Portland Trail Blazers: LaMarcus Aldridge Sets Career-High in Sloppy Win vs. TOR

According to Jason Quick of The Oregonian, the Portland Trail Blazers held a players-only meeting after their 92-89 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday.

The result? The players were being too nice to each other. No one was holding one another accountable; no one was addressing each others' flaws.

That would all change, very quickly.

The next game, the Blazers were firing on all cylinders. Led by team co-captain LaMarcus Aldridge, Portland took down the lesser Toronto Raptors, 94-84, marking their ninth win of the season and their second win in the fifth game of a six-game road trip; a trip that is also six games in nine nights.

But for Aldridge, it was a night to be remembered.

The Olympic finalist set a career-high in rebounds, snatching 23 boards to go along with his 33 points, five assists and two steals. He also became enshrined in Portland Trail Blazers history, marking the seventh person to record a 30-point, 20-rebound game and the first Blazer to record at least 31 points and 20 rebounds since Maurice Lucas (35 points, 22 rebounds) on February 3, 1977.

It was a good game for L.A., but the rest of the team still has work to do.

Raymond Felton had 14 points (6-9 FG, 2-4 3PT) and five assists, but Gerald Wallace and Wesley Matthews only combined for 19 points on an abysmal 5-of-19 shooting from the field. Jamal Crawford scored 10 points, but it took him 10 shot attempts, and Nicolas Batum only took six shots to finish with nine points.

The Blazers shot 40.2 percent from the field, only 33.3 percent from three and 74.2 percent from the line; all terrible percentages for the players on their roster.

They came away with the win, but against a struggling, now 4-12 Toronto Raptors squad without Andrea Bargnani and without Jerryd Bayless.

Aldridge cannot carry them forever.

The Blazers (9-6) will likely finish their road trip 3-3 with a win over Detroit on Saturday, but the other players must change. If they're going to live up to Sir Charles Barkley's hype of being the best team in the Western Conference, they've got to pick up the intensity and be a more efficient team.

Turnovers, once again, must come down (18 vs. Toronto) and they must begin to hold each other accountable for their actions.

No more outlandish shot attempts. No more contested treys. Portland must work from the inside out if they're going to reclaim elite status in the NBA. But at 9-6, the Blazers are underachieving and bottom-feeding.

We can only hope that we have yet to see the best of the new-look Blazers.

Kristian Winfield is a Featured Columnist on the Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @BriscoXCI