Postgame Notes - April 10, 2019 Portland 136, Sacramento 131 Game #82 • Home Game #41 TEAM • The Trail Blazers finished the 2018-19 regular season with a 53-29 record, marking the team’s best record since the 2013-14 season (54-28). • Portland secured the three-seed in the Western Conference and will play Oklahoma City in the First Round of the 2019 Playoffs. • The Trail Blazers outscored the Kings in the second half, 74-44. • Portland shot 58.2% from the field and 58.3% from the three-point line. • The Trail Blazers closed the game on a 45-18 run in the final 13:48 of playing time. • Portland outrebounded the Kings, 44-35, and outscored them in the paint, 54-50. PLAYER • With 37 points (13-21 FG, 7-11 3-PT, 4-6 FT), Anfernee Simons matched the most points scored by an NBA player in their first career start since the start of 1985-86 season (Anthony Morrow, 37 - 11/15/08 GSW at LAC). • Anfernee Simons led Portland with career highs of 37 points (13-21 FG, 7-11 3-PT, 4-6 FT), six rebounds, nine assists and one steal. His 37 points are the most by a Trail Blazers rookie since Damian Lillard scored 38 points on April 10, 2013. His seven three-pointers matched Damian Lillard’s franchise rookie record. Simons played all 48 minutes. • Skal Labissiere recorded a season-high 29 points (12-17 FG, 2-2 3-PT, 3-4 FT) and matched his career high with 15 rebounds. It was his first double-double of the season and the sixth of his career. • Gary Trent Jr. had career highs of 19 points (8-19 FG, 1-5 3-PT, 2-3 FT), three assists and one steal to go with a career-high-matching two rebounds. Trent played all 48 minutes. • Jake Layman scored 19 points (7-15 FG, 2-3 3-PT, 3-5 FT) to go with four rebounds, two assists and one steal. He played all 48 minutes. • Meyers Leonard scored a season-high 19 points (8-13 FG, 1-2 3-PT, 2-2 FT) to go with 11 rebounds and three assists. It was his second double-double of the season. • Zach Collins finished with 13 points (5-6 FG, 1-1 3-PT, 2-2 FT), six rebounds and one assist in 13 minutes. • Marvin Bagley III led the Kings with 20 points (8-15 FG, 2-5 3-PT, 2-2 FT), nine rebounds and one steal in 30 minutes off the bench.
HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS “It was a hell of a game. I was really proud of those six guys who played. The NBA is a funny game and obviously at halftime, it didn’t look like we had much going, defensively in particular. But like I said, I was really happy for the young guys to get a chance to play. I thought they acquitted themselves very well and it was a really good opportunity for them and they took advantage of that.” What was your thinking in starting them and playing only six guys? “Honestly, the thinking was to give our guys rest. Dame and CJ obviously were initially ruled out, wanted to get them. Got other guys – Seth missed a game a little while ago, Moe’s been battling. Going into it knowing that those six guys were going to play – Rodney and Chief were available if there were foul troubles or we needed somebody to fill in but the plan was to go with those six guys.” Potential matchups didn’t have anything to do with it? “No. It was about resting guys. We’ve been wanting to rest guys, we haven’t been in a position to do it and that was the overriding thing.” How do you feel about playing Oklahoma City in the first round? “It should be a good matchup. They’ve been very competitive games with Oklahoma City last year and this year. Both teams are very similar, both last year and this year. We swept them last year, they swept us this year and it should be pretty competitive.” How much does it do for the young guys to get an opportunity like tonight? “Particularly the rookies and Skal playing against his former team and having a good night, those guys in particular who haven’t gotten a chance to play, I think the experience they had tonight will go a long way, whether it’s this year or I think it will be a game they’ll all remember. Thirty years from now, they’ll be talking about this game. I was really happy for Anfernee and Gary in particular because as rookies, to get a chance to do what they did tonight doesn’t happen very often.” Do you feel last year’s playoff series helped shape you this year? “I’m sure it had an impact on us. I’m sure that having to hear about getting swept and consecutive losses and all those things certainly shaped our mentality. Like we’ve said at the beginning of the season, we have to own it but we can’t dwell on it, and I think we did.” How does not having Nurk “Look, we’ll miss Nurk. I mean, that’s obvious. Nurk’s a big part of what we’ve done all season. But we don’t have him so we’ll figure something else out. Enes has got to keep doing what he’s doing, they’re a physical team. In the playoffs, it’s all hands on deck and you figure things out, seven game series, there’ll be a lot of ebbs and flows. That’s part of the beauty of having a playoff series.”
ANFERNEE SIMONS Did you think you could come back from 28 down? “They was making a lot of shots the first half so we knew that they couldn’t hold that up again, so we started getting stops and kind of carried on from there and got buckets.” You tied the record for points in your first start: “Yeah, it feels good. I mean, I’m just glad we got the win. We was down by a lot and I didn’t know how the game was going to go but Meyers kept us going, said keep chipping away, keep chipping away – especially the second half. It felt good to win as well.” What other advice did you get from your teammates tonight? “To kind of take your time, slow the pace down a little bit. Once you attack, I was basically the only point guard out there so I had Gary help me, even Meyers at the end of the game help me bring the ball up the court. They were just helping me out throughout the entire game. I’m glad, I needed help.” What does it mean to you to get the third seed with this win? “It means a lot, honestly, to know that all the young guys come in and come back late and secure the third seed. I feel good. I know all of us feel good about that.”
MEYERS LEONARD On coming back from 28 down: “They were 65, 67 from the floor, 66% from three – that was crazy but I mean, honestly, in the huddle the entire time I was like, look, we’re going to be fine. The law of averages is going to come back to us. I had the most experience in terms of years and I said, look, keep being aggressive, keep doing your best, keep communicating and watch, everything will be just fine. So the start of the second half, we kind of bumped it five, then we were coming back eight and all of a sudden we got it close and I knew then the tide was going our way. I was just remaining positive in the huddle, trying to keep the young guys inspired, communicating and realizing that it’s an NBA game, the law of averages is going to come back to us. Ant had it going, Skal had a heck of a game – six guys played, so it was fun. It was a fun night, I was happy for the young guys. I was trying to do my best to just communicate and be aggressive in certain moments, but let the other guys do their thing out there.”
HEAD COACH DAVE JOERGER On the game: “Certainly, a tale of two halves. Tip your hats to those guys, they played their tails off and, you know, their six guys played very, very well tonight. We struggled in the second half to defend. We shot a lot of jump shots and dribbled around a lot and they kind of sat in a zone, and that was a struggle for us to score. We gave up 76 points in the second half. But, by March, you look at the big picture, we had 39 wins this year and I’m really proud of our group and [we] surpassed a lot of people’s expectations. I don’t want one half or a couple weeks of basketball here that we struggled with to take that big picture, good feeling and successful season.”
MARVIN BAGLEY III On the Kings blowing a 25-point fourth quarter lead: “It is what it is. Got to move on.” On the Kings scoring 87 points in the first half: “We were playing together, moving the ball…shots were falling…I mean, we’re playing. They came out and made shots in the second half and we let another one slip away, so that’s what that was.”
DE’AARON FOX On the Kings losing the lead in the fourth quarter throughout the season: “Some games it’s turnovers, we didn’t get a stop, some games it’s we just didn’t make shots, shots just didn’t go down…we didn’t necessarily struggle in one area, different games with different scenarios…it’s just something we have to work on, being able to finish games. I think after the All-Star game, I think that’s what it was…there were games where we just didn’t give ourselves a chance to win, every game was winnable. On his summer plans: “I just want to get better at everything, just like I did last summer. I feel like I need to have my free throw percentage up, I just need to go into this summer focusing on my entire game.”
May not really be an NBA rotation player, but I have a feeling Meyers is going to have a coaching career when it's all said and done.
I think so too. I have read multiple people throughout the years saying that Meyers always knows the plays and how to play them - My speculation is that he just does not have the real-time split-second reaction and the natural feel for the game as it happens. He needs to process it - which would make him a good coach.
I see him being a leader in some way, but I don't get the feel it'll be in coaching. He seems to be more suited to some kind of advocacy.
