Sunday, November 13, 2016 Final Score: POR 112, DEN 105 POR POR HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS “I was really glad with how we responded after halftime. The first half was very disappointing. Denver outplayed us, they outhustled us. We were able to make some hustle plays at the end of the first half that got us back into it, but I liked the way we responded after halftime. The third quarter was terrific at both ends and obviously set the tone for getting the win.” Was it nice to play a game that wasn’t decided by three points or less? “Honestly it doesn’t matter as long as we win.” What did you say at halftime? “We talked about defense.” “Mostly effort, mental engagement, being locked in.” How concerned are you about the rebounding? “Well, I’m concerned – but Denver’s an excellent rebounding team, so it’s their strength. I thought we, surprisingly, we had the same amount of second chance points as they did. So they kind of got them in bursts right at the beginning of each half, which was a little demoralizing, but that was their strength. When you’re playing an NBA team you try to minimize their strengths, but we didn’t do a good job with that.” What did you like from Evan’s performance? “I thought he played an all-around good game. I thought he took the challenge defensively with Chandler and Gallinari. I thought he was aggressive with the drives. I though this shots were good, he didn’t necessarily shoot it well but I thought his shots were good. I thought he played with a good flow. Probably Moe getting in early foul trouble allowed him to be out there with some of the starters, maybe that helped a little bit. I thought, again, we’ve talked about this before – not just looking at shooting percentages as defining how somebody played, so I thought he played a very good game.” DAMIAN LILLARD What was the message from coach at halftime? “He got after us. He pretty much told us what we were doing was unacceptable and we can’t keep doing it, putting ourselves in that position and not playing as smart as we’re capable of, not playing as hard at times as we need to be to give ourselves a chance. Like I said, he got on us. He yelled at us a little bit. It’s up to us to go out there and answer the call and I thought we did a great job of responding.” Was message about defense? “It was defensive-based – our communication, just our presence on that end of the floor wasn’t up to par. I thought it showed and at times it was embarrassing in the first half with the way the game was going and how they did what they wanted to do. They got offensive rebounds. He addressed it and we went out there and like I said, responded to what he said at halftime.” Was it nice to get extra rest in the fourth quarter? “Yeah, you know we really turned the tide in the third quarter. We got after them on the defensive end and I think they scored 15 points. We got deflections, we pushed the ball at them, we made them uncomfortable, we got our in transition, we got good shots and we took over the game. I was proud of us putting a full quarter together. We didn’t get to five minutes and then let them go on a run. It was pressure the entire quarter and we got up, held it down in the fourth quarter as well and I thought I was done. I had never sat that long and then went back in the game. I think it was like three minutes and I went back in and I was like, I’m going back in? They hit a few shots, but it was good to just sit and watch I guess. I thought our team did a good job tonight.” Did you see killer instinct you wanted to see? “I wouldn’t even call that killer instinct because we were down. We had to come back and show that fight and put ourselves in position to take it home. As far as just keeping that distance, even at the end when they started hitting some shots, you knew the game was pretty much out of reach – I was proud of the way we handled that lead once we built it up in the third quarter.”
HEAD COACH MICHAEL MALONE On his team’s play in the third quarter: “It wasn’t just the defense, in the third quarter we had nine turnovers. When you give up nine turnovers in the third quarter for 14 points, that’s going to put your defense at a disadvantage. Great first half, solid fourth quarter. I’m very proud of our young guys, who competed and played the game the right way. Disappointing third quarter effort, but give them credit. They came out, punched us in our mouth, and we never responded.” On Emmanuel Mudiay struggling on offense tonight: “I think he has to make plays for others. He got 16 shots up and zero assists. When you’re our starting point guard we need you to run the offense and get guys involved. I’m sure they keyed in on him a little bit, but if your shots not falling, you have to find other ways to impact the game.” On guarding CJ McCollum and Damian Lillard: “It’s just a team effort. They run a lot of screens for those guys. McCollum shoots 7 of 23 and Lillard shoots 7 of 18, that’s pretty good. One area where we struggled was defending without fouling. Lillard shoots 15 of 15 from the foul line. I thought we did a decent job on those guys, they’re a heck of a backcourt and one of the highest scoring combos in the league.” JAMAL MURRAY On the game: “They came into the 3rd ready to play and we didn’t. All of a sudden they got up a lot and we couldn’t stop their run no matter what we tried so they did a great job of keeping their pace and to come out aggressive and getting up into us and rebounding. So yeah it was just too much.” On his career high 19 points: “Just hitting shots. I mean I wasn’t hitting shots earlier and I was getting frustrated so those shots I missed earlier were just wide open and I was frustrated that I wasn’t hitting them so I went in there and started hitting them.” On the possibility of being a closer for the team: “For sure but I’m still a rookie for this team and coach is going to do what he has to do to win games. We tried to bring it back tonight, the rookies did a good job of going in there and playing hard, not cleanly but we just didn’t have enough time.” WILSON CHANDLER On how he feels: “I feel pretty good, just my hamstring’s a little tight but once I get out there and get loose I’m pretty good.” On their fast start: “Just being aggressive from the beginning. Once we get aggressive and just play as a team, we can beat anybody. We didn’t do that in the 3rd quarter I thought. I think they came out and they just flipped it on us, I think they were aggressive in the 3rd quarter and they jumped out on us pretty early.” On if physicality is the reason their team is playing better: “I wouldn’t say it’s just physicality but I mean aggressive just by making plays for one another, being aggressive individually as far as making shots and taking shots and physicality but just a little bit of everything when I say being aggressive.” On takeaways from the game: “We just have to be consistent, everybody, it’s not just one person. You can’t blame the starting unit, you can’t blame the second unit, it’s not one individual as a team. The coaching staff and the players just have to be more consistent.”
Postgame Notes - Nov. 13, 2016 Portland 112, Denver 105 Game #11 • Home Game #6 • The Trail Blazers have now won five of their past six games (3-0 at home). • Portland has now won 13 of its past 14 matchups against Denver (2-0 this season). • The Trail Blazers have won seven consecutive home games against Denver, and are 15-2 at the Moda Center against the Nuggets since the start of the 2008-09 season. • Damian Lillard scored 32 points, marking his 55th career game with at least 30 points. That puts him in a tie with LaMarcus Aldridge (648 games) and Sidney Wicks (398 games) for the fourth most games of 30+ points as a Trail Blazer (Drexler-130, Petrie-75, Vandeweghe-66). • Damian Lillard has now scored 30 or more points in seven of his 11 games played this season, putting him in a tie for second with Anthony Davis for the second most games of 30+ points in the NBA this season (8-DeRozan). • With six assists tonight, Damian Lillard (2,058 assists) surpassed Geoff Petrie for fifth on Portland’s all-time assists ledger (2,057). • Damian Lillard (32 points tonight) has now scored 338 points in 11 games this season, the most points scored by a player through the team’s first 11 games of any season in Trail Blazers history. • Damian Lillard finished a perfect 15-for-15 from the free throw line to secure a new career-high of made free throws in a single game. Lillard becomes the sixth Trail Blazer ever to make at least 15 free throws without a miss (team record: 16-16 FT). • Maurice Harkless shot 2-of-4 from beyond the arc tonight, and has now made multiple three-pointers in a career-high five consecutive games (previous-high: 2, twice). • Meyers Leonard has now recorded 11 points (4-9 FG) and four rebounds in each of his past two games (both starts). • CJ McCollum scored 11 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter. McCollum has now scored at least 20 points in four of his past five games (three games with 30+ points). • All five of Portland’s starters scored in double figures in the same game for the first time this season. • Trailing by 17 points (48-31) with 5:33 remaining in the second quarter, Portland went on a 42-16 run to take a nine point lead (73-64) at the 5:18 mark of the third quarter. The Trail Blazers never trailed after that point. • Portland tallied 112 points tonight and has now reached the 100-point mark in 10 of its 11 games this season.
