PREGAME QUOTES Utah Jazz vs. Portland Trail Blazers October 16, 2019 Terry Stotts – Head Coach On what he expects to see from his team tonight “More rotation guys will play longer minutes. I’d like to see some progress. I don’t think we’ve necessarily played that well in our first three games. Playing better would be a nice step.” On not being locked in defensively “You look, the Denver game was tough. Based on the Phoenix game, the amount of three’s they got up was probably the most concerning. They shot a good percentage and some of them were three’s that you kind of live with. They got up a lot and they made a lot. Utah is shooting a lot too so we’ll see if we can adjust to that tonight.” On what it was like having Ed Davis on the team last year “Ed was beloved. Or is beloved. He’s a great teammate. Hard worker. He had the respect of all his teammates, coaches, the fans loved him. He was, in some ways he was quiet but he had a great sense of humor. Everybody knew what a hard worker he was and he led by example.”
PREGAME QUOTES Utah Jazz vs. Portland Trail Blazers October 16, 2019 Quin Snyder – Head Coach On what Derrick Favors’ availability brings to the game “A lot, obviously. I think Derrick’s impact this year has been on multiple levels, whether it [has been] on stretches when he’s been dominant on the offensive end usually when he is at the five, just thinking of that
Notes: CJ McCollum led the team in scoring with 28 points on 11-of-15 shooting… Damian Lillard added 25 points on 8-of-13 from the field, including 3-of-4 on 3-pointers… Overall, the Trail Blazers shot 55.6% from 3-point range (15-of-27)… The Trail Blazers conclude their preseason schedule tomorrow night at home against the Denver Nuggets. Terry Stotts – Head Coach On how he felt the team performed tonight “We really played well offensively. The first half was fun to watch. We moved the ball. Dame and CJ were in a really good rhythm. It was unfortunate Hassan hurt his finger early on, but the starters got off to a good start. Offensively, we had a good rhythm. Defensively, we didn’t contain the ball very well in the first half and they got in the lane and created some threes and they got back in the game. But all in all, it’s obviously the best game we’ve played so far.” On Hassan Whiteside’s performance “He played well in both halves. I didn’t even look at his numbers, but he gets 11 rebounds in 16 minutes. He had an impact on the game. It was good to see for him.” On whether he feels his rotation is set for the season “I think Dame and CJ are. I mean it’s obvious, Dame’s going to play probably the first and third quarters like he always does and CJ will play the first eight or nine minutes and the perimeter guys will fill in. The good thing is we have a lot of bigs and we’ll [shuffle] them in and see what makes sense.” Hassan Whiteside – Center (5 points, 11 rebounds) On injuring his ankle “It was my left ankle. It was on Zach’s foot. I don’t think it’s worse. Its sore. It’s still fresh. We’re going to keep compressing and go day-by-day. I never had to go in the back room twice in one game, so I don’t know if it’s cursed on me in Utah or something. I don’t know.” On playing going forward despite injuries “I’m a warrior though, man, I’m going to come back out there, still grab rebounds and make plays.” Zach Collins – Forward (13 points, 5 rebounds) On playing off Hassan Whiteside “I love playing with Hassan, especially on defense because we’re both rim protectors and he’s very good at it. Just both of us being at the rim is going to be tough for the other team to score. On defense it’s fun and then offense is great too because he’s such a force in the paint and me being able to play on the perimeter balances it out, so it’s definitely a good duo.” On potential mismatches playing the four “Yeah, for sure. We definitely want to exploit those as much as possible and for me defensively, I’ve just got to keep challenging myself and chasing guys off pin downs, something that I’ve never really done before so just getting better at that is going to be important.” On his shooting “Well, tonight was my first three of the preseason. I mean, I‘ve just got to see one go in and see what happens.” Damian Lillard – Guard (25 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists) On if game helped him for regular season “Yeah it did. Playing in altitude, we knew that was going to be a challenge. We just wanted to come out, be in attack mode and play like a real game, challenge ourselves with our conditioning and try to get into regular season form. We just had a good run tonight. These are the kind of games that you want to have at least one time going into the regular season, so it came at a good time against a team that was playing a lot of their guys, they played a full game, on the road in altitude. We’ve got one more preseason game to go, so it was right one time.” On having that kind of game against the Jazz “Yeah. That is a back court that we are going to see a lot of, so it was good to have that challenge on both ends of the floor.” On developing chemistry with the big men “I mean we know that both Zach and Hassan are both going to be in the paint, that they are both going to be great rim protectors and that we are going to be able to count on them. We have tried to do a better job of taking the challenge on the perimeter, all of our guards and wings, and not putting so much pressure on them to do that. When we do our job, pressure the ball and be physical, then when guys get there it is not a straight line drive or the big is getting too far out of position. Just having them back there for support, knowing how well they do what they do, that is a great feeling for a perimeter guy.”
NOTES: Donovan Mitchell led the Jazz in scoring with 27 points on 9-of-19 shooting, his preseason high scoring outing … Rudy Gobert recorded his first double-double of the preseason, tallying 13 points, 15 rebounds and two blocked shots … Joe Ingles and Emmanuel Mudiay led the Jazz of the bench with 12 points a piece. Quin Snyder – Head Coach On Joe Ingles “I think Joe has a comfort level with the team. Joe assimilates quickly as well. He’s someone, because he can do a lot of things, he’s able to help the team in lots of way, which that versatility on both ends of the floor I think allows him to be in different situations and be affective regardless of his role. Coming off the bench, he’s able to do that in different ways. The way we played Joe last year, we started him, but he came out pretty quickly and then he was with, kind of an anchor of the group on the bench. So in some ways his role, although he hasn’t started, isn’t as drastically different as it may appear because he’s not starting. He hasn’t started, I should say.” On Emmanuel Mudiay “If you were to ask me about any player right now, I would see how they’re playing through a defensive lens. So what I saw from Emmanuel was someone, there’s effort, there’s a care factor and Emmanuel, like all of us, just needs to keep working and keep grinding and keep competing and staying committed on the defensive end. I think as he does that, he’s basketball player. There are times he makes the game look easy because he can make plays. He can get to spots on the floor. I think if you asked him, he’d say the same thing. His ability to defend and impact the game that way is going to have the biggest impact on our group.” Bojan Bogdanovic – Forward (1 point, 1 assist) On the game “I didn’t play at a level that was a decent for us, especially for me. I was off offensively and no matter how many shots I miss, I’ve got to be more active in the game and do more things.” On what he can do to get things going when his shot isn’t falling “I can make more [of an] impact no matter how many shots I make. I have to help more on the boards, I got to be more productive with the ball and play without hesitation, like I said, if I score or not. This is pre season and we have a lot of experienced players and we’ll be fine.” Rudy Gobert – Center (13 points, 15 rebounds) On his honest assessment of the team after the preseason “We got to get better. It’s what it’s about. You know, whether you get four wins in preseason or whether you get one. It’s always the same. Every season, you got some ups and downs. The most important thing is for us to keep working, keep believing in ourselves, keep believing in our strength, keep believing in who we are and I think we are going to be fine.” On what he liked and didn’t like about the preseason performances “Obviously, you know, we’re a defensive team so hopefully we give up less than 100 points when the season starts. I think the good thing is that it hurts, you know, when we give up that many points to other teams that we played against. It hurts and we feel like we got to keep improving. And that’s a good thing. We take pride in it. And as long as we take pride in it, we’re going to do whatever it takes to keep getting better.” Donovan Mitchell – Guard (27 points, 4-of-5 3-pointers) On the inconsistency of the preseason so far – good moments and bad “It shows that we have it. So I think that’s what is promising. It shows that it’s there. Now we just got to do it on a consistent basis, start the game out that way. We’ve been a defensive team since I’ve been here and we’ve been here, and we just got to continue building that and engraining that into everybody.” On the adjustment period of preseason “There is definitely stuff that we need time to adjust with. And I think that’s what the preseason is for when you go through these things and find out what you need to work on. I think that’s the outstanding thing. Offensively, it’s not smooth, but it’s close… We just got to be able to go out there and be willing to do the work and make these adjustments.”
