Exclusive Blazers vs Lakers, 2/11/2015 - Quote Book

[SlyPokerDog]

HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS
“Well it was a good win to go into the break with. We did a lot of good things at both ends and got good contributions up and down. I thought our defense was pretty consistent throughout. I really liked our ball movement. 27 assists – I thought the ball was moving well. We only shot 40 percent but I thought it was a good offensive night as well.”


On breaking game open in the third quarter:

It’s an eight point game or whatever it was at halftime and just our starters energy – they came out with good energy, good focus. Wes made some hustle plays. The dive on the floor for Dame’s dunk was I think the momentum play that really got things going. I thought the starters really took the responsibility of expanding the lead in that time.”


Thoughts on having the same record as last season going into All Star break:

“You know what, I was looking over one of my notes going into this season, I thought we’d have a good season but it would feel different and I would say that’s probably true. I like where we are, I like what we’ve done. We’ve had more adversity this year than last year and we’ve done a good job of fighting through it. We still have got a lot of games to go and by no means is it over, but at this point last year, we stayed healthy and were the surprise team. It’s a different feel to it.”


On getting consistent contributions from Leonard and McCollum recently:

“First of all, CJ has had three or four good games and for him, I think you can see his confidence growing, coming into the game looking for his shot, not hesitating and being ready to make plays. He’s at his best when he does that. Meyers has had a body of work. He’s had a good six, eight weeks or whatever it is and I think he’s growing more confident and consequently, the players with him on the court are trusting him as well. I think as a player, you can sense that.”


DAMIAN LILLARD
Thoughts on having same record going into All Star break as last season:

“I mean, we just had some adversity hit and we had some injuries like you said and I think we just had to keep finding a way to get it done. We had a rough stretch where we lost some games, some that we felt like we should have won. Now we’ve got some of our guys back that were out and our defense has picked back up and we’ve been able to start winning games again.”



Could this have been a “trap game”?

“With it being the last game before the break and a team with some guys that are capable of exploding offensively – Nick Young, Wes Johnson, Wayne Ellington, guys like that – it could have been a game like the last one that we had with them that was where and they took us to the end and it was a tough game to win. But we came in focused. Everybody did their part, everybody understood that we had to be the team that we’ve been the last couple games to win it and we did that.”

 

[SlyPokerDog]

HEAD COACH BYRON SCOTT
On Nick Young’s injury:

“It wasn’t his ankle… It was another part of his ankle. I don’t know exactly what it is, so I guess we’ll just see how he feels when we get back.”


On the third quarter:

“They just made shots and we didn’t. They got a little bit of everything that they wanted… They got much more aggressive on the offensive end, defensively as well. And that’s what normally happens, teams just being able to turn it up a notch and we haven’t been able to match that intensity. And that when they kind of get away from us, and that’s exactly what they did in the fourth quarter.”


On the benefit of the upcoming all-star break:

“I think the benefit is just getting away… Just getting away from basketball for a little while. You can go on vacation or go wherever you’re going to go and just try to have a good time. Hopefully you reflect a little bit on the first fifty games and you come back with a different sense of purpose as well. It’s always good to get a little bit of a break cause now when you come back hopefully have some more things that you have to work on, obviously some things that we have to continue to work on, but you also come back with a different attitude and different intensity level as well and that’s the things that we have to get to.”




JEREMY LIN

On how he feels:

“I don’t know, I guess I would say it’s been a bumpy trajectory but it think relatively it’s been going up. For me, I think finishing out these last two games, going into All-Star, I didn’t play the way I wish I had played but I’m able to right now step back and look at the bigger picture. I just think as the season went on I got more efficient with less time and I’ll take that.”


On his initial expectations of signing with the Lakers:

“My initial expectations were very different from what happened but that’s life sometimes.”


On what his initial expectations were:

“I was hoping to compete, compete for a playoff spot. I was hoping that we could have guys healthy, it just looked very different than what it does right now.”


On what he thinks they can do differently for the rest of the season:

“There’s a long list. I would say at the top it’s got to be defense, I think transition defense and weak side defense. I think playing offensively for each other. I think those would be, if I could choose one area from each side of the ball, what I would choose.”





NICK YOUNG

On if his injury is anything he’ll have to worry about in the second half of the season:

“No, it should be alright after the break. Just get a ton of rest and get away.”



On the difference of competitive halves in this game:

“I think they just picked it up. Starting the second half they were just diving on the floor, getting loose balls and it just changed the momentum of the game.”



On how he will treat an eight day break:

“I don’t know what a Laker is right now so when break starts I’ll get back on Monday or Tuesday and get back in the gym but for now I think I just need to get away.”

 

[SlyPokerDog]