HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS “Well it was good to pull it out. It got a little dicey there at the end but I thought we really played a pretty complete game. It got physical, we played through some of that. Dame really carried us with his offense and he was able to get to the rim and make good decisions when they double teamed him. CJ made some big shots at the end. So anyway, a quality win.” How much do you get credit for Westbrook’s tough shooting night? “Usually it’s a little bit of both. I thought he was aggressive. I thought whoever was guarding him at whatever time really competed and tried not to let him loose. I thought he had good protection at the rim. Nurk and Ed and those guys gave a lot of help. It was just a little bit of everything.” Is there something to be said for winning in this fashion down the stretch? “Well yeah, the last 30 seconds was disappointing to have a 6 point lead and we were a little loose with the ball, but that being said, they fought back and made it a game. We’ve been in these positions before and found ways to lose them and we kept our composure and made our free throws when it mattered. We got some stops. They made some tough threes at the end, they were some tough threes.” On the feeling of having a reliable free throw shooter like Lillard: “You know, it’s not only Damian but I’ve been on teams where when you have five good free throw shooters out there and you know that down the stretch you can count on making your free throws. A guy like Damian, CJ led the league in free throw shooting, so it’s a real advantage to have those kind of guys at the end of the game.” Thoughts on defense after 10 games this season: “Still a work in progress. I think more than anything else, I like our demeanor, our disposition, our will to want to defend and be consistent about it.”
DAMIAN LILLARD What did you like best? “I liked the way we started the game. We came out with great energy on both ends of the floor. It was another game that we had to go out and take. It got tight down the stretch and we had to get stops and make free throws. We had to do those little things to finish it out and we was able to do it.” Is it satisfying to win the way you did? “Yeah, like I said, in the West, you’re going to have seven, eight, nine, ten teams where it’s going to be a bunch and everybody’s going to be fighting for the same things, the same positioning. We’re going to have a lot of close games and the more of them that we can win, we can do ourselves a favor and hurt other teams that’s going to be fighting for what we’re fighting for. So anytime we could win games like that, pull those out, it’s not only good for our growth and making us a better team, but it’s putting us in the position that we want to be in.” On passing on pick and rolls early: “Because every time we play them, I know that their bigs like to give me a lot of attention in pick and rolls, so I just came off every screen hard knowing that they was going to be there and I saw Nurk diving. I was just watching the weak side. I know that they keep a tight paint, guys come over, so I was just using their aggressiveness against them. Nurk made a few, we made some weak side jumpers, and then as the game went on, I felt like alright I could turn the corner now and I was able to get in the paint and get some pretty good looks and that was it.” On playing against reigning MVP: “Like I told him the other day when we played the Lakers, I go into every game with the same attitude but obviously when you’re playing against a former MVP, you want to embrace that challenge. You know that if you don’t, he’s going to take your lunch. And if I don’t step up to that, then how is my team going to beat his team? That was it.” Feelings about team 10 games into season: “I like where we are. I think we’ve experienced some tough times already as far as losing some close games at the end that we feel like we should have won. I think we had a great defensive stretch with bad offense and now the offense is coming back and we’re sustaining what we want to do on the defensive end. I think considering all those things, we like where we are, we just wish our record could show a little more.”
HEAD COACH BILLY DONOVAN On having chances to win down the stretch: “I thought the third quarter got kind of mucked up there a little bit before the stoppage of play and all of the stuff that’s going on there. Then obviously I’m pleased with the way our guys kind of rebounded and fought our way to the end and what we got from the possession a couple of times and had an opportunity and couldn’t finish it out. When we were down by four at half I thought both teams got off really hot offensively in the first seven minutes of the first quarter and then the scoring kind of cooled down from there. We did some good things, I thought in the Boston game in the second half we just didn’t play the way we wanted to play, I thought there was more of a conscientious effort to try and do that tonight in all four quarters.” On what makes Damian Lillard hard to guard: “Well he’s good with the ball and obviously because of his ability to shoot off the dribble when you’re back trying to contain him, it frees him up to shoot threes. Where he’s coming downhill with bigs, it’s hard for bigs to be in front, it’s really, really challenging. He did a good job with a couple of plays coming down the stretch.” On Carmelo Anthony’s ejection: “I’ve never seen, in the history of the game, a guy get an and-1 play and then get ejected from the game. That’s probably something you’d have to talk to the league about. I was actually trying to get Russell’s (Westbrook) play reviewed and they told me that it was like ‘incidental contact away from basketball play’ but they end up reviewing this other one. So to me it’s something that the league is going to have to address or deal with because the explanation on Carmelo was that it’s a flagrant foul. I didn’t see it from where I was standing, I wasn’t really looking at the monitor so I’m trusting the fact that the replay did determine that. Three guys are on the court and they call an and-1, and then a guy is thrown out of the game?”
PAUL GEORGE On Carmelo’s ejection: “I thought it was crazy. I didn’t think they could do that, review a play that they called an and-one and call it back. I thought the officials were overturned by the crowd. Them showing the replay it didn’t look like anything illegal or Melo (Carmelo Anthony) did anything intentional. He got contact going to the rim, he finished the play and it should’ve been an and-one. It’s crazy that it was an ejection/flagrant on that play, especially when Russ (Russell Westbrook) got dinged right in front of them and they didn’t call anything. On why the officials didn’t review Westbrook getting hit: “I don’t know, man. We haven’t been getting the benefit… every night we haven’t been getting the benefit of the doubt. I don’t know what it is. Especially for Russ, he attacks the basket and so many of his plays are at the rim. It’s questionable and he’s not getting the benefit of the doubt. Not sure why they didn’t look at that.” On close losses: “It hurts, but at the end of the day it’s year one for this team. It’s a new nucleus, a new starting lineup and a new roster. We’re playing against teams that have been together for a while, so it just comes down to chemistry. We’ll learn, we’ll figure it out and we’ll keep the show rolling.”
ANDRE ROBERSON On the steal at the end of the game: “I tried to shield CJ (McCollum) off to get Russ. Russ was squared up and he tipped the ball just slightly enough for them to redirect the ball to Evan (Turner). It was just an unfortunate play. We did all the little things to put ourselves back in the game. We’ve just got to go back, look at film and clean up the first three quarters.” On team defense: “It was good. Early on it was a little rough, but we stuck with it. We’ve just got to get used to it. What the NBA is coming to is a lot of small ball and one area we can clean up is communication. I feel like tonight, early on it was bad, it was rough, which made it hard for us, but as the game went on we got better with it. That’s just us heading in the right direction with our defense. It’s only going to get better from here.”
The russel tears are so sweet. HEY DUDE, MAKE YOUR FREE THROWS. How about that? And also, if anything, your face deserves a flagrant.
Notice Russ didn't mention missin' 4 free throws in a row at the end of the game....now that's a bunch of bullshit....Nurk got an elbow to the teeth....if that's not a flagrant foul, I don't know what is....Melo jumped into Nurk...the opposite direction of the hoop...he was looking for the contact and elbowing someone in the face is the basketball version of targeting in football..
