Postgame Notes - March 30, 2018 Portland 105, LA Clippers 96 Game #76 • Home Game #39 TEAM • The Trail Blazers won their third consecutive game against the Clippers, and captured the season series, 3-1. • Portland improved to 19-3 in their last 22 games at Moda Center. • The Trail Blazers have scored at least 100 points in 19 straight games. It is the team’s longest single-season streak since Jan. 16 - April 14, 1990 (42 games, tied for team record). • Portland had 30 assists on 41 field goals, matching their season high (Jan. 5 vs. Atlanta). • The Trail Blazers outscored the Clippers in the paint, 60-50, and outrebounded them, 50-46. • Portland scored 38 points in the second quarter, marking their season high for second quarter points. • The Trail Blazers finished with 10 blocks and nine steals while the Clippers recorded five blocks and five steals. • Portland shot 93.8% from the free throw line (15-of-16) while the Clippers shot 57.1% from the stripe (20-of-35). PLAYER • Jusuf Nurkic recorded 21 points (9-17 FG, 3-3 FT), 12 rebounds, three assists, two steals, and four blocks. It was the fifth time in the last seven games that Nurkic logged a double-double and the fifth time in the last seven games that Nurkic had at least three blocks. • Jusuf Nurkic has had at least 20 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks five times this season, tied for the second-most by any player in the league. • Damian Lillard had 17 points (5-16 FG, 2-10 3-PT, 5-6 FT), seven rebounds and 11 assists to record his 10th double-double of the season. • Zach Collins scored a career-high 15 points (7-10 FG, 0-1 3-PT, 1-1 FT) to go with two rebounds and a career-high four assists. Collins scored 13 points (6-6 FG, 1-1 FT) in the second quarter. His previous career high for scoring was 12 points (twice). • CJ McCollum finished with 13 points (6-15 FG, 1-4 3-PT), three rebounds, one assist and one block. • Evan Turner recorded 12 points (4-10 FG, 2-5 3-PT, 2-2 FT), four assists, two steals and two blocks. • Al-Farouq Aminu logged seven points, 11 rebounds and four steals. It was the 16th time this season that Aminu pulled down double-digit rebounds. • Lou Williams led the Clippers with 23 points (10-22 FG, 0-2 3-PT, 3-3 FT) to go with three rebounds, three assists and one block.
HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS What clicked in the second quarter “I thought the guys that were in the game then really shared the ball well, played with a lot of energy at both ends, took advantage of opportunities that were there especially at the offensive end. I thought Ed and Zach really complemented each other well during that stretch and a lot of it was because we played good defense and then good passing.” What did you like about Collins tonight? “Well he got off to a slow start until the first timeout, but he came out of the timeout with kind of a little, I don’t know, a chip on his shoulder or whatever, but the first possession he got it and drove it and was aggressive. I thought from that point on he was really aggressive and I liked the way he finished.” On season high 30 assists: “Yeah I know, 30 assists for not even shooting the ball that well particularly from three. I liked the threes that we got for the most part. I think our passing has really picked up in the last month or two. Sometimes the assists are an indication of that, sometimes it’s not. I thought Damian was terrific with his passing. He found Nurk, they kept trapping him and he found Nurk almost every time. Someone asked me about getting Nurk more shots before the game, I think Dame is responsible for getting Nurk some shots.” On Nurkic blocking more shots lately, what have you seen from him defensively? “He’s been really conscious of being a presence in the paint. Some of it is our pick and roll defense but he’s going after shots, he’s in good position. It just seems like it’s kind of clicking for him as far as understanding where he is, where his man is, where the ball is.” DAMIAN LILLARD What did you like about 30 assists and ball movement tonight: “We just had great ball movement. What we did on the defensive end, we was able to get out in transition and sometimes we had numbers and made them make decisions. We just kept making the extra pass, getting good looks. We really played a good basketball game on the offensive side.” What did you like about what Nurkic gave you “He played strong. He had some nice dunks, some really good finishes through contact in traffic, and that’s how we need him to play. We need him to be big in the paint, need him to use those skills that he got around the rim and take advantage of the defense when they’re giving us attention in ball screens and I thought he did a good job of it.” On Nurkic blocking more shots, what have you seen from him defensively lately? “He just seems more locked into what we want to do. The start of the season it would be, we would come out of a timeout and say, alright we’re going to blitz this guy with the five-man and the first possession out of the timeout, Nurk would forget. Just simple stuff like that where it was just like he’s always been capable, I think we saw that last year but he would just have lapses at the beginning of the season. He was struggling, so it might have been just a little funk, but he’s definitely been a huge part of why we’ve been good on the defensive end lately.” On energy tonight after the past couple days: “I just try to go out there and have fun, clear my mind. I don’t want to drag my personal things into the locker room or onto the court. I had a son and that’s a great thing, unfortunate thing with my brother but he survived it, so a lot to be thankful for. I get to go out here and play the game that I love. After this game, I’m going to be able to go home to them, they’re still there so I try not to go out there and act like the worst thing in the world happened.” You’ve struggled the last few games from three as a team, are you concerned? “No I’m not, we’re getting a lot of good looks. We’re not knocking them down like we have been probably over the course of that streak, but I think the good thing is we’re still moving the ball, guys are making shots when they need to, making timely shots and we’re winning games. We’re still playing good offensive while not making a lot of shots. We know at some point it’s going to come back, as long as we can get it done the way we are right now, hopefully in the playoffs or even in these next couple games, the ball will start going in.”
HEAD COACH DOC RIVERS On how the team played: “Well actually both teams were bad in the first three minutes but we just, I thought offensively as much as defense we were horrible. I thought we never got to our formula that we talk about, the draw and kick and the attack. I thought we were passive most of the night. Why? I wish I knew. Currently Portland has a confidence against us and you can see it on the floor.” On Danilo Gallinari: “He was okay, I thought he was better in the second half. I thought his rhythm may have upset other rhythms, I mean you never know but we need him, we’re going to use him.” On if their late push in the fourth quarter meant anything: “No that was fool’s gold. That was Portland like “okay we’ve got a 20-point lead.” Other than that, it was nothing.” On the difficulty of digging out of their deficit: “I just saw it as that our defense was horrendous in the first half, but I think our offense was worse tonight. It’s tough to run if they’re making shots so we never got any break going but listen, I just thought Portland was the better team. I thought they were better coached, I thought the players played better, I thought they played harder and that’s disappointing.” On their playoff push with only six games remaining: “We’re right there, nothing changed. We lost the game, but we got teams that are right in front [of us] that we’re playing, it’s on us. We have a chance to make the playoffs and it’s in our hands and I would not rather have it any other way. Well I would, I would like to be in the playoffs already but listen, it’s right in front of us so it depends on how mentally tough we are. You’ve got to play well too, sometimes you show up and don’t play well and there’s nothing you can do about that, but I didn’t think that was the case tonight, I thought Portland was just the better team.”
DeANDRE JORDAN On the game overall:I thought they were more physical than we were for more of the game. They attacked us offensively and defensively and then we responded. When you retaliate for most of the game you’re coming from behind. I thought our second unit gave us a great push at the end of the third quarter and fourth quarter, but we just were a step behind, a second late tonight, and they took advantage of that. You guys have 6 games left in the regular season, how do you look forward to these games?They have to be game 7s. They have to be game 7s. We have to come out with the right mindset and intensity and effort and focus on both ends of the floor for 48 minutes. I keep saying that we have to be locked into the game plan and the personnel out there. We have to play hard. That’s not on Doc. That’s on us. We have to figure out a way to make things work. That goes from myself to Lou to Sam to Boban to whoever is out there. If you’re usually a scorer and not scoring, you have to find a way to be effective out there. If you’re a defender, you have to find a way to be effective out there to help us win. We all have to figure out a way to figure it out these next few games. Is there a sense that the pressure is getting to guys a little bit, or are you enjoying it?I think we should enjoy it. Nobody expects us to do anything. Nobody expected us to make the playoffs after the summer. Nobody expected us to make the playoffs after February, but the guys in this locker room are optimistic and positive about the team that we have. We’re going to back each other up 150% and try to extend our season. Take it a game at a time. Was the effort there tonight? Execution?I think it was a mixture of a lot of things. Like I said, they came ready to play tonight, and we responded to that. When you’re desperate like we are to get wins, if you want to extend our season and play in the post season like everybody does then we have to have that sense of urgency from the start of the game.
