Blazers Sent Low Marks for Uncharacteristic Loss to Pelicans

The Portland Trail Blazers have taken bad losses this season, but none were as mind-bogglingly brutal as their 143-120 rout at the hands of the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday night at the Smoothie King Center.

As OregonLive's Joe Freeman pointed out, the loss in the Big Easy was the Blazers' most poorly-coached effort of the young 2025-26 season. Of note: the Pelicans are the league's third-worst team in scoring margin, but were superior in every relevant stat.

"Shorthanded or not, this was arguably the most uninspiring performance of the season for the Blazers, who have consistently played hard, played well and kept games close even as they’ve been decimated by injuries," Freeman wrote.

With Donovan Clingan, Yang Hansen, and Robert Williams III out, Portland was down to Kris Murray and Duop Reath as its remaining traditional bigs in New Orleans. They combined for nine points and 11 rebounds. Meanwhile, the Blazers frontcourt gave up five points and eight rebounds in 13 minutes to Yves Missi. That's before we even get to Derik Queen's 17/7/5 or Saddiq Bey's 15/8/5.

If there's an area on the floor a Tiago Splitter-coached team would not have a glaring weakness in on any night, it's the center position. While Splitter didn't sign up for this head coaching role and was thrust into it because of Chauncey Billups's gambling allegations, this is his chance to prove his worth as a coach.

With performances like Thursday night, Splitter isn't doing much to earn the full-time role with the Blazers, or any other significant coaching role.

Blazers Face Six Projected Playoff Teams in Nine Games Left in 2025

Six of the nine remaining matchups Portland has in 2025 are against projected 2026 NBA postseason opponents.

Whether or not Joe Cronin will have this team as a buyer or a seller by the February 5 trade deadline will be determined by the next few weeks before the calendar turns to the new year.