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HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS
“Well first of all, obviously it was good to get Robin [Lopez] back. You could feel his impact on the game from the very beginning. Hopefully we’ll be able to ramp up his minutes a little bit but he played the minutes that we kind of anticipated that he’d play.”
“I thought our defense was kind of up and down. The fourth quarter, obviously we gave up a little bit too much but give Utah credit. They were aggressive. We didn’t give up any fast break points in the first half and we gave up a bunch in the second half and offensive rebounds – so even with Robin back, there’s room to improve. But we showed flashes of the team we can be.”
On rebounding matchup:
“For the most part if you look at the box score, it was alright but I thought they got offensive rebounds late. We had a nice stretch in the third quarter where they didn’t have any offensive rebounds, but then they kind of got them in bunches and they were able to convert. What did they have like ten second chance points in the second half? So I thought on the whole, we did a good job but I thought their offensive rebounding kind of kept them in the game a little bit.”
On Lillard’s aggressiveness tonight:
“Particularly in the second half. He scored three baskets in a row when we were down two or something like that. Him being aggressive in the second half was important. LA had it going in the first half and Dame kind of got us through a stretch in the second half.”
On Gobert’s development as a defensive impact player:
“He’s really grown into his own as an NBA player. For me, the turning point for him was in the World Championships against Spain. He was terrific and I think he’s built on that game. He’s continued to improve. He’s established himself as a defensive center. He plays hard, he’s long, he’s athletic, he bothers shots and he rebounds. HE’s really made big strides.”
On Batum’s performance:
“He looked like he had good energy. He was aggressive in his ball handling decisions and in getting out in transition looking to make plays. He flirted with a triple double. Again, I’m sure he’d like to make every shot, but I thought he played a very good all around game. He was guarding Trey Burke at the end. So it was what we need from Nic.”
WESLEY MATTHEWS
Was this a must-win game?
“Absolutely. Every game is a must win game, especially in the west. We definitely needed this win. Ro-Lo coming back was big, coming back home was big and we still didn’t play as well as we needed to, as well as we should have, but we played well enough to win the game. We’ve got a tough game coming up Thursday.”
On Lopez being back:
“Just comfortable. The starting unit – not only does he help the starting unit, but he just helps the team all together because it sets rotations. Everybody is back to what they’re accustomed, where they’ve been playing for so long. He just gives us something that we don’t have. He rolls, he’s a true just grit five-man.”
On what made the difference late:
“Just continued to grind, continued to come up with the little plays – block outs, defensive rebounds, deflections. In the second half, we were more active defensively, and that defense kind of sparked our offense.”
ROBIN LOPEZ
On performance coming back from injury:
“I felt okay. I had some lapses on coverages defensively. I wasn’t where I was supposed to be all of the time, but I guess it went okay.”
“I felt pretty good. The training staff, strength and conditioning, they’ve done a very good job of trying to keep me up to par. Obviously you can’t really replicate basketball conditions but we do our best.”
On being back out on floor:
“Any basketball player would prefer to be on the floor as opposed to sitting on the bench I think. I don’t think that’s anything special.”
“Well first of all, obviously it was good to get Robin [Lopez] back. You could feel his impact on the game from the very beginning. Hopefully we’ll be able to ramp up his minutes a little bit but he played the minutes that we kind of anticipated that he’d play.”
“I thought our defense was kind of up and down. The fourth quarter, obviously we gave up a little bit too much but give Utah credit. They were aggressive. We didn’t give up any fast break points in the first half and we gave up a bunch in the second half and offensive rebounds – so even with Robin back, there’s room to improve. But we showed flashes of the team we can be.”
On rebounding matchup:
“For the most part if you look at the box score, it was alright but I thought they got offensive rebounds late. We had a nice stretch in the third quarter where they didn’t have any offensive rebounds, but then they kind of got them in bunches and they were able to convert. What did they have like ten second chance points in the second half? So I thought on the whole, we did a good job but I thought their offensive rebounding kind of kept them in the game a little bit.”
On Lillard’s aggressiveness tonight:
“Particularly in the second half. He scored three baskets in a row when we were down two or something like that. Him being aggressive in the second half was important. LA had it going in the first half and Dame kind of got us through a stretch in the second half.”
On Gobert’s development as a defensive impact player:
“He’s really grown into his own as an NBA player. For me, the turning point for him was in the World Championships against Spain. He was terrific and I think he’s built on that game. He’s continued to improve. He’s established himself as a defensive center. He plays hard, he’s long, he’s athletic, he bothers shots and he rebounds. HE’s really made big strides.”
On Batum’s performance:
“He looked like he had good energy. He was aggressive in his ball handling decisions and in getting out in transition looking to make plays. He flirted with a triple double. Again, I’m sure he’d like to make every shot, but I thought he played a very good all around game. He was guarding Trey Burke at the end. So it was what we need from Nic.”
WESLEY MATTHEWS
Was this a must-win game?
“Absolutely. Every game is a must win game, especially in the west. We definitely needed this win. Ro-Lo coming back was big, coming back home was big and we still didn’t play as well as we needed to, as well as we should have, but we played well enough to win the game. We’ve got a tough game coming up Thursday.”
On Lopez being back:
“Just comfortable. The starting unit – not only does he help the starting unit, but he just helps the team all together because it sets rotations. Everybody is back to what they’re accustomed, where they’ve been playing for so long. He just gives us something that we don’t have. He rolls, he’s a true just grit five-man.”
On what made the difference late:
“Just continued to grind, continued to come up with the little plays – block outs, defensive rebounds, deflections. In the second half, we were more active defensively, and that defense kind of sparked our offense.”
ROBIN LOPEZ
On performance coming back from injury:
“I felt okay. I had some lapses on coverages defensively. I wasn’t where I was supposed to be all of the time, but I guess it went okay.”
“I felt pretty good. The training staff, strength and conditioning, they’ve done a very good job of trying to keep me up to par. Obviously you can’t really replicate basketball conditions but we do our best.”
On being back out on floor:
“Any basketball player would prefer to be on the floor as opposed to sitting on the bench I think. I don’t think that’s anything special.”
