HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS “I thought we played hard, obviously we didn’t play well enough to win the game. San Antonio, they’re a good team. Kawhi Leonard having, what, 33 point on 15 field goal attempts and Mills 23 points on 9 field goal attempts and 10 for 14 from three. They shot the ball really well. It’s a disappointing way to go into the holiday but it is what it is. I thought we competed and got beat by a better team.” What did their defense do well against your guards? “Honestly, I thought CJ had some really good looks. I don’t know if it was their defense or not, I thought he had some good looks. I thought Dame had a really good floor game. He didn’t shoot the ball well but particularly in the first quarter, I thought he had a really good floor game as far as mixing up shots and passes, 10 assists. So I don’t know if it was necessarily their defense. I always give credit to the other team but I thought we had some looks.” What’s your concern level with Lillard’s ankle? “Well it’s a sprained left ankle and that’s all I know right now. It’s sore and he’ll be evaluated but I don’t know what my concern level is now.” San Antonio gave you some trouble initiating the offense? “Well I thought the weave, some of our weave action worked out pretty well early then they did switch and jump on the high side. I thought we made good recognition. Turnovers in the second quarter really turned the game. Whether it was their defense being aggressive or us being a little loose with the ball, but we had 7 [turnovers] in the second quarter and I thought two or three of those led straight to baskets. So they were more aggressive with their switching and trying to keep it on the side but I thought our pick and roll offense was pretty solid. When we set good screens, I thought Dame and CJ were able to come off pretty clean and make decisions.”
DAMIAN LILLARD On ankle: “It’s a tough one. I jumped in the air to get a rebound, came down out the air and landed on somebody’s foot and I know I rolled it good. I went back in the game because I wanted to see, I wanted to test it because it hurt. I went out there for a few possessions and it didn’t make sense to be out there, but we’ll see.” “It was just uncomfortable. Like I said, I just wanted to go out there and test it.” Any idea how long you might be sidelined? “I don’t know how well y’all know me, but I don’t play on sitting out so the next couple days, I’m going to be trying to do as much as I can. But I mean, I rolled it good. I know that for a fact. So I’ve just got to do everything that I can so that I can try to be ready for the next one.” On team’s performance tonight: “I thought we started the game well. Against a team like them, they’re not a team that forces a lot of turnovers, they don’t play very fast, but I think in the second quarter we turned the ball over and we allowed them to kind of gain that cushion. They’re solid. They’re always going to cut hard, they’re going to screen, they’re going to execute well, they’re going to defend. They’re smart, they’re a well-coached team and once they build that cushion, it’s hard to overcome that because they’re so solid and they’re such a good team. We kind of put ourselves in a bad spot. I think it just kept adding up. We weren’t able to gain much momentum.” Besides winning/losing, does anything feel different relative to last year? “I mean, our team feels the same. I think it weighs on you when you try so hard and you want to do the right thing and you want to win. You get asked so many questions about what’s the problem. We’re trying to figure it out also. Our team is the same. When we’re around each other, it’s the same. I think our attitudes are the same. People probably wonder how we stay positive and still enjoy showing up when it’s such a hard time, but I think when you’ve got adversity, you’ve got to stand up to it. When you have hard times, you’ve got to be honest and say you know, we’re struggling right now, we’re having a hard time, we’re working hard to figure it out. Once we do get through it and times are better and we’re winning games, we’ll look back at this and people will understand why we were able to stick with it and why we remained positive. But you’ve got to stand up to times like this so when you have success and when things are going well, people will respect you more because you guys look back at right now and you’ll remember how we responded and how we acted when things didn’t go well and when it was harder times. We’ll appreciate it later even more.”
HEAD COACH GREGG POPOVICH On Kawhi Leonard: “He doesn’t bring attention to himself. It’s not like he make signs or does all sorts of gesticulations like a lot of guys, he just goes to the other end and plays defense. I just don’t think you notice it that much.” On his team’s defense tonight: “It was one of our better defensive performances of the year.” On Patty Mills’ performance: “He’s getting used to them. He wants to move it, he wants to be unselfish, but we have to remind him once in a while that he’s a heck of a scorer and we don’t want him to forget about that. I thought he was much more aggressive tonight.”
PATTY MILLS On the win after last night’s loss: I think that’s where we took a note out of the LA game. We needed to come out aggressive defense, where we’re not following them around. I thought that’s what we fell into. We got called for a couple of fouls there, where people got into foul trouble. Tonight, defensive mindset was to make them feel and get them out of their comfort zone. It’s just amazing to see that it just translates over to the offense stuff, and that starts to flow a lot better, but definitely starts with defense, and getting up and in and getting them out of their comfort zone. I thought we did a good job, everyone, of doing that early to start this game, which got us off to a good start. 23 points tonight, what was working offensively for you? Taking what the defense gives you I think. Everyone, throughout, L.A., Kawhi, we were hitting guys for open shots, uncontested shots, moving the ball really well. We knew coming into the game offensively that we needed to move the ball from side to side to get open shots. I don’t know how many assists we finished with at the end, but by halftime it was looking good. Again, it comes from defense. When you can get stops, get deflections, and run out of that in transition, it tends to loosen up the defense a bit more. Is it still special to play well in Portland? I think it’s special. It’s a familiar building I guess. A lot of respect for the organization here and the fans especially. It’s a good feeling to come back – a homely feeling. I don’t miss the cold rain though.
LAMARCUS ALDRIDGE Was this your best all-around game? One of them. I thought I played pretty well against Golden State, but that was a long time ago. But not. It wasn’t about me. My teammates played hard. They got me the ball. I thought Patty brought good juice tonight. He played hard defense the whole night. He competed at the highest level, and that was good for us tonight. On clicking with the Spurs and getting more play calls from Popovich: He definitely called more plays for me tonight. I tried to make things happen. They were dribbling from the baseline, so I was picking and choosing my spots to take my shot but also try to pass the ball too. What did you think of the booing? I’m used to it. Last year.I think it kind of got to me last year, but this year I kind of embraced it and had fun with it this year. Was this time easier to come back to Portland and how do you deal with the criticism? For sure. I embraced the boos, and kind of had fun with it tonight. My first time I was more jittery and anxious out there. It gets me going, so I don’t mind it, but I wouldn’t say I like it here. This was my home, and I feel like this is always going to be that special place for me. So my first time was tough, but this time was a whole lot better.
Postgame Notes - Dec. 23, 2016 San Antonio 110, Portland 90 Game #32 • Home Game #14 TEAM • San Antonio has now won four consecutive games over Portland. • The Trail Blazers scored 90 points, marking the first time this season that Portland has scored less than 100 points in two consecutive games. Portland has failed to score 100 points in three of its past four contests. • Portland finished the contest with 21 assists, and has now logged at least 20 assists in six of its past eight games. PLAYER • Damian Lillard finished with 16 points and 10 assists for his team-best seventh double-double this season. Lillard has recorded three-double-doubles over his past five games. • Meyers Leonard scored a season-high16 points on 6-of-11 shooting (4-7 3-PT). Leonard’s previous season-high was 15 points on Nov. 25 vs. New Orleans. • Meyers Leonard made four three-pointers (of 7), matching a season high (4-6 3-PT, 11/20/16 at Brooklyn). • Allen Crabbe (10 points) has averaged 11.0 points on 56.5% shooting (6-10 3-PT) over his past three games. Crabbe has scored in double figures off the bench in two straight contests. • Damian Lillard dished out 10 assists, and has now averaged 8.3 assists over his past eight games. Lillard has logged 10+ assists in three of his past five contests (all of resulted in double-doubles). • Patty Mills scored 23 points on 7-of-9 shooting (5-7 3-PT), matching his season high for points scored in a game (23, 11/30 at Dallas). • LaMarcus Aldridge’s six assists represents his most as a member of the Spurs (5, five times).
