The Portland Trail Blazers are in for a serious search after a demoralizing 134-89 home loss to the injury-plagued Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday night. According to Portland head coach Chauncey Billups, the players are in for a bad night’s sleep, to say the least.

“I told them anyone who sleeps well tonight is a loser,” Billups told reporters when asked about his postgame message to the team. “It’s just that simple. …You sleep well after this, you’re a loser.

If you think that’s harsh, Billups’ six-minute postgame press conference was peppered with several other fiery sound bites as he told his players about a lack of effort. When asked to describe his team’s performance, the fourth-year head coach opened up to the press as follows:

“It was just embarrassing, to be honest. We were soft as hell the whole game. No one really fought. It was just embarrassing for everyone. That’s just not who we are. It really isn’t. There is no excuse for that.”

Billups continued, “Obviously you have a lot of tough nights in this league, but I don’t even care. It just didn’t agree. It was like our guys just showed up because they had to be here, but didn’t want to play, didn’t really want to work. And that is embarrassing.”

The pressure and loss after Sunday’s game was the kind that raised alarms about where this Blazers season is headed. Even in a year when the Blazers are projected to be one of the worst teams in the NBA, losses like the ones Billups described shouldn’t happen. For the most part, the Blazers have avoided them early in the season and shown fight even while compiling a 3-8 record. That was not the case on Sunday. It was barely noticeable as boos broke out several times in the Moda Center.

From start to finish, the Grizzlies punked the Blazers on their home floor. Memphis was missing Ja Morant, Desmond Bane, Marcus Smart and GG Jackson, while Portland was only missing backup wing Matisse Thybulle. It didn’t matter. Seven Memphis players reached double figures and had run-out after run-out.

The Blazers trailed by 14 after the first quarter, 20 at halftime, 38 after the third quarter and 45 when the final buzzer sounded.

The Blazers shot 34% from the field and a shocking 9.5% (4-42) on 3s. They turned the ball over 23 times. What was even more baffling was the way they coughed it up: kicking the ball off their feet, forcing countless passes through non-existent windows, throwing a bounce pass at themselves for a trip, tripping and falling, etc.

With all those noises and miscues, the attack had no rhythm. The talented young backcourt – Anfernee Simons, Shaedon Sharpe and Scoot Henderson – that would show the promise of this rebuilding franchise combined for just 16 points on 7-26 shooting. Simons scored four points, matching his number of turnovers, while Henderson had three turnovers of his own.

Jerami Grant led Portland with 20 points on 7-15 shooting, but reserves Dalano Banton and Donovan Clingan were the only other Blazers to reach double figures. Billups appreciated some of the effort from the deep-bench guys who arrived minutes late, but he couldn’t say the same for the rest of the squad.

“I’m not just going to point out one or two guys, they were all terrible,” Billups said. “…(F)or for the most part, everyone – they were all bad.”

This was the second time in 11 games this season that Billups called out his players for a lack of effort. The first time came after Portland’s season-opening 140-104 loss to the Golden State Warriors on October 23. Even after that loss, Billups smiled a few times during the post-game press conference; he offered the reprieve that “it’s just a game” and “it’s not the end of the world.”

On Sunday, he showed no silver linings or reassuring smiles as the mood in the room was decidedly more tense. Billups normally doesn’t like to address the team after losses, but he said Sunday’s game was an exception to that rule.

“This was different, especially not because we lost,” Billups said. “We have lost more points than this, but it depends how. It’s how. It’s just you lie down and just kind of collapse.”

While addressing his players, Billups said he also looks in the mirror and takes responsibility. As head coach, he said he needs to prepare his team better.

“Ultimately that’s up to me. I’m the leader of this,” Billups said. “This is our team, but I’m the head of this. So for me, I take that very personally because I don’t have any of that, not a single bone of that in my body, to just lay down, so that’s on me. I have to get better.”

After the game, Simons said he couldn’t explain what went so wrong on Sunday, but he said everyone needs to be better. A reporter asked Simons if he felt anything before the game that indicated something was wrong with the team. The seventh-year guard mentioned Friday’s 127-102 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves and growing frustration with the team’s losing record after going 21-61 last season.

“Last year I had a bad year and this year things can really calm down,” Simons said. “Frustration can certainly increase from there.”

“I think we did our best, but there was no structure to it,” Grant added. “I think it was a lot of mental mistakes.”

As a veteran and only player 30 or older on the roster, Grant said the players should have a meeting to discuss what’s going wrong and “figure it out.” They will have to find answers quickly; the Blazers will see the title-contending Timberwolves for a back-to-back on Tuesday and Wednesday.

At the end of Billups’ postgame presser with reporters, he was asked if he planned to watch film of the loss. Once again he did not mince his words:

“No, I don’t want to see that s—. No, no, I’ve seen enough already.”