HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS “That was not the way we wanted it to go tonight. We got down early. I thought our offense was frustrating most of the night. I thought we had a lot of good looks inside and out and couldn’t take advantage of it. Their start, they made their shots and we didn’t and I thought at the end of the game they made their shots and we didn’t. We outscored them in the paint. It was a perimeter game and the ended up making more perimeter shots than we did.” Did you feel like you gave up the shots you wanted to defensively? “I don’t know if you give up 115 – you know, Vucevic’s shots at the end, free throw line jump shots. They did a good job of attacking and kicking it out to him. They attacked our blitzes pretty well. Payton hit a bit shot from three. I thought the third quarter, second half, their three point shooting was the difference. Loose balls, offensive rebounds in the second half – I thought we had a lot of opportunities in the second half to kind of break it and they would – Ibaka made his threes. Second chance opportunities in the second half hurt us.” On slow start offensively: “It happens. I mean, I thought we had good shots. We had shots around the basket. The ball wasn’t going in. I don’t think it was for a lack of effort and I certainly think they were trying to make them.”
ALLEN CRABBE How bad does this one hurt? “I mean, it’s a loss. We didn’t play defense the way we wanted to tonight. They made shots, we didn’t make shots so it was just one of those nights.” On start to game: “We got a slow start. They came out, made their shots and we just didn’t make our shots on the offensive end. It wasn’t flowing for us as well as it should have been, but just one game. We’re looking forward to this road trip and just focusing on the next one.” On inconsistency from beating Cavs then losing to Magic: “I mean, it’s the NBA. You never know. It could be any given night. We came back, we actually had a lead for a little bit but our defense wasn’t the way we expected it to be tonight. Their guys stepped up, their guys made big shots late and you’ve just got to give them credit. On offensive struggles tonight: “We felt like we were still getting things we were getting in previous games. We missed a lot of shots that we usually knock down so I guess it wasn’t our night tonight.” On upcoming trip: “We’re pretty confident going into it. I mean, it’s a loss. We’ve got a lot more games left. We don’t feel like this was a drastic step back because we had a loss tonight, but something we need to correct and get ready for the road trip.” How do you feel about where this team is? “I feel like we’re going in the right direction. We’ve been pretty consistent with our defense lately and it’s been helping on the offensive end. We just felt like it was just not our night. You have those nights sometimes in this league. We put ourselves in a position to win. It wasn’t like we didn’t play with enough effort or lack thereof, but we just feel like it was one of those nights.”
HEAD COACH FRANK VOGEL What did you think of tonight and how you were able to close? “Very happy with how we started the game, and even more proud of how we responded to their runs. You get up 17-1 against a team like that, that’s not always a good thing. They could switch 17 points in two minutes in two guys alone. We knew they were going to come after us, and they did. They made their run, but we were able to respond by getting stops late in the game and hit big shots.” You chose to put your starting lineup back in earlier than normal in the fourth. Why was that? I feel good about that unit. They started the game strong. I probably didn’t come back to them early enough in the second quarter. I told myself I wasn’t going to do that again in the fourth. At the first sign of trouble, I was going to try to get that group back in there as soon as I could, and they rewarded me. On Vucevic’s game: He’s got a lot of stuff to his game. You throw it to him in a low post, he crashes the glass, and he’s got the pick-and-pop game. I think there was one play where there’s a broken possession and there’s a loose ball type of thing and it just ends up in his hands, and he knocks down a 17 footer. He brings a lot to the table. When Portland took the lead in the third, what was different in how your team responded: They stayed the course. They continued to play through it. They didn’t come unraveled. They had composure. Which is not always easy in a building like this. This is one of the toughest places to play when this crowd gets behind them on a run, and they showed great composure.
EVAN FOURNIER On his team’s play in the fourth quarter: “Big time. Feels good to get one on the road. It’s really good for the confidence, we’ve been struggling the last five games. It’s never easy to win in that building, so feels good. We have a tough one tomorrow, so we have to stay focused. On having a light practice yesterday: “Even though we were on the backstretch, I thought the chemistry of the team was great. We like to be around each other, we have fun. Yesterday was a good practice for us, we had a good talk, worked on a few things, got a lot of shots up and just weren’t thinking about negative stuff. We keep looking forward and keep believing in what we do.” On Nikola Vucevic’s performance: “I was like, finally! It’s great to see your teammate being back confident after, not struggling, but being in a tough position, making shots like that. You can tell he’s happy, so it feels good.”
NIKOLA VUCEVIC On Orlando responding after Portland made a run: “It was good for us to be able to do that. We built a great lead to start the game and we let them back in with our mistakes. We didn’t keep doing what was working for us. Offensively, the ball wasn’t moving as well as it was at one point, and defensively we weren’t as aggressive, so they made a run. We responded well. I think we needed a game like that to see that we can. We’ve had a lot of games where we’ve been playing pretty well, and a team will make a run and we kind of fall apart. I think that tonight for us to stick together was good for us and we have to take this game as a lesson, because we also struggled. When we played the right way we were able to build good leads and when we went away from it, they made runs. We have to understand that we have to be consistent with playing that way.”
Postgame Notes - Jan. 13, 2017 Orlando 115, Portland 109 Game #42 • Home Game #20 TEAM • Tonight’s win is Orlando’s first at the Moda Center since Jan. 11, 2012 (107-104). The Magic had previously lost four consecutive games vs. the Trail Blazers in Portland. • Orlando committed 15 turnovers, marking the fifth time in the past eight games that the Trail Blazers have forced at least 15 turnovers (second straight game). • The Trail Blazers had nine blocked shots tonight, marking the third straight game in which they’ve tallied a season-high nine blocks (five total times this season). PLAYER • With 26 points, CJ McCollum has now scored 25 or more points in a career-high eight consecutive games. That is tied for the third-longest streak in franchise history (11-Petrie, 9-Drexler, 8-Petrie). • CJ McCollum’s streak of eight straight games with 25+ points is the second longest streak in the NBA this season (10, Russell Westbrook). • CJ McCollum (26 points) recorded his career-high 10th straight game with at least 20 points scored (12/26 to Jan. 13). • CJ McCollum scored 21 of his points in the second half on 9-of-12 shooting. McCollum recorded five first half points on 1-of-9 shooting. • Damian Lillard finished with a game-high 34 points, his highest scoring total in five games since returning from a five-game absence (left ankle sprain). • Damian Lillard’s 34 points represents his 13th game of 30 or more points this season. • Al-Farouq Aminu hauled in seven rebounds, and is now averaging 10.6 rebounds over his past five games. Aminu has logged seven or more rebounds in each of his past six contests. • Nikola Vucevic scored a season-high 30 points on 13-of-18 shooting. Vucevic has scored 20+ points in each of his past five games against the Trail Blazers. • Nikola Vucevic recorded his ninth career game with 30+ points and 10+ rebounds. It’s his second such game against the Trail Blazers, making Portland the only team that he has had 30/10 against on multiple occasions (34 pts, 16 reb, 1/10/15). • Maurice Harkless (left calf strain) did not play.
