Postgame Notes – December 6, 2019 Los Angeles 136, Portland 113 Game No. 23, Home Game No. 9 TEAM • The Trail Blazers shot 86.2% from the FT line (25-of-29) while the Lakers shot 81.8% from the FT line (27-of-33). • Portland dished out 20 assists, marking their 12th straight game recording 20+ assists. • The Trail Blazers forced the Lakers into 19 turnovers, tied for the second-most by a Portland opponent this season. • Portland’s nine steals tied their second-highest total of the season. • The Trail Blazers had four offensive rebounds while the Lakers had three offensive boards. • Portland had six players score in double figures. PLAYER • Damian Lillard led Portland with 29 points (9-18 FG, 2-8 3-PT, 9-11 FT), to go with seven rebounds and eight assists in a game-high 41 minutes. It was his second game this season with at least 25 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. • CJ McCollum recorded 15 points (5-13 FG, 3-7 3-PT, 2-2 FT), three rebounds and five assists over 35 minutes. • Hassan Whiteside scored 17 points on 8-of-12 shooting (1-2 FT) to go with 10 rebounds, two assists and three steals. It was his 13th double-double of the season, and his three steals were a season-high. • Carmelo Anthony had 15 points (4-13 FG, 1-3 3-PT, 6-7 FT), three rebounds and a season-high three steals. • Anfernee Simons logged 15 points (5-10 FG, 3-7 3-PT, 2-2 FT), two rebounds and one assist in 17 minutes off the bench. It was his sixth game this season scoring 15+ points. • Kent Bazemore finished with 10 points (3-9 FG, 1-5 3-PT, 3-3 FT), and two rebounds in 25 minutes off the bench. He has scored 25 points over his last two games, tied for his best two-game stretch of the season (25, 11/10 – 11/12). • Anthony Davis led the Lakers with 39 points (12-21 FG, 2-6 3-PT, 13-15 FT), nine rebounds, two assists, two steals and three blocks. It was his sixth game with 30+ points this season, making him the 10th player in the NBA with six or more 30+ point games in the 2019-20 season. • LeBron James added 31 points on 11-of-23 shooting (4-9 3PT, 5-7 FT), to go with seven rebounds and eight assists in 34 minutes. It was his seventh game with 30+ points this season.
HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS On Rodney Hood’s injury… “I’m very sad, very disappointed for Rodney, he was having a good year for us. I hate for anybody to have an injury like that, that takes them out for the season. I feel for him.” On replacing Rodney Hood… “I mean you know our roster; we’ll play the guys on the roster.” On Rodney Hood’s Achilles status going into tonight’s game and the decision to play him tonight… “I don’t know that he injured it last game, I know that it was bothering him last game, but I don’t know that he injured it last game. He cleared all the protocols.” “So it was never a question if he’d play tonight?” “No.” “Did you get a chance to talk to him after the game? How did he seem?” “Yeah. He’s disappointed.” “Terry have you ever been ejected in your career before tonight?” “Yeah summer league in Long Beach.” “How frustrated were you about the situation?” “I’m not going to talk about the officiating, obviously I didn’t agree with some of the calls, but there’s no point in going into the frustration or my disagreements with the officiating, it doesn’t do any good.” On how much of the Lakers success was because of their offense… “You know the start of the game we didn’t do a very good job where they did a good job with their offense, but obviously the priority was to keep them out of the paint, we didn’t do that early, but they made their runs by shooting threes. (Rajon) Rondo hit two and Lebron (James) hit one that got some separation in the first half, Lebron got going in the second half, so they shot a great percentage from three, and so when they’re scoring in the paint and scoring from the free throw line and scoring from the three, it’s a pretty good offense.” On getting players through serious injuries… “Just gotta keep going forward. I mean we’ve got a season to play, as disappointing as it is to lose players to injuries, we have a team and we gotta just keep competing and playing. I mean you don’t have any other choice, you have disappointment for that player, that’s why I don’t think anyone is in there feeling sorry for us and the team, I think everyone’s feeling sorry for Rodney (Hood) or Zach (Collins) or Nurk (Jusuf Nurkic) or whatever it is, you feel for that player. But as a team we have a job to do, and we gotta go out and compete and try to win games.”
DAMIAN LILLARD How difficult is it to see Hood go down to injury? “It’s tough, man. You hate to see injuries in the league period, but you hate to see one of your teammates go down to an injury like that, especially a starter and somebody that’s really a good person, having a great season, fitting in really well with our team and a big part of what we do. You feel for him personally more than anything. Just sad to see that happen to him.” Did you speak to Hood after the game? “So many emotions come with that and a lot going on in his head, I didn’t want to press him about it. I’m sure we’ll talk. I just told him to keep his head up. I saw where his spirits were – he had a smile on his face even though I know he probably hurting on the inside. I’m sure we’ll talk.” How good did the Lakers look to you? “They’re a good team. They’ve got great players, they’ve got shooters – they complement each other well. They’ve got rim protection, bigs that can run and catch lobs. They played a good game.” What was your message to the guys going out to start the fourth quarter? “I just told them ‘We’re up against it. We’re playing against a good team. We haven’t had a great night. We’re not getting anything, no calls for us, nothing is going in our favor, not getting the benefit of the doubt in those situations so we’re just going to have to get more aggressive. We’re getting called for every touch anyway so we might as well get physical and get aggressive and whatever happens, give ourselves a chance.’ That’s all I told them.” Is there a way to sum up what losing Hood does for the team? “I think it’s obvious. Like I said, he’s a starter, a huge part of what we do. It’s a lot of value that he has with our team. We can count on him to do a lot of things, some things that don’t show up on the stat sheet and it’s going to hurt to lose another one of our starters.” How do you move forward without another starter due to injury? “Just move forward. I don’t think it’s one answer – it’s a part of the game, injuries happen. You hate to see it happen. Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us. The season is going to keep going and it’s up to us as friends and teammates to kind of feel for him personally and handle that as friends and when it comes to us continuing to compete and try to get things together here, the next person has to step up. We’ve got to keep fighting and keep rolling.”
HEAD COACH FRANK VOGEL Thought on the road trip “I’m just impressed with our guys. I love the energy and focus, to play on the road the way we played is impressive to me. Three games in four nights, we didn’t have shootaround and we asked our guys to really lock in on our film session. To have the game plan in place just mainly off of film, last game we did that and this game we did that. I couldn’t be more happy with how the trip went.” On if LeBron & AD’s (Anthony Davis) cohesion filters down to the rest of the team “Absolutely, those guys set the tone in a lot of ways. Their cohesiveness together with the two of them is a big part of the overall team’s chemistry. The positive energy and the togetherness we’re trying to build. We have a new group, we’re still trying to learn each other, we’re far from the finished product but definitely on to a good start.” Any update on Rajon Rondo “Yes, he had a left hamstring strain and will be re-evaluated tomorrow. He’s listed as day-to-day.” Thoughts on Rondo’s play the last couple of weeks “He’s been exceptional. He’s given us just a great boost and I think we went from playing in a lot of close games to really separating ourselves in a lot of these games and a lot of it is because of his play off the bench. Him and LeBron (James) play together this year far better than last year. It’s a really positive sign for our team.” Thoughts on the performance by Anthony Davis “He’s just a beast. Not just his energy, it’s his production just getting it done on both ends of the floor. Dominating defensively; Strips, blocks, containment, defensive rebounding, rim protection, and all of those things. Being able to play through the post, shooting threes, rolling to the basket, and handling on the break. He’s really doing it all and obviously a big part of our run.” On the team’s improvement from the three-point line the last couple of games “I think it’s the shot quality, we’ve got a lot of great shooters on this team. It was the intent of our off-season plan was to put shooting around Anthony (Davis) and LeBron (James). Those two guys, they’re shooting the ball as well. When those guys are shooting it well, you have to push up on them, it lets them get going downhill to bring two (defenders) to the basketball, and that frees up the other shooters on the court. We just felt like even though they struggled a little bit early on, it was just a matter of time the cohesiveness of the offense improved the quality of the shots. As a result, we’re making more.” Thoughts on Kyle Kuzma’s next step to get to where the team expects him to be at “Just to continue to grow and find that comfort zone with this team. Obviously, he carried a heavy load last year and had a high level of production. He’s in a different role now with a different group. It’s our job as the coaching staff to make sure that we’re recognizing ways to use him in the appropriate way. Right now, he’s out there playing free and giving us a great boost off the bench and we continue to go with his role.”
LEBRON JAMES What got you guys going (on offense)? I think our offense is starting to catch up with our defense a little bit, which we kind of been talking about. We are working on the cohesiveness offensively and the rhythm and trying to get better and better. (Our offense) has been behind our defense for the majority of the season but tonight it caught our way on defense and gave us a good boost. Tonight was another game with a lot of lobs and dunks, what’s been opening up the last couple games? Everybody is a threat, we have threats all over the floor. We just trying to execute our offense and trying to be on time and on target with our passing, our precision and just reading each other. Just playing high IQ basketball which is resulting in better finishes and some open threes. What is it like to be on the court with Melo (Carmelo Anthony) again? It’s always special, it’s always special to be the floor with a friend of mine. We have so much history, we have been playing against each other since 2001. It all started in Colorado Springs at the Jr. Olympics and we’ve been competing for a long time, being on the same team at the Olympics and he’s my brother. It’s always great to be able to compete and to be on the same floor period, no matter if it’s on team USA when we were teammates or competing. Your guys’ defense is physical, where does that start with you guys? Our mentality and coach (Frank) Vogel, that’s a big preach from our coaching staff and that’s a big preach for us to go out and do and we have been doing that for the majority of the year. There was a play in the third (quarter) where you had a collision with a server on the sideline, what happened there? I was getting back on defense and I was out of bound and I didn’t see her and when I turned she was already on the ground. I just felt it was needed (to pick her up) because there was a break in the play because (Mario) Hezonja had pushed AD (Anthony Davis) on the offensive rebound so I had a chance to pick her up and apologize and ask if she was okay. She said she has been doing this for ten years and she said this was her “most exciting moment”… Wow, that’s very humbling, greatly appreciated. To be able to make someone’s ‘moment’ like that it’s something I can’t really explain. It’s really cool. I kind of don’t know what to say. When you hear other people’s thoughts on a moment like that. (I’m) just humbled and like I always tell you guys that I never take for granted to be in this position to play the game that I play in and make moments and inspire like that whether it’s with kids or adults.
ANTHONY DAVIS On taking his game up another level I got into a rhythm, figuring out where I’m going to get most of my shots from, where in sets I’m going to get most of my shots from. It’s just about being prepared, playing hard, just taking my time and getting my confidence in my game. Really, it’s just rhythm, I was trying to find a rhythm early in the season. I had some good games, but I was struggling some. And then ever since the day me and (Rajon) Rondo played 1 on 1 in the facility, I kind of found a rhythm there and was able to carry that throughout the rest of the season so far, so for me I’m just trying to stay in a rhythm. On what they have learned from recent wins We feel like we can win anywhere, we feel like we have come together, and obviously you have to come together for these 3 tough environments (Portland, Denver, Utah) to win in. We’re able to come in and take all three, but we have our mindset on something special, and we know in order to reach that goal, we have to stay in the moment and go game by game. We take every game personally; we want to go out there and be the best team. We want to be out there winning each quarter, we want to win in hustle points, win in rebounds, all the little things. If we continue to do that, then we’ll be fine. We’ve given ourselves a challenge called the AB challenge, ever since Avery (Bradley) on defense took a hit, in the last 3 games, I’m not sure what it was tonight, the last 3 games we’ve been able to be the number 1 team in defensive rating, and we want to get that every time. On playing for a contender We have a great team, we know that we’re going to get everyone’s best shot when we step out on the floor, no matter who we are playing against. It’s fun, we have to embrace it. It’s fun, I just remember at Kentucky anytime we stepped on the floor, no matter who it was, we gave it our best shot. Same thing here, we have to be ready for people to come out on the floor and shoot a higher field goal percentage then what they usually shoot, get stops, play harder and we have to embrace that. It’ll be fun for us, coming in and having a challenge every single night. It’s fun for us, and it’s our job to walk in every night and make sure we walk out with a win.
