HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS “Obviously this is a game we needed for our playoff run, so it was disappointing to lose it. A little bit of everything – obviously our offense in the first half, particularly the second quarter, we really struggled with turnovers, passing the ball, some of our decisions put us in a bad way. The second half, after the first five minutes of the second half, our defense was really good. Just the hole was kind of deep. Other than Dame, I thought we struggled offensively for a good part of the night. We made a good comeback but it wasn’t enough.” Was it their defense or offensive struggles? “As you know, you’ve got to give credit to the opponent. I thought they were very active. They had good hands, good length, they were aggressive on pick and rolls. We played three teams going into this where we hadn’t seen that type of aggressiveness, so some of the passes we were used to making, they were getting hands on. So that was definitely part of it.” On decision to leave Nurkic out for most of fourth quarter: “Because we were playing well with him on the bench and we rolled with that lineup. They were playing a small lineup. They were playing Antetokounmpo at five, so from a matchup standpoint it worked to our advantage. When they went big, I brought Jusuf back.” You had a lot of momentum coming off road trip, how do you feel about home-heavy schedule coming up? “Well, it’s good to be at home but we know that doesn’t guarantee anything. We have to play with the same edge that we did those last three games on the road, which I thought we did for the last quarter and a half of this game. It’s going to be a grind and it’s not going to be easy.”
DAMIAN LILLARD On struggles offensively tonight: “They do a great job causing turnovers, getting deflections and using their length and athleticism to cause trouble on that end of the floor, but I thought a lot of our mistakes, it was the wrong pass or we were forcing the pass in against a team that we know that’s what they like to do. Great first quarter, they separated from us in that second quarter going into half and I think we were down 13. At that point, the start of the third was big for us and we weren’t able to close that gap soon enough in that quarter, so we really went hard. We cut it to 4 going into the fourth but we had to do so much work to get to that point that it was hard to kind of get over that hump in the last quarter and even when we took the lead, they just had more to give than us I guess.” On last possession – did ball get tipped, what happened? “Well I was supposed to be coming off the back side to the corner and CJ was flaring to the top and whoever came open, that’s who we was going – we both got taken out, they threw it to Moe. Moe attacked and he skipped it to me. My guy didn’t even see the ball coming but at the last minute he put his arm out and he tipped it. I was trying to catch it and I knew there was only 6 seconds to begin with so I figured I didn’t have a lot of time. I peeked up at the clock and at the same time that I peeked at the clock, CJ was coming around and I heard him call my name. But looking at it on film, I think the right play I think would have been to toss it back to him. He probably could have got a better and cleaner look than I got, but it happened so fast. We got the best shot that we could get at that time, but it shouldn’t have came down to that in the first play.” On three point shooting struggles tonight: “You can’t take credit away from them. They do a good job defensively, but I thought we also had a lot of good looks. We had some good looks at the rim that for us, we make those shots. There was a couple of them that I could remember off the top of my head that I’m used to seeing go in that didn’t go in tonight. When you don’t have it going like that and it gets time, you’ve got to come up with more stops and we was able to tonight.” What does this do to the momentum you had coming off the road trip? “I thought we competed hard still. The game went well for us over that road trip, the game just went well. Tonight the game didn’t just go well, we had to fight and scratch and claw to be in the situation that we ended up in. It’s going to be like that. They’re also playing for something, so it’s not like we’re going out there playing against a team that’s just all set and everything is good. They’re playing for something as well.”
HEAD COACH JASON KIDD On his team’s defense the last three minutes of the game: “This team is very dangerous, they can score a lot of points in a hurry. For us to focus on trying to take the three out of the game and have them make tough twos, I thought the guys executed the game plan well.” On his team’s resiliency: “This is the playoff atmosphere, it’s tough to win here in Portland. The guys stayed together, showing their discipline, showing their trust on the defensive and offensive end. It was a great team victory and now we turn the page and get ready for Sacramento.” On John Henson: “I thought John actually tipped a jump shot by (Damian) Lillard. They ended up getting the 50/50 ball, but I thought John played a great game for us overall, not just late in the game. When he was in there he was effective.” On Khris Middleton: “I liked our pace, our trust with Khris (Middleton) having the ball. He understands what plays he can make or make for someone else. He made some big shots coming down the stretch for us.”
JOHN HENSON On supporting the team at the rim: Yeah. That’s kind of my role on this team – to provide… make it harder to score around the rim. Towards the end I did that, and it turned out to be big for us. On keeping the Trail Blazers scoreless the final three minutes with Damian and CJ: They got some drives, but we were there to help. Giannis blocked a few shots, and Giannis got a few big shots. Beating him down there is tough. Especially when roaming around so it was good. On his follow-up tip from Giannis’s shot: Yeah. I mean, I think they fouled him, but you know… when he’s attacking like that he attracts so much attention and it makes it easier for me. So I’m not complaining at all.
KHRIS MIDDLETON On the defensive effort: That’s what we’ve been doing these last couple games. It’s been won by our defense, and tonight we were able to do that. When the surged to take the lead: Yeah. We knew they were going to make a run. They have a great team over there. They have some great players that are very explosive from deep and getting into the paint. I just knew we had to stay with it. Holding Lillard at 2/9 from 3-point range: Yeah. We knew he could launch from anywhere at any time. We just wanted to try to take him out of his rhythm and D-up on his pick and rolls and not let him shoot those 3s.
Postgame Notes - March 21, 2017 Milwaukee 93, Portland 90 Game #70 • Home Game #32 TEAM • Tonight’s loss ended a three game winning streak over the Bucks at the Moda Center. • The loss snaps a three-game win streak. Portland is 8-3 in the month of March. • The Trail Blazers outscored the Bucks in the paint, 52-50. • Portland’s starting backcourt outscored Milwaukee’s starting backcourt, 52-13. PLAYER • Damian Lillard (31 points, 13-26 FG, 2-9 3-PT) has scored 25+ points in seven consecutive games for the first time in his career. He is averaging 34.9 ppg in that stretch. • Damian Lillard (31 points) has 23 games of 30+ points this season, one shy of his career high of 24 (2015-26). • CJ McCollum (21 points) has scored 20+ in eight of the last 10 games. • Jusuf Nurkic (11 points, 14 rebounds) recorded his sixth double-double as a Trail Blazer, and has 10 on the season. Nurkic has recorded back-to-back double-doubles for the first time in Portland and the second time this season. • Damian Lillard’s four steals matched his season high (2x, last on Nov. 30). • Allen Crabbe (11 points, 1-5 3-PT) has made a 3-pointer in 12 consecutive games.
This kind of stuff bothers me. Why let the opponent dictate to you? Nurk sat with 8 minutes left. He could easily have been brought back in with 4 left and let his size really put pressure on the Bucks. Could Giannis defend him down low if he were the biggest Buck out there? I'd have loved to have found out.
