Postgame Notes – January 26, 2020 Portland 139, Indiana 129 Game No. 47, Home Game No. 22 TEAM • The Trail Blazers were 20-of-35 (57.1%) from 3-PT range, while the Pacers were 13-of-28 (46.4%) from deep. It was the second straight game and the fifth time in franchise history that Portland has made 20-plus three-pointers. It is the ninth time in NBA history that a team has had 20-plus three-pointers in consecutive games. • Portland’s 139 points marked the team’s season high • Portland outrebounded Indiana, 43-31. Indiana’s 31 rebounds were a season low by a Trail Blazers opponent. • Both teams shot above 50% from the field; the Trail Blazers were 49-of-90 (54.4%) while the Pacers shot 48-of-93 (51.6%).. • Portland had 17 second chance points to Indiana’s 13. • Indiana dished out 31 assists to Portland’s 27. It was Portland’s fourth game of the season with 27 or more assists. PLAYER • Damian Lillard scored 50 points (14-23 FG, 8-12 3-PT, 14-16 FT) to go six rebounds, 13 assists and one steal in 38 minutes. It was the fifth time in NBA history that a player has scored 50-plus points on 23 or fewer field goal attempts. • Damian Lillard is the first player in Trail Blazers history to score 50-plus points three times in one season. He is also the first player in franchise history to score 40-plus points in three consecutive games. Lillard has scored 30-plus points in five consecutive games, matching his own franchise record that he shares with Geoff Petrie. • Damian Lillard became the second player in NBA history to make eight-plus three-pointers in three straight games (Steph Curry, January 2019). • In his first game back after missing three contests with an ankle injury, CJ McCollum scored 28 points (11-21 FG, 6-9 3-PT), pulled down one rebound and dished out five assists. His six three-pointers tied his season-high. • Hassan Whiteside finished with 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting (3-5 FT), 14 rebounds and six blocks in 36 minutes. He recorded his 34th double-double of the season, good for the fourth-most in the NBA this season. • Carmelo Anthony recorded 14 points (5-12 FG, 2-3 3-PT, 2-2 FT), eight rebounds and two assists over 33 minutes. • Domantas Sabonis recorded 27 points (11-17 FG, 5-6 FT), 14 rebounds, 11 assists and one block in 41 minutes. It was his second career triple-double, and his 11 assists were a career-high. • Jeremy Lamb led the Pacers with 28 points 10-15 FG, 2-3 3-PT, 6-6 FT), two rebounds, one assist, two steals and one block. His 28 points were four shy of his career-high (32, Dec. 20, 2017 vs. TOR).
HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS On overall thoughts about the game… “I was really pleased with how we played. Third quarter basketball was probably our best offensive quarter of the season, the ball was moving, sharing the ball, made shots, it was a lot of fun to watch, hopefully that’s something we can build on. I think for the players, being able to play, give a little respite from the sad news of the day, I was proud of the way they came up, it was somber in the locker room before hand, but they were very professional, came out and gave a great effort.” On Damian Lillard’s recent performances… “He’s in a great rhythm, I mean that’s an understatement. The ball’s coming off his hands great on his threes, he’s managing the game, its easy to obviously look at his scoring, but tonight I thought the decision making, finding people, he’s in a really great groove.” On how Terry Stotts felt during the first two possessions of the game with the shot clock violations… “It was just a way of honoring him. I can’t say we knew it was coming, I thought it was a great gesture. I think it started with San Antonio and Toronto, and then other teams around the league did it, I thought it was a great gesture for a great player in this league.” On how Trevor Ariza is impacting the team’s spacing… “I don’t know if it’s necessarily him, certainly he knows how to play in these spaces, and I think the opponents understand that and respect him out there, but we’ve had some others guys out there, Rodney (Hood) was there, but I think the fact that he had a great shooting night in his first game, they have to honor that, so he’s been in the league a long time and they respect the three point shooting, and it does open up things.”
DAMIAN LILLARD On your concentration tonight – was it hard? “We talked about it before the game. Coach just said that obviously, it’s a tough situation for everybody that had to play today, especially the ones that was friends with Kobe and had a real relationship with him. We’ve got two guys in our locker room who’re really close friends with him and then guys like myself and CJ who actually had a friendship with him and was familiar with him – we’re not the only ones. I’m sure it’s a few guys on each team that feel the same and also guys that looked up to him, who he’s their hero and coaches that he played against and he played for, the referees included – everybody felt a way today, was hurt today. But we had to carry on so I think it was the right decision for us to go out there and compete in his honor. I think that’s what he would have wanted. I just think that was on everybody’s mind. Obviously, throughout the game you think about it. Like I said earlier after the game, in timeouts and just random dead moments of the game, he’s on your mind because it’s just such an unfortunate and sad situation where it was just a tough game to play as far as your energy and where your heart is to say the least.” You mentioned pregame that you didn’t know how you were going to go out there and play – did you use it, or? “No, I mean I wouldn’t say I used it or put it behind me, I just kind of played the game. Once the game started and fouls started getting called, teams making shots – it kind of just turned into a game and it was almost like an escape. Like I said, just in those moments where you’re sitting on the bench and longer timeouts, you’re just sitting there randomly, it came into my mind a few times. I was like, man, that really happened. I think that was it, but just play the game, just try to get lost into the game.” You said you and Kobe became friends, what was it about your relationship that you were reflecting on most today? “Just the fact that he was gone. It just seemed unbelievable, like it just couldn’t possibly be true. But thing that stands out to me the most is just how every time I ever reached out to him, and every time I tried to speak with him, he got back to me. He would text back, he would call back. The thing about it – he’s Kobe Bryant – how many people was pulling his leg and trying to reach out to him and get in touch with him - how many players – so that was just special to me. Somebody I grew up and looked up to and cheered for and became one of his peers and got to know him and became friends with him, so I think about it now, we all take every day for granted sometimes. You just expect to wake up and go to sleep and wake up and go to sleep and that’s not the way it is. Things happen, so this is really unfortunate.” Is there a memory of playing against Kobe that stands out to you? “The very first game of my career was against Kobe. Halloween night 2012. They came in, they had Dwight, Pau, Kobe, Steve Nash, Antwan Jamison and I don’t really get nervous and get butterflies and stuff like that but I walked on the court and I was just like, that’s Kobe over there. So I mean, I’ll always have that memory. And even his last game, I remember we had a game the night they played their last game and we was keeping track of what he was doing at the arena. It just shows how much of a legend he is.” You went back and forth with him in a game late in his career: “Yeah, that was the game before he got hurt. We had a lot of guys sit out and… best player I ever played against. I don’t know what else to say.” On your performance tonight and in the last few games – what is it about this stretch? “I just try to lock in to all the details of how I can be my best – getting rest, massages, cold tub, staying off my feet, watching a little bit more film and just looking into ways I could be effective more consistently. Also, just a mentality, just trying to go out there, make sure that I do my job to give our team the best chance to win games, especially in the situation that we’re in where we’ve got to start pulling more of these games out. I think a lot of these playoff teams coming up on our schedule, against good teams – the more we can pull these games out, our confidence will keep picking up and going into the games where it’s teams that are like middle of the pack like us, fighting for the playoff spots like us, we’ll go into those games feeling like we should win them, playing like we should win them.”
CJ McCollum On playing today’s game after the news of Kobe Bryant It was tough, it was an emotional day. Not just for me, I really feel for my teammates. Trevor (Ariza) and the relationship he had with Kobe. I knew Kobe, we had a decent relationship where we would talk when we see each other but I’m just thankful I was able to express the impact he had on my life, basketball, my work ethic, my approach, my brother’s approach. Our whole family, our coach, the NBA. I would always tell people he was the guy I was afraid to meet, him and Michael Jordan. I knew Lebron growing up too, and although he’s like Mount Rushmore great, Kobe was the one I didn’t really know, so that was a guy I was afraid to meet. That really hurt, just to see the reception across the country, all of the lives he impacted, people that didn’t know him. It shows you how special he was outside of basketball. I pray for his wife, his family because lord know what they’re going through. On a memory he has of Kobe Just everything, the conversations we had, during games, I got to still talk with him at the ESPYs. His hunger for basketball, his knowledge of the game is just unbelievable. I always tried to pick his brain about work ethic and stuff. One of the things I’m most proud of is he gave a quote for SLAM magazine when I was on the cover, so I thought that was cool. It’s just really sad times for the basketball community and everyone outside of that. To have to mourn a tragic loss that caught us off guard is devastating.
HEAD COACH NATE McMILLAN On Kobe Bryant We were pretty bothered by the news of the passing of Kobe (Bryant). It’s very difficult to just try to put that out of your mind and go play a game. Since we heard the news today, you have to figure out a way to play the game. It was difficult. It was difficult for myself, and I know it was difficult for a few of my players. “Are you happy heading home three and two?” Absolutely, absolutely, I said to all of our guys “good road trip”, it was a good road trip for us. We had an opportunity to make it an even better road trip going four and one, but three and two, we’ll take that. We’ve done some good things, played good basketball on this road trip, and we’ll take three and two.
JEREMY LAMB On Kobe and Gigi Bryant To see how much she loved him and how their relationship had grown since he retired and he was spending a lot of time with her and putting his all into being a father. He put his all into the game and his craft and you see a bunch of videos on Instagram on how he’s helping players now and he put his all into everything. Just to hear it happened its just extremely tough. You said you watched every one of his games, what about his game did you try to take away from his game? I felt he didn’t have a weakness. He was good every spot on the floor, he would come down and pull up for three, come down and hit you with a midrange, come down and dunk on you. Whatever he wanted to do, he was doing it. It was no accident, it goes to his hard work and that’s what I always told myself, I’m not the biggest, I’m not the strongest, but I’m the hardest worker and that came from seeing how he worked. You see the picture of him shooting with his left hand because his right hand was broken. His dedication to the game is second to none. Does this loss feel different from another loss? If we had gone 0-5 it would have felt different losing this game. We came in trying to go 4-1 on this road trip. I thought we fought, and we gave it our all. Obviously, we are down a couple men but our mindset is always next man up. Whether we went 4-1 or 3-2 or 2-3, with a loss you got to learn from it and move on to the next. How did you find out about the death of Kobe? People had texted me then I looked on Instagram. I didn’t believe it at first but once ESPN started talking about it, it really hit home. With having a kid at home, did it lead to you making a Facetime call? I didn’t make a facetime call immediately because I didn’t know that his daughter was in there too. When I first heard I just heard it was Kobe. I couldn’t believe it, I was just sitting in my room and I didn’t know what to say, I didn’t know what to think. Later, I heard his daughter was with him. I was looking at pictures of him and his daughter and thinking about my daughter. I just couldn’t believe it.
'Hardest game ever': Devastated Carmelo Anthony opens up about former rival and Olympic teammate Kobe Bryant after playing for Portland in the wake of the fatal helicopter crash Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and seven others died in a helicopter crash off the Southern California coast on Sunday NBA games went on as scheduled, but many players were seen crying Sunday Portland Trail Blazers star Carmelo Anthony was particularly distraught, saying that Sunday's was the 'hardest game' he's ever had to play In addition to being friends and rivals, Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Antony won a pair of Olympic gold medals together as members of Team USA https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...ny-opens-former-rival-Kobe-Bryants-death.html
