Postgame Notes - December 20, 2017 San Antonio 93, Portland 91 Game #31 • Home Game #16 TEAM • Portland outscored the Spurs in the paint, 46-44, and in fast break points, 10-7. • The Trail Blazers forced San Antonio into 22 turnovers, the season high for a Portland opponent. • The Trail Blazers had 12 offensive rebounds leading to 20 second chance points while the Spurs had nine offensive rebounds and scored four second chance points. • Portland tied its season high with 12 steals. PLAYER • Damian Lillard scored a team-high 17 points (6-17 FG, 2-6 3-PT, 3-3 FT) to go with four rebounds and three assists. • Jusuf Nurkic registered 15 points (7-12 FG, 1-3 FT), six rebounds and one block. Nurkic has shot a combined 16-of-24 from the field (66.7%) in the last two outings. • Shabazz Napier finished with 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting (2-5 3-PT). Napier has shot above 50.0% from the field while making at least four field goals in each of the last five games. • CJ McCollum logged 13 points, five rebounds and six assists. • Evan Turner recorded 14 points (7-11 FG), one rebound and one assist. It was the 13th game this season that Turner has scored in double figures. • Ed Davis scored seven points and tied his season high with 11 rebounds (six offensive). It was the sixth game this season that Davis has had double digit rebounds and the third game this season that he has had five or more offensive boards. • Al-Farouq Aminu had eight points and six rebounds to go with a season-high four steals. • Pau Gasol recorded 20 points (8-14 FG, 1-3 3-PT, 3-3 FT), a season-high 17 rebounds and five assists.
HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS “I thought it was a well-played game by both teams. I was really proud of our defense throughout the game. To force San Antonio into 22 turnovers is uncharacteristic for them. We struggled with some difficult shooting and still had a chance to win the game. It’s disappointing but again, I was proud of the way we competed and especially the way we defended.” How’s Lillard? “I don’t know. He was not at risk of further injury but he was in pain.” Did that affect play calls down the stretch? “Yeah. He couldn’t really move. CJ struggled shooting the ball but he was getting good shots.” On struggles shooting from the paint again: “Well part of it, I thought in the first half, LaMarcus and Gasol are factors in the paint. But we forced some of it. They’re a good defensive team in the paint. We have to do a better job of finishing in the paint. Against good teams that clog it, we have to kick it out if the shots aren’t there.”
DAMIAN LILLARD How do you feel? “Sore.” What happened? “Gasol got switched onto me somehow. I got around him and he ran into the back of me. I felt his knee ran right into the back of my knee and he ran into me hard.” Have you had an injury like this before? “No, I haven’t. Earlier this season in Philly, I had like a similar situation, but it was nowhere near like that. He literally – it felt like he was running full speed and ran into the back of me.” Did it affect you, was it hard to move? “I couldn’t move. I mean, I couldn’t - otherwise I probably would have had much more of an impact on the game down the stretch.” Thoughts on team having to go other ways with you limited: “I couldn’t move and in that situation, all the guys out there- CJ could have broke any of those guys down. I just wanted to be out there. My guy never left me. That was one thing they didn’t do, so I felt like that would give us at least a little more space out there. I don’t think they knew exactly how bad my leg was hurt or whatever, so I mean, it is what it is. Like I said, if I could move, I’m sure you guys know I would have been a lot more aggressive and I would have been a lot more hands-on with the end of that game but I did what I could.” On chance to beat a good team tonight: “I think if I’m able to play, I think we win that game. No question about it.”
SHABAZZ NAPIER “We was right there, of course. They made some plays at the end and we was unable to make those same plays.” With Lilllard out/limited, how did you feel others played? “I thought everyone played well. Dame’s really tough so we knew he was going to come back, but I thought guys stepped up. Ed played a great game, Chief, E.T. was doing a lot of damage, Nurk was doing great too and CJ was finding his rhythm. Late in the game he started scoring. So I thought everybody did well who stepped in the game.” On defense and forcing 22 turnovers: “It felt great, we was communicating. They’ve got great post men in Pau and L.A. so we just tried to do out best to try to disrupt any type of flow that they had. They made tough shots, did great plays and we was able to get our hands and deflections on balls and pursue fast breaks and do our best in doing that, but I thought today defensively we did great.”
HEAD COACH GREGG POPOVICH On the Spurs effort: “Yeah I told them if I could bottle their effort at the end of the game, they’d win 82 games. Somehow players don’t play like that unless it’s on the line. They stepped it up, but overall it’s tough to win on the road, especially with 22 turnovers, so I thought we hung in there pretty good. Didn’t play great, but I’m really proud of their effort. They hung in there, lost a big lead, not a big lead, but I think it was 10 or 11 and then went down a little bit, by five or so and then came back and played. They didn’t let it phase them in that regard, they just kept pushing. That’s what that group does. Played a lot of guys, that’s nice.” On using their size: “With us it’s whoever’s playing well is who we put on the court and I thought Pau (Gasol) was having a good game, so he got the minutes. It’s not always playing big or playing small, but who’s playing well. As long as the matchups fit.” On their play in the second quarter: “Well we moved the ball pretty good. LaMarcus (Aldridge) was doing a good job and I think Pau had 18 at half or something like that, so we were scoring pretty good. The turnovers really hurt us and kept them in the game. 22 is too many no matter where you play, but on the road it’s real tough.” On Kyle Anderson: “Kyle’s just a good basketball player, he knows how to play the game. As we always say, not the best athlete in the world, but he’s really smart on the court and he’s got a lot skills. He’s kind of like a utility infielder. We also got a break, because Damian (Lillard) was out for a while there. I hope he’s okay, he’s a great player. I think they missed him for over a quarter if I’m not mistaking. That’s a long time.”
LaMARCUS ALDRIDGE On their hard fought win: “They play well here, there’s a bunch of guys that can make plays and can make shots and we just had to grind it out.” On how they played against Portland’s bigs: “I thought we did well, tried to keep down the offensive boards and also tried to punish them down low. I thought Pau [Gasol] was great down low too so it was god for us.” On Pau Gasol’s first half: “Yeah he played big down there, he was more determined to get to the rim and making strong moves and nice plays for us.” On how he feels playing in Portland: “I always love playing here. It feels like home, you know? I can be booed all I want but it still feels comfortable out there for me.” On their turnovers: “Man, we just got to focus in. I had a few ‘offensive three seconds’, I’ve got to watch that more but I thought it was us being sloppy at times and just not being focused.”
MANU GINOBILI On winning the game despite their many turnovers: “It’s great that we managed to win, regardless, still without Tony [Parker] and Kawhi [Leonard] and turning the ball over 22 times. So I guess we’re doing something well, it’s hard to figure out because at the moment I think we are not playing good but we still managed to get some tough wins, it’s not easy to win here. So we are proud of that aspect. Of course if you turn it over 22 times against the top five/six teams in the league you’re not going to win. It’s something that we’ll work on and resolve it as soon as possible.”
