New Jersey 98, Portland 96: If you lose to Nets, then what? Blazers huddle up

As the doors to the visiting locker room at the Prudential Center swung open following another demoralizing Trail Blazers defeat Sunday evening, there were sweaty uniforms, crumpled up warmup pants and dirty socks laying everywhere.

An overflowing bag of trash rested in the middle of it all, next to used bags of ice, ankle braces and shin pads. Some players had to climb over the heap of stuff to get from the postgame showers to their lockers, using caution not to slip in their wet shower sandals.

In a sense, the room served as a fitting metaphor for the Blazers' season through 16 games: messy, challenging and tough to watch.

The Blazers suffered their third consecutive loss Sunday night, falling 98-96 to the lowly New Jersey Nets before 11,448. The loss was the Blazers' fifth in the last seven games, dropped their record to 8-8, and was so disturbing that it sparked a players-only meeting afterward.

No one was willing to divulge details about what was said in the meeting, but everyone did agree on this much in that messy locker room: The Blazers have reached their lowest point of the season.