HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS “It was good to close out a game. I thought it was a solid game pretty much for us, start to finish. Obviously they made it interesting at the end, but I liked the way we finished. I particularly liked the ball movement, to have 28 assists and even in the first half when we weren’t shooting the ball well, we had 13 assists on 16 field goals so that was the one thing that probably stood out the most to me, was how well the ball moved and the way we were able to take advantage of it when it did.” On handling run from NOP late in game after recent struggles late: “Every timeout – we’re very aware of our situation and what’s happened in the past. We don’t dwell on it but we’re certainly aware of it. There was focus, determination that we had to do whatever it took.” On approach to learning from late game struggles lately: “Our focus is on becoming a better fourth quarter defensive team. That’s been something that we’ve talked about this morning at shoot around, not belaboring what’s happened in the past but if we want to become a better team, we have to become a better defensive team in the fourth quarter. There’s going to be ups and downs through the course of a game but the better teams know how to defend in the fourth quarter, they anticipate better, they lock in better, whatever it is – so we really haven’t belabored the past, certainly not during the game, but emphasizing what we need to do, not what we haven’t done.” On Henderson’s game: “It was good to see him get on a roll. His minutes have been kind of up and down but he’s always been ready. He’s capable of doing that. They played a lot of three guard lineups so it was a good matchup for him.” On Plumlee’s game: “The rebounding was very important. I thought that and his passing, just his offensive feel as far as his passing, his rolling to the basket, his finishing at the rim – certainly another double-double for him. He was instrumental in a lot that we did tonight.” MASON PLUMLEE On playing in the middle of the floor offensively: “I think that the biggest thing is just pregame kind of seeing tendencies and how they’re going to play it, if they’re going to tag the roller, if they’re going to have a tight weak side and if they do that, just knowing where the shooters are.” On 6 assists: “Everything was a little in rhythm. I think the guards hit the window in rhythm and then guys hit shots of course too, that helps. A lot of my assists are to the three point line so when guys are shooting well, that’s where you get the numbers.” On what was different down the stretch “I think offensively we executed very well. Instead of settling for tough jumpers, Dame attacked the basket, got to the free throw line. CJ got to the free throw line. We were really aggressive attacking the basket down the stretch.” On mindset going into road trip: “Feeling good, man. It’s an improvement but we have a lot of room to grow and we just have to, win or lose, keep improving. I know the coaches defensively, they know how much better we can be. If we can put together four quarters defensively, I think that would be a step forward.” GERALD HENDERSON Do you feel like you’re figuring out your “I mean, coming in and learning a new offense, it’s challenging. You can know the plays and stuff like that, but it’s just new spots and learning how to play with your teammates is a big thing, where they like the ball and them learning where you like the ball. It’s a very important piece, so I think as time has gone by, practice by practice and game by game, it’s gotten a lot better.” On staying ready despite up and down minutes: “It’s not something I’m used to, but being ready is something I’m always used to. Things have just been different but it’s my job to go out there when I’m chosen to and play my game and do my job.”
HEAD COACH ALVIN GENTRY On blowing their first quarter lead: “Well obviously they were going to make some shots and then we closed out and made some shots. We put ourselves in a position to have and opportunity to win the game but once again we talk about the mistakes that we made and the ones that we made are the ones that we’ve been talking about now for the last month. Until we get that cured we’re not going to win a game, we’re not going to be able to win, and we’re not going to beat teams when we do silly things, it’s just not going to happen. We’ve got to make smart plays and we haven’t done that. We’re playing hard and competing like crazy but it takes more than that to win games. You’ve got to play smart basketball and we’re not playing smart basketball.” On what he was trying to do to tie the game up down the stretch: “Well we wanted to get the ball to Anthony (Davis) number one, I thought he was going pretty good and doing a pretty good job. We struggled to throw the ball into the post to him and we just made a couple of really bad decisions. We made bad decisions and we can’t afford that so at this stage I guess we’ve got to make a decision like that to take him out of the game, it doesn’t matter what stage it’s in or what’s going on.” On their lack of assists: “We didn’t move the ball, no passes, one pass on a shot. We just showed them (the team) tape in Chicago, when we moved the basketball we were really good. We got easy shots, the floor was spread, we were able to set out defense and we didn’t do that. It doesn’t matter what the score is or whatever, we just took away an opportunity for us to win the game. I would like to see a team go out and out-play us and beat us then us be the biggest enemy that we have. That’s what we have got to get over, we got to get by that. We have to get by us causing more damage to ourselves than the other team.” ERIC GORDON On the lack of ball movement: “Yeah it hurt us. That was definitely a major key to the game. When you get the ball moving and everybody is flowing, then it gives you a chance to take over the game. When you’re not moving the ball, you’re taking bad shots and that’s giving Portland options to score. You’re making easy baskets for more opportunities. It’s tough. We know that. We just got to do it.” On what the team could have done better: “We’re a very talented team. I know our record doesn’t show it but we have the weapons to do so. We just got to utilize everybody better and it makes things easier. We’re getting hurt on defense all the time but defensively, we gave us a chance to win. Offensively, we just got too many lapses where we make bad shots, we turn it over, and it just create opportunities for the other team.” ANTHONY DAVIS On what kept the team from getting ahead: “They were making some tough shots. We turned the ball over a little bit down the stretch. They came up with a couple 50/50 balls. That was the game. I think Dame and Crabbe made some shots down the stretch.” On what makes it so tough to win in Portland: “It’s not tough. We just got to be more disciplined. We’re a team that feels like we can win anywhere, whether it’s Portland, Oregon or anywhere else in the league. We just got to stay disciplined and stick with our game.” On what the teams needs to do to turn a corner in the season: “We just have to cut down on mental mistakes. We played great defensively, and then they’d get off on the rebound.”
