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HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS
“Well I really liked the way we came out with our energy at both ends of the court in the first half. I thought we set the tone defensively, being able to get out in transition, and ball movement was very good. Obviously, the second quarter was disappointing with primarily our defense and turnovers, but I thought we played an extremely solid second half at both ends of the court as well. Wes having a 16 point fourth quarter was very big, but I thought we had a lot of good performances. Chris Kaman came in and made a difference, especially in the second half. LA, even though his shot wasn’t going, defensively his rebounds, reading double teams, he had a very good game. I just thought it was very solid win with a lot of good performances.
What did you see different in Afflalo’s second game:
“Not necessarily anything different. What I like about him right now is that he’s picking his spots to be aggressive. Obviously he wants to it in, but he’s picking his spots and taking advantage of them when they’re there, rather than just trying to fit in. We need him to be aggressive when he’s in there and I thought he felt a little bit more comfortable in some of our sets and just being out on the court with the other guys on the court.”
On Batum’s performance:
“Nic, I should have mentioned Nic before – I think everybody kind of looks at his shooting to gauge whether he’s being aggressive or not, but the last game against Memphis and then tonight were two very complete games. You look at his assists tonight, but he’s taking shots that are there, he’s taking drives that are there and looks like he is playing with a lot of confidence.”
On closing out game in fourth quarter after recent late game problems:
“It’s important in this league to play well in the fourth quarter. It’s easy to remember the games you don’t play well in the fourth quarter. They stick out, but we’ve got a lot of important games coming up and we’re going to need that most nights.”
On shooting success tonight:
“It usually is a combination of things. We have a lot of good shooters, I thought the shots were good, the ball movement was good. In the past, we haven’t been able to get on rolls that I think that we can, but I think tonight that we did. We’ve been kind of waiting to break out. I would say in comparison to say the whole season, I just don’t think that we’ve shot the ball as well. I think the shots in general have been good, but it was good to have a break out night.”
DAMIAN LILLARD
On getting this win with OKC coming in on Friday:
“It was great. We had a rough one in Utah in our first game back and then played well for three and a half quarters against Memphis and let that game get away from us. Tonight, the Spurs, against a tough Western Conference team, it was a tough game, but we defended, we played hard, got stops and got out and moved the ball around. We played Trail Blazers basketball. We got the W, now it’s great momentum going into a tough game. Russ is playing great, like and MVP right now. We’ve got to be prepared for that team because he’s making everybody else around him better also.”
On fourth quarter
“We’ve been here before. We were in that situation against Dallas, and against Houston and against Memphis and then tonight, and two out of those three we let get away and almost let the one in Houston get away. So tonight, everybody was locked in. We know how we felt when we let the one in Dallas get away and we felt last game against Memphis when we played so well to let it slip away. We didn’t want that feeling again, so everybody game out and did whatever we needed to do for our team to be able to pull it out.”
“Well I really liked the way we came out with our energy at both ends of the court in the first half. I thought we set the tone defensively, being able to get out in transition, and ball movement was very good. Obviously, the second quarter was disappointing with primarily our defense and turnovers, but I thought we played an extremely solid second half at both ends of the court as well. Wes having a 16 point fourth quarter was very big, but I thought we had a lot of good performances. Chris Kaman came in and made a difference, especially in the second half. LA, even though his shot wasn’t going, defensively his rebounds, reading double teams, he had a very good game. I just thought it was very solid win with a lot of good performances.
What did you see different in Afflalo’s second game:
“Not necessarily anything different. What I like about him right now is that he’s picking his spots to be aggressive. Obviously he wants to it in, but he’s picking his spots and taking advantage of them when they’re there, rather than just trying to fit in. We need him to be aggressive when he’s in there and I thought he felt a little bit more comfortable in some of our sets and just being out on the court with the other guys on the court.”
On Batum’s performance:
“Nic, I should have mentioned Nic before – I think everybody kind of looks at his shooting to gauge whether he’s being aggressive or not, but the last game against Memphis and then tonight were two very complete games. You look at his assists tonight, but he’s taking shots that are there, he’s taking drives that are there and looks like he is playing with a lot of confidence.”
On closing out game in fourth quarter after recent late game problems:
“It’s important in this league to play well in the fourth quarter. It’s easy to remember the games you don’t play well in the fourth quarter. They stick out, but we’ve got a lot of important games coming up and we’re going to need that most nights.”
On shooting success tonight:
“It usually is a combination of things. We have a lot of good shooters, I thought the shots were good, the ball movement was good. In the past, we haven’t been able to get on rolls that I think that we can, but I think tonight that we did. We’ve been kind of waiting to break out. I would say in comparison to say the whole season, I just don’t think that we’ve shot the ball as well. I think the shots in general have been good, but it was good to have a break out night.”
DAMIAN LILLARD
On getting this win with OKC coming in on Friday:
“It was great. We had a rough one in Utah in our first game back and then played well for three and a half quarters against Memphis and let that game get away from us. Tonight, the Spurs, against a tough Western Conference team, it was a tough game, but we defended, we played hard, got stops and got out and moved the ball around. We played Trail Blazers basketball. We got the W, now it’s great momentum going into a tough game. Russ is playing great, like and MVP right now. We’ve got to be prepared for that team because he’s making everybody else around him better also.”
On fourth quarter
“We’ve been here before. We were in that situation against Dallas, and against Houston and against Memphis and then tonight, and two out of those three we let get away and almost let the one in Houston get away. So tonight, everybody was locked in. We know how we felt when we let the one in Dallas get away and we felt last game against Memphis when we played so well to let it slip away. We didn’t want that feeling again, so everybody game out and did whatever we needed to do for our team to be able to pull it out.”
