Postgame Notes - February 27, 2018 Portland 116, Sacramento 99 Game #61 • Home Game #29 TEAM • The Trail Blazers won their fourth game in a row, matching the longest winning streak of the season (four, Jan. 24-31). • Portland won its 10th consecutive game against Sacramento at the Moda Center. • The Trail Blazers scored a season-high 20 fast break points while the Kings scored 14 fast break points. • Portland shot 52.4% from the field and 44.1% from the three-point line while holding Sacramento to 44.3% shooting from the field and 31.8% shooting from the three-point line. • The Trail Blazers dished out 27 assists, matching their second-highest total of the season. • Portland’s reserves outscored their Sacramento counterparts, 39-26. • The Trail Blazers outrebounded the Kings, 47-36. • All five Portland starters scored in double figures for the seventh time this season. PLAYER • Damian Lillard recorded 26 points (11-19 FG, 4-8 3-PT), 12 assists and two steals. It was his second consecutive double-double and eighth for the season. • Damian Lillard (26 points) averaged 31.4 points per game for the month of February, marking the highest scoring average for any month in team history (minimum 10 games). Geoff Petrie previously held the record, having averaged 30.4 points in March, 1971. • Damian Lillard has made at least one three-pointer in 43 consecutive games, breaking his own record for a single season (42, 11/22/16 - 3/7/17). • Shabazz Napier scored 20 points (6-7 FG, 4-5 3-PT, 4-4 FT) in 21 minutes off the bench. He is the fourth bench player in team history to score at least 20 points on seven shots or fewer. It was the eighth time this season that any NBA player accomplished the feat. • Jusuf Nurkic finished with 17 points (7-9 FG, 3-4 FT) to go with nine rebounds, two steals and one block. • Al-Farouq Aminu recorded 13 points (3-8 FG, 3-7 3-PT, 4-6 FT), eight rebounds and one assist. • CJ McCollum scored 11 points (5-18 FG, 0-5 3-PT, 1-1 FT) to go with two rebounds, two assists and one block. • Maurice Harkless logged 10 points (4-5 FG, 2-3 3-PT), four rebounds and one steal. • Ed Davis pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds to go with nine points (4-6 FG) • Zach Randolph led the Kings with 20 points (8-16 FG, 1-4 3-PT, 3-4 FT). It was his third game of 20-plus points in his last four outings.
HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS On holding on to the lead in the fourth: “I was pleased with the second unit. They cut it to whatever, six or seven, and made some good plays to build the lead back up so we didn’t have a nail biter going down the stretch. I thought the second unit really handled that pressure well.” What did you think of Damian tonight? “He got off to a great start. I didn’t know if he was going to go for another 50 or not the way he started the game. He shot the ball really well, but I thought he just managed the game really well. For scoring 15 pretty easily in the first quarter, he was passing the ball, he got his teammates involved, was into it. I thought he had good leadership on the court.” Napier’s not in a shooting slump anymore, huh? “Yeah, for everybody that wanted him to stop shooting against Phoenix, that was for them.” “To bounce back after he struggled shooting the ball in Phoenix and having a shooting night like tonight was good for him and got him back on track. But I thought he played well. He played with confidence.” On Ed Davis being in the middle of fourth quarter push: “Actually, they way the game ended up, they brought Zach Randolph back in the game and kind of gave us that matchup that we didn’t have in the first half. Zach, I still have a lot of respect for Zach Randolph and what he can do, and I liked Ed being a part of that. Zach Collins hitting the three was big. I thought Ed really communicated well on defense as he always does. He just does a lot of good things on the court.” On standings and playing Minnesota on Thursday: “It’s an important game for both teams. I’m not sure what they have in the loss column, but it’s one of those games that it’s a swing game. They lead the season series 2-1, so it could have a lot of implication.” What more can you say about Lillard after he had highest scoring month in franchise history? “I don’t know if there’s more to say. He’s very focused. As I’ve said, his leadership permeates the team. He has a way of not only elevating his game but his teammates’ game.”
DAMIAN LILLARD Sad to see February go? “Nope. I mean, it is what it is. It was a good month for our team, a good month for me individually but we’ve got to move on. We’ve got things to do.” Are you anxious for these upcoming games? “I mean, not really, they’re going to come. We’ve got another one Thursday - another big one Thursday, a big one Saturday, so it’s still a game at a time for us. We’ve got to keep doing our preparations, stay locked into what we’re doing. Have to stay locked in, keep our focus where it is. Like I said, keep going a game at a time.” What was the key to closing this game out? “Just keep doing what we were doing. I thought we had good energy. Our ball movement was good. Defensively, we were physical. We got our hands on some balls. But I think most importantly, we were just connected. From the start of the game, we was all on the same page once again. We just knew what we needed to get done and we got it done. We was able to sustain that level for the most part over the course of the game.” On West standings 3 through 10, how would you describe the standings/race? “It’s a dog fight. I think that’s the best way to describe it. Every night counts. One loss could take you three spots or move you three spots up. Like I’ve said, we’re in a good space as a team mentally and in the standings so as long as we continue to focus on us, I think we control whatever we want it to be at the end.” Do you think this is the best the team has played? “It’s the best place I think we’ve been in years. My thing is just to continue to be that, continue to push in the right direction. We can’t be satisfied with where we are, what we’ve been doing – it’s got to be on to the next thing and keep trying to take it to the next level.” What gives you that feeling that this is the best you’ve played in years? “I think how we’ve been able to respond to adversity. The six straight home losses, a good stretch of games, then we go on the road and drop all three games, how we’ve responded to those things all year and still where we are right now. I think that it shows the character of our team. So it’s not like we just came and started playing good, we had to fight to get to this position and I think that shows us being better. It didn’t happen next month, it wasn’t when we figured it out like the last two seasons. We’ve kind of did well, then took a few steps back, did well, few steps back then we just kind of have been pushing in the right direction. I think that’s a sign of a better team than we’ve been the past few years.”
HEAD COACH DAVE JOERGER On the game: “We were better in the second half, got off to a slow start in the first half. Sometimes for a guy like Zach (Randolph), and the same thing can be said for Kosta (Koufous) and Vince (Carter) and Garrett (Temple), it’s difficult to play every other game when you’ve been playing regular minutes and regular games your whole career, so it’s tough to find a rhythm. Zach got it going in the second half especially and we were better in the second half. The third quarter we ended up with 12 deflections, we had 10 in the first half total and I think me missed seven layups in the third quarter, but our defense was better and a little bit more active, so they weren’t able to take as many shots at us as they did in the first half.” On how often they look at other teams pick and rolls as examples for their team: “I don’t, really.”
De’AARON FOX On if he’s trying to be more aggressive early in the game: “I’m trying to be aggressive all the time. It doesn’t matter what time of the game it is, I’m just trying to come at the game. Sometimes I feel like I get aggressive too late so I’m just trying to pick it up from the start.” On if it’s easier to be more aggressive against a guard like Damian Lillard who stays aggressive: “I mean it doesn’t make it easier or anything like that. I’m not really looking at who I’m playing against as far as what I’m doing offensively.” WILLIE CAULEY-STEIN On defending the Trailblazers:“It’s interesting with those two dudes, [CJ] McCollum and [Damian] Lillard. I think coach really, really put emphasis on us being up. The last game we played them we were trying to be back and they were just torching us so tonight we were looking for the pocket pass, we went at [Jusuf] Nurkić, Ed Davis, [Al-Farouq] Aminu, we wanted them to catch it in the pocket so they had to make a play instead of Dame or CJ. So I think from just the standpoint of our bigs we did a really good job of being cognitive and being there in the pick and rolls. It’s the league though, they’re going to find a way to exploit it and get what they want.” On what he learns from a game like this: “It’s all just a learning of ourselves and kind of, we’ve got to use these last 20 games to figure out each other’s games. There’s like a chemistry factor that we’re missing and that’s the next step because once we get our chemistry all together then we no longer have to work on effort plays and wondering if he’s going to be there? It’s like we’re having to think too much instead of read and react and going ‘I know he’s going to be there, I can just throw it and go.’ Right now, it’s like ‘oh, ok, yeah he’s there’ and you have to take a little time, the pace of the game is really steadfast because we’re learning. Whereas everybody else is a veteran and they know the pace, they know what they’re going to do, they know how to do it, they know how to exploit you to get what they really want. That’s the kind of things that we’re figuring out.” On knowing what to do when a team makes a run: “It kind of depends on the game, how the flow is going. I think where we get in trouble is that we shoot a lot of jumpers so if they’re on a run and we try to shoot out of our rut, instead of trying to attack out of the rut, then it just makes it more of a run for them because then they get in transition and can spray it around and we have to get help the whole time. When we get to those points when we have to make a stop in a run, it really comes from the offensive side of like slowing down and making them guard for the shot clock and then getting a good shot instead of one dribble shots and they can just rebound and go.”
When they were showing the highlights one of those geniuses (I want to say Baron Davis) was all “how does portland keep winning I don’t know anyone they have outside of Dame and CJ.” Like, isn’t that your job, brah?
If we do it in playoffs, people will know. This guy sounds as dim as Melo who would've chosen Portland if he'd done his homework. I can't wait to beat them again on Saturday.
Agree. Taking it to OKC is the best kind of vengeance for Melo not putting us on his trade list. Let's make him regret his life choices.
