Postgame Notes - January 31, 2018 Portland 124, Chicago 108 Game #51 • Home Game #25 TEAM • Portland won its eighth consecutive game at Moda Center, extending the longest home winning streak of the season. • The Trail Blazers scored over 100 points for the 16th game in a row, extending the longest streak of the season. • Portland scored 43 points in the first period, tying the most points they have scored in a quarter this season. The Trail Blazers had 67 points at halftime, marking the highest-scoring first half of the sesason. • The Trail Blazers shot a season best 56.1% from the field (46-of-82). • Portland outrebounded Chicago, 48-36. • Portland swept the season series with Chicago for the first time since the 2013-14 season. • The Trail Blazers have won four straight games for the first time this season. PLAYER • CJ McCollum scored 50 points (18-25 FG, 6-9 3-PT, 8-8 FT), setting career highs in points and field goals made. McCollum is the seventh player in franchise history to record a 50-point game. • CJ McCollum is the sixth player in the NBA to score 50-plus points in a game this season. He is just the second player in the league this season to score 50-plus points while shooting 72.0% or better from the field. • CJ McCollum is the second player in NBA history to score 50-plus points in fewer than 30 minutes (Klay Thompson). • CJ McCollum set franchise records for points in a quarter and field goals in a quarter with 28 points on 11-of-14 shooting in the first period. It was the most points a player has scored in one quarter in the NBA this season. • Damian Lillard registered 13 points (5-9 FG, 1-5 3-PT, 2-2 FT), seven assists, four rebounds and one block. • Jusuf Nurkic logged 12 points (5-9 FG, 2-3 FT), nine rebounds and one block in 21 minutes. • Pat Connaughton rounded out the four Portland players in double figures with 10 points (3-7 FG, 2-5 3-PT, 2-2 FT) in 22 minutes. • Zach LaVine scored a season-high 23 points to lead the Bulls.
HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS “I don’t know what the right word is, but a very impressive outing by CJ. What he did in the first quarter was amazing. It was to sit back and watch that. A great night for him, having 50. It’s nice to enjoy those type of nights. As far as the team, I thought we played – obviously the start was outstanding, maintaining to a degree and nice to get a win before we hit the road.” What was thought process on not playing McCollum in the fourth? “We were up 25 and I would have left him in to get 50, but 50 is a good number.” When a player has it going like that, do you change the substitution pattern? “I did. Obviously I took Dame out instead of [McCollum] and let him have the quarter. And then the third quarter, leaving Dame and CJ in for the whole third quarter, so yeah it did change.” Could you tell right away McCollum had it? “I thought the whole team was playing really well to start the game. The whole team was playing well, the ball was moving, shots were dropping, we were playing good defense, so it wasn’t about CJ. When we got up 20-2 it was about playing good team basketball and then he got on a roll.”
DAMIAN LILLARD You’ve been through a night like that, could you see it early from McCollum? “I knew it in the first quarter. I seen he was getting some good looks. Once he hit a couple of those tough ones, I was like, I mean I recognize that feeling and I saw the rhythm that he was playing with. At that point, it was just my job to make sure he got the ball in his hands as many times as possible. He just kept rolling, so at that point, I was like every set I could think of where they couldn’t focus on him early, they had to kind of keep them honest and then hit him on the weak side or something. I was trying to run stuff like that and he just kept on going and then on misses, I was just trying to get it ahead to him. Any way to just keep him rolling and he kept rolling.” The game kind of changes when you have a guy going like that? “Yeah, especially when you’ve got a got who can keep it rolling for long periods of time. Some people run off 15 points off straight and some people, they can keep on going and going and going and CJ’s one of those people so we just kind of got away from running sets. It was just like he would go to the weak side and I would be telling E.T. to come set a step-up and tell the bigs to go screen away and as soon as he come off, throw it to him. He had a great game, it was a great performance.”
CJ MCCOLLUM What was the first quarter like for you? “The ball went in a lot. I think it was just scoring within the offense. Running some of motion sets, flares and then I got to attack downhill a little bit in some pick and roll situations and some catching on ball reversals, just attacking and the next thing you know I had twenty-something.” On crowd chanting “We want CJ” in the fourth: “I was thinking I hope I don’t have to go in, that means we’re not playing the way we should be playing, but there was a lot of love tonight and I appreciate it. They always support us through good and bad, through 5-game losing streaks and 6, 7, 8-game win streaks.” Any thought to chasing Lillard’s record for points? “I’m not into chasing records, I just want to win honestly. Even throughout the game, I looked up and I was like, I can get like 40, and then Ed be like, ‘No you need to get 50’ and Dame was like ‘Get 50’ and I was like ‘Ok I’ll get 50 then if you guys want me to.’”
HEAD COACH FRED HOIBERG On the game: “I thought we had some good looks early, we didn’t make them and then you have to guard. That’s kind of been the story of these slow starts, teams get comfortable and get into a rhythm. Our game plan was to blitz (McCollum), he was splitting our double teams and obviously made tough shots. Give them credit for coming out of the gate and setting the tone.” On the first quarter: “Obviously that first quarter, you lose the first quarter by 24 points. You dig yourself such a hole, and it’s hard to get out of it and you lose the game by 16. The difference right now if you look at the last few games is the first quarter. We’ve won the last three (quarters) in the last three games. It’s just the starts that we’re getting off to right now and again, when you’re not making your shots when you have good looks, you can’t hang your head. You have to keep defending and you have to try to make them take tough shots. Again, they got comfortable, they got in to a rhythm and that’s happened to us the last few nights.” On Kris Dunn’s importance: “Well we miss him, there’s no doubt about that, but you can’t use that as an excuse for the way we continue to come out of the gate. We’ve got plenty of firepower, we’ve got guys that have given us good minutes all year, but he’s a guy that can get downhill and create easy baskets for us and we’re struggling with that. I did think we had some good shots early, I thought our movement was pretty solid. It was good to see Zach (LaVine) get into a little bit of a rhythm, it looked like he’s getting his legs back a little bit and obviously that’s a very positive sign for us. We’ll get those other guys back at some point and it’ll be fun to see this team when we’re full strength and when we put these guys on the floor together. But yeah, we do miss Kris (Dunn), but we can’t use that as an excuse for continuing to get off to these slow starts.” On Zach LaVine’s defense against CJ McCollum: “I thought he had a couple good possessions, but he also had a couple where he ran into screens. Again, we’ll continue watching, he’s gotten better as we’ve gone on in the season. He’s watching a lot of film with us and that is something to help him become a complete player, but offensively he can score it easy when he gets it going and he showed stretches of that tonight.”
DENZEL VALENTINE With Kris gone, it seems to be not as tight as it was for you guys: Yeah. Kris is a dynamic player. He’s setting the tone on defense, and he’s pushing it right back on offense. He’s definitely missed, but that’s no excuse for our effort. We have good players that have stepped up in this place. That have taken the spot. This was kind of a problem at the beginning of the season too when we had all our players. We’re just kind of dazed right now with the lineups and everything. We’ll pick it up. It just takes one game. It seems like it’s been a perfect storm with players gone. With such a young team, you guys seem to be only so fragile before things start breaking. I think we have good enough guys, and strong enough players and people that we can come out and compete no matter what the deal is. Even with everything that’s going on now? Of course. We just have to be more aggressive offensively and defensively. We need to start the game. The starts are really killing us. The last three quarters we pretty much tied, or we beat them in the quarter. It was just the first quarter. The Laker game, first quarter. Milwaukee… that start killed us too. So the last three games the starts have been killing us. We need to have better starts. Is there anything in common among those games? Yeah. We’re just not being aggressive defensively. Teams are doing whatever they want to us. They’re coming off screens, not getting hit, taking whatever shots they want. Then, when they score we’re not pushing it back at them. We’re just kind of like *ah* then we trot down the floor and don’t put any pressure on them defensively. I think it has to start with our defense then will carry over to offense. It seems this team talks about this virtually every game. We’ve heard it the last 10 days now… I mean, sometimes you just go through these droughts. I can speak from experience, even at Michigan State, we just went through a couple games where you just couldn’t figure things out, and then you just hit your stride. We’ve been practicing hard. Our last three quarters have been pretty solid these last couple games. It’s just the start. One of these games it just has to click.
ROBIN LOPEZ What’s Kris’ importance to you offensively and defensively? I mean, he’s a big time player for us. That hasn’t been the issue. We haven’t been together on the floor. We have been tensing up in the first quarters on offense. We haven’t been aggressive enough on defense. Being that it’s basketball, both sides of the floor are connected obviously. How much of that is everything that’s going on? Not just Kris being gone, but Lauri and Niko? Yeah. Those are big time players for us, but I don’t think we’re distracted by any of that. When the ball goes up, we’re all focused on the floor. We just haven’t been together, and we haven’t brought fourth that intensity and aggressiveness needed.
I would usually call out a poster for saying something like this. However, I have watched games with you. You are 100% telling the truth. I would be shocked if you weren't the one to start it actually.
