HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS “Well, it’s certainly disappointing to be 0-3 in the series. Obviously our backs are against the wall and our focus is going to be on getting a win on Monday.” Do you feel like Aldridge is getting good looks? “He’s getting the same shots that he gets throughout the year, whether its pick and pops or post ups, I thought he had a lot of good looks in the first half. Especially his first two, they were shots you live with. He takes 18 shots and I know he gets a lot of attention, defensive attention, and some of them are going to be tough shots but he’s been doing that all year for us.” On cutting lead to 3 late and having a chance: “We had the momentum, we hit the shot and the crowd was behind us. I thought it was going to be one of those games where we find a way to pull it out. We’ve done it many times this year and I thought this was going to be another one of them.” On defense tonight: “I thought the second half was good. I was very disappointed in the first half, to give up 30 points in the paint when essentially they didn’t have any put back points or transition points per se. To give up that many points in the paint, I didn’t think we controlled the ball very well and that’s not just on the perimeter, as a group we didn’t do what we needed to do. The second half, we tightened things up and I thought Memphis made a lot of tough shots in the second half.” On feeling moving forward: “The focus is on getting a win on Monday.” With energy in the building, were you surprised by slow start? “I don’t know, it depends on what you categorize as a slow start. I thought we came out with good energy. We missed some shots that you think that we’re going to make. I thought we had good energy/. The crowd was fantastic. It felt like a really good playoff atmosphere and it wasn’t so much a slow start as I thought missing some shots.” NICOLAS BATUM On team’s performance defensively: “We had a good start, we tried to stay in the game and they had a good run in the first half. The second quarter, they scored 38 points in one quarter. We can’t do that against this team. They’re on the road, we’re down 2-0, we can’t do that. We can’t let a team score almost 40 points in a quarter when we’re down 2-0. So the game was in that quarter – again, the first two games, we also had the second quarter, so we have to fix that for Monday.” On performance tonight: “I just tried to play. Just play and have pride. We’re down 3-0. We just have to keep fighting, we can’t give up. We can’t give up, we know it’s been tough here for us especially the last two months. It’s been a great year, but it’s been tough the last two months. We just have to play, just have to keep playing.” Did you feel like you were in good shape when you cut lead to 3 late? “Yeah, we tried to get back in the game. The crowd was into it. We never give up. We keep fighting like I said. IN the end, they made plays. Marc made big shot, and they stayed calm and kept their composure. This is a good team. They didn’t panic. They just kept playing and made good plays.”
HEAD COACH DAVE JOERGER “Good game for us. We had some great performances. Nick Calathus came off and gave us a big boost tonight. Marc Gasol knockded some shots down coming down the stretch. I have a lot of respect for Portland, for the arena, for the tradition that’s here and a lot of that is from my time with Lionel Hollins. To come in here and get a win in this kind of environment is a big win for our guys. For Mike to go down in the course of the game, I do not know what his status is at this point, and same thing with Beno Udrih. We’ll see if he can go Monday or not. A good team win for us. We knocked down free throws. I thought we had a nice edge with a 12 point lead there when Marc hit a big shot, and then we just kind of got in prevent mode and they shot six layups in a row coming down the last two minutes, but we made our free throws, didn’t throw the ball away and took care of it at the end.” On offensive balance: “It was good. The ball was really moving for us. We’ve been working on it and working on it and it really paid dividends for us. We get slow and we can be kind of a one or two trick pony, so the ball was moving. Courtney Lee gets off to a good quick start with 10 in the first quarter. We kept our turnovers down again tonight. A big key for us, not allowing them second chance extra opportunities. They had five offensive rebounds tonight as well. By and large, especially in the first half, I don’t think they had a fast break point. They got a bunch of them in the second half, but by and large I thought we got back pretty well. IT’s always about easy baskets – who can get them and who can prevent them.” On Calathes coming in and contributing: “I thought he stood in and took a couple shots where they dared him to shoot threes, knocked down a couple threes. They played off of him and he did not settle and he got curls with the basketball and got to the lane and got a couple layups and they played him honest a little bit more. I thought his composure was tremendous… He didn’t have a turnover, so to come in cold, get 13 points, 3 assists, no turnovers and run the club – he’s played in a lot of big games, you can tell – international competyitions that he’s played in – he’s a very, very solid NBA point guard. I’m really happy for him and the locker room is very happy for him as well.” Marc Gasol On Mike Conley: “He was a little dizzy but he’s okay. He got up and talked and was led back to the locker room, that’s when I saw him. I hope he’ll be okay.” On possibly being without two of their point guards on Monday for game 4: “I feel confident, I feel confident in us. We have Nick [Calathes] and Russ [Smith], guys that work hard all year to get this chance to play, especially playing in a situation that we’re in right now in the playoffs. That’s where everybody should want to play and I know they’re ready. Without Mike [Conley], without Beno [Udrih], I know how competitive we are and I’m sure guys are going to be ready.”
