CHARLOTTE – A Trail Blazers team trying to find itself turned to a familiar tactic Tuesday in an attempt to remedy its season-long malaise: communication.

The Blazers had what more-or-less amounted to a team meeting during a film session before their practice inside Charlotte’s Spectrum Center, during which a handful of players spoke up about specific plays in the team’s humiliating 120-101 loss Monday in Washington.

The meeting included several players pausing the film and speaking about assignments and reads , and included input from six or seven guys, one of which was not captain Damian Lillard.

“As a leader, sometimes you have to just shut up,’’ Lillard said.

A similar meeting was held earlier this season, before a Dec. 19 practice in Sacramento, but players said that meeting was more centered around the mental approach of the team compared to Tuesday’s meeting, which was more centered on tactical issues specific to Monday’s loss in Washington.

“Sacramento wasn’t about film,’’ Mason Plumlee said. “That was just about … I don’t want to say effort, but I think Coach called it ‘mental effort.’ Physically we are exerting ourselves and trying to do the right thing, but we just weren’t playing smart, whether it would be dumb fouls, or not knowing game plan, or not being where supposed to be in offensive set. That meeting was ‘We are not a dumb group, let’s not play like we are dumb.’’’

The Blazers (18-25) players expected to be an upper-echelon team in the Western Conference this season, but they have never won more than three in a row and are fighting with Denver, Sacramento and New Orleans for the eighth and final playoff spot.

Through all of their struggles, the players say that their chemistry – which so greatly defined their surprising rise to a second-round playoff team last season – remains as strong as ever. But that chemistry hasn’t translated to the court, where they have the third worst defensive rating in the league and have had little offensive consistency outside of Lillard and CJ McCollum.

Perhaps trying to capitalize on that chemistry, players said that Coach Terry Stotts encouraged an “open” film session on Tuesday.

The first to talk was Plumlee.

“I encouraged guys to speak, because at first it was slow and kind of quiet,’’ Plumlee said. “I just said, ‘We have to speak up because we got ourselves the record we have right now – so we have to figure out how to get a better one.’’’

From there, players say that Maurice Harkless, Ed Davis, Meyers Leonard, and McCollum all contributed.

“There were so many things that came up from different guys,’’ Lillard said.

Soon, they were talking about the poor defensive positioning that allowed John Wall and Bradley Beal to drive unimpeded to the rim. They were talking about how the bigs could help guards by peeling off a screen and rolling to the rim.

“Basically the same things we’ve been talking about all year,’’ Allen Crabbe said. “We’ve been trying to figure out what the issue is, how we can get better, you know, and this was just us identifying what we need to do.’’

There was more than a hint of frustration in Crabbe’s words. He said he feels like the team has talked enough about improving, and now with 39 games remaining, it’s time to start backing up the talk.

“At this point of the season, man, it’s about us just really just doing it,’’ Crabbe said. “You know, what are we to say, what, a month from now? We going have the same conversation? Then what, then we are going to keep saying the same thing?’’

Plumlee, however, said any time a team communicates it is a good thing and a sign that they are still together. Plus, he said it carries more weight when a player has to verbalize his accountability to the group, rather than watching film and making a mental note of his mistake.

“Honestly, I think it’s good in a group setting to say, ‘I know I messed that up, but I’m not going to do it next time.’ If you just say it in your mind, who did you promise you wouldn’t do that to, just yourself?’’ Plumlee said. “So I believe in team meetings. I believe in talking to each other and trying to figure it out together.’’

To Crabbe’s point, it’s time the Blazers put their talk to action. The first chance will be Wednesday against the Hornets (20-21), who have lost five in a row. In the last two games, losses against Orlando and Washington, the Blazers have trailed 18-1 and 10-0.

“How we respond is big,’’ Plumlee said. “If we come out tomorrow and play well, then this is more meaningful. It’s a better meeting if we win.’’

Notes: The Blazers said center Ed Davis will not play against Charlotte because of his sprained left ankle. Davis played on the injured ankle against Washington, but played just five minutes. “I just wasn’t 100 percent,’’ Davis said. “I was hurting the team and myself by trying to play.’’ Davis said he “for sure” intends to play Thursday in Philadelphia.

Next up: Blazers at Charlotte, 4 p.m. Wednesday (CSN).