Chemistry Issues in Portland?

It hasn’t been a smooth ride in Portland, as the Blazers struggle in their transition from a busy summer into the regular season: “After an even-worse-than-it-sounds 108-97 loss to the Utah Jazz before 19,696 at the Rose Garden, a fuming McMillan criticized his team’s effort, execution and will. ‘Not good,’ he said, summing up his team’s lackluster performance. ‘I think some of us think that we can flip a switch and that all of sudden, it’s going to happen when the (season opener) comes. We got to get to work.’ At the heart of the Blazers’ struggles is on-court chemistry — there is none. The lack of on-court chemistry was again an issue as the Blazers fell 108-97 at the Rose Garden. The molding of new talent (namely free-agent pickups Andre Miller and Juwan Howard and the return of Martell Webster) with last season’s key players has not gone smoothly. McMillan has mixed and matched different lineup combinations ...