Chauncey Billups’ shadow looms over Tyago Splitter’s winning debut

Just a few hours afterthe arrest of de Chauncey Billupsinvolved in an FBI investigation rigged poker games allegedly linked to the mafiaThe Blazers were on the floor to challenge the Warriors. Now they are headed by Tiago Splitter, the former coach of Paris Basketball.

“Honestly, it’s a complicated moment”, Splitter admitted after the meeting. “We’re all thinking of Chauncey and his family. But we’ve got work to do. We’ve got to move forward. I had to be ready. I was, I was.”

As for the game, the former Spurs interior warned that it would be like in Paris. “There are already things I’ve put in place since I got here two months ago. The pace we’re playing is the same as last year with Paris. The rotations are similar… It’s not like I’m going to change everything now. It’s something we built collectively a few months ago, and we’re just going to follow the plan.”

Dubbed by Steve Kerr

The Brazilian learned the news on Thursday morning after spending the night watching footage of the defeat to Wolves. He woke up around 6 a.m. A few hours later, he got a call from GM Joe Cronin, who asked him to take over the reins of the team. The last to join Billups’ staff, he doubled down Nate Bjorkgrenalbeit more experienced, and who has already given temporary jobs in the past. But the latter himself recommended Splitter for the interim coach position, believing he could better help by focusing on defense.

For his debut as an NBA coach, Splitter was therefore opposed to one of the references of the profession, Steve Kerr. The two know each other very well, and the Warriors coach praised the qualities of his colleague. “I met him in Paris during the Olympics. He made a great impression on me.”says the Warriors coach. “Dave Kahn (head of Paris Basketball) told me that one day he would become an NBA coach. No one wanted it to happen in this context, but he is clearly talented.”

In passing, Kerr felt the Blazers deserved to win and should forget the back-to-back excuse. “It would be a ridiculous excuse to talk about fatigue. They dominated us. This team has a real identity, they play hard and the fans will enjoy watching them. After the years of Terry Stotts, Dame and CJ, they have built up well.”