HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS “It was a good bounce back win. Obviously our bench was really good. Everybody from the bench really came in and contributed. You look at the plus-minus for the bench guys, it was a very solid performance. Evan had a really good rhythm. I thought Shabazz helped out when he came in. Overall, it was just a really good night for us. I thought Noah was really good.” On decision to start Swanigan: “Just to chance things up. It wasn’t anything about Noah, it was just to kind of change things up off the bench and see how it played out. Give Caleb a chance to play with the starters and see how Noah did off the bench.” How do you think it went with Swanigan? “I thought the first half, he had a really good stretch at the beginning of the game. I don’t know if he ever really got his rhythm back after that but I thought that first eight minutes or whatever he played in the first quarter was very productive.” What did you like defensively and what did you do on Jokic? “Nothing special against Jokic. I thought everybody who had that matchup was into it. We didn’t want to give up any open threes. He’s a tough cover. It was really an individual thing because he can do so many things. I thought they did a good job of pressuring his passes so it took away some of his passing ability. When he did have a post-up, we held our ground, but it wasn’t anything special other than really good individual defense.” On not using Lillard or McCollum to start the second and fourth tonight: “It was something I actually toyed around with going to the season, if we’d ever get to it or not. I wanted to give it a look, it worked out well tonight and we’ll see how it goes going forward. I thought about it, but going into the first quarter, that first run, I didn’t want to take CJ out at his normal time and let them run through, and then I kind of made the decision then to go with it.” On message before the game that team really needed to play well tonight: “Well because Denver’s really a good team. I was really pleased with our defense tonight but watching Denver play leading into these games – Orlando and Oklahoma City – they were hitting on all cylinders offensively. They were shooting inside and outside and passing the ball and getting out in transition and offensive rebounds – I mean, they were offensively, they were really on a roll. That was my biggest concern and we had to play well at both ends to match that.”
CALEB SWANIGAN When did you find out you’d start tonight and what was your reaction? “I found out yesterday during practice. Just come in and get a win. We had lost two in a row so the biggest thing for all of us was to come in focused and make sure we get a win this game.” Did you have any extra juice tonight for the first NBA start? “I mean yeah, just a little bit too much. A lot of rebounds I could have had hit me in the hands, got so much anticipation in you, you do some things that are uncharacteristic.” Do you feel well about how you played and getting in foul trouble? “Yeah, that’s just part of learning. You play in the game and you learn the game. Millsap’s a good player, been in the league for a while so you only get better when you experience it.” Did you sense the team needing a win tonight? “Yeah, I wouldn’t say need – need is a strong word, but we definitely need to get back on, we need to win every night, but we wanted to get back on pace and make sure we was playing Blazers basketball and that’s what we did tonight.”
EVAN TURNER On second unit tonight: I just think we went on a run and was able to keep it defensively and offensively. I think we’re all clicking, I think we picked up our communication. Slipped away a little bit but then I think our first unit and put together their own run and the second unit came in and held it up. That’s it” Was that your best defensive effort of the season? “I mean, I guess, you probably count that but we kept a pretty good Indiana Pacers team to a pretty low score, along with other good offensive teams, we’re just on the wrong side of the scoreboard, but definitely this was probably one of the better, as of recent memory, all around win I guess, but the Indiana Pacers was pretty good too. Opening night wasn’t bad either, but they’re playing different so you can never really count that as much.” On offense clicking better tonight than previous games: “Obviously you just ride that wave. You understand it’s going to be game of runs and right now we want to get back to shooting how we normally shoot and just making the right plays and that’s it.”
HEAD COACH MICHAEL MALONE On the Trail Blazers shooting 52% from the field: “What did we lack? The difference in the game was their bench. I think we did a really good job on their starting unit, their starters shot 44% against us but their bench came in and shot 65% on their way to outscoring us 42-14 off the bench. I give Evan Turner, Ed Davis, all of those guys a lot of credit because I thought that was a big difference in the game was their bench coming in and providing a lead. We were lucky to cut it to five at halftime but then in that third quarter obviously they got going, outscoring us 30-17. You have to give a lot of credit to their defense, I thought their defense did a great job tonight.” On what the Blazers’ defense did specifically: “We scored 82 points on 35% [shooting], they were interested, they were physical. They just guarded us very, very well and they made us feel them all night.” On what attributed to Nikola Jokic’s off night: “I give them all the credit. Portland came in here, division game and set the tone early and played great defense on not only Nikola but the whole team for 48 minutes.” On not having Will Barton come off the bench: “I’m not even sure where we rank but I think we’re probably one of the highest scoring benches in the NBA and when you take, I think, what will be one of the leading contenders for sixth man of the year and now you don’t have him, obviously your bench feels that. Still no excuse for guys that are going to have to be able to give us something and tonight we just didn’t have it in the game. We can definitely play better, we can take care of the ball a lot better but when you hold their backcourt and their starters to what we held them to, you feel pretty good about that. But then when Evan Turner comes in and hits five or six midrange shots, Eddy Davis hurts us, it’s just an unfortunate situation but again you have to give those guys all of the credit, Terry [Stotts] did a great job tonight.”
WILL BARTON On what Portland was doing defensively: “They were just flying around and making plays. Give them credit, they played well tonight on both ends.” On if there’s anything Denver can take from this game: “I thought we played hard tonight. We made mistakes, but we played hard. Didn’t make shots, didn’t get the stops we needed, but played tough.” On Nurkic dominating the paint: “He just came out and wanted it. Give him credit. Like I said, I don’t think it’s anything we did wrong, they just played well.”
NIKOLA JOKIC On the game: “They were just better. They were just better than us the whole game. They were more aggressive, they rebounded more and everything was on their side.” On what Portland does defensively: “I don’t know what they do specifically, but they are just aggressive defensively. Every handoff, every screen, they’re fighting through screens and they are just a good team. They were better than us today.” On Nurkic: “He was aggressive, he was looking to score, he actually shared the ball a little bit more. He’s a good player.
TEAM • The Trail Blazers beat the Nuggets at the Moda Center for the ninth consecutive time and for the 15th time in their last 17 meetings overall. • The Trail Blazers shot 38-of-73 (52.1%) from the field, the team’s best shooting percentage of the season. • Denver’s 82 points were the second-fewest points the Trail Blazers have given up this season, and the Nuggets’ 35.7% field goal shooting was the second-lowest percentage a Portland opponent has shot this season. • Portland’s reserves shot 17-of-26 (65.4%) and outscored Denver’s bench, 42-14. • The Trail Blazers outrebounded Denver, 43-35, and outscored the Nuggets in the paint, 42-32. • Portland recorded a season-high 12 steals.
PLAYER • CJ McCollum finished with 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting (3-5 3-PT). McCollum has made at least three 3-pointers in five consecutive games, the longest streak of his career. • Jusuf Nurkic recorded 17 points (7-15 FG, 3-4 FT), five rebounds and one block. He has scored 15+ points in five of the last six games. • Evan Turner notched 14 points (7-11 FG), three rebounds and five assists off the bench. Turner has reached double figures in three straight games and his seven field goals matched his season high. • Damian Lillard registered 15 points (4-14 FG, 2-8 3-PT, 5-5 FT), five rebounds, seven assists, and a season-high tying four steals. • Noah Vonleh pulled down double-digit rebounds for the second time this season, finishing with a season-high eight points and 10 rebounds. • In the first start of his career, Caleb Swanigan had six points, five rebounds, one assist and a career-high two blocked shots. • Shabazz Napier had eight points and tied his season high with three assists off the bench. • Zach Collins scored the first points of his NBA career, finishing with three points and one rebound. • Paul Millsap had 18 points 6-of-16 shooting (5-9 3-PT). Millsap’s five 3-pointers were a season high.
Don't they require attribution? Who is the poor anonymous guy who does all this work, while you get all the rec's? Admit it. Truebluefan does all the dirty work around here.
Biggies head is sure in the right place. Had a great game for his first NBA start. Atta boy, got some work to do, but I was happy as hell with it!
I got to give Stotts credit last night the team wasnt functioning very well and try something new and it paid off. I still think the first unit is still struggling a bit on offense but hopefully they can solve this soon. The 2nd unit play well together last not move the ball well and had a lot of energy and I said before they got 4 players on that unit that pretty good defenders.
