When Jusuf Nurkic went down with a horrific season-ending injury last March, the Portland Trail Blazers could have gone down with him.

Despite clinching a playoff berth on the same night of Nurkic’s injury, the Blazers appeared destined for an early exit in the postseason after losing their starting center. But Portland had other plans. The Blazers won seven of their final nine regular season games before going on to make an incredible run to the Western Conference finals last spring.

But with their backs against the wall this season, the Blazers have struggled to rise to the occasion.

The Blazers won just three of 14 games from Oct. 18 to Nov. 23 after losing starting power forward Zach Collins to shoulder surgery three games into the season. Portland managed to make some strides as the team gained consistency in the starting lineup following the signing of Carmelo Anthony in November, but the Blazers were dealt another massive blow Friday when starting small forward Rodney Hood ruptured his Achilles tendon.

In their first game since Hood’s injury, the Blazers (9-15) lacked energy as they suffered a costly loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder at the Moda Center Sunday in what should have been a winnable game.

“We’re just having a hard time,” said Blazers guard Damian Lillard after the game. "I don’t really have an explanation where I can tell you a list of things. It’s things that I feel and I see. We aren’t doing well enough. We’re not the same team (as last year). That’s as simple as I can put it to you right now. We’re not that same team and we haven’t figured it out. We’re a work in progress, obviously.”

Any team would struggle to overcome the injuries that the Blazers have been forced to navigate this season. Nurkic remains out until February. Collins isn’t expected to return to the floor until March. Hood is out for the season. Portland was also forced to waive center Pau Gasol last month after it became clear that his recovery from foot surgery was taking longer than anticipated.

But on Sunday, Lillard wasn’t just frustrated that the short-handed Blazers lost to Oklahoma City. He was frustrated with the lack of urgency that Portland displayed in the game.

“Our energy was low, and they started playing with more belief and more conviction,” Lillard said. "We put ourselves in that position by how we came out and it’s just frustrating to do that when we’re in the situation that we’re in. I felt like no team should be more urgent than us. No team should be more locked in and sharp than us. I think for us, that’s the most frustrating part.”

Lillard refused to use Hood’s injury as an excuse for Portland’s performance Sunday night, even though the Blazers had less than 48 hours to process the loss of their starting small forward before taking the court against the Thunder. Lillard said that Hood was on his mind when he saw his teammate in a couple of clips while watching film before the game, but also said he didn’t think that the team was overly focused on Hood’s absence once they took the court.

“We’re professionals so we should be able to take the hand we’ve been dealt and figure it out and make it work,” Lillard said. “I do think myself, CJ (McCollum), (Kent Bazemore), Melo, all the guys who have been around, it does start with us (setting the tone). But it’s a collective thing."

On Monday, the Blazers had a long film session before taking the court for practice at their training facility in Tualatin. They talked about the poor start and the lack of execution in Sunday’s game, but they didn’t single any players out.

“If we’re going to struggle for the rest of the season, let’s struggle together, let’s be together and let’s continue to improve every day," Lillard said. “You’re not going to have a chance at all if you start talking about this person ain’t doing this and that person ain’t doing that... For me, it’s just what my message is to the team in huddles, when something needs to be said in film, what I say in those situations, how I respond to our coaches. I think those small things are how you keep going in the right direction and how you keep battling because I don’t think s*** can get much worse for us at this point."

As bad as things have gone, it is still too early to write the Blazers off this season.

Portland had nearly an identical record early in the 2015-16 season after undergoing significant turnover in the offseason, posting just 10 wins in their first 24 games. But the Blazers recovered in the second half of the year to finish fifth in the Western Conference before making a run to the Western Conference semifinals.

Still, if the Blazers want to have a similar turnaround this season, they need to start making the most of winnable games, especially at home. Portland will have a big opportunity to right the ship at home Tuesday when they host the lowly New York Knicks, who currently have the worst record in the NBA.

But even against the NBA’s bottom-dweller, Lillard doesn’t want his team to take anything for granted. With the season on the brink, the Blazers need to come out Tuesday with the urgency they lacked in Sunday’s game.

“We’ve shown we can compete and play with really good teams and we can also lose to teams that are at the bottom,” Lillard said. "We don’t have the luxury of not approaching games with the right mentality and not being focused and locked in. With that being said, who are we to look down on the Knicks or expect to just walk in and beat the Knicks. Along those same lines, every game is important, so we got every reason to come in the right way.”

-- Jamie Goldberg | jgoldberg@oregonian.com

503-853-3761 | @jamiebgoldberg

Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox.