TEAM • The Trail Blazers improved to 50-28 for the season. It is the 14th time the Trail Blazers have won 50-plus games in franchise history and the first since the 2014-15 season. It is the third 50-win season under head coach Terry Stotts. • Portland held the Grizzlies to opponent season lows of 10 points in the third quarter and 30 points in the second half. • The Trail Blazers bench outscored the Memphis reserves, 48-41. • Portland outrebounded Memphis, 54-32, including a 14-4 advantage on the offensive glass. • The Trail Blazers scored a season-high 68 points in the paint while holding the Grizzlies to 34 points in the paint. PLAYER • Damian Lillard finished with 20 points (8-18 FG, 2-7 3-PT, 2-2 FT), seven rebounds, 10 assists and one steal. It was his second straight double-double and his 13th of the season. • With his 17th point, Damian Lillard reached 2,000 points for the season. He is the second player in team history to score 2,000 points in two different seasons (Drexler) and the first player in team history to record 2,000 points and 500 assists in the same season. He joins James Harden as the only NBA players with 2,000 points and 500 assists this season. • Evan Turner recorded his second consecutive triple-double and the fifth of his career, finishing with 13 points (6-7 FG, 1-1 3-PT), and season highs of 12 rebounds and 11 assists. He is the second player in franchise history to record a triple-double in consecutive games (Drexler, Feb. 24-26, 1989) and the only NBA player to have a triple-double off the bench in consecutive games going back to the 1983-84 season. • Enes Kanter recorded 21 points (10-15 FG, 1-4 FT), 15 rebounds and three steals. It was his third straight game with at least 20 points and 10 rebounds, matching the longest such streak of his career (third time). • Zach Collins scored a career-high 18 points (7-10 FG, 2-2 3-PT, 2-4 FT), including 11 in the fourth quarter, to go with six rebounds and one block in 22 minutes. • Maurice Harkless logged 11 points (5-7 FG, 1-2 FT), three rebounds, three assists, a season-high four steals and one block. It was the seventh time in the last 10 games that he scored in double figures. • Chandler Parsons scored a team-high 16 points (6-11 FG, 3-5 3-PT, 1-2 FT) for the Grizzlies to go with one rebound, one assist, two steals and one block.
HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS “I told the team 50 wins has always been a benchmark in this league. If you’re a 50-win team, I think that really speaks a lot about what you’ve done in the regular season and the success you’ve had in the regular season. I think we should all be very proud of what we’ve done so far this year. We’ve got our work ahead of us, but you need to celebrate moments like this.” On Turner getting second consecutive triple double: “Wouldn’t you know, I bring Jake to the table and I was going to take [Turner] out and two guys hit shots – I’m really happy for him. I was just told that it’s the second time it’s been done in franchise history back-to-back, so I’m really happy for him that he’s strung together back-to-back games. We needed him, we needed his minutes, especially with CJ being out and with the second unit, truly good to see.” On Kanter’s play and third straight 20-10 game: “I’ll tell you what, he’s tough down there. He goes after rebounds, finishes around the basket – granted Memphis was a little undersized and he was able to take advantage of that with his rebounding and finishing around the basket. He did it in Detroit, did it in Minnesota, I think he’s feeling more and more comfortable and we’re feeling more comfortable as far as spacing, allowing him to play, reading double teams, things like that.” How have you felt Lillard and Kanter’s connection has developed over the last week or so? “One of the things was Nurk was really good for us obviously but he played 95 percent of his minutes with Dame. I think, obviously, they had good chemistry together, and I think Enes getting an opportunity to play in the first and third quarters with Dame helps their chemistry as well. Tonight, I thought Enes did a lot on his own, just doing the dirty work, and in Detroit. He’s good at that, but I think he’s getting a better feel on pick and rolls. We’ve probably run more pick and rolls, or he’s probably run more pick and rolls now than he’s had in the past so I think he’s more comfortable with that part of our game.” On Collins getting a career high tonight: “He was good, finished around the basket. The first half was frustrating I think for everybody defensively, I was really pleased, not to avoid your question, but I was really pleased with what we did defensively in the second half. In a game like this, everybody, not everybody but a lot of people are going to get numbers, but I think it’s more important what we did defensively in the second half.” On Memphis playing zone ‘Honestly, we didn’t have trouble with the zone. We gave up 60 points in the first half that was a problem. We still scored 62, so it was a little unorthodox. We turned the ball over which had nothing to do with the zone. Our problems were more with turnovers, unforced turnovers, but I thought we got good shots, we ended up making them. So it was unusual, but I didn’t think it was that big a deal.” On consistency of the team this year more than in other years, not many highs or lows – what do you attribute that to? “Probably experience. I think after last season and the way last season finished, I think our experience, our attention to detail, focus, all of those things, I think have been more consistent.”
DAMIAN LILLARD You came back in down 10 in the second quarter, what was your mindset coming back in? “Just when I was on the bench, we didn’t play great in the first quarter either, but when I was on the bench, I was just kind of trying to see what we could do when I did come back in the game to turn it up a little bit, just watching for the holes – what can we take advantage of and obviously the first thing was to get some stops and push it at them so we didn’t have to play against that zone. But even when they were in the zone, I was like, alright when I come in I’m just going to get downhill, I’m going to attack. But defensively, we’ve got to get stops so we can push it at them. It was a group effort, everybody was kind of committed to doing that in the second quarter. Once we started to do that, you see how fast the game turned around.” Have you seen a team play that much zone defense? “I’ve never seen a team play zone that much in a game since I’ve been in the league.” Can you explain why Turner is so important for this team? “Just his versatility. I think him being able on defense, he’s able to switch one through four, able to guard one through four, he’s another ball handler, a playmaker, and just who he is as a person. I think he just brings something different to this team. He’s great for our locker room, great for the morale of the team. He brings a good feeling to the team, and I think regardless of what his stats would be or anything done on the floor, sometimes some people just have that effect on a team and I think he’s that guy for us.” On 50 wins – what does that say about this team? “Great feeling… I think it says something about our toughness and how resilient we are as a group, coming in and having 49 wins last year, falling short in the playoffs and then being able to come back and have a better season this year so far. I think that says a lot about our character.”
HEAD COACH J.B. BICKERSTAFF On playing a zone in the first half “I thought we slowed [Portland] down a little bit and gave ourselves an opportunity to stay in the game. In the second half, we just couldn’t score enough to get ourselves back in the zone and to get set and be a little disruptive. I thought our guys were good in the zone, they were active, and they were communicating with one another and those are the things that you have to do.” On playing with a smaller rotation “I thought in the second half, offensively, the game got away from us because we didn’t repeat the same things we were doing in the first half. Give Portland credit, they turned their defense up. We started putting ourselves in positions in small areas and they were able to get deflections and steals and [force] turnovers and there’s no defense for that. You don’t have an opportunity to get back and protect your paint and they took advantage of it. Give them credit, some of it is on us for not doing the same things and simplifying the game like we did in the first half.”
TYLER DORSEY On playing in Portland as a former University of Oregon basketball player: “I feel the love from Oregon every time, so it’s good to be back here…every time I come back here, it feels like home. The Oregon fanbase, the Duck fanbase, and the girls are still in the Final Four, so good luck to them coming up on Friday…I always enjoy myself when I come back here.” On the Grizzlies’ zone defense in the first half: “The zone defense was working in the first half, I think in the second half we were still working defensively but offensively we just couldn’t find the rhythm, making too many turnovers, getting in the paint…Kanter was just rebounding and being a big load down low…we just couldn’t fight back.” On the Grizzlies losing momentum in the second half: “I think it was just lack of execution, lack of holding on to the ball and making the right plays…too many turnovers that just lead to transition points for them, easy baskets going downhill, they scored in the paint too much…tonight they had 60 or 70 points in the paint, and it’s hard to win a game when you give up that many points in the paint.”
On this quote by Lillard on Turner is made a comment after the Detroit game i went to here in Portland. When i was watching from the stands that game i felt the same thing. There was just something about when Turner was on the court that kept the team together. He didn't have a great game stat wise. But he did effect the game in a positive way.
I read the quote a bit further and it doesn't seem he avoided it really. He just said numbers were not as important as defense. On that statement about that game i agree.
