HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS “Obviously that was an important win for us, for the division and tie break and all that, but more importantly, it was an important win for how we managed to stick with it, come back, fight through some adversity. I didn’t think we necessarily played our best but we found a way. It’ll do us well going forward. Like I said before the game, this was, as much as the implications were as far as division and tie breaker, it was as much or more about 20-some games to go and playing the right way and finding ways to win games. That was good to see tonight.” Thoughts on performance overall: “Theres a lot of parts to it. They made a lot of mid-range shots. I didn’t think we really trusted some of our coverages in the first half. When you look at the shot distribution in the first half, about 55 percent of their shots were mid-range, but I didn’t think we contested them as much as we should have. I was disappointed that we came out and had a good start to the second half and then just let them back in through some carelessness. There was a stretch where we played some good defense and we didn’t come up with the ball. That’s all of the things that we could have done better and that’s why I think that we can play better, but the intangibles of coming in against a desperate team that knows how important the game is. I don’t know what we were down at halftime and the fourth quarter, to find a way to win a game is important at this stage. We’ve had some games slip away from us in the fourth quarter. For us to rally like we did in the game against Oklahoma City. So on the whole, obviously it was a good win. But you win by one, lose by one, it doesn’t change the fact that we did a lot of really good things and we did things that we can do better.” What did you like most from Afflalo tonight? “That block-out and rebound at the end – that was play of the game, well a combination of the LA blocking the shot and him getting a body on Ibaka and coming up with the ball and making free throws. That whole sequence was really important. But on the whole, it looked like he had his wind more so tonight. He made some big shots, he was aggressive offensively, very active defenseively, got out in transition, so I think he’s looked like he’s kind of rounding into shape for us.” DAMIAN LILLARD “It was a really exciting game. We went on some runs, they went on some runs. They competed really hard and played a great game. I think it was just one of those game where we turned back into ourselves and late in the game, we found a way to get stops. We made plays, made shots and we stayed the course over kind of a rough game that was exciting and fun to play in and we got it done. Biggest win of the season? “I don’t know, but it was definitely a big win to win the season series over them. When the playoff race is kind of getting tight in the Western Conference and we get a huge win over them, a division team, and two games in a row now that we’ve played good basketball, so I think it’s more about the way that we’re playing, the way that we’ve played over the last three games more than tonight just being a big game or the best game or the biggest game of the season.” What do you mean ‘turned back into ourselves’? “I think the best way to describe it is just how I felt – the way that we were there for each other, high fives, the emotion from everybody- I think it’s back to what we’re accustomed to. That’s what we do. We support each other. We move the ball. We play exciting basketball games and we get the crowd into it and that’s what we did tonight.” “The energy over the last two or three games has been completely different than it was when we had that drop off. It wasn’t the same energy, it just didn’t feel like us.” Did it feel like a playoff game? “It did. Because it’s a tight race, especially with the position that they’re in with a chance for us to go up 3-0 on the season series and with us being in the same division. They were fighting for that and we were fighting to win another game and hold our place in the Western Conference. It definitely had that type of feel to it.” How big was Afflalo tonight? “He was huge. He came in and tonight he showed why that trade was so big for us.”
HEAD COACH SCOTT BROOKS On how the game ended: “Not good… We wanted to win the game. We had enough energy after a tough back to back… I thought we played well enough to win the game. They got some good breaks, but that’s part of it when you play on the road in a tough environment. Portland’s a good basketball team, we knew that going into the game. We knew we had to play well and I thought our guys did that. Our bench came in and did a good job, but they took 18 free throws in the 4th quarter… That’s too many. This team doesn’t shoot a lot of free throws, I think they only average 22 per game on the season. But give them credit, they made the big plays in the 4th quarter.” On their defensive play in the second half, compare to the first: “Well we did a lot of things well throughout the game, but this a very good offensive team. They have a lot of weapons and they’re healthy and they’re going to play good basketball, because they have a lot of good players… But I thought we did a lot of good things defensively. A couple of times we gambled too much and then they hit threes and they got to the free throw line too many times.” On Russell Westbrook’s performance: “He has the heart of a champion. He comes out every night and there’s no excuses, ever. He plays the game with everything he has, and those are the characteristics of his entire career. He’s been a winner for a long time and he does it every night. He fills up the stat sheet and does whatever it takes to put his team in a position to win.” On Westbrook’s health (knee to the face): “Don’t know, we’ll find out more, later.” Mitch McGary On his feelings about the game: “Felt good. I’m disappointed we lost but I’m just doing what I can to help the team win. Unfortunately, we came up a little bit short, but we did some good things. For the things that were bad, we need to come back and watch some film and get better coming into Sunday.” On the adjustment to getting more playing time: “It’s been good. My name has been called, the opportunity knocked so I just need to come up and step up and play for my team when they need me.” On their second quarter burst: “They made a little run and we just had to counter that just getting stops. It all starts on defense. When we get stops and runs, there’s not too many teams that can contain, especially having Russell pushing the break, our bench running the floor and just making easy buckets.” Kyle Singler On jumping into a game without getting practice with his team: “It’s tough not having practice and finding the rhythm once getting on the court game-wise, but what helped me find rhythm out on the court was playing games early. I was able to get minutes. In my first two days, we had a game back-to-back and so I was out on the court playing. It helped me feel comfortable with the guys out on the court.” On the mindset of this team to move up in the playoff standings: “The mindset is to try to win as many games as we can. We got to compete, we got to play hard. Take tonight for example, we wanted to win this game and it was tough that we lost. It would have helped us out in the standings. Next game is somewhat of a must-win for us.”
Not surprising that they didn't make Russ available for a post-game interview after that knee to the head. I can just imagine it: "Russ, were you trying to miss that last free-throw?" "What did you say, man? Somebody turn down the damned bells. I can't hear nothing." "I said, were you trying to miss that last shot?" "Purple."
Thats cool and all but they should have asked the entire team 1 by 1 what they thought of westbrick and how much of an honor it is to make free throws on the same basket he choked on.
