Postgame Notes - March 6, 2018 Portland 111, New York 87 Game #65 • Home Game #32 TEAM • The Trail Blazers won their eighth game in a row, extending the longest winning streak of the season. • Portland won its fifth straight home game and improved to 14-1 in its last 15 games at Moda Center. • The Trail Blazers made a season-high 20 three-pointers (of 33) while shooting a season-best 60.6% from deep. It was the third game in franchise history that Portland has made at least 20 three-pointers. • The Trail Blazers improved to 9-4 in the second game of back-to-backs this season. • Portland outrebounded New York, 51-39, and had 22 assists to New York’s 21 assists. • The Trail Blazers shot 21-of-24 from the free throw line (87.5%) while the Knicks shot 10-of-15 from the stripe (66.7%). • Portland scored 16 second chance points off of 15 offensive rebounds while the Knicks had 10 second chance points off of nine offensive rebounds. PLAYER • Damian Lillard scored 37 points (10-18 FG, 8-11 3-PT, 9-11 FT) to go with two rebounds and one assist in 31 minutes. Lillard has scored at least 35 points in six of the last 10 games. • With a three-pointer at the 2:34 mark of the first quarter, Damian Lillard (10,433 career points) passed Clifford Robinson (10,405 career points) for fourth place on Portland’s all-time scoring list. • Damian Lillard (2,261 career free throws) passed LaMarcus Aldridge (2,259 career free throws) for third place on Portland’s all-time free throws list. • CJ McCollum scored 11 of his 19 points (7-18 FG, 5-7 3-PT) in the fourth quarter while adding six rebounds, four assists and one steal. • Jusuf Nurkic recorded 11 points (5-8 FG, 1-1 FT) and eight rebounds in 19 minutes of action. • Ed Davis tied his season high with 14 rebounds to go with two points and one block. • Zach Collins tied his season high with 10 rebounds while adding five points and two assists. • Shabazz Napier finished with 12 points (2-5 FG, 2-3 3-PT, 6-6 FT), two rebounds and four assists. He has scored in double figures in three of the last five games. • Enes Kanter had 18 points (6-9 FG, 6-6 FT) and 11 rebounds to record his 32nd double-double of the season. It is the most double-doubles Kanter has had in a season in his career (31, 2014-15).
HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS On Lillard: “Dame was just in a great groove. He’s been in a groove for a while and he was shooting it easy, feeling confident. To be honest, if it weren’t for Dame, we would have been in dire straits in the first half because we didn’t necessarily play good offense. We had too many turnovers, we didn’t do a lot of things that we should have done better in the first half, but Dame bailed us out in the first half.” On three point shooting: “It’s good to have a good shooting night. It’s fun when the ball is going in, but honestly, the way we played defensively, we picked it up. I thought we moved the ball a little bit better in the second half. I think when you move the ball and get good threes, you have a good chance of making them.” What’s the most rewarding part of this winning streak for you? “I’ll be honest, I haven’t really spent a lot of time thinking about the streak, other than the fact that we’ve beaten teams that were right in a group with us. Coming out of the break, beating Utah, Minnesota, and Oklahoma City, three teams that are in our division, three teams that are fighting for a playoff spot. And we’ve got a long way to go, so we really don’t have a lot of time to reflect on that.” How do you feel about matchup with Warriors on Friday? “It’ll be a good test. That win going into the All Star break kind of kick-started everything for us. It was one of our better games in how we played. We withstood some of their runs, we played really well and I said going into that game, we needed to score 120 and we did. You’ve got to score against Golden State to have a chance.”
DAMIAN LILLARD Coach said you were in a good groove and you have been, you felt that way? “Yeah, I knew it was going to be one of those games where we had to really be locked in and not come in and look at their record. At the beginning of the game, I thought we were pretty solid defensively but offensively we allowed how hard they play, we allowed that to impact the game. They got their hands on balls, allowed them to gain a little bit of confidence in what they could do. That’s kind of like the opposite of what we wanted to do. We wanted to come in and from the beginning of the game, just be sharp on both ends, but eventually we got to that. I just wanted to come out and be aggressive and regardless of who the opponent is or what the situation is, come out and do what we got to do to win. I thought we found our energy at a point in the second and then they was able to make a run, but in the third, we really locked in and took over the game.” It seems like you’ve been taking a lot of deep threes, is there a reason? “It’s a shot that I’ve always worked on. It’s coming open. I think late in the season, teams make adjustments, teams try to do a lot of things where they’re taking the looks away if I try to toe the line. Sometimes I’m getting right up to the line but if I come off a screen and the big is back and I get a look, I’m really comfortable a few steps behind the line so I’m going to take that shot.” What do you need to do to continue winning going into tough stretch “The same things we’ve been doing this entire time. We’ve been on a good run, just playing good basketball on both ends of the floor. Our team has been on a string, we’ve been really connected. It was even before the Golden State game, when we got back from that trip when we lost the last one in Detroit, we had a good stretch and then we lost at home to Utah but then right after that we knocked off Golden State and picked it up. We had a great effort against Golden State. That’s as good as it gets and that was where it started as far as this winning streak. We’ve just got to continue to have that same focus and mentality.”
HEAD COACH JEFF HORNACEK On New York’s guard play: “It’s tough, I think they combined for 5 of 28, and then their two guards are lighting it up. I think they were really battling those guys and maybe they got a little tired on the offensive side, I don’t know, but it makes it tough. I thought they had good looks, it wasn’t like they were taking bad shots, you’ve just got to knock those down.” On defending Lillard: “It’s hard. I said it before the game, he’s playing like (Steph) Curry plays. It’s from anywhere, anytime, he can get himself to spots… I thought we did a pretty decent job when we trapped him a little bit, but he gets away from there and is still able to get his shot and drives, so the guy’s playing fantastic. He might be one of those guys you’ve got to start talking about for that MVP too with the way he’s playing. And then (CJ) McCollum comes in there and has a quiet first half, but then has a bunch of points in the third and fourth quarter. That’s a really top duo there.” On Michael Beasley: “Like I said, we’re at a point where we need everybody to play well. When we have one guy that doesn’t play well it’s going to be hard, if everybody plays well we’ll win a game. Mike (Beasley) had been struggling a little bit, so it’s good to see him get going. He was more active on both sides of the ball, he took it aggressively to the basket and that’s what we need Mike to do.” On if these experiences are helping their young players: “I think it helps in the fact that, hey, you’ve got a long way to go in this league. These guys have been in the league (Lillard and McCollum) for four or five years, but they got here through a lot of hard work. If you just continue to work and strive to get better every year, you can get to that level. Again, we’re talking about guys that are in the league one or two years… the experience those guys have gotten… that’s when you get that confidence when the game is easy, it’s slow for you. If a guy moves this way, you know, okay, I’m just going to go that way and get my shot off, so it’s an experience. Hopefully they don’t lose confidence, but you learn how to play against the best and where you have to get to.”
TIM HARDAWAY JR. On defending the Blazers’ three point shooting: “It’s tough. We did a really good job today switching and an All Star like Dame [Lillard] can shoot from anywhere out on the court. He’s just like Steph [Curry], you can’t give him any space, you can’t give him any room, he’ll shoot from anywhere. It’s crazy how accurate he is from long distance as well so even when [Emmanuel] Mudiay contested him or tried to run him off, he’s still right there. He didn’t let his team down and he definitely helped them get that victory.” On their starting backcourt struggling and what they do to help them: “Just encourage them. Encourage them, allow them to learn and get through it, play through it. It happens with everybody, especially me so just having them go through it right now at a young age is great for their mindset and their future.” On their defense tonight: “I think defensively we’ve got tired guys, they made a lot of tough shots. Then we fouled a little too much trying to be aggressive but I’d rather be aggressive then soft on defense. It’s just another step forward in trying to create our identity winding down the season.” On if his charge was intentional: “I took a charge? I mean, no, its just that me and Trey [Burke] in college we used to take charges in college and for coach Beilein if we didn’t take charges or if there was an opportunity to take a charge and we didn’t take it then next practice he’d make us run 17s. So any time you have the opportunity to take a charge, put your body on the line, it shows your teammates that you’re willing to put your body on the line and get that extra possession for your team.”
ENES KANTER On the game: “They just played better basketball than us. If you look at Lillard and McCollum they just combined for 13 threes so they do a really good job making some pretty good shots and that’s what they do. We just have to do a better job going forward.” On having depth issues this late in the season: “It’s really tough but I think the best thing we can do right now is keep getting better. We have a lot of young guys, a lot of new guys so what we can do now is keep getting better every day and keep working hard. We are not going to give up or we are not going to tank anything, we’re just going to go out there and try to do our job because that’s what the fans want to see.”
I am proud of the team playing into it's potential rather than throwing balls onto "cellophane" rims like the Lakers game. The player that will really give us vast benefits now through the playoffs is Nap. He contributes! I am liking 2-3 Threes, 6-6 F Throws. Nurk and CJ came on in this game. Great work by both. CJ with 11 in the 4th was a great asset. Fifteen points off threes is beneficial along with 6Rbs,4Assts and one steal. I am impressed with Nurk acquiring 10 points in FGs and with 8Rebs/4Assists,he is playing great!
Hornacek complimenting our guards is good comment, as he has seen many great guard duo's from his experiences.
