HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS “Well we didn’t finish the first quarter, we didn’t finish the second quarter, we didn’t start off the third quarter and that was pretty much the game. Those three segments, they probably outscored us by 30 at least. So we’ve got to maintain our focus much better. It seems like sometimes when the offense is coming easy, we don’t have the same focus defensively. We’ve got to get better with that. New Orleans did a good job of shooting threes. The first half, Tony Allen makes one and Rondo makes two. I think that got them pretty comfortable. I think they had 15 for the game and that was a big part of what they did tonight.” Can you elaborate more on what you mean by “focus”? “It could be anything. It could be getting back on defense, it could be contesting shots, it could be picking up a cutter, it could be just attuned to what’s going on.” How would you describe Cousins tonight? “He looked very similar to the last time we played him. He’s an effective player. He can hurt you in a lot of different ways just like he did the first time we played him, just like he did tonight. With Anthony Davis out, he took it on himself. He’s extremely physical inside, had a knack of scoring around the basket, can put the ball on the floor. He’s an All Star player.” On Meyers Leonard tonight: I was really happy for Meyers. Obviously everybody knows about what happened last game with him, and for him to respond with a game like that was good for him and we certainly needed him. I thought he played a good defensive game as far as being physical. He was very vocal. It helps when you make shots. Everybody notices that part, but obviously the matchup with Cousins was an interesting one as well.” On being 7-6 at home: “Yeah, we need to be better. If we want to be the team that we want to be, we have to be better at home. There’s no question.”
DAMIAN LILLARD Coach talked about not closing out quarters, what goes into those moments? “I think being able to stay focused and not taking what you get done for granted. I thought we had a good start to the first quarter and it was kind of flowing, it was going smooth, it was an easy game at that point. And then they started to make a few shots and because of how the shots we were getting offensively, we kind of counted on that and we let it become a back and forth game. They had a better finish to the first quarter than we did. A few of our shots didn’t go in and theirs did. So instead of us staying focused and continuing to do the things that gave us a little bit of a lead, we lost our focus and they closed that gap and had a better finish to the first and the second quarter. The finishes to both of those quarters is what allowed them to take the lead into the half and just a poor start to the third quarter.” On defense tonight: “It was nowhere near the level it needed to be if we want to win the game.” Focus is a broad word, what does that mean to you? “Like you said, it’s a broad word. It can mean a lot of things. I think what just happened was self-explanatory. Just simple things that shouldn’t happen was happening. That happens when you’re not locked in and your mind is not where it needs to be. We allowed guys to get behind us in transition, and slow transition, it wasn’t like a long miss and they got it out quick, it was like everybody was getting back and kind of just looking around and then they just throw it ahead and it’s a guy behind all of us. When you have mistakes like that, the ball goes up in the air and two people go after it and they end up getting it and scoring. Not helping each other out, a guy drives from one wing all the way to the rim before somebody can help. We’re already supposed to be one foot in the paint anyway, so I mean, you have a number of those situations. That’s a lack of focus, especially when we don’t want to allow those things to happen at all.”
HEAD COACH ALVIN GENTRY Congratulations, this is a big win on the road for your club tonight: It is. Obviously, we’ve struggled in this building, but I thought we started the game the right way. I thought we did a great job defensively, and then we got separation by moving the basketball. I thought DeMarcus was great, but I thought it was really, truly a team win. I thought everybody came in. Omer gave us great minutes… just to be able to relieve DeMarcus and not have to play long stretches of minutes. I thought he did a great job. Dante did a great job of rebounding the basketball. I just thought everybody contributed. Rondo had another double-double. It was just a really good team win for us. Without Davis, you said it would take a committee. Did you think you would get this kind of play tonight? Well, that’s what we have to to be able to win. We have to do that in order to win, and I thought we were really focused when we went out. We built a lead, they cut back into it, but I did think that we did a really good job of just standing pat. We gave up 2’s at the end, but we took away the 3’s. Speaking of 3’s, you benefitted from those in the second and third. Was that by design? It was just… we had good ball movement, and we rotated the ball and found the open man. The open man happened to be behind the 3, and I thought that all the 3’s we shot tonight were really good 3’s. How did you go about taking care of their guards? I think we’ll take 19 for 47 with that group. They’re a high scoring group and do a great job. I just thought that our bigs did a great job of being up on the screen, and guards did a great job of fighting over the top.
E’TWAUN MOORE On shooting well as a team two games in a row: “We’ve been aggressive. Been aggressive off the bounce, driving and kicking it. Sharing the ball, that’s pretty big. We were looking for each other out there.” On his shooting efficiency tonight: “I give a lot of credit to my team. Jrue (Holiday), (Rajon) Rondo, Jameer (Nelson) and DeMarcus (Cousins) too, they were all getting in the paint, making people collapse and I was just knocking them down and being ready to shoot.” On Portland not double teaming Cousins: “We just played through the flow of the game. DeMarcus was being aggressive, setting good screens and we were just playing through the flow. That’s one thing that’s good about our offense, we’ve got a lot of guys that can do a lot of different things, so we just try to keep it going.”
DEMARCUS COUSINS On the game: “I think it was a great team effort. We preached before the game, no excuses. My partner in crime (Anthony Davis) went out last night. With that being said, we kind of crumpled as a team last night, so we just tried to come in with no excuses and leave it all on the floor.” On his team’s offense: “It was a good team effort. I think we got the ball moving, I think we took the best shots available, we tried to come out and be aggressive and keep pressure on their defense. Like I said, it was just a good team effort all around.” On exchange with Meyers Leonard: “It didn’t get heated. It wasn’t heated at all. Let me hit you in your head and see how you feel about it. He was just making a competitive play. He’s trying to win just like everybody else on the floor, so I didn’t take it that way at all.”
TEAM • The Trail Blazers committed just five turnovers, the lowest total of the season. The previous season low was seven turnovers (Nov. 24 at Brooklyn). • The Portland bench outscored the New Orleans reserves, 49-29. • The Trail Blazers were perfect from the free throw line, shooting 11-of-11 to record their best free throw percentage of the season. • Portland pulled down nine offensive rebounds leading to 13 second chance points while the Pelicans had four offensive rebounds leading to seven second chance points. • The Trail Blazers set season highs in field goal attempts (105) and three-point field goal attempts (35).
PLAYER • Damian Lillard led the Trail Blazers in scoring with 29 points (11-25 FG, 4-11 3-PT, 3-3 FT) to go with five rebounds and eight assists. It was the 15th time this season that Lillard has scored 25-plus points. • With three free throws, Damian Lillard (2,044 career free throws) broke a tie with Cliff Robinson for fifth place on Portland’s all-time free throw list. • Meyers Leonard scored a season-high 17 points (7-9 FG, 2-2 3-PT, 1-1 FT) to go with two rebounds and three assists. Leonard led all bench players in scoring. • Shabazz Napier finished with 15 points (4-10 FG, 1-4 3-PT, 6-6 FT) and tied his career high with seven rebounds (twice, last Feb. 23, 2017 at Orlando). Napier also tied his season high in steals with three (last Nov. 27, 2017 at New York). • CJ McCollum recorded 17 points (8-22 FG, 1-6 3-PT), four rebounds and three assists. • Pat Connaughton scored eight points (3-7 FG, 2-4 3-PT) to go with four rebounds and two assists. It is the third time in the last four games that Connaughton has made multiple three-pointers. • Noah Vonleh tied for the team lead with seven rebounds while scoring five points and blocking two shots. • DeMarcus Cousins led all players in scoring with 38 points (14-28 FG, 2-7 3-PT, 8-13 FT) to go with eight rebounds and one block. • Rajon Rondo recorded his second consecutive double-double, finishing with 12 points and 10 assists to go with six rebounds.
On being 7-6 at home. This. We are 7-6 at home. One of the worst at home we have with 13 games. Ridiculous and shame
The long-awaited Homer/Stotts interview: Me: "Why do you insist on never double-teaming an opposing player that is torching us?" Stotts: "uh....." Me: "Why do we always switch guards onto opposing big men that are torching us?" Stotts: "uh...." Me: "Why is my IP address banned in Wales?" Stotts: "Wales are mammals." Me: "What will you do after PA fires your ass? Stotts: "Teach people how to shoot 3s down at the Y."
