HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS “I was really pleased with the way that we competed tonight. We had some ups and downs in the game and some things didn’t go our way, but I liked the way we competed throughout the game. The first half, we did an excellent job except for the last 30 seconds and we fought through that. We fought through some other things in the second half and really battled. A lot of good performances – obviously Dame. Dame did what Dame does. And obviously Jusuf was terrific. He made a big impact on the game rebounding, blocking shots, passing. It was a good win to get at home. We’ve played Oklahoma City three times and all three games have been very good. Do you feel like Nurkic gave an emotional boost? “That’s hard to say. You’re at home, you’ve got a great crowd, but I think the things – when you make plays that he made, I think that’s the emotional lift. When you get a couple layups off of nice passes, if you block a shot at the rim – those type of plays I think are emotional plays. Certainly, he’s enjoying being out there and contributing to the team. But I think it’s more the plays than anything else.” Are you surprised how quickly Nurkic is getting comfortable? “I think it’s pretty obvious, he has a good basketball sense, a feel for the game. When we go through our offense, he’s picking up that pretty quickly. He’s good out of timeouts. But I think more than anything else, you can tell he has a good sense of the game. When you have that, I think the integration goes a little bit better.” On Aminu giving boost in the fourth quarter: “I always like his defense. He made a lot of very good defensive plays throughout the game, be it fronting the post, getting some steals. Offensively, I thought he made good decisions when to take the ball to the basket. His transition pass in the first half led to a three which was very good. I thought he played an overall solid game and to his credit, a couple times he matched up with Kanter when they had two bigs and they didn’t stay with that very long. So for him to battle Kanter down there a few times – it’s easy to look at the points, but honestly I think Chief since he’s come back and coming off the bench, he’s been a very solid player for us.
DAMIAN LILLARD Thoughts on game: “I mean, we had to battle through a lot. I think to end the half, I get screened into guy, they get three free throws and Nurk gets pushed in the back and [Gibson] gets the ball and throw it up there, I think that was just the kind of luck we had for most of the game. But I thought we did a great job of just fighting through everything that we had to fight through – being called for a lot of fouls. It was a physical game and they made shots, they kept coming at us and we didn’t back down. We fought and we stayed the course and when it came down to it, we got stops and we executed, made shots and we made free throws to close it out even though it got scary there at the end. We was still able to calm ourselves down and get the win.” How would you describe what Nurkic is giving you? “He gives us something we haven’t had for the last two years. A guy that can get the ball on the block, he can pass from the block and he can really score on the block. Good skills and good feel for the game. That gives us an opportunity to pass and cut. He’s hitting guys when they cut and when it’s one on one, he’s scoring. Catching it in the middle of the defense and you can trust his basketball IQ. Late in the game, I’m comfortable throwing that pass to him knowing that he can see the skip pass and he can finish the ball different ways. And on the defensive end, guys have to bang against him. That takes a lot of energy out to have to bang with him on both ends of the floor. So I think those are some of the things that he’s brought to the game that we haven’t had.” Does his presence give you a jolt at the right time? “Yeah, I mean because he’s, I guess you could call him a tough guy. Every play he’s saying something. He’s got something to say every play and that’s the kind of attitude that you want to see in a big. You want that kind of an angry guy out there and a competitive guy, but I think his energy is definitely good for our team”
HEAD COACH BILLY DONOVAN Did the offensive rebounding catch up to you guys? Yeah. I thought, obviously, it was a back and forth game. We didn’t start off particularly well. We got down by 10 or 12. We fought our way back. We were down two at the first quarter, up three at the half. We got off to a pretty good start in the third and kind of went back and forth. Then we were able to open up better. Six or eight point lead there in the fourth. I think three consecutive and one plays, and some offensive rebounding really hurt us. We were not able to score. We missed shots, and didn’t finish plays in and around the basket. I thought that was the difference. Then, obviously, tried to make a valiant comeback to get it close. I give our guys credit for being down eight and finding a way to get themselves back in the game and making it a one possession game and giving ourselves a chance. I thought those plays that I just mentioned at the free throw line, the offensive rebounds, a couple threes – those plays hurt us. The last five minutes for you guys have been so good, did you feel you got the same looks? Yeah. I mean, I thought Russell really had good looks. Listen, he has been exceptional playing down the stretch, and I think the biggest thing I try to look at is are we getting good, high quality percentage shots that are makeable shots. I thought he had a really good look. He made a great move I think with 14 seconds where he kind of side stepped to create some space and got himself a clean look from up top. He had a lot of pull-up jump shots that the last several games, I’ll be honest with you, he’s made those shots. They didn’t go in tonight. That’s part of it. Again, I still think even with all that being said we block out on the free throw line. We come up with some defensive rebounds. We finish some plays around the basket. We make a couple shots here or there… it would be a different game. So as spectacular as Russell has been coming down the stretch of games, it’s like I always say – you want to give yourself multiple ways to be successful. Tonight, with Russell maybe not shooting the ball as well as he has down the stretch and a lot of games this season, got to have other ways to win. I mean, if the offensive isn’t making shots, you need a way to defend. I was pleased with our bench. Our bench gave us really good minutes tonight. I thought they did some good things. I got some good minutes out of Doug, he played some long stretches. Taj gave us some really good minutes. Norris, considering it’s his first day, gave us some good quality minutes. I was happy with the looks we had. We didn’t make them. Again, I really felt our defense was up and down tonight.
DOUG McDERMOTT On the end of the game: “Yeah they just kind of out-toughed us, got some rebounds. We didn’t box out our guys and blew a couple of defensive assignments so you’ve got to give them credit they just played hard.” On anything he can take away from this: “We can’t get complacent with our lead and they’re a really good team at home so when we’re on the road, we’re going to get everyone’s best shot. We’ve got to just play harder down the stretch.” On trimming the lead to one late in the game: “We just turned up the intensity and it was just a little too late. I thought Russ’ [Russell Westbrook] three was good so it’s tough. It’s a tough loss but the good news is that we don’t have to think about it much, we have another one tomorrow and take care of business in Phoenix.” On Taj Gibson’s half court shot: “Taj has been working on that three. Basketball gods are with him.” On how he felt: “I felt good, Alex [Abrines] got in some foul trouble so I was forced to go in a little earlier. I thought I played good in the first half, second half I missed some shots that I normally make but it’s not going to stop me from shooting them. I just got to keep grinding and learn the system a little more and everything will be alright.” On if he liked their looks: “Oh yeah, we had great shots. We had really good shots and we’re going to continue to shoot them. Obviously Russ [Russell Westbrook] is going to continue to find us and we got to do our job, he’s definitely doing his.”
Postgame Notes - March 2, 2017 Portland 114, Oklahoma City 109 Game #60 • Home Game #28 TEAM • The Trail Blazers have now won six consecutive home games against the Thunder. • Portland has now won multiple games against Oklahoma City in each of the last four seasons. • Trailing by seven points (101-94) with 5:20 remaining in the fourth quarter, Portland went on a 16-0 run to take a 110-101 lead with 1:37 remaining in regulation. The Trail Blazers closed the final 5:20 of regulation on a 20-8 run. • After Russell Westbrook scored 40 points on 10-of-25 shooting (6-11 3-PT, 14-14 FT) through the first three quarters, the Trail Blazers held him to just five points on 2-of-11 shooting (0-5 3-PT) in the fourth period. PLAYER • Damian Lillard (33 points) has now recorded 66 career games with at least 30 points scored. That puts him in a tie with Kiki Vandeweghe for third on Portland’s all-time list (Drexler-130, Petrie-75, Vandeweghe/Lillard-66). • Damian Lillard scored 33 points, marking the fourth time this season and the first time since Dec. 5-7 that he has scored at least 30 points in back-to-back games. • Damian Lillard has scored 30 or more points in three of his four games since the All-Star break (20+ points in all four games). Lillard has averaged 32.0 points during that four-game stretch. • Damian Lillard made three 3-point field goals, extending his streak to a career-high 40 consecutive games with at least one three-pointer. That is one shy of the Trail Blazers franchise record, set by Cliff Robinson (41, 1995-96). • Damian Lillard’s 40 straight games with a made three-point field goal is the second-longest streak in the NBA this season (41-Ilyasova). It’s also the longest active streak in the NBA right now. • Jusuf Nurkic recorded 18 points, 12 rebounds, a career-high six assists and five blocked shots, making him the third NBA player with 15+ points, 10+ rebounds, 5+ assists and 5+ blocks in a game this season (2-Durant, Antetokounmpo). • Jusuf Nurkic is averaging 14.0 points (58.3% FG) and 8.6 rebounds in five games as a Trail Blazer. Nurkic has scored 10+ points in four of his five games with Portland (two straight). • Jusuf Nurkic (18 points, 12 rebounds) recorded his second double-double in five games as a Trail Blazer.
*** Tonight’s radio broadcast on 620 Rip City Radio was Brian Wheeler’s 1,700th broadcast with the Portland Trail Blazers***
In his 1st home game as a Blazer....... • Jusuf Nurkic recorded 18 points, 12 rebounds, a career-high six assists and five blocked shots, making him the third NBA player with 15+ points, 10+ rebounds, 5+ assists and 5+ blocks in a game this season (2-Durant, Antetokounmpo).
