LUKE WALTON, LAKERS HEAD COACH Opening statement: “I would love to thank our players. With all the expectations on us this year to do great things, and to fall short and to continue to play as hard as they did until the very end of the season, beating two playoff teams, taking another one down to the wire tonight. It just means the world to me as a coach that they’re continuing to fight and not give up and play that hard. It’s beautiful. I want to thank our players and thank my coaching staff as well. It’s been a challenging season, but they’ve continued to, with all the noise as well, show up and work and try to do their jobs to the best of their ability and get players better, get our team prepped and whatnot. I’d love to thank them. Tonight, again, I thought our guys did it. They brought the energy. They gave themselves a chance to win. You get the ball out of [Damian] Lillard’s hands at the end of the game. We learned that lesson two years ago, I think it was in Portland, when he hit that pull-up three on Brandon [Ingram]. You make someone else beat you, and they did that. You give them credit, but I love the way that our team came together again and really fought and scrapped tonight.” On the biggest thing he can take away from this season: “At the end of the season, it’s always about getting away and really taking some time to think about what we could have done better. The strengths and weaknesses of ours, analyzing the season as a whole, then starting to form a gameplan for this summer. This is going to be another long summer. We have a lot of time to work and get better. Let’s organize and prioritize what we need to do so that we give ourselves a better chance next season.” On how he became better as a coach this year: “There’s a lot to take with me. I think every year that you do something, you get better at it. The communications, the relationships, the understanding of coaching this team as opposed to last year’s team where it was mainly young players that we were running stuff for and running stuff through. Having somebody like LeBron [James] where I learned on the fly this year. This is what we were trying, now we’re seeing that this works better. Having that awareness and that experience will stay with me forever. That’s another thing that I’ll spend time reflecting on in the weeks to come. It’s tough to answer that right after the season, but there’s plenty for me to take with me.” On coaching LeBron James: “It was great. The only thing that was hard was he got hurt. It takes time to build a relationship with somebody, but as our relationship grew and I got to see what it was like coaching him, he was great. I believe if we could have stayed healthy, we would have had a very successful season. He’s an incredible player. He’s an incredible superstar in how unselfish he is. It still blows me away, the talent that he is, to constantly be looking to make the right pass and the extra pass.”
KENTAVIOUS CALDWELL-POPE,LAKERS GUARD On how he felt in tonight’s game: “It was fun. We knew it was the last game of the season and we just wanted to go out there and just play.” On the performance of the G League players the last couple of games: “It was big the minutes they got. They came up and played hard and just [had] a lot of effort. They didn’t quit on anything and were just out there playing the right way for each other.” On what will he remember most about this season: “A lot of ups and downs but I had fun. This might be one of my funniest years. I’ve been in the league for six years and this might be the funniest season I’ve had with these guys.”
ALEX CARUSO,LAKERS GUARD On the performance of the G League players the last couple of games: “To be honest, I was a little tired tonight. I don’t know if it was the long minutes the other night but I was a little lost to begin the game. Luckily the energy from KCP [Kentavious Caldwell-Pope], JaVale [McGee], then the guys you mentioned Jemerrio [Jones] and J3 [Johnathan Williams] kind of carried us. That’s kind of how we are and how we are wired and how we play. Anytime we are on a basketball court, this is what we are going to do. Whether it’s G League practice or an NBA game or playing at the park with our friends, this is the kind of players we are and this is how we play the game.” On what will he will remember most about this season: “Hopefully I’ll remember my emergence. First year I was just learning in the G League, developing my game and seeing how to play the pro game. Last year got my feet wet a little bit, got some game action, a couple good games here and there. This year I thought I was really consistent in the areas I needed to be consistent in. Hopefully if I can remember this year, it’s me emerging obviously and becoming a good player.
JEMERRIO JONES,LAKERS GUARD On his G League teammates playing well as Lakers: “They just put us in the right position and it’s our time. So, we just have to take advantage of every opportunity we get. Not everyone gets the chance to be in the league, or be in the G League, so when you get a chance you have to take advantage of it.” On if he thinks he could be a player in this league: “Yeah I do. I’ll probably get some more weight on me sooner or later. I think if I get a little thicker, I can catch a body or two then.”
TERRY STOTTS,TRAIL BLAZERSHEAD COACH On his initial thoughts on tonight’s games: “Maurice Harkless had a tremendous game. He made big plays at the offensive end, arguably one of his best games of the season. He was really active, worked the baseline well, obviously hit the big shot. Seth Curry’s steal at the end put us in the position to win the game. Hats off to the Lakers, they ended the season on three really good games. Beating the Clippers, beating Utah and this game tonight. They played hard, they really competed, and they played aggressively. They made a lot of hustle plays. They made more hustle plays then we did. They put themselves in a position to win the game.” On Maurice Harkless taking over the final minutes of the game: “He put himself in good positions. I think his teammates did good jobs of finding him, obviously the last pass, other plays where they found him on the baseline. He put himself in a good position and I thought his teammates did a good job of finding him.” On clinching home-court advantage for the first round of the NBA Playoffs: “It feels good. It was the goal going into this week to clinch home court, and we did that. And it’s good to know that we start at home.”
You forgot the quote..."riverman always predicts 54 wins so we're sorry about losing a shot at that but we've got CC's spread covered"
