Postgame Notes - January 20, 2018 Portland 117, Dallas 108 Game #46 • Home Game #23 TEAM • The Trail Blazers have won six straight games at Moda Center, their longest winning streak at home this season. • Portland tied its season high for three-pointers with 18 on 36 attempts (50.0%). • It was the first game this season that the Trail Blazers shot better than 50.0% from the field (52.3%) and from the three-point line (50.0%). • All five Portland starters scored in double figures for the sixth time this season. • Portland has scored at least 110 points in nine of its last 11 games. • The Trail Blazers outrebounded the Mavericks, 40-37, and outscored them in the paint, 42-36. • Portland had 16 second chance points off of nine offensive rebounds while the Mavericks had 11 second chance points off of 11 offensive rebounds. PLAYER • Damian Lillard made his first nine shots of the game, finishing with 31 points (10-15 FG, 7-9 3-PT, 4-4 FT), five rebounds and nine assists. It was the 12th game this season that Lillard has scored 30-plus points and his sixth consecutive game with at least 20 points. • It was the first time in his career that Damian Lillard has scored more than 30 points on 15 or fewer field goal attempts. • CJ McCollum finished with 26 points (11-23 FG, 2-6 3-PT, 2-2 FT), four rebounds and two assists. It was McCollum’s fifth straight game with multiple three-pointers. • Evan Turner scored 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting (2-4 3-PT, 1-1 FT). Turner has scored in double figures in six of his last 10 games and 19 times this season. • Al-Farouq Aminu scored 13 points (5-10 FG, 3-7 3-PT) to go with two rebounds, one assist and one steal. Aminu has reached double figures in three consecutive games. • Jusuf Nurkic rounded out the five Trail Blazers in double figures with 10 points to go with six rebounds and one block. • Ed Davis had six points and 10 rebounds in 24 minutes off the bench. Davis has pulled down double digit rebounds in eight games this season. • Wesley Matthews led the Mavericks with 23 points while Dirk Nowitzki scored a season-high 21 points.
HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS “A good win, a good way to finish the home stand. I liked, particularly the first half, offensively and defensively we were really good. The second half, they got a lot of momentum. Obviously, the free throw line was a big factor, but I thought we fought through some challenging moments and came through it alright.” What did you think of Lillard tonight? “Very efficient. He had a rhythm at the very beginning of the game. He made it easy. I mean, he only took 15 shots, but I thought he had a good rhythm on his shot early and just stayed with it.” Do you feel like you’ve made an effort to attempt more threes lately? “We talked about it but not really. I mean, we took 36. I think the guys who are taking them, they’ve been open. We’ve never said not to shoot threes. The guys who are open, they’re taking them.” As a team, do you like how you’re playing the past few games? “For the most part. Offensively, it’s been good. Defensively, we’ve just got to stay on track or get back on track.” On Ed Davis: “Ed made a difference. He does what he does – extra possessions. I thought the extra possession that he kicked out for a three was a big play for us. Defensively, he just continues to hold the fort inside.” DAMIAN LILLARD On winning 6 straight at home after rough stretch: “I mean, it always comes back. I think when you have any rough stretch, not just like our home stretch, any time you have a rough stretch, when you give in to it, that’s when it keeps going and it’s hard to come out of it, but think our team, like we always do, we just stay with it through the good and the bad. When you do that, when you stay together and just keep believing, it’ll come back. It feels like it’s coming back.” How much are you thinking about the All Star game ahead of Tuesday? “I said what I had to say about the All Star game and it is what it is. I’ve got to play a certain way and perform at a certain level for us to be able to win games. That’s what my job is. I don’t have nothing else to say about All Stars.” You made first 9 shots and made 7 threes, you must have felt in a really good rhythm? “Yeah I did. I felt pretty good. I said after the game my first shot that I made was a tough one but even when it left my hand, it felt good. I just had a good rhythm. Coming off an injury, each game I’m feeling better and better. I’m getting my speed back and my burst back. I missed some time so when I get that back and I’m also fresh, I’m able to do what I’ve got to do.” What do you expect from Nurkic going back to Denver for his first game there? “He plays great against Denver, so I’m expecting him – oh this is his first time at Denver on our team? I don’t want him to put too much pressure on himself. How many times have we played them? …Three times, we’ve played them three times already. I know it’s the first time in Denver, but the emotions of playing against that team, I think it should be gone. I’m sure he wants to win and he wants to play well and he can do that by playing the way he always does. He’ll get the opportunities and hopefully he has a big game. When he has big games, we win.”
HEAD COACH RICK CARLISLE On the game: “First half, I thought it was bad. Second half was very good. You’ve got to play both halves, so we’ve got to get a better start.” On if Salah Mejri is getting a reputation around the league: “Salah goes very hard, he competes on every possession and that is a good thing for this team.” On how the fifth foul on Dennis Smith changed the momentum: “I’ll have to look at the game film. Look, that was a momentum play, a big one. I don’t remember exactly what the score was, but turnovers, generally speaking, are not good and we only had nine in the game. That was a bad break.” On Dennis Smith: “He’s got to be in an attacking mode from the very beginning of the game. I thought in the second half he was brilliant. First half, we need everybody to be more amped up in an attacking mode at both ends of the floor. In the first half our disposition and level of force wasn’t where it needed to be. These guys are capable of coming out and banging in shots from everywhere, and they did. We didn’t give enough resistance in the first half. Second half we were much better.” On if Devin Harris will need to go through concussion protocol: “I don’t believe so. To my knowledge, no. He fell down and hit the knee of a camera man, so he didn’t come back. From what I understand, we don’t believe it’s serious.”
WESLEY MATTHEWS On Dennis Smith Jr’s dunk turned offensive foul: “That’s a great play on his part, he’s got to stay aggressive. I think he went into this game without committing an offensive foul and now he’s got two in one game. It is what it is, we really can’t let plays like that swing the game, he’s got to go downhill and attack and provide momentum but it’s really not about the offense, it’s our defense. We did a better job in the second half, we just got to secure the rebounds when we get them.” On the comparisons between Damian Lillard and Dennis Smith Jr.: “They’re two different people. Yeah there’s some similarities, brand new point guards coming in with the keys to the team and all that. I think Dennis is doing a great job. He’s receptive, he learns, he competes and he’s gotten better every game.” On corrections the team needs to make: “We’ve got to commit to whatever our defensive coverage is. Commit to it, cover for each other, go harder at it.” On their second half adjustments: “The three ball. We’ve got to take the three ball out of the game. It’s hard to win a game when a team scores or makes 18 threes. Change our defensive coverage up a little bit but mostly we just committed to it a little bit harder and played a little bit harder. When we get the stops we have to secure the rebounds, always got to help the bigs, and run in transition.” DENNIS SMITH JR. On the slow starts to their games recently: “Just coming out sluggish, coming out too carefree, lackadaisical, nonchalant, whatever word you want to use. We don’t have a lot of disposition to start games out.” On the momentum shift when he was called for an offensive foul: “Huge amount. They’re the home team. You just have to take that one on the head, it is what it is. We played great defense, we got the steal, exactly what we wanted to do and we didn’t get any reward for it so like I said you just have to take it on the head and get back for the next play.” On the Blazers’ screens to get Lillard and McCollum open: “Just great players. They made some tough shots. You just have to tip your hat to them.”
