Sunday, November 4, 2018 Final: POR 111, MIN 81 HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS “It was a good bounce-back game for us. Obviously, they’re a little undermanned, but I liked the way we played. I thought we had good rhythm offensively for most of the game. Defensively as well, but like I said, without Butler and Rose and Teague, they’re a little undermanned.” What do you like best about the start of the season? “That’s a good question, I don’t know – we’ve done some good things. We had a good flow offensively. Obviously the second unit has established themselves as an integral part of the team. We’re scoring a lot of points. Defensively, it’s been a little sporadic, but I think what I like best is being 7 and 3.” On being consistent and getting off to a good start: “Yeah, I think we’ve got a long way to go like every team does at this time of year, but I think we’ve kind of established to a degree of what we need to do to be successful, both individually and collectively. I think that goes a long way for the rest of the season as far as having an understanding, knowing what’s expected of you.” What did you like about Nurkic’s game tonight? “A little bit of everything. I thought he finished around the basket. I think he’s taking his time a little bit more around the basket rather than rushing things. He made some nice passes. He’s a big presence. I still think he can have a little bit more presence defensively at the rim, but double-doubles are legit. He’s a big body, he’s getting his hands on a lot of rebounds, and his offense – he relies on his teammates for a lot of his offense and I think his finishing is the best part.” On Meyers Leonard tonight: “I was happy for Meyers, he had a little chant going. That was fun. I thought he played well, the fourth quarter withstanding. I thought the first half, he played very well. He got a couple dunks, some free throws, he was talking defensively. He and Zach played well together. Obviously, the fourth quarter, he got a lot of attention in the fourth quarter, but I was really pleased with the way he played in the first half.” MEYERS LEONARD “The truth is I was just out there having fun, playing hard. I looked at my shot – I actually didn’t shoot the ball as well as I normally do but my teammates were looking for me, a couple offensive rebounds, making my free throws, so it was fun to be out there. Big win for us, especially after last night. Just happy to continue to do what we do, but I just had fun out there, that’s all there is to it.” What did you think of the “Meyers Leonard” chant from the crowd? “I mean, I think that’s like the first time every so I guess that’s cool. It’s fun to be out there, it’s fun to help our team win. When the game was somewhat close in the first half, it was nice to be out there and make an impact. Then the second half, we kind of blew it open and continued to compete and do what we need to do to get a win.” Do you feel like you get a rhythm when you play more minutes? “Yeah absolutely, you get in the flow of the game, in a rhythm. The opportunity to play, the opportunity to get extended minutes, it’s nice to have. It certainly helps me. Everything is situational with matchups and whatnot, but I do feel like when I get some time and get in a rhythm, I feel good out there.” JUSUF NURKIC How do you feel about where you are as a team 10 games in? “I think we should know everything by now with our defense and our offense and no more like we put something new or something like that, so we feel good and we know we can improve, especially on defense, but we feel very solid.” On big games coming up, Tuesday vs. Milwaukee: “In this league, every night is going to be different. Like you said, there is big games coming up and then a long trip coming up, so we’re going to have a nice game and we need to be ready, so we’re going to work out and prepare what we can to do best preparation for ourselves and come to play.” It seemed like you and Lillard were on the same page tonight: “Nothing new for us. Tonight was kind of one of the nights but we definitely have a good connection over the last three years.”
HEAD COACH TOM THIBODEAU On challenges playing the Blazers: “I thought we played well in the first quarter. Defensively, the Blazers penetration really hurt us. Their second shot opportunities were a problem all night and the rebounding was a problem. To win on the road, obviously you have to play a lot better than that.” On dealing with injuries: “That’s the reality of our league. You have to be ready every night. When one guy goes out, another guy has to step in and you have to understand what your job is and then you have to go out there and do your job. The rebounding is what hurt us. You can’t give a team like the Blazers two or three cracks at it.” On playing through losses: “The challenge when you’re short-handed is to never underestimate how hard you’re going to have to play to give yourself a chance to win. Being ready to play, going out there and doing your job, that’s part of being a pro.
TAJ GIBSON You’ve played ten games already this season and only for two of them have you had everybody available and healthy for all 48 minutes; how hard has it been to overcome the injuries? “It’s tough, man, it’s tough, especially in this league with so many talented players on different teams. We’ve just gotta be ready to attack it, go out there and play hard, just trying to get as many guys into it and encourage as many people as you can off the bench, play as hard as you can. It’s a tough league, it’s a tough league to get wins in. Everybody’s special in this league, everybody’s here for a reason, but we’ve just gotta go out there and play hard.” How do you get yourself to play harder? Is it a mental thing, or a motivation thing? “It’s mental motivation; you have to bring energy from each other, you’ve gotta inspire each other, and that’s what I’m looking forward to doing the next game, next couple of games, gotta look forward to just inspiring people and pushing people to do better, knowing that next-man-up mentality…every game can change your career, every game can inspire you to play better basketball.” Is it good on a night like tonight that you have tomorrow night to try to rebound, won’t have to wait 24 hours? “Yeah, it’s frustrating after a tough loss like that, especially after that team just came off a tough back-to-back, but it seemed like they played a lot harder…just gotta come out with a lot more fire and play inspired basketball. I love the situation, I love it, and I’ll take the frustration out tomorrow on the Clippers.” Thibs was saying that after you guys lost by 30 to the Bucks ten days ago…that there was a bit of a human nature of distraction that might have been creeping in during a loss like that; did you sense that at all [tonight] or was it just a case of injuries catching up to you? “Well, injuries are a part of the game, distraction’s a part of the game, this is the NBA—you’re always gonna have distractions, always gonna have injuries, you just gotta pull together. The tough teams somehow find a way to win and try to pull it together. It’s a long season, but in the west coast you can’t feel sorry for yourself, you gotta muscle up and get ready for the next one. Other teams right now are going through the same things we’re going through…just gotta be men about it, get ready for the next one, play inspired basketball, play as hard as you can, inspire your teammates. You can’t have any negative thoughts—the moment you start thinking negative, that’s another burden on your back. My job is trying to inspire guys and go out there.
TEAM • Portland’s 111-81 victory marked its largest margin of victory this season (19, Oct. 30 at Houston) and tied the biggest win over the Timberwolves in franchise history (121-91, 3/30/91). • The Trail Blazers held Minnesota to 81 points, which is the fewest points scored in an NBA game this season. • The Timberwolves shot 31.2% from the eld, which is lowest eld goal percentage for a Trail Blazers opponent this season. • The Trail Blazers bench outscored Minnesota’s reserves, 44-23. • The Trail Blazers made a season-high 28 free throws (of 32, 87.5%). • Portland outrebounded the Timberwolves, 66-38, and outscored them in the paint, 52-40. • Portland’s 28 rebound advantage on the glass was the second-biggest rebound differential in the league this season (29, Ind. vs. Mem. 10/17/18). • The Trail Blazers outscored Minnesota in second chance points, 22-13. The Timberwolves bested Portland on the fast break, 14-13. PLAYER • Jusuf Nurkic led Portland with 19 points (8-11 FG, 3-4 FT) and 12 rebounds to go with two assists and one block in 23 minutes. It was his second straight double-double and his fth of the season. • Jusuf Nurkic is the only player in the NBA this season to score at least 19 points and pull down 12 rebounds in fewer than 23 minutes. • Damian Lillard nished with 18 points (6-16 FG, 1-4 3-PT, 5-6 FT), ve rebounds, ve as- sists and one steal in 28 minutes. • CJ McCollum had 16 points (7-14 FG, 1-4 3-PT, 1-1 FT), three rebounds, one assist and two steals in 28 minutes. • Meyers Leonard led Portland’s reserves with 15 points (3-7 FG, 1-4 3-PT, 8-8 FT) and 12 rebounds to go with two assists and one steal. It was his rst double-double of the season. His scoring and rebounding totals were both season highs. • Zach Collins scored 11 points off the bench (2-5 FG, 1-2 3-PT, 6-6 FT) to go with two re- bounds. It was the sixth game this season that Collins scored in double gures. • Gary Trent Jr. scored the rst points of his NBA career, nishing with two points and two rebounds in seven minutes. • Karl-Anthony Towns led Minnesota with 23 points (7-13 FG, 2-4 3-PT, 7-8 FT) to go with ve rebounds and three assists.
I should have predicted that Meyers was going to be a monster but didn't feel it at the time because Terry had him in the time out corner. sitting on the bench the prior games. >Meyers should be on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
“When everything go well, it go well,” Nurkic said after the win pushed the Blazers to 7-3. Words of wisdom from the Bosnian Aristotle. BNM
