HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS “It’s disappointing to give up over 30 in every quarter. We tried some different things as opposed to last game. We tried some traps, we tried some switching, we tried picking Harden up full court. They’re a difficult team to guard. I think James does a great job of playing the game and figuring out what needs to be done. I thought the run that they went on when Harden was out of the game was tough for us. Eric Gordon got it going. You’d like to make a little bit of hay when Harden is out. I thought that made a big difference in the game.” On switches defensively on pick and roll involving big men: “With Ed and Mason out there, we wanted to switch any pick and roll with [Ryan] Anderson. Anderson, if you try and trap or drop, you’re not going to get back to Anderson. So the reason we switched Anderson pick and rolls was to take out the three. If you commit to Harden with the big, Anderson is going to be wide open so that’s why we switched with those two guys. When Ed and Mason weren’t in the game together, then it was Mo involved in it or somebody like that so it wasn’t as obviously, but with Ed and Mason together and Anderson in the ball screens, that was the reasoning.” You’ve lost 6 of 8, do you feel like you’re in a tailspin? “You didn’t ask me that after last game. We played a good game last game. You have to have a short memory. What happened two weeks ago, so if we’ve lost six out of eight, what happened two weeks ago doesn’t matter right now.” DAMIAN LILLARD Thoughts on defense tonight: “Coming into the game, we knew that they’re a great scoring team. We saw that the first time that we played them. We’ve seen them put up big numbers on a lot of teams and they shoot a lot of threes. James is a great playmaker, a great scorer, so we knew what we were up against. Obviously we didn’t do a good enough job consistently enough of giving them a hard time.” The game was close for three quarters, what was difference in fourth? “I think when you’re playing against a team like that that can be so explosive offensively. You know, they go out there and they play the passing lanes – three turnovers or three bad offensive possessions could turn right into nine points. It’s kind of like the Golden State thing with how quick they can just hit shots and they can score points in bunches. We were right there, right in the game and it was a game, and then I think we could have executed well, especially myself, I turned the ball over. They got their hands on a number of my passes and that led to three pointers and fouls and putting ourselves in a tough situation. Doing that too much down the stretch, they were just able to pull away.” Is it any one thing defensively or is it something different every night? “Well first, I think we were giving up a lot of second change, third chance opportunities. We’ve done a lot better at that. Now it’s still the communication in some situations where we’ll have two good possessions and then the third time, you know we’ll take it for granted and we’ll assume that we know what’s going to happen and guys know what to do and we won’t say nothing, and boom, there goes a three. Now a guy’s going and he comes back the next time in transition and after he’s going, we lose the guy that’s got hot on us. As a team, we’ve got to know when a guy gets it going and he can’t be the guy that we lose in transition. To answer your question, I think it’s definitely more than one thing. I think it’s a lot of things that we’re screwing up in different parts of the game. We’ll do well to start and then in the second quarter, we’ll slip up because we did well at it. We’ll take that for granted and then the next thing we’ll slip up, then we’ll clean up something else. It’s a thing where we’re not being consistent enough at the things that should be a given. There’s certain things that should be a given and right now it’s not.” At almost a quarter of the way into the season, what conclusions have you drawn? “I mean, right now we’re not getting it done on the defensive end. I think that’s what it comes to. You look at the Cleveland game, we scored 120-something points and we lose. That’s a lot of points to score and not win the game. Tonight we had 114 and we lose. Obviously we’re capable of scoring, we’re going to put points on the board, but we’ve got to find a way to get better at coming up with more stops and being more consistent. Even if teams make tough shots, then you live with that. But if we’re forcing teams to make tougher entry passes and if their execution is harder, the percentage is going to go down. So we can’t say well they made tough shots because if you make people shoot tough shots over and over, they’re not scoring 130 points. I think that’s what it comes down to. We’ve just got to make people more uncomfortable and we’ve got to do it more consistent. We’ll do it for five minutes and five minutes they’ll go on a run, then three minutes and three minutes they’ll go on a run.”
HEAD COACH MIKE D’ANTONI How do you enjoy these types of games where both teams are scoring at will? “I enjoy it a bit more when we have a little bit more will than they did for way of wills. Obviously, if we get more points and if we hold them to less, you can spin it anyway you want to. It was a good game. They are a good team, and they play similar to the way we do, and they got two guys out there that obviously you can’t ever stop but you just try to keep up with them. I thought the first quarter was key in the sense that they came out and they were on fire, making hard shots and playing great and we were even at the first quarter. That set a nice tone for the rest of the game.” Capela’s season high: “He’s just playing. He’s just playing you know, better all the time, getting better and making his foul shots. There’s been a lot of improvement, and I think he’ll just keep on going. He’s only 22, so he’s going to be one of the better centers in the league.” Capela’s fragrant foul: “Yeah. He’s got that nasty streak in him. I don’t know. I’ll have to look at it. I don’t know what happened, but obviously he didn’t mean to. If it looked like it, then so be it.” JAMES HARDEN On the key to separation in the fourth quarter: “Defense, we got a couple stops and that changed the game. I think if we rely on our defense and we get stops no matter what our offense does, we’ll have a chance at winning games. We know extremely how powerful our offense is and that was what settled the game right there.” On how much fun they are having on the court: “Guys are getting involved, guys are knocking down shots. I think we shot 40 something from three tonight, again. The second unit has done great, Eric [Gordon] is playing well. He does a great job of taking his shots when they’re there, tonight he got hot and we just rode that wave for the fourth quarter.” On his mentality with bigs defending him: “Make the right play, that’s all. At a different position, as a point guard I’m going to see a lot of different defenses so I’ve just got to figure out what they’re doing and how to attack it and just go out there.” On Mason Plumlee defending him for most of the night: “Now at this position I can have anybody guard me. I’ve just got to make the right play and have guys knock down shots and try to be aggressive.” On how he likes Mike D’Antoni system: “Just our system, our team, the coaching staff, the entire group we have right now is just really good. Guys are bought in and we all have one goal. It’s great because out of 17 games I think like 13 or 14 or something have been on the road so we’ve really been tested and guys are playing well.”
Postgame Notes - Nov. 27, 2016 Houston 130, Portland 114 Game #19 • Home Game #9 • Portland has made 209 three-pointers (12 tonight) in 19 games this season. Prior to this, no Trail Blazer team had ever made 200 three-pointers in the team’s first 20 games of a season. • Damian Lillard made 11 free throws tonight (of 13), placing him in a tie with Kiki Vandeweghe for 10th place on Portland’s all-time list (1,547 FT). • Maurice Harkless (18 points) has now scored at least 10 points in each of his past seven contests, his longest such streak in two seasons with the Trail Blazers. • Evan Turner scored 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting (2-4 3-PT), and has now scored in double figures in five of his past seven contest. • Evan Turner has now scored 10+ points and shot at least 50.0% in four of Portland’s past five contests. • Evan Turner shot 2-of-4 from beyond the arc, and has now made at least one three-pointer in three consecutive games (season-best). Turner is 5-of-13 (38.5% 3-PT) from beyond the arc during that three-game stretch. • Mason Plumlee scored 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting, and has now scored in double figures in a season-long three consecutive games. • CJ McCollum scored a team-high 28 points, and has now produced at least 20 points in nine of his past 13 contests. McCollum has now scored 20+ points in three straight games against Houston, after failing to do so in any of his first eight career games vs. the Rockets. • Houston’s James Harden scored a game-high 38 points, and has now scored at least 30 points in 11 of his past 16 games against the Trail Blazers. • The Trail Blazers scored 114 points, and have now scored at least 100 points in 17 of their 19 games this season (seven straight). • Portland connected on 12 three-point field goals, and has now made at least 10 threes in six of its past seven contests.
Lol at Coach Stotts. Lmao. So you're so worried about recovering to Ryan Anderson that you decide to have a Center guard the best SG in the league? Lmao that's dumb. That's beyond dumb. When they tried new things, it was obvious they hadn't worked on it and the defensive rotations weren't there for each scenario. Often times it looked like our helpside had no idea where to be, and that's because they obviously don't work on other specific defensive scenarios in practice, or Stotts doesn't communicate clearly to them what they're doing. The traps got split easily, and defenders reached for the ball instead of staying solid in the trap. Our switches were to take away shots Ryan fuckin' Anderson, allowing James Harden to go one-on-one with a big man BY DESIGN. I'm sorry but Stotts has to be the worst defensive coach in the league. He's going to get fired over stuff like this. This is the best quote right here: Right. So the defensive mistakes you've made all season doesn't matter, because, well, what happened two weeks ago doesn't matter right now. Forget that our mistakes are a season long pattern, just remember we played good last game, so even though we gave up 130 points, it's only one game. It's not a pattern. What happened a couple weeks ago doesn't matter because you "have to have a short memory".
This is a laugh! Stotts is more worried about scheming Ryan Anderson than James Harden - arguably the best offensive player in the league at the moment. I understand that Anderson can shoot the ball, but so can Harden! And he can do a whole lot more than just shoot - which is all Ryan Anderson can do. So he's willing to put Ed/Plumlee on Harden who can do ANYTHING with the ball, in order to minimize Ryan Anderson who is basically just a set-shooter!?! Also, the bolded text is the biggest problem with Tater Totts. He's given up before even trying! Why does he think that we can't jump & recover on the P/R? It's a basic, fundamental part of playing defense. I swear, the last time I saw one of our bigs jump/recover was when we had Channing Frye. If Frye can do it anybody can do it - all it takes is a little coaching.
It is REALLY easy to point a finger at Terry right now. But who do you guys even see as a viable replacement? Is David Vanterpool a replacement candidate? I always see this guy in Dame's ears. He was even at Dame's Thanksgiving party. It would be incredibly shortsighted to let go of Terry and have his assistant step up without a legit long term replacement in mind. That's the kind of thing shitty teams do. HOU did that last year and had an awful season. CLE, otoh actually had a replacement in Lue waiting. And the common factor in both scenarios is that the players had stopped listening to McHale/Blatt. Terry still has these guys' ears.
I agree, you can't fire a coach without having a replacement ready and waiting. I'm NOT advocating for firing Terry, but I'm definitely an advocate for replacing him. I thought it was stupid to extend him this past summer. But unfortunately he's with the team through the end of the season. Depending on how the entire season pans out, and who is available during the summer, I hope that Neil/Paul are at least open to the idea of eating Terry's contract - don't compound a mistake by sticking with it. All of that said, Terry is either not getting through to the players or his ideas aren't working...or both. This team isn't as bad as they've looked. The offense is overly simplistic, the defense operates as 5 individuals, and there's no semblance of organization on either end of the court. All of this is fixable.
