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OAKLAND, Calif. -- At the conclusion of a 45-point thumping at the hands of the Golden State Warriors on Saturday evening, a livid Portland Trail Blazers All-Star addressed his teammates in the locker room.Damian Lillard didnt mince words in criticizing his team, telling ESPN the Blazers performance was ridiculous and that the teams recent slide is on us, not the coaches.Man, its OK to turn the ball over, its OK to make mistakes, but we have to play with some damn heart and compete out there, he said of his teammates.The Warriors secured a 135-90 win at Oracle Arena and shot 59 percent in the process. It was the largest margin of victory in the NBA this season, and it was the Warriors largest ever over the Trail Blazers.Portland has lost six of its past seven and is dead last in defensive efficiency (109.6).The visiting locker room was virtually silent.Players were speechless. Lillard got dressed at his locker stall and routinely shook his head in disappointment. At 13-16, the Trail Blazers are only a game up on the Denver Nuggets for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference standings.Golden State executed an offensive clinic. Backdoor cuts went uncovered by Portland, several lob dunks went uncontested and a multitude of mental blunders led to wide-open 3-pointers for the Warriors.Several Trail Blazers players expressed afterward that they felt like they had disrespected the game.This is unacceptable, no matter who youre playing against, champions or not, C.J. McCollum told ESPN. You have to be ready to play and perform and compete, and I dont think we did any of those things today.Reserve?Allen Crabbe?offered his take.Honestly, there are really no words for it, Crabbe said to ESPN. Our play is really self-explanatory right now. Weve got to get it together. It was a 40-point loss. Thats embarrassing right there.Despite a flawed roster, Portland head coach Terry Stotts is doing his best to try to manufacture a nucleus capable of providing extended stretches of high-level defense. As for personnel, the Trail Blazers didnt improve from last seasons squad that overachieved and went 44-38. The offseason addition of Evan Turner and his four-year, $70 million deal hasnt paid off.Furthermore, the rim protection they so desperately need from Festus Ezeli is likely sidelined for the season, due to his knee injury. Swing forward Al-Farouq Aminu has been in and out the lineup with a back contusion, but hes not the answer for Stotts.This isnt about what the coaches are doing, this is on us, Lillard said to ESPN in retelling what he stated to his teammates. We have to take responsibility for whats going on. This s--- is ridiculous. Weve got the talent; weve just got to put it together consistently.In the locker room after Saturday nights loss, Lillards facial expressions spoke volumes, and he was in a rage with his teams effort. But he made it clear that his confidence hasnt wavered one bit.Im a soldier, he said. I feel like if I die, I can come back to life and win.Lillard has been critical of his team before. Last month, he told reporters, simply, that the Trail Blazers kind of suck right now, following a blowout loss to the Houston Rockets, though he added, Well get it right, and things will be fine.The Trail Blazers have had a couple of heart-to-heart discussions after some disappointing losses this season, but not to the extent of categorizing them as players-only meetings.If this sort of play continues, that might change.I think were getting close to that point, McCollum told ESPN. Dame talked to the guys today, but its more about us as players. And the coaches, theyre not playing. Theyre not responsible for losing by 40 or winning by 40. Its the players job. Its not [San Antonio Spurs coach] Gregg Popovich, its not [Cleveland Cavaliers coach] Tyronn Lue, its the players making the decisions, like Kawhi Leonard and?LeBron [James]. Theyre the guys that change the culture of the team, and they change the impact of the game.Crabbe agreed with McCollum.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. Its going to come to a point where everybody is going to be fed up with it. Were pretty fed up with it now. I mean, its frustrating going to games and just getting beat like this and not even giving ourselves a chance. Weve got to figure it out.On whether the Trail Blazers have reached their lowest point of the young season, McCollum told ESPN, S---, we lost by 40 today. It doesnt get no lower than that.Nike Air Max Outlet . 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Giambi belted a two-run, pinch-hit homer with two outs in the ninth inning to give Cleveland a shocking 5-4 win over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night, keeping the Indians up with the lead pack in the AL wild-card race.As recently as last week, Imrul Kayes was still learning how an approach that involved having a premeditated mindset could radically change his batting. He has since implemented the game plan twice in four days, and on both occasions struck centuries.His 112 in the first ODI against England was his best innings in the format, though his dismissal took a bit of the sheen off the innings that began with a rousing six over square-leg that burst a hole inside an advertising board deep into the Shere Bangla National Stadiums grandstand. That century was a follow-up to his 121 for the BCB XI in Englands warm-up match on Tuesday.Following that innings, which he also started with a cracking boundary off Chris Woakes, Imrul said that it was Chandika Hathurusinghas advice that made him change tack.It has taken him more than eight years of playing at the international level to appreciate that there is nothing wrong in getting out of his shell to use his full potential. The hundred in Mirpur was testament of his ability to accept that he needed to change his approach to batting. It is also another feather in the cap of the coach Hathurusingha who has now made a difference to the career of yet another international cricketer.While Imruls Test career finally took off in 2014, he never quite hit the same note in the limited-overs game. He has opened in all but seven of his 60 matches, but was always playing second fiddle to Tamim Iqbal. Even when he did well, Imrul always seemed to struggle to pace his innings suitably.Since his debut in 2008, under Mohammad Ashraful and Jamie Siddons, Imrul had developed into an opening batsman who needed to play catch-up at the top level. He had issues dealing with deliveries outside the off stump, especially those angling away. He was comfortable against straight and incoming deliveries, but when bowling attacks figured him out, he looked lost for options.The cut and square-drive were his strengths too, and along with scoring runs in front of square on the leg-side, a big innings depended on finding gaps in these areas. For the first three seasons of his international career, Imrul batted without having too much focus on him; much of the opponents attention when playing Bangladesh circled around Ashraful, Tamim and Shakib Al Hasan.When he lost his form towards the end off 2011, he was swiftly dropped and replaced by seven other openers who were tried with Tamim.dddddddddddd Only Anamul Haque and Shamsur Rahman came close to filling his gap completely but via runs at No. 3 in the Test team, Imrul returned to the ODI squad after more than two years.Though in his return match against Pakistan in March 2014 saw him add 150 for the opening stand with Anamul, the next time he opened was in the 2015 World Cup in place of the injured Anamul. It was a disastrous time for him as he was a mid-tournament replacement with only some domestic innings under his belt. He feared that he was about to be dropped but in 2015, he emerged as an important Test batsman. The fear didnt go away completely as he was in danger of becoming typecast as a Test specialist, a tag that can be career-threatening for any hopes of returning to white-ball cricket.His first attempt at reinventing his game came midway through last years Bangladesh Premier League after he had run into woeful form. He finished off with two rapid fifties, the second of which was in the final where he helped Comilla Victorians to the title.But this latest change in his general outlook is something that has been happening in the background for quite some time. At some point during Bangladeshs long training camp this summer, Hathurusingha told Imrul to think outside his box.The aim was to give Imrul a greater presence at the crease through positive body language, so the coach told him to think of playing the cut and pull off every ball that offers width or is pitched short. At the same time he was encouraged to deal with good balls differently, go for singles or defend with intent, but bad balls, of which there can be plenty, should be hit for fours and sixes.It sounds like a simple message but Imruls career has perhaps changed for good. He has now found success with the new formula so instantaneously that he may not want to go any other way.He can now go after the bowlers in the first Powerplay and, given his experience, knows how to work the ball around when the slower bowlers come on. But with his mindset now reset to a more attacking mode, he will always be ready to put away the bad ball. ' ' '