·With the win tonight, the Rockets take a 2-0 lead in the season series against the Blazers with two games remaining. Houston has won five of the past six games vs. Portland after losing four of the five games prior. The Rockets have won two straight after losing two in a row prior. The Blazers have their three-game winning streak snapped. ·Houston scored 121 points tonight after averaging 112.9 ppg the eight games prior. The Rockets improve to 10-0 when scoring 120+ points this season after going 30-1 in 2016-17. ·The Rockets outrebounded the Blazers 49-40 while recording a season-high tying 17 offensive rebounds. Houston has outrebounded its opponent in four of the past five games after being outrebounded in each of the four games prior. The Rockets are 21-5 when outrebounding opponents this season and are doing so by an average of 4.2 rpg in wins compared to being outrebounded by 0.6 rpg in losses. ·Houston had 25 assists tonight. The Rockets have recorded 25+ assists in five of the past six games, including three straight for the first time since a season-high four-game span from 11/22-11/29. Houston is 14-2 when having 25+ assists this season. ·The Rockets held Portland to 9 3FGM tonight after opponents hit at least 12 3FGM in each of the previous three games. Houston improves to 13-3 when holding the opposition below 10 3FGM this season. ·Chris Paul scored 14 of his season-high 37 points in the fourth quarter. That is the highest point total by a Rocket not named James Harden since Jeremy Lin scored 38 points vs. San Antonio on 12/10/12. The Rockets improve to 10-1 when Paul scores 20+ points this season. Paul also had 11 assists tonight, marking his eighth double-double of the season. In addition, he recorded 3 steals, tying Derek Harper for the 13th most steals in NBA history (1,957). Paul shot 8-of-8 from the line and has not missed a free throw over his past eight games played (32 FTA). He is shooting 76-of-81 from the line overall this season. ·Eric Gordon had 30 points tonight, marking his second time scoring 30+ points over the past four games after he had 30+ points twice in his first 109 games played as a Rocket. Gordon has scored 20+ points in three of the past four games and 21 times this season after doing so 19 times in 2016-17. He hit 5 3-pointers tonight, marking his 11th game with 5+ 3FGM this season. Only James Harden has more games (12) with 5+ 3FGM in 2017-18. ·Gerald Green had 12 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists off the bench. It is the second time posting those numbers in his career (17/8/5 for Phoenix vs. the L.A. Clippers on 3/4/14). Green has scored in double-figures in seven straight games for the first time since 12/9-12/20/15. He had 3 3FGM tonight and has hit at least two 3-pointers in seven straight games for the second time in his career (8 games from 3/26-4/11/14). ·Tarik Black had a season-high tying 13 points and 5 rebounds tonight. Over his past nine games played, Black is averaging 6.2 ppg and 5.1 rpg after averaging 2.7 ppg and 2.4 rpg his first 23 games played.
POST GAME QUOTES: ROCKETS HEAD COACH MIKE D’ANTONI (On Chris Paul’s ability to close out games) “He kind of knows how to do it, he’s only been doing it for the last 20 years. So, yeah he kind of does. Obviously, a great game, we had a lot of guys who really contributed. I thought P.J. Tucker got back to where he was active and doing different things. Eric (Gordon) at the point guard was good, he had a stretch there where he was responsible for (about) nine straight points, and Gerald (Green) again came in and did a good job, and Ryan’s (Anderson) more active. So, we had a lot of guys contribute. Tarik (Black) did a good job before he got hurt.” (On Chris Paul taking 29 shots tonight) “I’m glad he made 13 of them, that’s for sure. He’s taking what’s there, and that’s what’s given to him, he took it. He got 37 (points) and 11 (assists). I’m not going to say a whole lot, other than great. It’s pretty efficient, not bad. I know he got a little tired (in) different places. So, we just got to hurry up and get out guys back a little bit, so we can give him some rest.” ROCKETS FORWARD TREVOR ARIZA (On the Rockets going to Chris Paul late in the game when the Portland Trail Blazers cut into the lead) “That’s what he’s been doing his whole career. We definitely trust him to make the right play, give him the ball, and go to the spots where he tells you to go, and let him do his thing.” (On Chris Paul’s 29 field goal attempts) “He shot 29 times? That’s good, he should. That’s different, but, you can’t even tell. It was in the flow of the game. We need him to be aggressive; we want him to be aggressive.” ROCKETS FORWARD/CENTER TARIK BLACK (On how severe his injury is) “An eye abrasion. (It will) take a couple of days to heal up, just have to treat it right, put the proper ointments on it, keep my contacts out, so I have to get some glasses. Just move forward from there.” (On the Rockets defense in the first half) “Team effort. Totally a team effort and we’ve been practicing with each other and playing, and just talking to each other about upping the ante on defense, and just getting that Rocket basketball going like we were running at the beginning of the season. We were able to do it tonight, we came out and had a good start, had a great first half, and we just moved forward with that.” (On the Rockets being active on defense tonight) “There are a lot of athletes on this team; we have a lot of length on this team, so just making sure we get our hand up, and making sure we don’t give easy passes up. We just get in the pass(ing) lanes, and did a good job of that tonight.” ROCKETS CENTER CLINT CAPELA (On the Houston’s defensive intensity) “It was clearer for everybody how to defend the pick-n-roll, had to be aggressive on (Damian) Lillard and (CJ) McCollum. They’re great players and tonight I thought we did a great job of being aggressive and making them tough shots every single time.” (On the Rockets defensive improvement) “It’s coming back. Tonight, it was pretty good and now we are going to have to focus on the next game to really get back at it. Just the deep side, get in whenever the big is up and just keep doing that over and over. Helping each other and we’re going to get better. So it’s just the mindset that we need to have every single game, every single night.” ROCKETS GUARD ERIC GORDON (On his put back dunk) “I don’t know, I surprise myself sometimes. I was mad because I thought I had him up in the air and he hit my arm while I was shooting. So, I just chased it down and when I saw it floating in the air, I just went after it.” (On the Rockets playing through injuries as of late) “Everything takes an adjustment, whoever is out. It just takes time. We’re really figuring it out and we have a small margin for error when we have that many guys out. We know what it takes to win and we just got to keep on grinding. It’s still a long season. This is like the halfway point. So, when we get everybody back, hopefully we can get on a big run like we did earlier in the season.” ROCKETS GUARD/FORWARD GERALD GREEN (On the win and doing the fundamental things during crunch time) “I feel like we got off to a good start, got a nice little lead. They hit some tough shots, guys go into foul trouble, (but) I like how we finished the game off. CP3 (Chris Paul) and EG (Eric Gordon) were huge for us today, carrying us the game throughout the most part. They’re the reasons why I think we won the game today.” (On how he thinks the team is progressing) “I like the way we’re playing right now, right now we’re scrapping, we’re fighting, I think we’re getting better every game, I think we still need to tune up some stuff defensively, but I love our rhythm, I love our pace man. We’re getting up and down (the floor), we’re competing at a high level, and that’s all we can expect. I think we was the hardest playing team, and that’s what matters.” (On Tarik Black being out and guys having to step up) “It’s the next man up mentality. I think a lot of guys have that on this team. I think a lot of guys are ready, I think a lot of guys are prepared to step up, and we just got to go out there and make it happen.” ROCKETS GUARD CHRIS PAUL (On whether or not he felt like he shot 29 shot attempts tonight) “Man, that’s probably the most I’ve ever shot in my career, right? I don’t know it kind of felt like it too. It felt like I missed a lot, that’s what I’m mad about.” (On if he felt like he was able to get done what he wanted to offensively) “Yeah, I watched that game last night against Oklahoma City, and the last time we played against them (Portland Trail Blazers) I think we only attempted like 25 threes, so they do a pretty good job of dropping a big, and making us guard their plays. We got the shots that we wanted.” (On if the shots he took were in the flow of the game) “Yeah they were, for the most part, other than the shot clock running down, it felt like that. I think the coolest thing is just the freedom with the way that we play. I don’t know if it really felt like it, but it was just in the course of the game, and the way that we play, it’s all about winning the game.”
BLAZERS HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS (On the game) “We kind of just stuck around and hung in the game. It was a little sluggish in the first half. We struggled to score and obviously didn’t shoot the ball well. In the second half, we came out with good energy and cut it to three (points) twice. And that’s what I told our team, just put ourselves in a position to the win the game in the fourth quarter and we did that. But, we just couldn’t finish it.” (On Damian Lillard’s return) “Good, especially in the second half. We were trying to keep him at about 30 to 32 minutes and he came up short a couple of times. But, all in all, I thought he was good.” (On Chris Paul’s play) “I thought Chris Paul made a lot of tough shots. He was exceptional, well-contested 3’s, the last finish at the basket. He really controlled the game, like he can do. His shot making was as good as I’ve seen.” BLAZERS GUARD DAMIAN LILLARD (On the game) “It was a game that we really could have won. I think we had a slow start in the first half and we were a little bit sluggish. Our pace wasn’t great on either end of the floor. We didn’t get to loose balls, second chance opportunities and it hurt us. We did start the second half off well and got ourselves back into the game, but it was still an uphill battle and we were playing against a double-digit lead. Every time we would do two things well and cut the lead to five or six, they would come back and hit two threes and then it’s back to double-digits. So, when you’re dealing with a team that shoots threes as much as them and as well, you can’t give them extra possessions and I thought we did that on too many occasions.” (On how he felt tonight) “I felt good. I told you in the past that there were times that I thought I was better than I was and couple of days later, I just know. I know I’m better and that’s how I felt yesterday and that’s how I felt today and that’s why I decided to play.” BLAZERS GUARD CJ MCCOLLUM (On why did he think Houston was able to pull out the game) “They played with a little bit more energy, getting rebounds, and getting out and running and were a little more fresh and making shots. (They were) putting pressure on the defense, constantly attacking. Overall, I thought we competed, kept it close but couldn’t get over the hump.” (On having Damian Lillard back on offense) “The flow was alright, but we’re playing teams like the Warriors, like the Rockets and they switch everything. They switch off ball screens and sometimes the ball gets stagnant and I think we were stagnant at times just because of the way they switch. But overall, I think the ball movement was decent and I think we got out and ran when we could. A team that shoots 45 3’s a game, it’s going to be a different type of game.”
