Postgame Notes - December 28, 2017 Portland 114, Philadelphia 110 Game #34 • Home Game #18 TEAM • The Trail Blazers outscored the 76ers 42-25 in the fourth quarter. The 42 fourth quarter points were the most points in a quarter by the Trail Blazers this season. • The Trail Blazers went on a 19-0 run from the 10:57 mark of the fourth quarter to the 6:12 mark of the fourth quarter. • Portland won their fourth consecutive home game against Philadelphia. • Portland made a season-high 36 free throws on a season-high 47 free throw attempts. Philadelphia shot 10-of-14 from the free throw line. • The Trail Blazers bench outscored their Philadelphia counterparts, 28-16. • Portland outrebounded Philadelphia, 47 to 37 and outscored the 76ers in the paint, 38-36 • The Trail Blazers scored 14 second chance points on eight offensive rebounds, while the 76ers scored seven second chance points on five offensive rebounds.
PLAYER • CJ McCollum scored 34 points (9-20 FG, 2-5 3-PT, 14-14 FT) to go along with seven rebounds and four assists. It was the second game this season that McCollum scored 30-plus points. McCollum’s 14 made free throws and 14 free throw attempts were career highs. • Shabazz Napier scored a season-high 23 points (7-14 FG, 2-6 3-PT, 7-9 FT). Napier scored 22 of his points in the second half (15 fourth quarter). It is the second time in his career that Napier has scored 20-plus points in back to back games. Napier added three rebounds, three assists and three steals. It is the third straight game that Napier has had three steals. • Jusuf Nurkic notched his seventh double-double of the season with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Nurkic shot 5-of-13 from the field and 11-of-16 from the free throw line. His 11 made free throws and 16 free throws attempted were both career highs. • Ed Davis had 10 points on 5-of-5 shooting from the field. It was the fifth time this season that Davis has scored in double figures • Al-Farouq Aminu pulled down 10 rebounds. It was the second game in a row and fifth game this season that Aminu had double digit rebounds. • Maurice Harkless finished with eight points (3-5 FG, 2-4 3-PT), two rebounds and two assists. It is the second consecutive game that he has made two three-pointers. • Joel Embiid recorded 29 points, nine rebounds and one block for Philadelphia.
HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS “Well I guess we can keep the red jerseys. It was a hell of a win, a hell of a fourth quarter. Everybody, especially in the fourth quarter, was tremendous. Nurk, after he came back, played with a lot of passion, a lot of energy. That was obvious. Shabazz kind of got off to a slow start but really sparked us as well. A lot of good performances. Moe’s two threes in the corner were big for us. I thought the way we defended in the fourth quarter to hold them to 5 points for 6 or 7 minutes was outstanding. Just a win that we needed and I liked how we did it.” Can you explain how you go from muddling along to catching fire like that? “It happens a lot. I mean, teams get down – Boston was down 26 tonight and came back and won – so things like that happen in the NBA. Sometimes you can’t explain it, the game gets rolling, there’s energy in the building, you make a play here, you make a play there, everybody’s feeling good about themselves, opponents maybe hang their head a little bit. I don’t know – never a lot of explanations for it but it certainly happens enough that you can keep believing.” On Napier: “I thought he struggled in the first half. He had a tough time in the first half. I took him out early in the third quarter and he just came back really determined, probably more than anything else because he didn’t really have a good game going but he certainly made a difference when he came back. He was aggressive going to the basket, he made a couple shots. We need his scoring off the bench. It made a difference for us.“ On playing Nurkic with 5 fouls: “He made a couple good plays. I think he got a dunk right away and he made another aggressive play and I didn’t want him to lose the momentum. You take him out and he comes back in and he might not have it. I felt like we would ride him and see how it played out.”
CJ MCCOLLUM What was the key to turning it around? ‘I think the bench guys and ‘Bazz, they did a great job. Ed Davis was great throughout the entire game. Moe came in and had some big defensive plays for us, not to mention the three pointers he hit down the stretch. Nurk was great after he got his nose broke, he came back with a lot of intensity. He did a great job of guarding Joel too down on the block without fouling. That was huge. JoJo is good at drawing contact and doing things of that nature. But I thought overall, everybody – Chief had some great defensive plays, well timed. Pat was great down the stretch, made some big free throws. We were able to come back and get a win in those red jerseys.” What did you think of mad Nurkic? “I liked mad Nurkic. Mad Nurkic makes free throws, he dunks, he does a lot of different things that we need. And from a verticality standpoint at the defensive end, keeping those guys off the free throw line was big.” On taking 47 free throws to Philadelphia’s 14: “Basketball gods looking out for us. I think that was big. We got into the bonus early, guys could try to get downhill and did a good job of taking advantage of the hand checking and the bumping, and a lot of times penetration led to drop-offs and they were forced to foul.” Can you remember the last time you felt the building that energetic? “Yeah, it’s been a while. Probably beginning of the season or end of last year.” How big was Napier? “He was great. In the second half, he really stepped it up. He was aggressive. He made the right plays. He looked poised coming off pick and rolls, finishing, drop off passes, he was great.” How did it feel to break through and get a win at home? “It felt great, man. You never want to go through lulls of 5, 6, 7 games in a row and they start taking about the jerseys, talking about your effort and all that stuff. You want to go compete and give yourself a chance. Tonight we did that throughout the game, especially down the stretch.”
HEAD COACH BRETT BROWN Thoughts on the game? I mean, it’s a disappointing loss. We had an opportunity without Damian being here. I give them credit. They did not roll over. We got up 18 points. When Covington went out we really missed him, but we give them credit.
BEN SIMMONS On when the game turned: “I think it was the third (quarter). They made a run and we just didn’t capitalize. We didn’t run our plays, didn’t get stops, rebounds, it just came down to playing hard.” On what caused their offense to stall: “I think we slowed down, everyone was a bit too tired. I think it was just the pace.” On turnovers in the fourth quarter: “I think we get to a point where we’re unsure a little bit. I think that just comes with time and learning the game. It just takes time.”
JOEL EMBID On how they can play better with leads: “Stop turning the ball over, play better defense without fouling, we foul too much, and maybe get some calls going our way too.” On why they have problems keeping leads: “Turnovers and we’re not getting any calls, they’re getting everything.
