PORTLAND, OR. – It will be a long time before Trail Blazers could handle the predawn arrest Thursday of coach Chauncey Billups as part of a federal investigation into rigged poker games allegedly backed by the mob.
But the process of moving forward began Friday when they played their first game under interim coach Thiago Splitter and the Trail Blazers beat the team. Golden State Warriors 139-119 in the center of Moda.
“It’s a tough moment, to be honest,” said Splitter, a former international. San Antonio Spurs whose only coaching experience before Friday was in the EuroLeague with Paris Basketball last season. “I mean, we all had a great experience with Chauncey and our thoughts are with him and his family. But we have work to do and we must move forward.”
Splitter and Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin addressed the team Thursday afternoon, hours after Billups' stunning arrest. Neither had slept more than a few hours when news of the arrest broke. Splitter told ESPN he went to bed around 2 a.m. after watching footage of the Trail Blazers' season-opening loss to the Trail Blazers. Minnesota Timberwolves and woke up shortly after 6 a.m. as the news began to spread.
A few hours later, Splitter was in Cronin's office and was asked to serve as interim coach. Lead assistant coach Nate Bjorkgren had previous head coaching experience, but team sources said Bjorkgren told Cronin that Splitter was the best choice for the job and that Bjorkgren felt he could best help the team in his current role running the defense.
Billups hired Splitter over the summer from his head coaching job at Paris Basketball to help revamp the Trail Blazers' offense, and he has been making changes over the past few months.
Under the circumstances, this type of advancement was far from ideal.
“I have to be ready,” Splitter said. “I was ready. I'm ready”.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr didn't know Splitter well, but their paths and circles crossed.
“I met him in Paris last year during the Olympics,” Kerr said. “David Kahn, owner [of Paris Basketball]wrote to me and asked if I would meet Thiago. We spent some time together, had a great time. Then he achieved wild success, winning the French championship, receiving rave reviews. David told me what a great coach he thought he was. He said he thinks he'll be an NBA head coach someday. Nobody wants this to happen under these circumstances. But there is a reason Thiago is here. He's a talented guy.”
After Friday night's game, Kerr praised the Trail Blazers for their win.
“I would feel bad sitting here and blaming fatigue when the team just came out and brought it to us. It was about them and their great play,” Kerr said. “This city is going to have a lot of fun watching the Blazers.” They play hard. They have real personality. They are doing a really good job of rebuilding the franchise after playing with Terry for a long time. [Stotts] And Lady [Lillard] And C.J. [McCollum]. It's been a tough couple of years, but they've used it wisely and built a really good squad.”
The win over the Warriors — even the tired version on the second night of a back-to-back — was the best start and palate cleanser Splitter and the Trail Blazers could hope for after Billups' arrest and indictment Thursday.
Deni Avdija led Portland with 26 points, shooting 11 of 18 from the field. Jerami Grant added 22 points off the bench and all five of the Trail Blazers' starters scored in double figures. Portland shot 53.8% from the field and made 16 of 34 3-pointers (47.1%).
