Postgame Notes – November 15, 2021 Portland 118, Toronto 113 Game #15, Home Game #7 TEAM • The Trail Blazers won their fourth straight game against the Raptors. • Portland won its sixth straight game at Moda Center. The Trail Blazers are now 6-1 at home. • The Trail Blazers reserves outscored the Toronto bench, 37-12. • Portland shot a season-best 56.1% from the field. • The Trail Blazers recorded six steals and seven blocks while the Raptors recorded seven steals and two blocks. • Portland made 16 three-pointers (of 36, 44.4%) while the Raptors connected on 15 of their 33 attempts (45.5% 3-PT). PLAYER • CJ McCollum scored a game-high 29 points (11-18 FG, 6-11 3-PT, 1-2 FT) to go with three rebounds, six assists, one steal and two blocks in 40 minutes. His six three-pointers matched his season high. • Damian Lillard recorded 24 points (10-21 FG, 3-6 3-PT, 1-1 FT), four rebounds and eight assists in 40 minutes. It was his fifth straight game with 20-plus points. • Larry Nance Jr. led the Portland bench with a season-high 15 points on perfect 7-of-7 shooting from the field (1-1 3-PT) to go with five rebounds and two assists in 23 minutes. • Jusuf Nurkic had five points and pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds in 18 minutes of action. • Norman Powell added 12 points (3-9 FG, 0-4 3-PT, 6-8 FT), four rebounds, one assist and one steal in 32 minutes. • In 23 minutes, Robert Covington logged 11 points (4-7 FG, 3-5 3-PT), three rebounds, two assists and a season-high three blocks in 23 minutes. • OG Anunoby led Toronto with 29 points (9-19 FG, 6-10 3-PT, 5-6 FT), six rebounds, two assists and three steals in 41 minutes. • Gary Trent Jr. scored 18 points (8-16 FG, 2-6 3-PT) to go with six rebounds, one assist and two steals. • Pascal Siakam recorded 20 points (7-15 FG, 2-6 3-PT, 4-4 FT), six rebounds, six assists and one block in 39 minutes.
COACH BILLUPS On how the fourth quarter unit performed… “They just played really hard. I think they got tired during that one stretch because I played them probably too long. But we had a good thing going, you know, I figured I would blow a couple of timeouts just to give them a break. You know, we get a chance to win a game like that, you have to go all out. But they gave us so much, they gave us so much versatility. I thought they played extremely hard. They [the Raptors] were small, you know, they're really a drive, kick swing team, and so I just thought we needed to keep our smaller lineup in there to combat that.” On starting Damian Lillard in the fourth quarter… “It was a tie ballgame. You know, I knew we needed to get off to a good start. So I was going to put Dame [Damian Lillard] in there for three or four minutes, take him out and then let him finish. But I told him before I said ‘I'm going to see how it goes, going to make a run. I think we'll get up six, get up eight or something like that. We make a great run right there. You got to try to keep the momentum going. We did that and obviously they made that run but we didn't tighten up and kept playing aggressive and kept on doing what we did to get the lead and pull through.” On the team’s effort… “You know, for the most part we’ve kind of figured out how hard we play at home and we’ve done a good job with that. We’ve got to find a way to take it for our games when we travel away. But they brought the effort tonight. They really did. We were playing against a team that plays extremely, extremely hard. And if we didn't, we would get ourselves in trouble. But I mean on the back-to-back, long trip home, demoralizing loss yesterday, fifth game in seven days - this was just a great effort.” On Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum’s impact on the team… “When your best player or best players don't shoot it well and your team depends on shot-making, you just can’t overdo it. However, at the same time, this is the NBA and it just is what it is, you know. All of these guys are professionals. All these guys are really good basketball players. We’re expected to play well, no matter what. It just kind of is what it is. When Dame [Damian Lillard] is shooting well, his shots are just so loud. And not only in this building but for the rest of his teammates. He makes those shots and everyone just gains a lot of confidence.” On the slow start to the game for the Trail Blazers… “Yeah, I just felt like we needed to wake up. You know, we just gotta wake up, man. We can't come into a game like this playing against a hungry, desperate team, who is a really good road team. You know, they didn't play last night and we did. I understand that but we gotta wake up. That was one of those instances where I said, ‘I’m gonna see how it goes after this timeout. I'm gonna have to start subbing, quick.’ Because I do know the guys that's going to give us the effort every single night. When we went to them, that second group, they really kept us alive in that first half. When it came to halftime I told them ‘Let’s thank the second group. They kept us in, they got us back on top.’ Sometimes that second group I think inspires that first group. I’ve been on teams like that before. They bring so much energy and effort that sometimes, when they get up there and do that, the first group gets back in there and it’s like if you don’t, you look bad. We’ll take it however.”
Larry Nance, Jr. On tonight’s energy and scoring runs… “That’s where we hang our hat. This is a game of runs—basketball is a game of runs, right? So our job is whether we come in down 10, up 10, or even, our job is to have the first run and maintain that. Nas [Nassir Little]; an incredible energy player, and same with Dame [Damian Lillard]. Myself—that’s how I try to leave a mark in the game is just playing with force and aggression. Of course, Tony [Snell] and Cody [Zeller], and you know whoever else comes in with us most of the time. They leave one of those lead guards out there; Dame or CJ [McCollum], but that’s our job. Our job is to have the first run, make the coach call the first timeout.” On Portland’s struggles on the road… “This league is not easy. Guys on the court know that—me, Dame, CJ, Norm [Norman Powell], Nas. You know, four of us have been around for seven plus years. So, we know coming off 5 [games] in 7 [nights] …we got a rest day tomorrow. There’s no excuse not to use every minute of energy we had, and I thought we did an outstanding job in the fourth quarter of fighting off their runs and making some of our own.” On being dominant at home and not away… “That’s a great question, and if I knew the answer, we wouldn’t be as dominant at home and battle on the road. That’s still something we’re trying to figure out. I know it’s got a little bit to do with these fans. These guys have been incredible for us all year. I know it’s important that we defend this home court for them. All I know is we got three home games in front of us—four I should say. We just won one and we got three more wins to get. Then we’ll worry about the road again.”
DAMIAN LILLARD On his abdominal injury… “It’s tight, and I’m irritated. It’s frustrating, but I’ve been playing with it for the last three and a half, four seasons. It’s frustrating. I’m ready to be playing in the prime of my career 100% and it’s just frustrating to not be able to do that over the past three or four years. At this point, it’s just going to be managing it. This summer, I rested a lot. Took a lot of time, did a lot of the training and rehab stuff, foundation stuff and I had been feeling really good. But obviously, once you start playing so many games, and the wear and tear of the season. You never know how that’s going to go so that’s the frustrating part, but it’s going to just be day-to-day managing it, and finding a way to stay on the floor.” On how he thought team played in the fourth quarter… “I thought we competed. You’re never going to be able to control making shots and referees calling fouls. You know there are certain things that are out of your control, but your effort and the pride that you take in the competing against the other team is something that’s magical, especially for our team. I thought to start the game they obviously wanted to be physical and establish themselves that way, and when they hit first, we responded, I thought, better for the rest of the game. We played how we were supposed to play. We played like a team that wanted to win.” On the closing line-ups chemistry down the stretch… “Those are the rhythm shots, you know. The right play being made coming off of a defensive possession where that’s usually what it looks like. That’s what happens when one good thing leads to another good thing. Something the crowd will be excited for so that was amazing rotation for the five on the floor down the stretch.”
Head Coach Nick Nurse On defending Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum… “Well I think those guys both, had a super impact on the game and it created a lot of stuff. I think they did shake free for some stuff inside and out but I also think that, McCollum had a really good shooting night. Obviously, he was good, 10-of-21 shooting which isn’t the end of the world, but I thought they did a good job getting the other guys some really good opportunites and some opportunities that were just okay and the bigs stepped in and made a couple big shots. I think we got the ball directed a few times and especially in the fourth where we wanted it. And those guys made a couple big corner threes. They were good all over, the bench scoring was big, all those guys really contributed for them and made it extra tough.” On Scottie Barnes guarding multiple positions… “I don’t think as a team we guarded very well. I don’t know if its looking at individual matchups and things like that. I just think when they shoot 56% as a team, you’re going to have a hard time winning. ” On Fred VanVleet managing when to defer and when to attack… “Well they were blitzing him [Fred] tonight. So they were taking the ball out of his hands. But we did a really good job, especially early, we were finding wide open shots, etc. We didn’t do as good finishing at the rim as they made an adjustment to stay home and we had to make a few in the paint and we didn’t make enough to make them pay for that. It was tough for him to get going when they’re blitzing him like that all the time. But he did get going and willed us back in the game. We just needed a stop with about 1:40 to go. It was a one-point game and I thought we had a really good defensive possession. We didn’t get a break on a drive.” On learning moments late in the game after turnovers by Scottie Barnes… “That’s how you have to take them as, is learning moments. Freddy made an unbelievable pass, but I’m not sure Scottie saw it due to the traffic, and it was coming with a little top spin on it and I think that caught him by surprise. It looked like it was going to be a two-handed dunk on that one. The other one, not sure quite what happened, where it looked like he went underneath the basket and they called him for a travel. I would assume that Nance didn’t hit it and that’s why they called a travel. But to answer your question, he’s a young guy, he’s going to have some ups and downs and he's going to make some mistakes but I thought he was playing pretty hard and aggressively and making the right plays, he just needed to finish a couple of those.”
Toronto Raptors center Khem Birch On what went wrong to begin the fourth quarter… “I think as a second unit, we didn’t play well in the game. I take accountability for us and the second unit as well. That’s what really put us in a hole and unfortunately the starters had to come in early in the fourth and try to catch up. I think that’s a big part of the reason why we didn’t get it done tonight.” On what he’s seen overall defensively that’s been the problem the last few games… “I just feel that we aren’t playing the same type of defense that we played when we went on the five game winning streak. Even myself, I think I got to stop thinking about my man and [focus] more on team defense. I think we just got to play more team defense in general.” On passing out of the short-roll when the guards are getting trapped… “I feel like I’ve always been a pass-first type player. Unfortunately, I missed a couple easy [chances] from the short-roll. I think that was a big part of it as well because after a while they [started] to stay home and I felt that if I was more aggressive, the shots would have opened up the floor a little more.”
Toronto Raptors forward OG Anunoby On what makes CJ [McCollum] and Dame [Damian Lillard] difficult to guard… “Just their creativity and unpredictability. [Their] ball shiftiness, just creativity mainly. On the team’s chemistry passing out of the short-roll… “As we play more, we’ll develop more chemistry out there. We work on it in practice so as the season goes on we’ll get better and better.” On the team’s defensive performance the last couple of games… “We are playing hard. They are making tough shots. We are playing hard so that’s how it goes sometimes, they made tough shots. They have good players on their team.” On how the team feels stamina wise when guarding players like Dame and CJ… “I think we are feeling good. I mean, as the season goes on we’ll see how we feel but right now we’re good. We all like to play both ways and compete so for now we’re good.”
