Exclusive GAME# 72: TIMBERWOLVES @ BLAZERS - MARCH 25, 2017 - Quote Book

HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS

On McCollum’s performance

“Very impressive. His offense, he really had it going. He only took 13 shots but he scored in a variety of ways – getting to the rim, shooting jump shots, his handle was exceptional. Except for when the sniper got him, he had an outstanding game.”


What did you think about building and maintaining lead?

“We wanted to win the third quarter. It’s been a long season and we’ve had situations like that before but I thought this was one of our better games as far as building the lead, maintaining the lead, making good decisions and being able to rest everybody, keeping everybody under 30 minutes. I don’t know if we’ve had one of these where the starters were under 30 minutes because we won a game. So it’s good to have those.”


On offensive success in this 13 game stretch:

“I think it starts with Damian. He’s been outstanding during this stretch but we’ve had a lot of good contributions up and down the line whether it’s Jusuf or CJ or AC. It seems like there’s always somebody who’s able to contribute and even guys like Moe and Chief are contributing. Noah is contributing in his way. They’re not going out and getting 20 but I think they’re involved in the offense and helping when they have the opportunities.”

 

DAMIAN LILLARD

Describing McCollum’s performance:

“I don’t know how to describe it, just a knack for getting to spots and getting stuff done. Just creative, crafty. Crafty in how he navigates his way to get to spots and then just a knack for scoring. A knack for doing things, really stuff that you can’t teach. I think that’s the best way to describe it, just a good feel for the way to play the game.”


Did it feel good to put away a team and get some rest?

“Yeah, I mean coach told me if it would have got to 13, he was going to have to put us back in and I remember I think it was we was up 15 and Shabazz Muhammad threw a skip pass to the front row and I was like, Yes, that was the one right there where it was like, OK now it’s a little bit of time came off then ‘Bazz hit a pull up and I sat back in my seat like cool. But I also told CJ that they robbed him of another 40 point game tonight. But it’s good to get that rest.”


On shooting a season high from the field tonight:

“I thought we executed with good pace. We sprinted into screens. We came in knowing the bigs would be back and we would have open jumpers. I thought our bigs, Noah, Nurk and even Chief did a great job of playing in the dunker area so when we penetrated and the bigs came over to block shots, we was hitting them and they was getting fouled and finishing. I think those are high percentage shots. We shot the ball well, so when you get good looks and you shoot the ball well and you’ve got it going, that’s the kind of night you can have.”

 

HEAD COACH TOM THIBODEAU


On his Minnesota’s defensive mistakes compared to last night:

“Yeah, similar. I thought Gorgui (Dieng) played well for us defensively. I thought Kris (Dunn) gave us some good minutes. In the second quarter I thought we struggled. If you give a team like this confidence early, they’re hard to stop.”


On whether he’s sensing collective fatigue from his team:

“I don’t know whether it’s collective fatigue. Every team plays the same amount of games, they go through the same things you’re going through. You get into stuff together, you get out of stuff together and you have to be mentally tough. There are games that we’ve let get away that we should’ve won. That’s part of it. Learn from it and get ready for the next one. Go from there.”


On how much more comfortable Kris Dunn is playing offensively:

“He’s getting better, he’s moving in the right direction. I think he’s gaining confidence. I think he’s got a much better understanding of the NBA game. He’s got a lot of work to do, but I think he understands that. Overall he’s doing okay.”


On Kris Dunn figuring out when to shoot and when to pass:

“The thing is, is it’s just his all-around game. That’s a big part of it. He’s got to continue to work at it, because good players study the league, they study the teams. I think the second time around he’s got a better feel for who he’s guarding, the things they like to do. He can make this what he wants it to be. He’s got to put the work into it though.”

 

KRIS DUNN

On CJ McCollum’s shooting:

“Those type of players you just have to try to play hard on every possession against them. Some days they’re going to miss and when they’re hot, they’re hot.”


On the teams’ defense:

“I just feel like we have to be more disciplined, I think we go out there and play hard. There’s some days you can play good defense and sometimes isn’t much better.”


On his defense personally:

“That’s probably one of my greatest strengths. Everyday I’m just trying to learn and improve, Thibs [Coach Thibodeau], he preaches defense so I’m out there trying to give it my all.”


On his comfortability of shooting and passing:

“Still trying to figure that out as the season goes along. Just trying to go out there and try to improve, trying to build my confidence, trying to play within the offense.”


On feeling more comfortable in the past weeks:

“I’m trying. One of my goals coming out of All-Star break was try to improve and gain more confidence, get more comfortable and try to play within the offense.”

 

KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS

On if fatigue is affecting their defense:

“We’ve just got to win games I guess at some point. It’s been a rough patch but we’ve got to come back in Indiana and find a way to win.”


On showing strides in defense this season and now having it seem to regress:

“We’ve got a game in Indiana, we’ve got to go over there and find a way to win.”


On the difficulty of covering Portland’s backcourt:

“They did a good job tonight. Obviously, we lost tonight. They did a good job.”

 

Postgame Notes - March 25, 2017
Portland 112, Minnesota 100
Game #72 • Home Game #34


TEAM

• The Trail Blazers won their second straight game against the Timberwolves, improving to 2-0 in the season seires with two games left to play.

• The Trail Blazers won their second game in a row.

• Portland improved its record in March to 10-3, the third-best in the league (11-3, Milwaukee/San Antonio)

• The Trail Blazers shot 62.5% from the field, Portland’s best shooting percentage since 3/12/03 (64.1%) and the third-best team field goal percentage in the NBA this season (Mil. 63.4% , GSW 62.8%)

• Potland has held its opponent to 100 points or fewer in four of the past five games (97.8 ppg, 42.9% FG).

• The Portland bench outscored the Timberwolves reserves, 38-35.

• Portland has defeated Minnesota in 20 of the past 22 games at the Moda Center.



PLAYER

• CJ McCollum (32 points, 11-13 FG, 4-5 3-PT) is the third player in the NBA this season to score 32+ points on 13 or fewer shots (34, K. Durant/G. Hill).

• CJ McCollum (32 points) has scored 30+ 14 times this season, tied for the 15th most in the NBA.

• In two games against the Timberwolves this season, CJ McCollum has scored 75 points on 27-of-38 shooting (7-11 3-PT).

• Damian Lillard (21 points, 8-13 FG, 3-6 3-PT) has scored 20+ points in 11 consecutive games, the second-longest streak of his career (15, Feb. 4-Mar. 8, 2016).

• Allen Crabbe (10 points, 2-4 3-PT) has made a 3-pointer in 14 consecutive games, one game shy of the longest streak of his career (15, Nov. 13-Dec. 11, 2015).

• Jusuf Nurkic (14 points, nine rebounds) has reached double figure scoring in six straight games in a single season for the first time in his career.

 

I love Lillard! LOVE!

 

I didn't mean that I actually want to make love to Lillard.