HOUSTON — When the 20-minute postgame cooling-off period ended Friday night and the doors to the Portland Trail Blazers’ locker room at Toyota Center were scheduled to swing open, a curious thing happened.

The doors remained closed.

After enduring their first blowout defeat of the season — a 140-116 beatdown at the hands of the red-hot Houston Rockets — the Blazers decided it was time to gather for a quick players-only chat.

“Sometimes,” Deni Avdija said, “we’ve got to talk with each other. We’re like family here. And families have to say what’s on their mind.”

Besides, there was plenty to talk about. The Blazers (6-6) were bludgeoned by Houston, which outplayed, outworked and outclassed them in every way imaginable before a sellout crowd of 18,055. For the first time all season,

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