Game Thread PLAYOFFS: ROUND 1, GAME 4: NUGGETS @ BLAZERS - MAY 29, 2021 - SATURDAY, 1:00, TNT & NBCSNW

We need him alright. We need him to sit on the bench

 

Is there audio of that? Hopefully it has a better end result than that of Gerald Wallace and Marcus Camby

 

Awesome chant, but they gotta work on synching it up

 

Postgame Notes – May 29, 2021
Portland 115, Denver 95
First Round, Game 4


TEAM
• The Trail Blazer’s 10-point halftime advantage was Portland’s first lead at the break in the series. Portland’s 20-point margin of victory marked the 11th postseason win by 20+ points in team history.
• The Trail Blazers shot 42-of-84 (50.0%) from the field, while the Nuggets were 32-of-94 (34.0%). That 16 percentage-point discrepancy between the two teams is the largest of the series.
• Portland outscored Denver 46-38 in the paint, led by Norman Powell and Jusuf Nurkic combining to shoot 13-of-18 from inside the arc.
• The series is tied 2-2 heading into Tuesday’s Game 5. This 2021 series between Portland and Denver marks the 212th series in league history to be tied 2-2 through the first four games.


PLAYER
• Norman Powell led Portland in scoring with 29 points (11-15 FG, 4-4 FT, 3-3 3-PT), and recorded two boards, one assist, one steal and two blocks. Powell tied his postseason career-high in scoring (29, 8/23/20 vs. BKN).
• CJ McCollum added 21 points (9-19 FG, 2-6 3-PT, 1-1 FT), four rebounds and eight assists, with his eight assists setting a postseason career high.
• Damian Lillard was two points shy of the fifth postseason triple-double in franchise history, finishing with 10 points (1-10 FG, 1-6 3-PT, 7-7 FT), eight rebounds and 10 assists.
• Jusuf Nurkic recorded 17 points (6-8 FG, 5-8 FT), six rebounds, one assist, one steal and two rejections in 27 minutes of action.
• Carmelo Anthony recorded 12 points, (5-11 FG, 2-5 3-PT), three rebounds and one assist in 22 minutes off the bench.
• Robert Covington finished with nine points (3-6 FG, 2-5 3-PT, 1-2 FT), nine rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block.
• Anfernee Simons had five points (2-5 FG, 1-2 3-PT), three rebounds, one assist and one steal in 22 points off the bench.
• Nikola Jokic led Denver with 16 points (7-18 FG, 1-4 3-PT, 1-2 FT), nine rebounds, and one assist. It was the third-lowest scoring postseason game of Jokic’s career.
• Facundo Campazzo added 12 points (3-10 FG, 2-7 3-PT, 4-5 FT), two rebounds, seven assists and two steals. 12 points ties his highest postseason total, which he set in Game 2.

 

HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS
On Nikola Jokic’s off night:
“It was probably a combination. I think he missed some shots that he’s been making in the series. That’s one thing, but I do think that Nurk did a good job of guarding him and staying out of foul trouble.”

On Norman Powell’s demeanor since joining the team:
“I think he’s very competitive. He’s a good guy. He’s about winning. He’s kind of a low-key guy but he’s competitive during the games. Good sense of humor, fun to be around.”

On winning a playoff game with Damian Lillard shooting 1-of-10:
“He had a tough shooting night, but I thought he didn’t let it affect his play. He still got 10 assists. That’s the third game now that he’s had double-figure assists, he almost had four games. So you know he’s going to shoot the ball better but I liked the way he still managed the game, the way he defended. He was great in the huddles. We needed all that as well.”

On getting Norman Powell involved early:
“I thought we found him in the corners. We ran a couple plays for him but a lot of his was in the flow, his three-point shots were in the flow of the game. I thought we made good reads in just our flow, making the right decisions and passing – he was the beneficiary of it .He hasn’t really shot the three well in the first three games and it was good to see him have a break out game shooting the three.”

On setting the tone early in Game 4:
“To be honest, in game three, we came out with the same aggression, same attitude. So I think both games three and four, we came out with good aggressiveness and just didn’t sustain it at the end of the first quarter in game three but tonight, like I said, our consistency with our effort was part of it. But we came out the way we needed to and sustained it.”

What did you think you got out of Hollis-Jefferson tonight?
“What we expected, what we needed – good defensive energy. He got a put-back. The fact that he’s out there guarding their playmakers, he’s guarding Morris a lot so we’re able to switch pick and rolls with RoCo and Melo, so I thought with that, that lineup for them had given us trouble in the first three games so I thought he helped.”

On the major adjustments made after the last two games:
“We changed our pick and roll coverage a little bit and tried to stay body on body a little bit more. And like I said, with that second group, our switching I thought was effective as well. And I don’t think they got the same looks – even though they got 44 threes up, I don’t think they were the same quality of looks.”

On the play of Jusuf Nurkic:
“As I mentioned earlier, he played good defense on Jokic and he stayed out of foul trouble. That was key. We’re obviously better when Nurk is able to stay on the floor, especially against Denver. The offense comes and goes. He gets his opportunities, but I thought he really locked in defensively and was solid. He didn’t gamble very much and like I said, defended without fouling.”




NORMAN POWELL
On team’s effort:
“I thought the effort that we put in from start-to-finish was the exact effort that we needed. I thought we were able to take the effort that we had from Game 3, the way we started the game. They went on a little run and we were able to sustain that, we were able to take the punch and be able to punch back. We have to keep the same effort, locked in and focused for all our guys that are on the floor being locked into the game plan. That’s the energy and effort we need for the full course of the game and the series.”

On his play tonight:
“I just try to pick my spots. The first play was called for me so I was looking to attack downhill, put pressure on their defense, read the rotations, and make the right play. I’m just trying to be aggressive, attack, and make the right play with the reads that I have. I think every game, I’ve gotten more and more aggressive. Staying locked in the game plan and playing off my reads on Damian (Lillard) and CJ (McCollum) with them drawing a lot of attention and trying to make it easier for them to find outlets and ways to take the pressure off of being double-teamed the whole time.”

On experiences playing in Game 5’s:
“I’ve been in a couple Game 5’s, what stands out is the intensity, especially being on the road, you gotta take your level of focus and will up another notch. We aren’t going to have the fans to feed off of when plays are being made. It’s really just the guys on the court, the guys in the locker room, and the coaching staff. It’s us against the world. Being really locked-in and in-tune every possession. There’s a level of focus being on the road is what changes a bit from the Game 5’s that I’ve been in.”

On Portland playing well with Damian Lillard having an off shooting night:
“I think that’s one of the reasons I was brought over here, to be another guy that can get after it a go-get-it. Any given night, any of us can get it going and it makes it tough for the defense to know who to guard and who to try to stop. I thought Dame did a good job, I honestly didn’t know that he was 1-of-10, I thought he did a great job facilitating and finding guys on the weak side from all the attention that he’s being given in these playoffs. We know he’s going to knock down those shots when the time comes. He was into it, attentive, and made sure that other guys were locked-in and focused. He’s a leader, he's been through all the ups-and-downs so I’m not surprised that he’s not discouraged or cares about his shooting night.”




JUSUF NURKIC
On setting the tone on defense and staying out of foul trouble after the last two games:
“I mean, obviously, two games in a row being fouled out is not a good look and not usually what I do. I watched the film and what I was supposed to do and tried to show my hands as best I can - and honestly when they make shots I guess it is great offense and when they miss shots it is bad offense for them.”

On the roar of the crowd and playing an afternoon game:
The only thing we regret is we did not win that last game and the fact that the game came earlier today was perfect. The edge was still there, the feeling, the guts, and inside you the will of the game and the way we should play. It was just best for us to get on the court as soon as possible. It felt almost like a back-to-back.





DAMIAN LILLARD
On tonight’s effort and the play of Jusuf Nurkic:
“It was a great win for us. I think the way that we won the game especially just coming out with a lot of energy, we defended, we were aggressive, the ball was moving, and typically we will start that way and will have drop offs, we won’t be able to sustain it. I thought we did a great job at keeping our focus and sustaining that level defensively especially to start the third-quarter. Going into the half with a 10 point lead we didn’t come out and mess around. We came out, we picked up, we were physical, we were sharp and paid attention to details. We locked in on our scouting report and we took the challenge. That led to a lot of push out transitions. The defense kind of being off balance and having to answer to that instead of playing against a set defense and taking the ball out of net. We were just able to dominate the third quarter because of what we did defensively. Obviously, when Nurk is right and he’s playing well and he’s sharp, finishing and making free throws and having an impact defensively, we’re a much better team and I think tonight showed that.”

Damian on a “never too high, never too low” mentality:
“We talked about it. Never get too high or get too low. Coming off of the Game 3 loss, it was like just because you’re not too low about it doesn’t mean to be cool with it or to be okay with it. This is a must win game. You lose game 3 and 4 at home, you go on the road down 3-1 facing elimination. We weren’t down about it or low about it, but that didn’t mean that we didn’t understand what was at stake today. We knew we had to win this game, and I thought we played like it from the start.”

 

HEAD COACH Michael Malone
On his team’s engagement:
"That's two games in a row where we weren’t ready to start the game. Luckily, in Game 3 we made enough three’s to get back in the game and we closed the first quarter of game three on a 19-4 run, we made three’s in that game and our bench was very good. Tonight, our starters were awful. I thought our bench kind of settled us down in that first half, we tied the game up and started the second quarter off on a 10-4 run. They called a timeout and closed the second quarter on a 15-7 run, I think. They had a 25-7 run with our starting group on the court. I thought we had some guys that were tentative, that looked a little scared but we played soft and have to be a lot better at home. It’s definitely disappointing, give them credit, Norman Powell played great tonight. He was attacking from the jump, (Jusuf) Nurkic played great tonight. If you were going to tell me going in that Damian LIllard was going to be 1-of-10 from the field and we were going to get blown out, I would have had a hard time believing that. Maybe this will be a wakeup call to the group, just to play a lot harder, good things happen when you play hard.”

On Damian Lillard shooting 1-of-10:
“It was an off shooting night for him and he wasn't scoring but everybody else was. I think our guys understand what we are trying to do with Damian Lillard, he requires so much attention. There's no silver-lining when you get your butt kicked in a playoff game. I can’t believe that we are actually talking about playing hard in a playoff game, that should be a given. It’s a best-of-three series now, obviously we have the luxury of having home court (advantage). Hopefully we can pack the place with as many people as possible, get a lot of fans out there and make it a very hostile environment.”

On getting the team to respond in Game 5:
“We are going to show film. I think when you tell somebody you’re not playing hard enough, playing physical enough or we played soft tonight, a lot of times they look at you like you're crazy and they really don’t believe it, they’re not wanting to accept that because you’re attacking their manhood. That’s not the case at all, I’m just stating the facts. When we start watching film I think it will jump off the screen that we weren’t ready to play, it will show them we weren’t physical enough, it will show them that they outworked us. Hopefully when they see the film, they are embarrassed by the effort and we come to game five with the requisite effort that is needed to compete in a playoff game against a very good team.”

On facing adversity:
“I never realized this until one of my coaches brought it up to me but we’ve never been up 2-1 in a series, we’ve always been playing from behind. We're much more comfortable playing from behind than we are being up 2-1. I think it’s a dangerous proposition to think that we can face adversity and find a way to succeed. We are out two starters right now, we are without one of our first players off the bench in PJ Dozier. As far as last year was, being down 3-1 twice, you don’t want to constantly put yourself in that position, if you don’t have to. Now that the series is 2-2, going home we have a few days to get ready for Game 5. We will do our job as coaches, I believe our players will understand and accept why we lost tonight and it’s really important for them to understand why you lost tonight. It wasn’t the game plan, it wasn’t X’s and O’s, it was the intangibles and we have to win the intangible battle moving forward in Game 5.”




NIKOLA JOKIC
On having the lead in the series coming in to today’s game and if that made them complacent:
“No. I mean you can’t be because they’re a really dangerous team and we cannot be satisfied, we cannot play easy, we cannot have a relaxed mentality. So it was a bad game, they picked up the energy, they picked up the pace, their starters beat us by a lot, and we didn’t respond well. We need to be much better.”

On Michael Porter Jr.’s game and getting him more involved in Game 5:
“It’s not just him, when you shoot 34% from the field, that’s really bad. Of course one part is they contested every shot, and one part is I think [we] even missed a couple open looks because we just missed. Him too, he doesn’t jump out of the group, he’s still with us and so he and I, we as a team, need to be better. Find him looks and he needs to find looks for the team, so we will be better next game, hopefully.”

On if he was tired during the game:
“No. Give Nurk (Jusuf Nurkic) credit, he was playing really good defense. Not just him, the whole Portland team played really good D, especially early in the game, and even if I was open, sometimes I missed. But give Nurk credit he played amazing defense.”

On what they need to do in Game 5:
“I’m going to play how I always play. I’m going to take whatever the game throws me. I’m not gonna force it, I’m not gonna play anything stupid, I’m just going to go there and play the game like I’m playing for fun. So I’m just going to go there [Ball Arena] and play normally how I play.”

On if Denver is more comfortable when the series is on the line than when they’re leading:
“I don’t know, I think it’s probably just a bit more relaxed - if you lose the series you go home.”