Lillard rips Blazers after 45-point loss: 'This s--- is ridiculous'

Though they're currently clinging to the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference, the Portland Trail Blazers have yet to find their footing this season, and they were once again left to pick themselves up off the mat after being flattened by the Golden State Warriors on Saturday.

In the locker room after the season-worst 45-point defeat, point guard Damian Lillard challenged his demoralized team to show some fight.

"Man, it's OK to turn the ball over, it's OK to make mistakes, but we have to play with some damn heart and compete out there," he told ESPN's Chris Haynes, reciting the dressing-down he'd given his teammates immediately after the game.

"This isn't about what the coaches are doing, this is on us. We have to take responsibility for what's going on. This s--- is ridiculous. We've got the talent; we've just got to put it together consistently."

After a feel-good season in which they short-circuited the rebuilding process and blew past every projection, and an offseason in which the front office poured a ton of money into mid-tier talent, the Blazers are struggling under the weight of their own expectations. Lillard's backcourt mate C.J. McCollum says that while the team hasn't yet resorted to a players-only meeting, that option is visible on the horizon.

"I think we're getting close to that point," McCollum told Haynes. "Dame talked to the guys today, but it's more about us as players. And the coaches, they're not playing. They're not responsible for losing by 40 or winning by 40. It's the players' job."

Swingman Allen Crabbe, who like McCollum received a huge raise in the offseason, agreed with his teammate's assessment.

"I feel like guys are speaking out more about how our play is unacceptable and how we have to step up more, so I mean a (players-only meeting) may come, may happen soon," Crabbe said. "It's going to come to a point where everybody is going to be fed up with it. We're pretty fed up with it now. I mean, it's frustrating going to games and just getting beat like this and not even giving ourselves a chance. We've got to figure it out."

Players-only meeting or not, Lillard is very much expecting things to turn around for him and his team at some point this season.

"I'm a soldier," he said. "I feel like if I die, I can come back to life and win."