Thursday, November 5, 2015 Final Score: POR 115, MEM 96 POR HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS “Well an understatement would be that was a very good win. Our offense was clicking after a slow start. I liked the shots we were getting early. We only had 18 points in the first quarter but I liked the looks we were getting. Our defense was pretty solid most of the night. We limited their points in the paint, limited their transition opportunities, rebounded the ball well and offensively, we just kind of caught fire. A lot of it was, we made shots obviously, but I really liked the way we passed the ball and played together.” On pace: “We always try to pick up the pace but good defensive teams don’t necessarily allow you to do that. They get back, but certainly any time we rebounded the ball we wanted to push it and see if we could get easy baskets so we didn’t have to play against a half-court defense.” On limiting turnovers to 9: “That was big. On the heels of last night against a team like Memphis with a low possession game, limiting our turnovers – we had 5 at half and 4 in the second half – that was a big key. I don’t know possessions, probably about 90 possessions as opposed to a 100 possession game so that was a big key for us.” What do you like so far about these first six games? “I like that we’re playing hard and that we’re playing together. That’s something that I want to be a staple for us. I think we’re finding our rhythm offensively. I think we’re finding different combinations playing together, but I think as long as we play hard and play together, I think that’s a solid combination. On Leonard finding his shot tonight: “I was happy for him. Like I said before the game, he didn’t all of a sudden become a bad shooter. He’s had some good looks and guys go through it. You’re not going to shoot 50, 60 percent every night. Probably the best thing for him, for us, is to fight through a tough patch. Going through an NBA season either as an individual or a team, you’re going to have rough stretches and you have to fight your way through. I’m glad he was able to have a game tonight.” On Lillard’s performance: “I was going to take him out but he told me not to. He really got in a groove. It’s been a while – well, it’s been three games in a row I guess, but he’s really in a nice rhythm with his shot. He’s running the team really well offensively, picking his spots well. I thought his teammates helped him find shots well. He got as many shots off the pass as he did as far as creating himself, I think that lends itself to good shooting as well.” DAMIAN LILLARD How did it feel to get a win against Memphis tonight? “It felt great. I thought our team did a great job of playing with a sense of urgency. We played together and we trusted each other. It was a close game in the first half and we came in the locker room and we said that they’re a team that grinds and it would be easy for us to play a good half and go out there and let them wear us down but we came out in the second half and played with more energy. We came closer, we moved the ball even better, that led to us getting better shots and we knocked them down and we also played great defense for long stretches and obviously that played a huge factor.” On performance in third quarter: “…I didn’t make shots to begin the game, but I could just tell by how I felt, how the ball felt in my hands, how the even the misses, they felt like they were going in. With about three minutes left, coach was going to take me out the game and I asked him to keep me and that ended up being a huge three minutes for me. So I felt good, I think it was a great team performance but for me personally, I felt good.” On only 9 turnovers tonight: “The last few games, we’ve been turning the ball over a lot. Tonight we did a better job of taking care of the ball and that’s why we won by so many points because a lot of the possessions that we’ve been giving away, we had a lot of those possessions tonight. That’s what we’ve got to do going forward, we’ve got to value possessions more.” Does win over MEM mean more given that they are best team you’ve faced or because of the past few seasons? “I mean, we’ve had a hard time with them since I’ve been here and they’re probably the most respected team that we’ve played so far this season. I knew it would be a test for us because of who they are and I was really happy with the way we answered the call and the way we took the challenge.”
HEAD COACH DAVID JOERGER On his team’s hustle: “They beat us by 20, but I don’t think it was that close. We hurt ourselves in the first half, not coming out and playing with urgency… Obviously they’re a young team, they’re athletic, we’re a little older and slower, but they just beat us to every single ball, they got back doors, they got into the lane any time they wanted… We were in a bad way in the first half, being down by 4, and (Damian) Lillard and (CJ) McCollum hadn’t got going yet. Every one of their complementary guys just tortured us. It was offensive rebounds, it was going to get loose balls… We have to play with much more force to start games. We thought we were cool because we were making shots, which is a little bit of a relief for us, but we let our defense go. If you’re able to come with force you’re able to withstand some hits when teams make the shots that they make. It was tough, real tough.” On his team digging themselves into holes: “Yeah, they scored 13 out of 17 times in the second quarter. That’s not shooting percentage, that’s trips down the floor. Offensive rebounds and put backs… They just wanted it more. They beat us to the ball, they got into the lane… You can’t give up that many open shots, eventually they’re going to make them, and they did.” On Marc Gasol playing in tonight’s game: “Yeah, he said he felt fine, but I wasn’t really expecting him to play. We’ll see how he feels tomorrow.” MARC GASOL On why it was so tough to stop the snowball after losing the lead after the first quarter: “We’re relying on our offense so much. We put a lot of pressure on them, but we need to rely on our defense. We’re not doing a good job at it. On offense, we don’t do a good job of executing ourselves. It’s just everything. The executing, the passing, the tempo, everything has been pretty bad. Of course, if you don’t play defense, it’s hard for you to score easy buckets.” On if the ongoing score deficit was a mental issue: “It has a lot to do with focus and holding each other accountable. First what you got to do is look at yourself, see what you’re doing wrong defensively and go on from that. If everybody does that, and everybody does their job, we’re going to be in much better shape.” MIKE CONLEY On why it so hard to stop the bleeding when things go bad: “I think we’re not on the same page defensively. They get a 50/50 ball. They get extra possessions. Teams like this shoot a lot of threes. They like to score quick, score fast, and we can’t try to play at their pace. We can’t try to outscore a team. We have to play to our strength and defense is where we hang our hat.” On focusing too much on offense: “I think you can get caught up in the trend. I think around the league, you see a lot of spacing, a lot of signature threes, a lot of running. We see it when we watch the games, and it’s easy to fall in love with it … It’s good to mix that in, but at the same time, we got to continue to do what we do and stay grounded.”
