PORTLAND, Ore. — It will be a long time before the Portland Trail Blazers can process the predawn arrest Thursday of coach Chauncey Billups in a federal investigation related to rigged poker games allegedly backed by the Mafia.
But the process of moving forward began Friday as they played their first game under interim coach Tiago Splitter, and the Blazers beat the Golden State Warriors 139-119 at the Moda Center.
“Honestly, it is a tough moment,” said Splitter, a former player for the San Antonio Spurs whose only head coaching experience before Friday was in the Euro League with Paris Basketball last season. “I mean, we all had great experience with Chauncey, and we are thinking of him and his family. But we have a job to do, and we have to move forward.”
Splitter and 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 started spreading. Splitter told ESPN that he went to bed around 2 a.m. after watching tape of the Blazers’ season-opening loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves and was woken up shortly after 6 a.m. when the news started to circulate.
A few hours later, Splitter was in Cronin’s office, being asked to take over as interim coach. Lead assistant coach Nate Bjorkgren had previous head coaching experience, but team sources said Bjorkgren had told Cronin that Splitter was the best choice to take over, and Bjorkgren felt he could best help the team in his current role, running the defense.
Billups had recruited Splitter away from a head coaching role with Paris Basketball over the summer to help revamp the Blazers’ offense, and he had been implementing changes over the past few months.
This kind of promotion, under these circumstances, was less than ideal.
“I have to be ready,” Splitter said. “I was ready, I am ready.”
Warriors coach Steve Kerr didn’t know Splitter well, but their paths and circles have many intersections.
“I met with him in Paris last year during the Olympics,” Kerr said. “David Kahn, the owner [of Paris Basketball], texted me and asked if I would meet with Tiago. We spent some time together. Had a great visit. Then, he was wildly successful, winning the French league, getting rave reviews. David told me what an amazing coach he thought he was. He said he thought he’d be an NBA head coach someday. Nobody wants it to be under these circumstances. But there’s a reason Tiago is here. He’s a talented guy.”
After Friday night’s game, Kerr praised the Blazers for their victory.
“I would be embarrassed to sit here and blame fatigue when a team just came out and took it to us. It was about them and their great play,” Kerr said. “This city is going to really enjoy watching the Blazers. They play hard. They have a real identity. They’re doing a really good job of rebuilding the franchise after the long run with Terry [Stotts] and Dame [Lillard] and CJ [McCollum]. It’s been a rough couple of years, but they’ve used that time wisely and built a really good roster.”
Beating the Warriors — even a tired version of the Warriors on the second night of a back-to-back set — was as good a start and palate cleanser as Splitter and the Blazers could have hoped for after Billups’ arrest and arraignment Thursday.
Deni Avdija led Portland with 26 points, shooting 11 of 18 from the floor. Jerami Grant added 22 points off the bench, and all five Blazers starters scored in double figures. Portland shot 54% from the field and hit 16 of 34 3-pointers (47%).
