MEMPHIS -- Damian Lillard was locked in at long last. This was the stingy and smothering laser-like All-Star effort we'd been promised all week by the guard. It was the defensive performance of a lifetime.

Here was Lillard late Sunday night, long after the Blazers Game 1 loss against the Memphis Grizzlies, shutting down the scrutiny, one dress sock at a time. He'd already toweled off like a retiree watching a sunset. Now, the Blazers All-Star guard sat on a folding chair, back to the room, checking text messages.

It was so crowded with media in Lillard's corner of the locker room that when guard Steve Blake emerged from the showers he had to dispatch a locker room attendant through the mob of cameras to retrieve his clothes. Also, during the Lillard filibuster a reporter from TNT asked Chris Kaman if he wouldn't mind giving the network a quote, as Lillard was about to bleed their deadline out.

Kaman obliged and left. Blake eventually dressed, conducted an interview and left the room. So did the rest of the Blazers teammates. One by one, from Robin Lopez to Nic Batum to Wesley Matthews and back, the Blazers absorbed the disappointment and disappeared out the locker room doors.

Lillard?

He pulled on his slacks, then turned and just stood for a while. Eventually, on came the dress shirt. Then his jacket. And as he finally turned, apparently ready to face questions about what must have been a frustrating night, the camera lights went on, and Lillard announced, "I'll be right back." He walked past cameras and microphones, back into the shower area to check his hair and put on some chap stick.

By now, you know that the Blazers were pasted 100-86 in the opening stanza of this best-of-seven series. You also know that Lillard was outplayed not only by Memphis point guard Michael Conley but by a left-handed back-up named Beno Udrih who has a sneaker deal with an apparel company named Peak shoes.

Maybe Lillard should try on a pair of those for Game 2?

Conley had 16 points. Udrih scored 20 without a single turnover. Lillard meanwhile missed 16 of his 21 shots and struggled to defend either of the Grizzlies guards. And when Lillard eventually did talk he maintained, "I don't feel like we laid an egg," but it was evident to anyone who watched that Portland did exactly that.

After the game, Conley said his foot (Plantar fasciitis) hurt so bad it felt like there was a golf ball in the bottom of his shoe. After one game, it's the limping Conley who holds the title of the best starting point guard in this series. And unless Lillard evens that score 1-1 on Wednesday, the Blazers are going to soon be facing a demoralizing first-round hole.

"I don't feel like we have anything to lose," Lillard said. "Nobody is saying we're going to win this series. We need to play hard. We need to play free.

"We just gotta hoop."

So what are the Blazers waiting for? More specifically, what is Lillard waiting for? Because for all the talk in the run-up to Game 1 about better defense, he was not better. He pouted at times, and there was a discussion in the locker room between Lillard, Kaman and CJ McCollum on confusion with rotations. And for all those carefully monitoring what should have been a knockout advantage at the point guard position, it was Lillard who got KO'ed by Conley and Udrih.

"We did what we wanted to do," Lillard said. "We probably let Beno get too many mid-range shots... they just outplayed us."

Enough talk. Enough with the peddling of sneakers. Enough with the promises that he'll finally begin playing defense. This is the playoffs, and unless the Blazers get big games from Lillard, they're toast.

The Blazers have a laminated motivational card affixed to the television monitor in the visiting locker room. It's titled, "We are Rip City." It lists all the ways in which the No. 4 seed Blazers will find a way to win this series against the No. 5 Grizzlies. It begins with "We will be tougher," and ends with, "Staying together through adversity." But the middle part is what has to alarm anyone following this matchup closely.

Because that middle section included such oddities as, "We don't lose to Spanish players," and "Nobody can beat us eight times in one year." Also, it includes a vow to, "Win the dog fight," and, "We will play as a team and outwork Memphis each and every night." Also, "We are better when we come to play," and a promise to be, "(Expletives) on defense."

Instead, Portland was mostly a sloppy pushover.

Also, the Blazers just lost their fifth straight to Marc Gasol (See: Spanish player).

The card even has a section that includes "LA" and "Dame," and nobody should be surprised by that. After all, it's those two who are charged with turning a playoff series into a playoff run. Lillard gets a wide berth in Portland, but he doesn't get a free pass. He stunk in Game 1.

Lillard was calculated in trying to wait out as many of the media as possible after a performance that included an 0 for 6 night behind the three-point arc. It was a thing of beauty, watching that same player pull out the four-corners offense with the buttons on his shirt. But it's the wrong sort of defense to be playing.

--- @JohnCanzanoBFT