Philadelphia 76ers Philadelphia 76ers Head Coach Brett Brown Q: There were some good things in that game… A: There were. And we were more than competitive for the very, very large majority of it. Q: (Tony) Wroten and (Michael) Carter-Williams getting 42 shots between them – just a product of the game, or something you want to see? A: I think it just happened. We tried to play with just a fierce pace. When you look, at the moment, at our better players, they aren’t really our better three-point shooters. So, you’re caught between a rock and a hard place on trying to find ways to score. For me, it’s run. It’s pace. Philadelphia 76ers Guard Tony Wroten Q: What changed in the third quarter? A: I felt like our energy level went down a little bit from the first half to the beginning of the third quarter. They killed us on the offensive glass and second-chance points. Q: Does it feel like it’s getting closer – that you guys are doing more good things in the same game? A: Yeah, we’re getting better and better in practice, where it starts. It’s coming, and we feel it. Once it comes, which it will come soon – we’ll keep working.
Portland Trail Blazers Portland Trail Blazers Head Coach Terry Stotts Opening statement: It was a tough game. Both teams kind of got off to a slow start. You’ve really have to give credit to Philly for the way they got after us defensively. They created a lot of turnovers in the first half and contested a lot of shots at the rim.They really took us out of our comfort zone in the first half. Q: What does it say about your squad to battle through the tough first half and come out with a win? A: Well, road wins are tough in this league. To be able to come back against a team that was really, playing with some desperation - it means a lot to get a win a like that. We weren’t clicking on all cylinders and a lot of that had to do with the way Philly was guarding… Portland Trail Blazers Forward Nicolas Batum We play our game, we step up and show who we are, especially in the third quarter. In the third quarter, we kind of stepped up our game, put the ball inside to our big guys. We stepped up our defense, got rebounds, started running in transition and got going. Q: What did they do in the first half that disrupted your team? A: They were aggressive. You could see, they were running, they were everywhere. They did a good job – they disturbed us, they outworked us. We woke up in the second half, but they did a good job in the first half.
