The Los Angeles Clippers pocketed the first win of the season, walking over the Portland Trail Blazers 116-86 at Staples Center on Monday.

Paul George did not score like it was a win-or-go-home game for the Clippers because he didn't have to. Luke Kennard went 6-7 from downtown to drop a court-high 23 points. In fact, the win came so easily that none of the Clippers played more than 27 minutes. Meanwhile, the whole team had 21 steals and 37 assists. The game entered garbage time in the middle of the third quarter.

"If I make two or three in a row, I'm really looking to be aggressive the next shot or two. Guys were looking for me, especially in the transition. That's where I try to sneak around the defense," said Kennard after the game.

To be fair, the Clippers did not necessarily perform better in Sunday's win than they did in the previous two losses. Their two playmakers Reggie Jackson and George were combined 12-36 in field goals (FGs) and 5-23 in triples. New member Eric Bledsoe only made two FGs to get five points, five rebounds and seven assists.

However, they still won, partly because their opponents were simply so disappointing. The Trail Blazers were 8-37 from the arc after Damian Lillard missed all his eight 3-pointer attempts. The team only delivered a total of 15 assists but committed 30 turnovers.

It's still too early to pronounce the final verdict on the Blazers for the season but they have been struggling trying to carry out the changes Chauncy Billups, the team's new head coach, want for Rip City.

The Trail Blazers' games have been quite simple offensive and defensive in nature since 2013. Give the ball to Lillard and set screen for him was the signature of the team's offense. On defense, Jusuf Nurkic rarely stepped out of the paint even if that meant allowing open 3-pointers for Stephen Curry.

These are undoubtedly flawed styles but Portland never missed the playoffs for the past eight straight years. Last season, their offensive rating of 117.8 was the second-best in the league.

Billups replaced Terry Stotts as the head coach with new concepts of game-playing for the team. Offensively, he wanted them to share the ball more often instead of relying on Lillard and C.J. McCollum to score. On defense, Billups asked Nurkic to come to the high post and pressure the ball-handler in screen plays.

Before we can judge whether Billups' reforms are correct or not, the clearest consequence of following his instructions was that the Trail Blazers lost their pace of the game. Lillard has been one of the most productive scorers in the NBA and his play is built on taking enough attempts to find rhythm. Making him to give the ball out and play like Curry is a big challenge for the 31-year-old super scorer.

The rest of the team was not used to the new style either. When Nassir Little or Robert Covington had to hold the ball and tried to make play, they created some truly ugly scenes for the eye.

Nurkic was feeling uncomfortable too on defense. As a 2.11-meter-tall, 131-kilogram big man, he could hardly move fast enough to follow perimeter players, not to mention to return to the paint. That explained why the Clippers were able to waltz in and score easy points under the rim in so many occasions. When it had to be Lillard or McCollum switching to protect them hoop for Portland, you know something had badly gone wrong defensively.

Perhaps Billups proposed his reforms taking consideration of how modern basketball is played but his team will go through a lot pain implementing the changes he wanted and not necessarily grow better.

First 4-winning-streak for LaVine and Bulls in a long time

The Chicago Bulls beat the Toronto Raptors 111-108 at Scotiabank Arena on Sunday to claim their fourth straight win.

That's the longest winning streak for the team at the beginning of the season since the 1996-97 season and the first one for their ace Zach LaVine who joined the league in 2015 and was traded to Chicago in 2017.

LaVine was not the best performer on the floor after going 7-16 in FGs and 3-7 in triples. DeMar DeRozan put down 26 points, six assists and was 10-10 at the free throw line to get 26 points for the Bulls. Nikola Vucevic, the third member of the team's Big 3, got 17 points, eight rebounds and three steals.

Lonzo Ball was still the Bulls' best 3-point shooter and he drained five shots from downtown. Alex Caruso contributed four steals off the bench, averaging 3.25 steals in the four games so far.

The above five are likely to make the team's final squad for clutch time of the game. It's far from perfect but that's the best they have now. Ball and Caruso plus Vucevic offer defensive aggressiveness while LaVine and DeRozan take over the offense. The Bulls are now leading the league (4-0) before the true test takes place.

The Raptors suffered their third loss of the season after four games despite the incredible double-double of 15 points and 17 assists by Fred VanVleet. The team does not have a clear target for the season considering their roster so they can focus on helping the young talents they have, namely Scottie Barnes, grow.

Other games on Monday (away teams come first):

Milwaukee Bucks 119-109 Indiana Pacers

Detroit Pistons 104-122 Atlanta Hawks

Washington Wizards 90-104 Brooklyn Nets

Orlando Magic 90-107 Miami Heat

New Orleans Pelicans 107-98 Minnesota Timberwolves

Cleveland Cavaliers 99-87 Denver Nuggets