HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS “We didn’t play hard enough in the first half to win the game. We didn’t play with enough passion, enough heart. Obviously Dallas played well, but to give up 62 in the first half against the lowest scoring team in the league, it’s unacceptable. We just didn’t do it. I’m not going to take any consolation or anything else about how we played the second half. It was nice that we came back but the first half was unacceptable.” How can you explain the effort in the first half? “I can’t. I can’t explain an effort like that.” What was supposed to happen on last play? “There was supposed to be a ball screen for Dame. It was slow coming, so those two or three seconds made the difference. Wes did a good job of guarding him, got into him and Dame wasn’t able to create any separation but there was supposed to be a ball screen on Dame.”
DAMIAN LILLARD What was frustrating? “I think it’s a few things to come away frustrated with. Down 20 at the half. Give up 60 in the half. That’s frustrating to have that kind of half and then to back it up with the kind of second half we had. Then personally, just to have two opportunities down the stretch down one and not be able to capitalize on that.” What was the play call on the last possession? “I was supposed to come up to the top, get the ball and Chief or whoever Dwight Powell was guarding was going to come up into a pick and roll and that’s what we did. I sprinted up to half court, I got the ball. Wes was right on my back, it took me like two seconds, three seconds to get him off of me. I knew that we only had eight seconds, so after that I wanted to attack right. When Chief was coming up to set the pick and roll, his man kind of stayed there in coverage and they were kind of corralling me a little bit in that space. I tried to change direction. There was nothing there. By the time those things happened, it was two seconds so I was stuck with a jumper.” How would you describe the state of the team right now? “I mean, we want to win. We’re trying to find a way to win one game and then get it going. We competed really hard last night, we made some mistakes but we fought and lost the game. Tonight, we fall behind and dig a hole and then compete back into it, you have a chance to win it but we probably didn’t play enough of a complete game to feel like we deserved to win it. We’re going to stay with it, we’re going to keep fighting, keep working and keep having faith. I think our team truly has faith in what we can do. The best thing about it is we know we haven’t shown our best. We know that it’s going to come, so we’ve just got to stay with it.” How are we supposed to believe you can become better defensively? “I don’t know, I mean we’ve shown flashes. I think in the second half tonight, I don’t know how many points they scored – I mean they scored [34] points in the second half. That says it right there that we’re capable of doing it. I think the hard part is doing it all the time. We’ve got to be a team that does it all the time, not when our back’s against the ball or just sometimes. We’ve got to do it all the time. But it’s also not our job to make you guys believe it, we’ve got to just keep doing what we’re doing as players and we’ve got to go out there and do it for ourselves. We don’t owe it to you guys so y’all can believe it, as long as we believe it and keep working, we’ll find a way.”
HEAD COACH RICK CARLISLE On Wesley Matthews: “Fantastic, fantastic. There’s nobody like Wes Matthews on defense at the end of the game, the guy is unbelievable. 40 minutes, one of the guys that really willed us to win. I thought the steal late in the game where he went down and laid the ball in was a huge play, they were gaining a lot of momentum and so he had his footprints and imprints all over this game and I’m really happy for him. I know it’s really meaningful to him coming back here and getting the win.” On how his players responded to the Blazers’ runs: “A routine Mavs win. This is great that we’re going through this and having to withstand big runs in tough buildings. Our young guys, [Dorian] Finney-Smith, Seth Curry has been in these situations some but this is a little bit new to him. I thought Deron Williams hitting those big shots at the end of the game was huge and you’re going to come up against some adversity on the road. Every time something bad happens we responded with composure, aggression and togetherness and that was a great time.” On JJ Barea: “He’s got some soreness in his Achilles, not the calf but in the Achilles. We precautionary pulled the plug, I hope it’s not anything serious, he’s getting an MRI here to check that, so we’ll see. Hope for the best.”
WESLEY MATTHEWS On playing against Lillard and the final play: We go up against a lot of great players night in and night out. Obviously, I’ve been his teammate so I know the kind of clutch gene that he has. I just tried to play tense, play aggressive, tried to speed him up and make him a little uncomfortable, and we ended up getting the stop that we needed. Does this one feel a little extra special tonight? Of course it does. More so, it’s a step in the right direction. We played almost a perfect first half, and then we did everything we could to lose the game in the second half, and a tough team like this – the hot powers that they can be, and the atmosphere here… for us to still gut it out, it was a big win for us. What did you expect on the last play? Dame to get the ball and Dame to shoot it. He caught the ball. I know his tendencies. I know he likes to go left, and I tried to keep him off that left hand as much as possible. Obviously, he has several game winners going right, but I tried to play to his tendencies. What were you trying to do on the last play guarding Lillard? Just trying to make the catch go out a little farther than he may want to – in his sweet spot. Obviously, he’s in range whenever he gets the ball on the court, so I was trying to make him feel uncomfortable as possible.
Postgame Notes - Dec. 21, 2016 Dallas 96, Portland 95 Game #31 • Home Game #13 TEAM • Portland limited Dallas to 34.2% shooting in the second half (1-17 3-PT) after the Mavericks shot 50.0% from the field through the first two quarters (21-42 FG, 6-14 3-PT). • The Trail Blazers finished with five more rebounds than Dallas (43-38) and have now outrebounded their opponent in 12 of the past 18 games. • Portland had 22 second chance points on nine offensive rebounds. • Three Portland reserves combined to score 33 points, as the Trail Blazers bench outscored the Dallas reserves, 33-25. Allen Crabbe led all reserves with 14 points (4-6 3-PT), while Shabazz Napier scored 10 points (2-2 3-PT) and Ed Davis added six points (4-6 FT). • Trailing by 24 points (73-49) with 6:24 remaining in the third quarter, Portland scored 14 unanswered points to cut the Dallas deficit to 10 points (73-63). Portland trailed by as many as 25 points in the third quarter, but outscored the Mavericks by 23 points in the second half. PLAYER • Damian Lillard scored 20 points of his eventual 29 points in the third quarter on 6-of-9 shooting (2-3 3-PT). Lillard scored five points in the first half (2-8 FG). • Mason Plumlee (10 points) has now scored in double figures in 12 of his past 15 games. • Allen Crabbe made four 3-pointers, matching his season high (four other times). • Dallas forward Harrison Barnes scored a team-high 28 points for Dallas, marking the 15th time in 29 games this season that he has scored at least 20 points. Barnes combined to have 19 games with 20 or more points through his first four NBA seasons (307 games).
