After a 22-point loss in Salt Lake City, the Portland Trail Blazers suffered their third loss in a row and dropped to 10-11 for the season.
A major part of their struggles this season has been in the road arenas, away from the Moda Center. A 129-107 loss to the Jazz knocked their record to a woeful 1-10, second worst in the league with only the young and rebuilding Houston Rockets having a worse record (0-11).
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The team was able to steer the ship with a stellar performance at home, where they had a 9-1 record of just shy in front of the best in the league.
Portland has been missing a starter at Norman Powell but Monday night’s loss was not an aberration but rather a trend throughout this early part of the season.
And the problems again were mainly in the defensive end of the floor, an item where we ranked 29th in the tournament. That rating and other defensive numbers get worse playing away from home.
Trail Blazers head coach said: “We play with normalcy and no urgency on the road” Chauncey Billups says after the Jazz game.
The numbers agree with Billups’ claims, their defense, already the worst in the league, falling even further. And from the numbers, the biggest concern seems to be their three-point defense, one of the worst in the league at home and on the go.
The team’s only win this season was against the Rockets, a young rebuilding franchise that won just one of their first 17 games.
After this Jazz loss, the Trail Blazers have a chance to bounce back from a three-game losing streak as they play eight of their next nine games at home. It won’t be easy to extend their home win streak considering a few upcoming opponents in their home country – Phoenix, Minnesota, Boston and Charlotte.
Having said that, if their current home and away trends continue, the Trail Blazers should consider themselves lucky as they have only played four road games over the next 19 through January 9. Until then, they have to improve their lane play because after January. .9, they have a period where they play 10 of the 12 games from the Moda Center.
