Blazers coach Chauncey Billups takes veiled shot at Anfernee Simons: 'Not who we are'
The starting backcourt of Anfernee Simons and Shaedon Sharpe walked into Moda Center red hot. Center Deandre Ayton returned from knee soreness and got his first chance to run some pick-and-roll with Simons since opening night. Malcolm Brogdon was also back and coming off the bench.
On paper, head coach Chauncey Billups' squad should have played its best game of the year. Instead, Portland allowed a Jazz team down its four best scorers to shoot 53 percent from the floor and pour in 69 first-half points.
Billups didn't hold back in his postgame comments, laying into his team for its awful defensive performance. But it's not hard to decipher that his comments were directed at one player more than any other.
"We’re trying to establish ourselves as defensive-first team. And I think it’s been a couple of games where, we start getting some of our offensive players back and it looks so sweet and cute out there when we’re making shots. That’s not who we are. That’s not who we’re trying to be. We’re a defensive team. We gotta get stops for us to play well. And I thought our starting unit, they got us off to a very poor start."
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