HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS On Aminu’s game: “You know, it was just a matter of time. Obviously he struggled shooting the ball the first three games but that didn’t take away from what he was giving us defensively. It was good to see him break out. Everybody has been encouraging him and he’s put in the time and like I said, it was just a matter of time before he had a game like that.” Did you expect this kind of passing from Plumlee all year? “We saw that in September. Most, almost all of the players were here in September and in pickup games, he was doing the same thing. He was getting rebounds, taking it full court, you could really tell he could handle the ball, he had great sense as a passer and we felt even going back then, that we were going to try to put him in positions that he could make those plays.” When did you notice Paul didn’t return and how does that change thing? “Well, I haven’t heard if he’s out or for how long but certainly when he hurt his hand and he didn’t come back, and I knew he was out for the game, they’re a different team. I mean, he’s a great guard. He runs the team. He scored the first 12 points of the game. He’s been having an outstanding series. They’re a different team without him, but I don’t think it necessarily changed what we did or what we wanted to do offensively or defensively.” Do you have to protect against exhaling with Paul injured? “Two-two. I love the energy that we’ve had defensively over the last three games. We have to take that to LA, but this is the playoffs, you don’t have room to exhale.” On Crabbe breaking out of shooting slump: “Well again, he and Chief, they’ve struggled shooting the ball. If you’re a good shooter, you don’t forget how to shoot. I was glad he had the looks. It was good to see the first one go in. He only took five shots. Last game he took four shots and they were all the same shots, so I think we all had confidence he was going to eventually break out just like Chief. We needed it, and I still think we can get better offensively.” On success on the glass: “I think after game one, the Clippers were just so forceful inside that particularly Mason and Ed took that to heart. We know how valuable their rebounding is for us at both ends of the court. More than anything else, they’ve taken the challenge but as a group, we’ve done a better job with it.”
DAMIAN LILLARD What kind of message did you send tonight? “I think we came out and it was obvious that we weren’t going to go away. What we did last game, we didn’t want it to seem like oh they can do it for one game, fight for one game. We came out and did the things that we did last game at an even higher level. Multiple guys stepped up. We had just a great group effort. I think everybody was locked in to what we needed to do as a team and we turned it up tonight from last game. On your defense tonight: “I think that was the biggest thing that worked in our favor, was the way that we defended. Game 2, we talked about how well we defended, we didn’t make shots. We did the same thing in Game 3 at home and we did make shots, we got a win. And tonight, we played probably our best defensive game. Not just on the ball, how we helped each other, how physical we were, how consistent we were, I think it was probably one of our most consistent defensive games.” How does Paul’s injury change this series? “I mean, it changes a lot – more so for them as far as what they’ll have to do. When your best player goes down, a guy that makes your team go – it’s unfortunate for one of the better players in the league to go through an injury like that first of all, you don’t wish that on anybody. It’s a part of the game. They still have a really good team. It’s not like they’ve got guys who can’t play, they still have got a good team. But for us, our mindset has to be nothing changes. We’ve got to have to have the same approach defensively and we’ve got to continue to trust each other offensively and try to just continue to overwhelm them that way.”
AL-FAROUQ AMINU Did your teammates say anything special to you after your early struggles? “Not really, one thing they did say is keep shooting. From the coaches down to the players they all said, ‘ Hey if you have opens shots, take them.’ How do you stay positive? “You just don’t get too high, you don’t get too low, no matter what happens. Also, I have a routine. I’ve been doing this for a bit. You have to keep on trusting it.” “Also I always look at other players that have done this before. Some of the greatest shooters have gone through slumps. Like Ray Allen, I remember he went through a slump when he was in the Finals. I remember just watching what he was saying and he said he got up the same shots that he always got up. He did exactly what he always (did). Sometimes that just happens. I know if it can happen to Ray Allen of course it could happen to me. Does anything faze you? “I try to stay that way man. I say even keel because as high as you can make yourself get is as low as you can make yourself get.” What does it mean that Lillard says you’re a ‘low maintenance’ teammate? “I didn’t need much out of a guy. I just want somebody to go out there and play hard and that’s all you need out of me. I guess that’s what his means by it. I’m just easy to get along with.” What’s your routine? “Just getting my shots up. It’s a long thing, especially when we have off days and we have pregames and stuff like that. I just did the stuff I always been doing throughout the whole season and kept on believing in what I was doing. You know what your routine is. I don’t try to do a special things.” Specifically what’s your routine? “Get shots up in the morning. I’ve been getting my shots up in the morning. We played a little competition shooting, take my cold tub and keep it going.” Did you win the competition? “No not today.” Who did? “AC.”
HEAD COACH DOC RIVERS On Chris Paul: “I didn’t see that play, I just know that he fractured his hand. He’ll get evaluated tomorrow but it obviously doesn’t look very good for him.” On Blake Griffin: “It doesn’t look great for him either, we’ll see that tomorrow.” More on Blake Griffin’s quad: “He said he planted on one move actually. He said he felt great and that’s the one thing, he said ‘because I felt great out there’ and he planted and then felt something. We’re not sure with Blake yet, I think he’ll get evaluated tomorrow when we get back but I would say 50/50 on the next game with him. I expect him to be back but we don’t know that yet so I don’t want to say much.” On if the Blazers’ momentum is a worry: “We’re going home, all they’ve done is win two games at home just like we won two games at home. We’ve been in adverse situations all year with guys out but guys have come through and I expect us to do that at our place.” On the teams’ mood after the game: “There’s no shellshock. What it is, is they love their players, their teammates and Chris (Paul) is taking this very hard. He’s worked all year to get back to the playoffs and for this to happen to him, he’s a very emotional guy and so I think our guys, it’s a neat family and it’s things that you don’t ever see, like you guys will never see but it was a nice thing in the locker room. Everybody, the whole team is in a training room and it’s nice in that way but the reality is that you don’t have Chris Paul.” On what the team loses with losing Chris Paul to injury: “Listen I’ve said it all year, I don’t dwell on it much. My job as a coach is to figure out a way of getting us up and ready for game five. There’s nobody, probably in the league, that’s going to replace Chris Paul so there’s nobody clearly on our team that’s going to do it. As a group everybody pitches in.”
BLAKE GRIFFIN On his injury: “Yeah, just the same area. I planted off of my left. I’ll be reevaluated tomorrow and go from there.” On when his injury occurred: “Not sure, I think it was in the 3rd quarter. I went up against Plumlee and got fouled. I’m not sure what sequence it was, but I got fouled by Plumlee.” On his chances of playing in game 5: “I’m not sure. Like I said, tomorrow I think we’ll take a better look and hopefully go from there.” On how much the injury was bothering while he was on the floor: “I could feel it. Hopefully in the next 24-48 hours you turn a corner and feel better, so I’m not really concentrated on how it felt tonight, that’s kind of expected after you tweak something.” On if he talked to Chris Paul after the game and what the mood was like in the locker room: “Yeah, I talked to him. He was clearly disappointed and upset, but there’s nothing you can do. You try to tell a guy like that that ‘it’s okay, we got you’ and ‘it’s going to be okay’, but he’s a competitor and wants to play, so it’s tough. It’s not easy dealing with injuries, especially this time of year. As his teammates we’ll always have his back and go from there.”
TEAM • Portland is now 2-0 at home during the 2016 NBA Playoffs. The Trail Blazers improve to 78-37 (.678) all-time at the Moda Center in the postseason (39-23 in the First Round). • Portland’s 14-point victory (98-84) is its largest margin of victory in a playoff game since defeating Dallas by 22 points (125-103) on May 2, 2003 (Round 1, Game 6). • The Trail Blazers have won two consecutive playoff games for the first time since winning Game 1 and Game 2 in their First Round matchup with Houston in 2014. • Portland’s 98 points is its most in a game this series (Prev: 96 pts, Game 3). • The Trail Blazers outrebounded the Clippers by 16 (58-42), and have recorded a +28 rebounding advantage over LAC over the past two games (-8 through first two games). • Portland has won 11 of its past 12 games at the Moda Center (includes regular season and postseason).
PLAYER • With 30 points and 10 rebounds, Al-Farouq Aminu becomes the third NBA player this year to tally 30+ points and 10+ rebounds in a playoff game (Millsap, Westbrook). • Al-Farouq Aminu’s 30 points is the highest scoring game of his career in either the regular season or postseason. Tonight represented his second double-double in four games this postseason. • Al-Farouq Aminu made more three-point field goals tonight (six) than he did in the first three games of this playoff series combined (four). • Mason Plumlee (14 rebounds, seven assists) is the only NBA player this year to record 10+ rebounds and 10+ assists in a playoff game. Plumlee has now recorded at least 10 rebounds in each of his past three playoff games. • Maurice Harkless tied his series-highs in points (12) and rebounds (7). Harkless has scored 10+ points in each of the past three games. • With 12 points, Allen Crabbe scored in double figures in a playoff game for the first time in his career. Crabbe had combined to score 16 points through his first five playoff games entering tonight. • Damian Lillard scored 12 points, marking the first time in 20 career postseason games that he failed to score at least 14 points. • LAC guard Chris Paul scored his team’s first 12 points of the contest. Paul started 6-of-6 from the field, while the rest of the Clippers team combined to miss their first 13 shot attempts. • Clippers guard Chris Paul (right hand injury) left the game in the third quarter and did not return.
So strange that their 1st round home record is much worse than the rest of the home games in the playoffs. (39-23 vs 39-14). One could read two things into that. 1. It means the later in the series the team goes, the better the record is & 2. That they have had a lot of 1st round games where they aren't the favorites, and thus, lose. They've been the underdog in one series where they've won, iirc.
Or, if a team is good enough to get to the second round, they're more likely to be one of the 4 best teams in the conference and more likely to hold serve. Or, just analyze the past 25 (dear God, it's been that long) or so years. The teams that make it past the first round make it to the conf finals or finals, with the exception of the 0.9 team in 2014.
I was hoping for an Austin Rivers quote about faking the back injury to get the sympathy Flagrant 1 from the refs. We've been first round fodder quite a lot throughout franchise history. I'm not surprised the first round home record is that much weaker than subsequent rounds.
