two spots in the play-in tournament with 14 games to play.
Chauncey Billups: "This is a long tough trip" | Portland Trail Blazers | Mar. 12, 2023
“We’ve just got to be better about having urgency. We don’t have enough urgency,” said Billups. “Obviously I’ve got to be better about teaching it and coaching it but we just haven’t had enough urgency. But as I’ve also said, like in the Western Conference, every single night things kind of change, but we can’t be lookin for help. We’ve got to be a willing participant in our own rescue, so we’ve got to play better basketball and give ourselves a chance.”
Anfernee Simons finished with 17 points, four assists and two rebounds in 24 minutes. Shaedon Sharpe went for 14 points, five rebounds, three assists and a block in 21 minutes. Kevin Knox Jr. also added 14 points along with six rebounds and an assist in 12 fourth-quarter minutes.
Cam Reddish posted 11 points, four rebounds and three assists. Nassir Little, Trendon Watford and Matisse Thybulle also finished with 10 points apiece.
Damian Lillard sat out Sunday’s game due to right calf tightness.
Trey Murphy III led all scorers with 41 points, a new career high, in just under 30 minutes. CJ McCollum had a double-double with 22 points and 11 assists while Josh Richardson came off the bench to add 19 points.
The Trail Blazers now return to Portland, where they will play eight of their next nine games starting with a tilt versus the New York Knicks Tuesday night at Moda Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.