Blazers have long, really long, season ahead

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On social media the biggest thing to come out of the Portland Trail Blazers season opening game was in the locker room. Apparently, new bigman Deandre Ayton doesn't like sportswriter Jason Quick, and it showed after Portland lost 123-111 to the Los Angeles Clippers Wednesday at crypto.com Arena.

Portland fell behind by 20 at halftime, 30 in the third quarter, and only made the score respectable in the closing minutes.

The Clippers, with three perennial All-Stars on their roster, got 27 points from Paul George, 23 points from Kawhi Leonard and 11 points and 13 assists from Russell Westbrook in the win. Los Angeles held a 36-20 advantage in assists.

Portland got 18 points from shooting guard Anfernee Simons, and a team-high 20 points and five assists from Malcolm Brogdon off the bench.

Rookie Scoot Henderson, playing his first NBA game, finished with 11 points, four assists and three rebounds in 36 minutes.

Ayton, expected to be one of the team's top scorers after being traded from Phoenix a month ago, had four points and 12 rebounds. He apparently didn't spend much time in the locker room, and didn't talk to Quick, who's been involved with team coverage for The Athletic since it started in 2016 and with The Oregonian for two decades before that.

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