Video: Chauncey Billups Says Blazers Player Posted Highlight While Being Blown Out
Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups revealed that one of his players posted his first-half dunk highlight during halftime of a road game against the New Orleans Pelicans.
Billups recalled the story on the 7PM in Brooklyn podcast with Carmelo Anthony and The Kid Mero.
"We in New Orleans, we're down like 18 at the half. I had a kid, he had a nasty dunk. We coming out for the third quarter. This motherf--ker done posted his dunk on his joint. At halftime. At halftime! Bro, we down 18!"
When asked what he did in response, Billups replied: "Man, you know I grinded his ass up, man. I get wind of it. I said, 'Ay yo bro. Get the f--k back there and take that s--t off your joint, man. What the f--k is wrong with you man?"
Billups then said the player was remorseful and ran to the back to take the post down.
Billups did not name-drop the player. A quick look back at the Blazers' games in New Orleans since Billups took over as coach reveals two games where the team was down big at halftime: a 13-point deficit in April 2022 and a 20-point margin in March 2023.
Neither is 18 as Billups mentioned, although that can be easily forgiven considering he had bigger things to worry about at the time, like his team getting killed and a player posting his dunk highlights on social media.
So it was certainly a player from one of those games. Regardless of his identity, maybe the player didn't do such a bad thing. The Blazers have been a losing team for the past few years, so the highlight post was at the end of a lost season. Maybe he was just looking for something to be proud of and happy about as Portland struggled through another tough loss.
Plus, it's certainly not the most dramatic thing to happen at halftime of an NBA game, examples including drinking Hennessy, smoking and fighting with teammates.
Of course, Billups had every right to be upset as well as he looked to turn around his franchise's fortunes. Ultimately, it's a hilarious anecdote, but Billups is clearly focused on getting the Blazers on the right track after three straight losing seasons.
