The Portland Trail Blazers couldn't turn their season around and now it appears to have cost coach Maurice Cheeks his job.

Tuesday night's 103-93 loss to Detroit put Portland's slump to seven losses in its last nine games. The Blazers are presently in 12th place in the NBA's tough western conference and only eight teams from each conference make the playoffs. There record for the season now stands at 22-33.

Cheeks has been coaching the Trail Blazers since 2001 when he was hired to replace Mike Dunleavy. Last season, Cheeks coached the Blazers to a 41-41 record and they missed the playoffs for the first time in 22 years.

Many experts expected Cheeks to finish out the season with Portland after he was not fired during the All-Star break.

Cheeks's career record as coach of the Blazers is 162-139. He made the playoffs in his first two seasons in Portland but was eliminated in the first round both years.

Kevin Prichard, the Blazers director of player personnel, is expected to take over as interim coach for the remainder of the season.