Three Takeaways From Blazers Loss to Hawks

The Portland Trail Blazers are licking their wounds after a 135-101 loss to the Atlanta Hawks inside State Farm Arena.

It's the second biggest loss for the Blazers this season. The only loss that was worse came a little over a week ago, when the team lost by 54 points to Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets. Here's a look at the three biggest takeaways from the game.

Blazers Really Miss Deni Avdija

Portland Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija against Phoenix Suns forward Ryan Dunn. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

In a game like this, having Deni Avdija on the court would have made a massive difference for the Blazers, even though the team lost by 34 points. Having him on the court would have given the Blazers a sense of direction, which they sorely missed in the loss against the Hawks.

The Blazers started the game down by double digits early, and Jrue Holiday was really the only player that was coming up with any kind of positive outcome early on. By having a terrible first couple of minutes in the game, it really set the Blazers on a path towards nowhere.

Blazers Have Zero Energy From The Start

A big reason behind the team struggles is the lack of energy. They were just coming off of a game less than 48 hours ago against the Charlotte Hornets and had to play on the second night of a back-to-back with several players out due to injury.

Blazers acting head coach Tiago Splitter spoke about the team struggling to conjure some energy on the road, which led to the defeat.

"I think readiness has got to be there. I talk about this every time. I thought that, like I said, we didn't have enough energy to play. Kris was kinda ill, Sidy was ill, DC, so the energy was not there. They were fighting, they were trying, and they were pushing themselves. They were getting IV before the game and really trying to be there and fight for their team, but we couldn't find that energy," Splitter said.

Vit Krejci Has Reunion to Forget

The game marked the first time Krejci got a chance to face off against his former team. He probably wishes he had this one back. While Krejci scored 14 points off the bench with a pair of 3-pointers, he was a team-worst -34 on the floor against his former Hawks teammates.

Krejci's performance is tied for the second largest point total he's had while with the Blazers, but the team had very little success with him on the court, and that was a massive issue.