TEAM • The Trail Blazers outrebounded the Nuggets, 48-45. • The Trail Blazers outscored the Nuggets in the paint, 54-22. • Portland finished with 23 second chance points while Denver had seven second chance points. • The Trail Blazers shot 91.3% from the free-throw-line (21-of-23) while Denver shot 81.5% from the stripe (22-of-27). • Portland was held to 7-of-28 shooting (25.0%) from the three-point-line while the Nuggets shot 18-of- 32 from deep (56.3%). PLAYER • Damian Lillard led the Trail Blazers with 32 points (10-21 FG, 3-10 3-PT, 9-10 FT) to go with four rebounds and eight assists. It was the third time in his career that he scored at least 30 points in a season opener. • Hassan Whiteside finished with 16 points (6-7 FG, 4-4 FT), 19 rebounds and two blocks. His 19 rebounds are the third-most by a Portland player in a season opener in franchise history (24, Walton - 10/18/74; 22, Ellis - 10/16/70). • Kent Bazemore (four points, two rebounds, five steals) recorded at least five steals for the seventh time in his career. His career high is six (LAL vs. SAS, 3/19/14). • Rodney Hood scored 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting (2-5 3-PT, 1-1 FT) to go with five rebounds and one assist. • CJ McCollum recorded 12 points (5-18 FG, 2-4 3-PT), three rebounds and three assists. With his two three-pointers, he moved within one three-pointer of tying Wesley Matthews (826 career three-pointers) for second place on the all-time franchise list. • Skal Labissiere logged eight points (3-4 FG, 2-2 FT), six rebounds and one assist in 11 minutes off the bench. • Zach Collins had eight points (4-9 FG), five rebounds and two blocks in 31 minutes. • Nikola Jokic led the Nuggets with 20 points (8-14 FG, 3-5 3-PT, 1-2 FT) to go with 13 rebounds and two assists. • Jamal Murray recorded 14 points (4-14 FG, 3-6 3-PT, 3-4 FT), five rebounds and six assists for Denver.
HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS “Well obviously, it’s disappointing to lose a home opener. The other obvious thing is the three point shot is the great equalizer. They shot it really well. We’ll see how they got their threes, but the way the game was going, we’ve got to be able to defend the three better. So that was a concern in the preseason and at least tonight.” Was it just one of those nights or was it Denver’s defense? “I always give credit to the defense. Give them credit. I thought we had shots that we can make. But usually it’s little bit of both.” You were up 1 with 5 minutes to go, was it just Jokic making the difference late? “Well, he had 16 in the fourth quarter. He shot threes, scored in the paint, made his free throws – so he had a lot to do with it.” Were you trying to get Whiteside to get closer to Jokic defensively? “There were a couple times when it’s just an iso situation, but they moved him around. They put him on the block, they put him in pick and roll, he popped, so certainly on his two threes, you want to be closer to him when he’s just out on the perimeter.” How would you evaluate Whiteside’s game? “I thought it was a great opening for him. You look at the line he had. He had an impact on the game at both ends. For a guy who didn’t get a lot of run in preseason, I thought it was a pretty good performance by him.” How did you like the play of the second unit? “If you look at the plus- minus, particularly in the first half, they struggled. Denver made their run with a lot of our reserves on the court, but we didn’t make a three coming off the bench, didn’t shoot it particularly bench coming off the bench. We competed. They made their run in the first half, second half we kept Dame and CJ on the court, one of them on the court the entire time. I think in the first half, we probably played four minutes without Dame or CJ. So I don’t know, we’ll evaluate but I thought they competed.”
DAMIAN LILLARD “Just that we started the game so well. We had a pretty solid defensive game other than giving up so many threes. We know they’ve got so many guys out there that shoot the ball well and knowing what protection that we had in the paint, we just needed to be much more aware of that and run guys off of the line more often that we did tonight. We gave up 18 threes. Today in this league it’s going to be hard to win. Beyond the threes, I think once it got to maybe the 5, 4 and a half minute mark where the game is going to be decided, I think we had too many lapses on both ends of the floor. I had a pocket pass turnover, I missed a free throw. On one of their main actions with their two-man game, Jokic was going over the top and we talked about going over the top, he popped back, Whiteside going under, he popped back and hit a big three. So I think just across the board, all of us included, when the game was being decided, we just had too many lapses on both ends of the floor and we put ourselves in a position where it was going to be hard to come back from it. I think it was like 97-90, two minutes left with them feeling good about what they were doing so just the threes and when the game was being decided, we weren’t sharp enough on either end.” Do you feel like you lost an opportunity when Jokic was out with foul trouble? I mean, it’s a long game. Even when Jokic isn’t on the floor, they’re still a super deep team, a talented team. Jokic not out there, you’ve still got Millsap and Mase. And Mase does a lot of things similar to what Jokic does other than shoot the ball. They were still a really good team with him not on the floor, so I don’t think it’s that. Just understanding that the game is so long. We can’t go out there and play well in stretches, especially against a really good team like them. We’ve got to be sharp at all times and our letdowns hurt us, especially when the game was being decided.” What did you like from Whiteside tonight? “I loved what he did tonight. I think that’s what we all had in mind when he came here. It’s like that’s the type of presence he was going to have – being able to guard Jokic one-on-one. I’ve never seen anybody guard him by themselves that well so consistently. How well he rebounded the ball. How he finished. He’s a big dude – long arms. It was just like what he was doing was really impressive. I told him during the game and after the game that that’s the type of impact we’re going to need from him every night.”
HEAD COACH MICHAEL MALONE On what contributed to the win… “Nikola’s (Jokic) third and fourth quarter were phenomenal, he showed everyone why he’s an MVP caliber player, I think he had 16 (points) and 8 (rebounds) in the fourth quarter. So really good defense, timely offense, and we stepped up and made big free throws. So a hell of a win, they’ve won 18 straight openers here so to come in here, against a division rival, a win on the road to start the year off, couldn’t ask for a better start.” On what players contributed to the win besides Nikola Jokic… “You know he gets those three quick fouls and I felt the guys from the bench in the first half were great. They kind of steadied the shift and got us back in the game after being down by 12. Then the second half you had a lot of guys step up and make big plays, Jamal (Murray), Gary (Harris), Will (Barton), Paul (Millsap), and Jerami (Grant) had big threes so we’re a deep team, it’s not just Nikola Jokic. We got a lot of talented players and I think a lot of guys contributed to this win tonight.” On shooting 56.2% from the 3 point line… “18 for 32 is remarkable and a lot of the guys made them, it was a contribution from everybody, but I learned a long time ago never accept a victory that you wouldn’t accept in defeat. Turnovers once again were too high, the offensive rebounds were absurd, and the fact that we had given them I believe 23 second chance points to our 7, and the paint, they dominated in the paint tonight, so a lot of things we can be better at but overall, the ball movement and guys shooting with confidence was great to see.” On Will Barton starting… “It was not an easy decision, but I talked to Will at length and he’s sacrificing. Will can play a lot of types and styles of basketball and I love how he’s playing with the starting group getting off the ball and passing and cutting, and he did look like it was a seamless fit.” On the strength of the Nugget’s bench… “It’s a great weapon to have, and the reality is I have guys even after those bench guys that can come in and Will (Barton) at some point can come in and help us win games this year. So to me, legitimately 12 deep in this business is a blessing and a curse, obviously I can’t play all of our guys, but they have to stay ready because their number will be called at some point. But I love our depth and I love the group of guys we have but we still have a lot of work to do.”
Jamal Murray You guys made it look easy down the stretch, how comfortable are you in close games now? It’s very exciting since we’ve been there before. I think the intro and the beginning of the game, it brought a lot of memories back from last year, last series, so we wanted to have a good game and get a win. We felt like we did the necessary things defensively to get a win and it was great. You can see the intensity in your game early with CJ McCollum, is it personal between these teams? It’s just a good matchup. Two really good teams, it’s always been a good game whenever we play, sort of like OKC (Oklahoma City Thunder) my second year, it’s always a good game and always a competitive game. Big fella (Nikola Jokic) barely played in the first half yet you guys actually took the lead, is that a sign of growth out of this team? Yeah, we have a lot of guys. Mase (Mason Plumlee) comes in and does his job, Jerami comes in and does his job, Paul always right there. A lot of bigs that came ready to play. We did a good job today and got some rhythm back. Like you said we have a lot of guys that can play. What does Will Barton add to the offense when he plays with the starters? He’s a ball handler, he allows me to play off the ball, he’s ready to catch and shoot and has the space of a shooter. When we get on the break it’s the same thing, he can finish at the rim and he can shoot. Sometimes he can play the four for some plays and I like him so we can switch on defense. He’s a utility guy, he can do everything. How nice is it to see him healthy? It’s great, like I said he’s going to get his rhythm back. For that last year he was accustomed to playing with certain guys. To have the full team healthy we’re a very strong team. On the play that Jokic found you down in the bottom corner, it looked like he was almost at the rim but he dished out to you, what did you see in that play? I just respaced for him, I don’t know if he pump faked or if he faked a handoff, my man I think it was (Kent) Bazemore went to go help a little bit because he had to step on the right side and Jokic saw me. You guys wanted to shoot more threes, you made more threes, how do you explain how good you were from downtown tonight? Especially the fourth quarter we had a lot of threes early on the helped us bounce back and give us the lead. Second half I hit one and Jokic hit a few in a row. The starters came back in and we tied this game up, it was a tough game but we competed. Does it surprise you when you see Jokic hit it from three or are you used to it at this point? No, we are all used to it. He can do everything, there’ s nothing he can’t do. The last time this team lost a home opener was the year 2000, how old were you? And were you watching that game? I was three years old and no I was watching Vince Carter. Any extra motivation from the series loss last season? No, we were motivated coming in but it’s a long season and we’re going to see them again a few more times, so we just had to lock in and not get to high or too low and put last year in the past.
Nikola Jokic On guys taking the weight off Jamal and Nikola’s shoulders To be honest I think we did that the last part of the season last year, and I think the whole team is comfortable with that, because it’s not just me and him, we can just make an advantage and find the open guy. I think the guys are just comfortable with that. On the challenge of getting his rhythm back after being in foul trouble early I didn’t want to force it, I just wanted to win the game. It was just flow of the game, I wanted to go out there and just kind of be a positive energy, just to win the game. On if there is a goal for him to improve his three point shooting Not really, it depends because sometimes I just shoot to shoot the ball, but I think the most important thing is for me to just be focused when I’m shooting the ball. I know you can see me be indecisive sometimes, I don’t know if I will shoot or not shoot, but when I want to shoot the ball, it’s going in. On finding Jamal in the corner They were double teaming, blitzing our pick and roll handoffs. I kind of went early to slip by, Bazemore helped a little too much, and corner three, the easiest shot in the game. On Will Barton starting He’s thrill, you know he’s a tough shot maker. I think he had two threes on the top of the key in the fourth quarter, and he knocked the free throws. When he plays aggressive and when the shots our coming, he’s a problem.
