Exclusive GAME# 63: THUNDER @ BLAZERS - MARCH 3, 2018 - Official NBA Quote Book

Postgame Notes - March 3, 2018
Portland 108, Oklahoma City 100
Game #63 • Home Game #31

TEAM
• The Trail Blazers won their sixth game in a row, extending the longest winning streak of the season.
• Portland improved to 3-0 against the Thunder this season, and won the fifth straight meeting between the two teams.
• The Trail Blazers have won 13 of their last 14 games at Moda Center.
• Portland’s reserves outscored their Oklahoma City counterparts, 31-22.
• The Trail Blazers scored 15 second chance points off of 14 offensive rebounds, while the Thunder had eight second chance points off of nine offensive rebounds.

PLAYER
• CJ McCollum finished with a team-high 28 points (10-20 FG, 2-8 3-PT, 6-6 FT) to go with eight rebounds, six assists, one steal and two blocks.
• Damian Lillard scored 20 points (5-18 FG, 2-8 3-PT, 8-9 FT) while handing out seven assists and snaring one rebound.
• Damian Lillard made a three-pointer for the 45th straight game, setting a franchise record for the most consecutive games (including multiple seasons) with a three-pointer (Batum – 44, 3/14/13 – 1/2/14).
• Zach Collins scored a career-high 12 points (5-6 FG, 2-2 3-PT) to go with five rebounds and two blocks. His previous career high in scoring was 11 (Dec. 23 at L.A. Lakers). His five field goals were a career high while his two three-pointers matched his career best.
• Evan Turner recorded 17 points (6-10 FG, 3-4 3-PT, 2-2 FT), three rebounds and two assists. Turner’s three three-pointers were a season high and his 17 points equaled his third-highest scoring output of the season.
• Ed Davis finished with six points and 10 rebounds. It was his third straight game with double digit rebounds.
• Russell Westbrook recorded a game-high 30 points (12-31 FG, 1-5 3-PT, 5-7 FT) to go with 11 rebounds, six assists and one block.

 

Transcript: NBA Referee Ron Garretson Comments to Pool Reporter after Thunder – Trail Blazers Game
March 3, 2018
Pool Reporter Transcript

Crew Chief Ron Garretson
Postgame – OKC at Portland – March 3, 2018

NBA Crew Chief Ron Garretson met with pool reporter Erik Horne (Oklahoman) after the game between the Thunder and Trail Blazers in Portland today. Here is the transcript of that interview:

Q: What determined the common foul call on Jusuf Nurkic's foul on Steven Adams at 3:53 second quarter?
Ron Garretson: “There was illegal contact by Nurkic. The illegal contact caused Adams to go to the ground. It was just a transition, illegal contact, nothing further. That’s why there was a personal foul on Nurkic.”

Follow up:
Q: What determined that Russell Westbrook warranted a technical foul on the incident after the initial foul call?
Garretson: “The technical on Westbrook was for illegal contact towards an opponent during a dead ball.”

 

HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS

How do you feel about the game from Collins off the bench?

“I was happy for Zach. It was a good experience for him, but he earned it. He was really good defensively with the assignments that he had. Offensively, he took advantage of the shots that were there. He made some good plays. His three was a big three for us. He’s continued to improve throughout the season and I think this is the culmination of a lot of work so far.


What did you like about his defense

“His length, his rim protection, alertness. We switched pick and rolls with him, probably three or four times and he kept Westbrook in front of him and made him shoot jump shots. I’m sure he made a couple mistakes but I don’t remember what they were.”


They were focused defensively on Lillard, how did you think McCollum did?

“I thought they were focused on CJ too. I thought Damian did a good job of recognizing – they really made Damian a priority with blitzing the pick and rolls and getting the ball out of his hands and I thought Damian did a nice job. For the most part, our turnovers were low, particularly in the first half. CJ is going to do what CJ does. I thought CJ took advantage of opportunities. I probably milked him a little bit too much going one-on-one going at matchups but still, he was pretty good.”


On Turner’s play:

“Solid. He had a tough assignment with Paul George. He was really locked in. It was nice he made a couple threes, but I really liked his approach defensively with Paul George.”


On Westbrook taking a lot of shots to get his points:

“With great players you want to make them work. If you can get them to shoot a poor percentage, that’s the goal. They’re going to have the ball in their hands, they’re going to get shots – make them difficult and have them shoot a poor percentage and that’s what happened tonight.”

 

EVAN TURNER

What did you like about that win?

“That we won and we needed it. We protected home court. We stepped up, made some big plays. Zach had some amazing plays and I think going down the stretch, we stepped up even more when the lead was cut from 10 to 3 on some weirdo stuff. We weathered that storm and situations like that, you really have to forget about it and step up and do what you have to do and I think we did.”


With Thunder focusing on Lillard, did you feel like you needed to step up more offensively?

“No, I just got some shots and I took them. That was it. I was just trying to make the right play. I think we all stepped up and tried to make it a group effort as we’ve done these past few weeks. I think everybody’s done a great job in general trying to step up.”


On being third in the standings now:

“It’s definitely great. I think once again, how we stepped up and during this streak, our resilience and putting together some wins and defending home court is huge. We just have to finish it off.

 

CJ MCCOLLUM

On being in third all alone now in the standings:

“I mean, it’s nice but it doesn’t really do anything for us right now. To finish third twenty games from now would be great, but we have a long way to go. We’ve got a lot of games left to be played and I’m really looking forward to the challenge of us continuing to stick together defensively, continuing to stick to our principles and come away with close wins.”


What did you think were the keys to the win tonight?

“I think defensively we got enough stops when we needed them. A lot of guys stepped up and contributed. Zach was great. E.D. was great as always, ‘Bazz contributed, E.T. stepped up and hit some big shots and defended all night and tried to make it as difficult as possible on P.G. I think overall, you can live with the effort, you can live with the execution and we were able to get a win.”

 

HEAD COACH BILLY DONOVAN

On what was the difference maker in the final minutes of the game:

“I thought we really, really played with great force, intensity, concentration. I thought the guys’ effort was incredible considering the fact that we’re coming off a back to back and having to play here against a good Portland team. I thought we had some opportunities on some shots, we didn’t really make our fair share of shots. It was a very physical game, I think, on both ends of the floor for both teams. I think sometimes in a back to back that can happen. I did think that there was times where our ball movement could’ve been better, we could’ve generated better shots than we did. I think it’s a constant work in progress so to speak with that but I feel like guys competing and did a good job and again I think we were like 22% from the three point line, they didn’t shoot it great either, I think they were 33% but I think there’s 11 makes for them compared to five for us and that was probably a difference in a lot of respects.”


On what he tells his players when they play hard but shots don’t fall:

“I think the effort was phenomenal and you’ve got to stick with it. I really thought coming out of the locker room the game got more and more physical and both teams were playing hard and we kind of got right back in the game pretty quickly. Even with those ebbs and flows of losing momentum we were able to get it back but you’ve got to keep sticking with it. That’s what you’re looking to do, you can’t get absorbed with missing or making shots over an 82 game schedule you’re not going to always shoot the ball particularly well. We didn’t shoot the ball great tonight but we competed and worked though it and we tried to give ourselves a chance but rather it was chasing down offensive rebounds, trying to get fouled, trying to come up with deflections and steals, trying to get out on the fast break, I mean the effort was great. Again I don’t think it was really a great offensive night for them either. I thought we really gave great effort on the defensive end of the floor but offensively, probably coupled with the fact that we missed some pretty good looks that we had and I think probably some possessions that we needed to probably execute better.”


On Portland beating them on 2nd chance points:

“They did and I thought we corrected ourselves a little bit better. I thought we did a really good job in the first quarter for the most part defensive rebounding. Once we got into that second quarter I thought there was some slippage there, we really did a nice job in controlling the back board, that’s what really got us the only lead because their misses we were able to get out in transition. When they started to gather up some of those second chance opportunities there in that second quarter it kind of broke our momentum and kind of gave them some momentum going into the half.”

 

JOSH HUESTIS

The energy seemed to be there, what was the difference tonight?
Yeah. Like you said, the energy was there. We played hard. Just couldn’t get the ball to fall. A couple lapses here and there, but proud of our effort. It’s how it goes sometime.


How do you deal with that throughout the game when things aren’t falling, etc.?
Just deal with it. That’s something that’s out of our control, so you just have to keep playing. We’ve got talented enough guys here. The law of averages… just keep shooting the ball, taking the right shots, moving it. They’ll start going in. It’s just how it goes.


How big of a factor were their second chances?
That’s big. Obviously, we want to keep them off the glass, and when teams get a second chance of shooting the ball their percentages go way up and it gives them momentum. That’s something that’s on us. We can control that. It’s boxing out, but credit to them. They played hard.


Would you consider the way you played encouraging?
You look at it, and despite the outcome of the game and how the game went at certain times, but I’m proud of our effort. I liked the atmosphere out there. The guys played hard. Things weren’t going our way, but we didn’t give in. I think we can take a lot to learn from this.

 

COREY BREWER

You got thrown in the fire tonight:

Threw me in the fire. It felt good to play basketball. I haven’t really done anything since Monday, to be honest. Miami to LA, LA to OKC, OKC to Phoenix, and Phoenix to Portland. So it’s been a long few days, and I know I can play better than that.


When you come to a new team is it more difficult to join on defense or offense?

It’s difficult period. You need to learn new calls. I haven’t even had a shoot around. So I did it on the fly. I did the best I could with the calls. I messed up a couple times defensively because it’s not the same calls I’ve been used to the last couple years, but give me a couple days, a couple practices and trust me, I’ll be better.

 

PAUL GEORGE

How do you stay positive moving forward after a game like this when things didn’t seem to fall?

You just got to stay with it. It doesn’t change anything. We have to be in attack mode. We have to make plays at the rim. That’s what myself and Russ do. I thought defensively we held in there. It just came down to us not finishing at the basket, us not finishing enough shots. Ultimately, I thought we played well. We gave ourselves a chance to win late tonight.


Third game in four nights, thoughts on how you sustained your energy?

I thought we were bringing the challenge. Accepting the challenge on a nightly basis. We’re past that stage of coming out flat. We’re coming out with the energy that’s necessary for a playoff contending team.


How did you feel about how you closed in the final 1:32?

I thought we closed well. Obviously, we didn’t make shots down the stretch, but I thought we had good enough looks. We got within 3 or 4 points to close the game out. Just a play here and there that didn’t go our way in terms of getting our shot or a good look at the basket. We had a different ballgame late tonight. Just happened that way. You make some shots, and the home team took care of business.

How did it feel to take on a team like Portland that’s important to the standings knowing Melo is out?

We got enough. We got enough. We know coming into this what we have to do. We were ready for the challenge. We just didn’t make shots. It’s all it came down to.

Can you comment on the Blazers back court? It seemed there was an emphasis on stopping the 3 that opened lanes to the basket:

Those guys... their range is unlimited. We had to push up, force them behind the 3 point line, force them to drive, force our guys to be there. We just couldn’t let them get comfortable behind the 3 line.

 

RUSSELL WESTBROOK

Thought on third game in four nights being able to come in and make it a game:

We put ourselves in position but didn’t come out with the win. So there’s really nothing to gain from that.


What did you see in the stretch run that prevented you from getting over the hop?

Getting the stops we needed to. Obviously making shots and executing.


What happened in the final 1:32 when there was only 1 shot?

I don’t know. I’d have to look and see.


How do you maintain the confidence when things aren’t falling?

Just keep going. Keep attacking. You’re not going to make every shot, but keep attacking, stay with it and continue to play together.


Were you encouraged by the way you played here?

We played okay. I like to win.


What was the explanation on your technical foul?

I don’t know. Who knows.

 

Good morning Blazer fans!

 

Did anyone hear Damian talk about how Zach handles a play he screws up, or a missed shot?

"He's not a mental midget" or that he doesn't let things get him down.

Now who would he be talking about....