HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS On going with Henderson early and to start second half? “I just wanted another perimeter player out there. I thought Gerald has been playing well. I thought AC played well in the first half. I was going to start with one of the two and decided to go with Gerald. It just looked like Moe wasn’t moving quite right, got off to a slow start. I thought it was our best lineup and our best chance.” What does this game mean and what were keys? “All it means is that we won a home court game. It was important to win it and it’s going to be a tough game on Monday. To me, it wasn’t an explosive game but we kept grinding it out a little bit. Obviously there was a lot of shot making late in the game. I thought the first quarter, we couldn’t get much rhythm going to it but we found a way to hang around. Obviously, we didn’t want to come out 0-3, we didn’t want to be down 0-3, so I thought our effort in trying to get the win was the key. Just like the Clippers series, we came out with good focus and good energy.” What did you get from Ed Davis? “Primarily, when they were playing Draymond at five, he allowed us to switch a lot of their pick and rolls. Draymond got open a few times at the three just because of our pick and roll coverage and that’s one of the things we were willing to see if he could make one or two. He did, so Ed allowed us to switch some pick and rolls and hopefully not give up those same looks. And offensively, he was a good screener, good roller, and he made some nice plays, and he made his two free throws when they fouled him intentionally. Did you see lapses defensively from Warriors that were different than last game? “No. You need to ask [head coach Steve Kerr] that, but I thought the Warriors were into it, they were aggressive, they played the same style. We made some good shots. I thought we screened much better, I thought we executed better, I thought our pace of play – and to be honest, the first three and a half quarters in Golden State in game 2 were to our liking as well. So I don’t know, you’d have to ask Steve if he saw those lapses. I was more focused on my team.” On playing Lillard more minutes? “I mean, I don’t know if I’ve ever played three guys over 40 minutes in a game this season, but we’ve had three days off, they’re long timeouts, and like I said, we had to do everything to win this game, so I thought they looked like they had good bounce. One of the reasons we kind of keep their minutes under check in the regular season is so they can be in this position in the playoffs.” On Lillard having 25 points in second half and 7 assists in second half: “Some of the things you talk about after game 2, was just the trust and making plays – whether it’s for him, he’s obviously a great scorer and can make shots, but he made two or three plays when they converged on him and kicked it out for a shot. Those are plays we need him to do as well, in addition to his scoring – him and CJ. Chief gets his threes because of their penetration, and particularly when they’re playing their small lineup, we want guys to be aggressive going to the rim and if they clog that up, you’re going to have somebody to pass it to.” On Lillard’s performance: “You know, you kind of run out of superlatives, but he’s such a great competitor. I have a hard time ranking his different games and the things that he’s done over the time here, but there’s no question in my mind that he was going to come and have a really good game tonight in some manner, whatever it was, that’s just how he’s built.” On Aminu’s game: “The shooting speaks for itself. He had 23 points on 9 shots. He shot it with confidence. I thought defensively, he was solid. But we’re at our best – you’ve got to be able to score against Golden State, if you don’t score, they’re such an explosive offensive team that you’ve got to be able to score and I liked his aggressiveness a couple times on drives to the basket and obviously going 4 for 5 from three, especially after the way he struggled against the Clippers shooting the ball, coming back and still having confidence.”
DAMIAN LILLARD On making plays because of defensive pressure from Warriors: “I mean, the first play of the game coach tried to run a flare, I came off the flare and Bogus was right there and we got a foul call. As soon as that happened, I knew that they’d talked about being more aggressive on me and the next couple pick and rolls, I called guys up just to see what type of coverage they were in, and I saw that they were being more aggressive. At that point, that’s when I had to trust hitting the guy in the middle and making plays to the weak side. Guys finished. Ed has some good finishes, Mase had some good finishes. CJ, a lot of times he was the guy on the weak side getting the swing, or it was Chief and they made shots. So they decided to kind of lock down on me and I just made the right plays and guys stepped up and made shots.” On satisfaction of bouncing back after Game 2 loss: “I was really happy with the way we played. We came in saying that they’re a fast-starting team and it was important for us to have a good start to the game and remain locked in on both ends of the floor and understand that they can make shots and run off on you at any given time. So we just had to understand what happened last game and try to stay sharp for the whole 48 minutes this game. When it came to that time, we stepped it up and played more physical. I thought we were an aggressive team on both ends of the floor down the stretch and we pulled it out.” How much does offense open up when Aminu is making threes: “It helps a lot, just because it’s easier to make that play. Sometimes if we aren’t making shots, I have a tendency to say alright I’m going to try to go score, I’m going try to make a shot and a lot of times it might be a tough shot, a low percentage shot, so when I’m seeing him make that shot over and over, I’m welcoming that double team and I’m going to hit that guy in the middle knowing that he’s over there and he’s feeling good. I saw him making shots and I was more than willing to hit that guy in the middle. Our team has done a great job of understanding that Draymond is playing tight from the weak side. They keep guys with one foot in the paint and that weak side is going to be open and we have to take advantage.” On knowing what Warriors did in game 2 and when Warriors made run tonight, closing “I think in game 2, we got away from executing the way we did the first three quarters of the game. Like I said, hitting that guy in the middle and trusting the ball movement and not having hesitation on the play that we know is right and then on the defensive end, being physical. Tonight we had some fouls down the stretch. We were just a lot more aggressive I think, we played a lot smarter down the stretch than we did last game. We challenged them. Last game we played good and then we let up a little bit and then they turned it on like a championship team should and always will. We seemed to be shocked by it, we slowed down, it seemed like we took a step back in shock and we held on to the ball a second longer and defensively, we were on our heels. I think tonight, we didn’t allow that to happen. We kept doing what was working for us.” How did you feel personally coming into the game? “I mean, I didn’t think it was on me to go win the game or anything, but I did think it was my job to come out and be aggressive from the start. A lot of times, the team will go as I go. That goes for more than just scoring the ball, that means how focused I am, how accountable I’m holding myself. Tonight, I just wanted to come out and be aggressive. You don’t want to be down 0-3, especially not to this team. I just wanted to come out and be aggressive and leave it all out there, our guys followed suit and we got it done.” On Skip Bayless comment about not being a “star” and tonight’s performance “I mean, he can say what he wants to say. I think what I do speaks for itself. I’m not a guy who’s going to come out here and talk about I do this and I do that, or I’ve done this and I’ve done that. I personally don’t even think Skip Bayless has probably watched a full game of ours to even make a comment. It is what it is. There’s always going to be people that make those type of comments just because that’s who they are, but I’m proud of what our team has done this season. That’s the bottom line.” When coach makes tweaks to lineup or minutes, how does that impact trust? “He’s got our trust already. I think all season long, he’s counted on so many different guys. Everybody on this team is behind him one hundred percent, but when he does things like that, it shows us the urgency. Hey, we’re going to do stuff differently because this is what’s best for our team, it gives us a better chance. That’s what I got from him, he’s was like, OK tonight he’s saying we’ve got to go get it. It’s not going to be none of this ‘you come out at this time or that time,’ it was straight go-get-it mode and I respected it.”
HEAD COACH STEVE KERR On if he thinks there was an offensive imbalance with his team going on: “I don’t think we moved the ball like we normally do, especially in the first half. We were in a rush. Shots are going to go in or they’re not, but sometimes when there is a rhythm to the game and the ball is moving, shots are more likely to go in. I thought we just had too many quick shots early in the game. We never really got into our offensive flow.” On the Warriors’ defense: “I thought our defense was pretty good to start the game, but we couldn’t get a loose ball or rebound to save our lives, so we were forcing a lot of misses. We were not completing the possessions and then we kept fouling. That was really the difference in the game until the fourth quarter… We weren’t sharp. We didn’t play very well either.” On if he was upset by the officiating: “No I thought it was excellent… We did not get beat because of any calls. We got beat because they outplayed us.” On how Steph Curry’s absence affects the rotation: “Steph’s absent changes the rotation obviously. We have to mix and match a bit more. We don’t have the luxury of staying with a set rotation. We have to read what’s going on and play different people based on what we see and what we need, but that’s all right. We’ve got a lot of players who can play and they’ve been ready to perform all year. We got a lot of great seasons from the people on the bench and they should all be ready to go.” On if he thinks Damian Lillard played like an All-Star despite not having made the All-Star team: “Forty points…ten assists…Yeah, I’m going to say he played like an All-Star.”
KLAY THOMPSON On what happened after the first quarter: “We didn’t keep that same edge. We got away from our game plan at times especially on the offensive end, too many one or two pass shots, we’ve got to wear these guys down with five more passes and make those guys work out there playing big minutes but we’ll make the adjustment Monday.” On how fun it was to trade baskets with Damian Lillard: “It wasn’t that much fun because he was scoring at will. I mean he had a great game but a lot of that’s on me, I go up against Steph a lot and you have to treat Lillard like Steph as far as being 30-35 feet away from the basket, make him put it on the floor or give it up. We let him get too many rhythm threes off the catch tonight and off the ball screens because that’s where he’s deadly so we’ll make the adjustment Monday and play with the same effort and I’ll be good to go.” On finding his offense while also involving others: “Just moving side to side, they played eight guys tonight with heavy minutes so we’ve got realize that and we played nine or ten. We’ve got to make them work on the defensive end because as you saw tonight, they’re hitting threes in the fourth that they might’ve missed the past few games and that’s because we were making them work those previous two games. We’ll learn from it and it was uncharacteristic of us and luckily it’s the first team to win four so we have a chance to bounce back on Monday.”
TEAM • The Trail Blazers are now 4-0 at home during the 2016 NBA Playoffs, and 80-37 (.684) all-time at home in the postseason. Portland has won 13 of its past 14 games at the Moda Center (includes regular season). • Portland’s 4-0 home record this postseason marks the franchise’s most home wins in a playoff year since 2000 (5-2). • The Trail Blazers are the only team in the NBA to defeat the Warriors multiple times this season (Feb. 19, 2016). • The Trail Blazers set a new postseason franchise record with 17 three-point field goals (14, 4/29/16 vs. LAC). • Portland has made 10 or more three-pointers in each of their past six postseason contests. That is the longest such streak during the 2016 NBA Playoffs, and the third longest in NBA postseason history (7-CLE in 2016, GS in 2007). • Portland’s 36 points scored in the second quarter represents the most points scored against the Warriors in a single quarter throughout the 2016 NBA Playoffs (34-POR, twice). • The Trail Blazers closed out the final 2:06 of the first half on a 12-2 run. Portland also scored the first seven points of the quarter, and ultimately outscored Golden State, 36-18, in the period. • The Trail Blazers led by as many as 20 points, and have now held a lead of 15+ points in each of the past two games (17 point lead in Game 2).
PLAYER • Damian Lillard set a new playoff career-high with 40 points (32, twice). Lillard recorded his sixth career playoff game with 30+ points, tied for the second most in team history (Drexler-14, Aldridge/Porter-6). • Damian Lillard has now scored 25+ points in four consecutive postseason games, making him the first Trail Blazer to accomplish that feat since Arvydas Sabonis (4/25/96 to 5/1/96). • Damian Lillard’s eight three-pointers is a new postseason franchise record for the most three-pointers made in a single playoff game (7, CJ McCollum, 4/29/15 at Memphis). Lillard is the only player in the 2016 NBA Playoffs to make at least eight three-pointers in a game. • Damian Lillard (40 points, 10 assists) is the first Trail Blazer to record 40+ points and 10+ assists in the playoffs since Clyde Drexler (4/29/92 at LAL). • With his first three-pointer tonight (of eight), Damian Lillard (67 3-PT) moved into sole possession of second place on the franchise postseason three-point list (Drexler-59 3-PT). • Damian Lillard shot 8-of-13 from beyond the arc tonight, and is now 27-of-51 from three over his past five games (52.9% 3-PT). • Al-Farouq Aminu scored his first 23 points without a single miss (8-8 FG, 4-4 3-PT, 3-3 FT), making him the first player to accomplish that feat since Kenny Anderson scored his first 23 points without a miss on April 30, 1997 vs. LAL.
Damian Lillard shot 8-of-13 from beyond the arc tonight, and is now 27-of-51 from three over his past five games (52.9% 3-PT). This cannot be. Dame is not consistent.
They still sleep. I've never seen a team buy into their own hype more than the warriors after one championship. The bulls weren't this arrogant. Neither were the lakers, and those two teams had the two most insufferable personalities in the history of the league. The warriors think curry is gonna step right in and be the same no problem. Blazers might not beat this team but pride comes before the fall and their end is near.
What about this stat: On Lillard having 25 points in second half and 7 assists in second half And he doesn't make people around him better when it counts. Everything everyone said about him, he said fuck you.
Not a lock, if this game 4 goes like the last Blazer game 4 the Warriors will finish it down two starters.
I hope Curry doesn't come back too fast and retweak the leg. I also don't hope that Draymond Green gets beat to a pulp in the tunnel by Jeff Gilooly. That'd be sad.
It would be such a shame if Hendo's ass happened to fracture Klay's hand... Would be such a terrible turn of events.
