HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS “That was a really important win for us, especially fighting back in the second half after getting down early in the second half. After losing three in a row and to gut out an overtime win, it was really important for us.” On going to McCollum late in regulation for tie: “Well Dame was the first look and CJ was the second look. So, we figured if they took away Dame, CJ could get a head of steam going to the basket.” On importance of Davis and bench players: “Ed was terrific. I mean defensively we had a lot of good performances, but Ed’s rebounding defensively. I would like to say defensively, we were doing some switching and Damian held his own against Morris on the block. I thought that was really important for us. Gerald Henderson made some big plays at both ends, he was important for us. We got stops when we needed them. I liked the toughness we showed after kind of getting off to a slow start in the third quarter.” On Henderson’s big block late: “Fantastic. I mean, he’s got a quick jump and he timed that. He got some big rebounds, he was close on a couple other rebounds, but his explosiveness and his ability to make plays like that is impressive and that was a great example of it.” On bench contributions: “You look at particularly Ed, Gerald and Meyers, the minutes that they played were really important for us. You look at the plus minus and how well they did when they were on the court. When you have a win like this, you can go up and down the roster and whether it was CJ’s shot at the end of regulation or Damian’s 41 and 11 or Ed and what he did, you have a tendency to look at all the positives when you have a game like this.” On defending Wall: “He is such a blur pushing in transition and if we were able to get back and at least play against half court defense, that gave us at least a chance. I was disappointed with our transition defense particularly in the first half but we just tried to show him a crowd and make him shoot contested shots. As it was, he still hit some big threes.”
CJ McCOLLUM: On play to tie game late in regulation: “They were denying Dame, so we ended up calling a timeout. I knew it was going to be tough for him to get the ball so coach drew up a play for Meyers to get the ball to me to get a handoff and then just make a play. I’ve got confidence in myself down the stretch to make shots no matter how I’m playing in the game. Dame and the rest of the guys are confident in me. Even when I’m struggling, he always says you’re going to hit a big shot down the stretch so I’m not worried about it. Tonight, I hit a big one.” Did it feel good to get the call and make it? “Yeah, I mean, this is what I pride myself on – making big shots, being able to step up when it’s needed. Dame carried us throughout the entire night and when they denied him, I tried to come up big for us and I did. I shot an air ball, after a pump fake, I’ve got to make that shot. But overall, I thought it was a good, productive night. We competed, we blew a lead, we gained the lead and we held them off.” How big was this one? “It’s big, man. I think we’ve got sixth place right now. Utah lost tonight. So we’re just trying to continue to stay ahead in the standings, win at home and take care of business each and every night.” Do you think this game showcased your balance? “Yeah, I mean we have a really solid team. A lot of guys are unsung heroes so to speak and do the little things. Ed is a guy who has done little things all year, finishes around the basket, blocks shots in big games, especially that Chicago game, and then he had some huge rebounds tonight. Then [Gerald Henderson], defensive has been very active and offensively, always aggressive attacking the rim. That’s what we need, we need guys to do what they do well and continue to contribute each and every night and come up big.”
HEAD COACH RANDY WITTMAN On what happened down the stretch: “In an overtime game you can’t have 12 missed free throws and give up 18 second chance points. We talk about the same things over and over again. We defend, give them two or three opportunities and it comes down to a tight game. 12 free throws. We’ve got to step up, we’re constantly 9, 10, 11 missed free throws and rebounding. That’s kind of what it comes down to.” On if there was an explanation to Alan Anderson getting ejected: “No.” On giving up their double digit lead in the 3rd quarter: “We got up 13 and gave it away in minutes, again. That’s where we’ve got to methodically push it, a point here and there or more instead of giving it away back to them in a matter of three or four minutes.” On Henderson’s inbounds play: “6.7 seconds. Our guys timed it three times and that was the low of the three times timed, 6.7. What are you going to do? They don’t want to call a five second call, can’t do anything about it but it was 6.7.”
JARED DUDLEY On why he thinks they lost: “I think over time, I think they made the winning plays. Ed Davis was huge getting the offensive rebounds, getting the extra possessions to be able to get there. I thought for the most part, we guarded pretty well. I just think the extra offensive rebounds for us was crucial, especially in that fourth quarter into overtime. In a game of spurts like the NBA, they came out hit ‘em, we fought back. In the fourth quarter, we had a chance to win the game multiple times. On stops, we couldn’t get it. We couldn’t get the bucket in the end, and that’s what happens in this league. We didn’t do that, and this one hurts a little bit.” On what he thought he could have done better: “Any time you look back at the game, you see what you could have done. One of them was the free throw line, another one was offensive rebounds, another one might have been turnovers, but for us, I look at it like it was a one possession game. I mean I hit a three, we have a chance to get a stop—we don’t. John hits a three, we have a chance to get a stop and we have a chance to win the game. So we can look back at free throws. They can look back on stuff. But to me, it’s just a one possession game here.” On the refs’ calls: “I thought we let it get to us in that third quarter, we were up 10 or 11. The refs made questionable calls in the game on both teams, so I’m not going to single them out for that. But for us, holding your composure. You’re on the road, you’re expected to get the short end of the whistle. If we were at home, I’d expect them to. I thought overall, we held it. They came back, which they’re going to do with this good crowd at home. We fought back and forth, and the fourth quarter, like I said, one possession game.”
TEAM • Portland has now won 15 of its past 20 games dating back to Jan. 23. • The Trail Blazers improved to 12-3 in their past 15 games played at the Moda Center. • Portland is now 2-2 in overtime games this season, and 16-6 since Terry Stotts took over as the team’s head coach in 2012-13. • Portland shot 10-of-24 from beyond the arc, marking its sixth consecutive game with 10+ three-point field goals. That is the second longest streak in franchise history (7, 12/22/14 to 1/5/15). • Portland is 9-2 at home against the Wizards since the start of the 2005-06 season. • This is the first time that the Trail Blazers have won consecutive games against the Wizards since they won three straight from 3/25/08 to 1/24/09.
PLAYER • Tonight, Damian Lillard became just the third player in NBA history with at least 1,500 points and 400 assists in each of his first four seasons (L. James, O. Robertson). Lillard is the 20th player in NBA history to score 1,500 points in each of his first four seasons. • Damian Lillard (41 points tonight) is only the second Trail Blazer to score 1,500 points in each of his first four seasons (Wicks, 1971-75). • With 41 points, Damian Lillard has now scored at least 20 points in a career-high 15 consecutive games. That’s the longest streak for any Trail Blazer since Brandon Roy scored 20+ in 15 straight contests from 12/1/09 to 1/2/10. • Damian Lillard became the fifth player in franchise history to score at least 20 points in 15 consecutive games. • Damian Lillard dished out 11 assists (402 for the season), making him the first Trail Blazer ever to record at least 400 assists in each of his first four seasons. • Damian Lillard has now recorded four games with at least 30 points and 10 assists this season. Only James Harden and Russell Westbrook have more (6). • Damian Lillard recorded his second game this season (third career) with at least 40 points and 10 assists. He joins James Harden (4) as the only NBA players with multiple games of 40+ points and 10+ assists this season. • Damian Lillard logged 41 points and 11 assists for his 14th double-double of the season. That is twice as many as any other year of his NBA career (7, 2012-13). • CJ McCollum (2-5 3-PT) has matched his career-high of six consecutive games with multiple three-point field goals. McCollum has shot 15-of-27 from beyond the arc over the past six games. • Damian Lillard (41 pts) and CJ McCollum (18 pts) outscored John Wall and Garrett Temple, 59-28, marking the sixth time in the past seven games that Portland’s duo has outscored the opposing starting backcourt. • Ed Davis hauled in 15 rebounds (five offensive) to match a season-high (Nov. 20 vs. LAC). • Damian Lillard made each of his first five shots tonight (3-3 3-PT), and scored or assisted on nine of Portland’s first 10 field goals.
Also of note, in 58 games this season, Damian Lillard has scored more points and dished out more assists than LeBron James has in 60 games. Damian Lillard 2015-2016: Games: 58 Points: 1511 Points per Game: 26.1 Assists: 402 Assists per Game:6.9 LeBron James 2015-2016: Games: 60 Points: 1493 Points per Game: 24.9 Assists: 396 Assists per Game: 6.6 And yet, he's not an All-Star. I know the fans will always vote him in, but can you imagine the outrage if LeBron James was left off the All-Star team. Yes, LeBron is a better rebounder and much better defender, but his team, in spite of being in first place in the Eastern Conference is considered to be underachieving and fired their coach. Lillard's team is overachieving and considered the surprise success story of the 2015-2016 season. And yet he's not an All-Star. BNM
Do the numbers up to the All-Star break. Without looking, I would think you are going to get a different result. I was pissed off Lillard didn't make it like almost all fans in here. It was a travesty with no excuse. It has been without a doubt the best thing for Lillard's stats and our team that he didn't however. He probably just made himself a crap-ton more on his contract as well with that fuel for the fire when he gets 2nd or 3rd team all nba this off-season.
Sour fucking grapes. Every team takes more than 5 seconds to inbound the ball multiple times in every game.
Damian Lillard 2015-2016 (Pre All-Star Game): Games: 47 Points: 1142 Points per Game: 24.3 Assists: 344 Assists per Game: 7.3 LeBron James 2015-2016 (Pre All-Star Game): Games: 51 Points: 1275 Points per Game: 25.0 Assists: 333 Assists per Game: 6.5 So, slight edge to LeBron in scoring and edge to Dame in assists. But, it's much closer than you probably thought. Since when did being better than LeBron become a requirement for making the All-Star team? I would think almost as good as LeBron would be enough to make the team. Lillard was 6th in the league in scoring at the time the All-Star reserves were announced - the only player in the top 15 in scoring that didn't make the team. It was a HUGE snub at the time. His recent scoring binge has not changed that fact - only brought it to the attention of more folks in the national media (and hence, the general public). His recent performance will have zero impact on Lillard's contract. He signed a max. extension last fall. He is, and will be, for the foreseeable future, a max. contract player. Where this will help is his national endorsements. Being featured on Sports Center and NBA Game Time every night will get the attention of advertising executives and land him more big money national endorsement deals. Good for him! He's earned it. He's a great player, a great teammate, a great success story, very humble, hard working, driven to succeed, well spoken and very likable. BNM
Yes Lillard deserved to be an all-star but so did Paul, Curry and Westbrook, and their teams had much better records. Maybe another guard (Lillard) would have gotten on if the fans weren't stupid and voted Kobe in.
If he makes an all-NBA team this year, his max contract starting point goes from 25% to 30% of the cap. So (assuming a $90M cap in 2016-17), if he doesn't make an all NBA team this year, his 5 year extension will be worth $129M; if he does, it will be worth $155M.
His contract jumps if he makes All-NBA this year per the "Derrick Rose rule". Edit: I see PltdPlatypus beat me to the punch on this.
Kobe was voted in as a forward. So, that's a non-argument. Did Klay deserve it over Dame? Maybe GSW deserved three all stars and Portland none based on team success, but Lillard had much better individual stats. And, if we go by team success, did Harden, of the severely underachieving and functionalist Rockets, deserve it over Lillard? I doubt if the fans want to see non-stop flopping and a parade to the FT line during the all-star game. And, in today's NBA, where the game is more and more dominated by guard play, did all of Aldridge, Cousins and Anthony Davis deserve it over Lillard? Davis and Cousins play on shitty non-playoff teams and Lillard has much better stats and is a shot load more fun to watch that Aldridge. Portland bias and Aldridge hate aside, how many non-local fans tune into nationally televised games beause they can't wait to see LaMarcus Aldridge hoist up mid-range jumpers on his way to another mind-numbingly boring 16 PT/8 REB game? BNM
Whatever he was voted in as, the point remains he was taking a roster spot, and the next in line to make the team I think would have been Lillard regardless, so I think it is an argument. Yes. If you want to use the argument that Lillard had better stats than Klay, then you have to use the argument with Harden, who had better stats than Lillard and with essentially the same record at the time. Didn't you just get done telling me that Kobe was a forward so that's a non-argument? I wanted Dame to be on the allstar team too, but other than Kobe I don't have a problem with anyone else who made the team. Someone had to get left off.
Why? Being the 3rd best player on a team with a better record? At the break: Damian Lillard: 24.3 ppg 4.4 rpg 7.3 apg Klay Thompson: 21.3 ppg 3.7 rpg 2.2 apg Advanced stats for the season (since I don't know where to find pre/post All-Star advanced stats): Damian Lillard: PER = 23.7 OWS = 6.9 DWS = 1.3 WS =8.2 WS/48 = .188 OBPM = 6.9 DBPM = -2.0 BPM = 4.9 VORP = 3.7 Klay Thompson: PER = 18.1 OWS = 3.8 DWS = 1.9 WS =5.8 WS/48 = .139 OBPM = 2.4 DBPM = -2.2 BPM = 0.3 VORP =1.1 Anyone who thinks Klay Thompson is a better player than Damian Lillard is wrong. Anyone who thinks Thompson is more valuable to the Warriors than Lillard is to the Blazers is wrong. Anyone who voted for Klay Thompson to be an All-Star over Damian Lillard was wrong. And, that includes team record. Replace Thompson with an average NBA shooting guard, and the Warriors are probably still the best team in the NBA, certainly top 3. Replace Damian Lillard with an average NBA point guard, and the Blazers are deep in the lottery, one of the worst teams in the entire league. The Rockets have severely underachieved and the Blazers have severely overachieved. Since when do we reward people for underachievement? The Rockets went to the Western Conference Finals last year and were expected to be a top 4 seed in the West. At the All Star break, they were sitting at the 9th seed and the most dysfunctional team in the league. The Blazers were expected to win 26 games and be one of the worst teams in the league. They were 7th in the West at the break. In spite of his individual stats, Harden shares blame in Houston's dysfunction and underachievement. The Blazers are the biggest surprise success story in the league this season, and Lillard deserves a lot of credit for the team exceeding expectations. Honestly, Harden was going to get in based on past reputation as the best SG in the league, regardless of his stats or his team's record. Yes, I was the one that corrected your error that Lillard got left of the All-Star team because Kobe was voted in as a guard. It doesn't matter what position Kobe plays, he was voted in by the fans, not the coaches so it has nothing to do with Lillard's snub. You expect the fans to be stupid. You expect the coaches, who vote on the reserves, to know better. BNM
The Blazers weren't overachieving much when the all star reserves were voted on. Dame has played like an MVP candidate since the break but his defense is poor and the west was just loaded. It's funny to say he's not an Allstar now with what he and the team have done the last two months but at the time it was understandable. In the east he makes it no question or if the Blazers had the record then they have now he makes it. Allstar teams are also about the previous season as much as the current. Hell they start voting in what November? LaMarcus got snubbed his first year when he was LaMonster but makes it this year for the last time when he probably doesn't deserve it. Harden was an MVP candidate last year so he gets some carry over votes. Just how it works. Dame likely makes a team in his 30's he won't deserve.
They're on a record pace, I don't think it's outrageous to include one of the top SG's in the league. It's not about why Kobe got on the team (fans or coaches), it's the fact he got on at all that I believe ended up costing Lillard a roster spot, because he definitely seems like the biggest snub. I'm sorry you disagree and think anyone who disagrees with you is automatically wrong. Some players got in over Lillard because of team record (Klay, Aldridge), some because of stats or name recognition (Harden), some because they simply needed a third guy on the team over 6 feet 9 inches (Cousins). If I were a coach I'd absolutely have voted Lillard in, but I'm at least open-minded enough to understand the rest of the choices.
