Exclusive Blazers vs Warriors - 3/24/2015 - Quote Book

[SlyPokerDog]

HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS
“Well I thought we gave a good effort tonight. Obviously, Golden State is a terrific team. They’re solid at both ends of the court and they showed that. Offensively, they were very good all night. They passed the ball well. They had 30 assists after 3 quarters and 37 for the game, they shared the ball really well and kind of put on a clinic as far as how to share the ball. Defensively, they picked it up in the third quarter and were able to create some separation. But it was a good effort. We’ve got to have another good effort tomorrow night.”



What was mentality coming in shorthanded:

“You know, play hard. Shorthanded or not, I think everybody was going to play hard. Some of it was style of play. We were going to space the court a lot. The first half was the style of play that we wanted. Obviously, we didn’t defend like we needed to, but offensively, we played the way we wanted to play. The message was simple – play hard, be aggressive on offense, stay focused and trust on defense.”


On McCollum’s performance:

“He was very good offensively. He shot the ball well. He picked his spots. He got off to a slow start at the beginning and then his second stint, he came in and took the first three and got right back into it. We know he can score and it was good to see him have a game like that and hopefully gain some confidence.”



What changed from first half to the second half:

“They were more aggressive defensively. We scored a couple quick baskets, they got some offensive rebounds and some hustle plays at the offensive end. Bogut had an impact on the game early in the second half. Their defense kind of forced us to play a little bit too much off the dribble. Their switching was effective and when you switch you end up going one on one. I thought they just picked it up another night. Last night against Washington they did the game thing. Washington had one basket in the third quarter. That’s what good defensive teams do.”


On going to Gee in starting lineup:

“I thought he was solid. I liked the fact that he had a bigger body on Steph. The lineup that they started with Draymond Green at the four, I thought that suited that matchup. I expected maybe Meyers and Joel could play a little more together if they played their bigs but they kind of stayed with a shorter man at four. The style of play that we wanted to play and matching up with them, I thought it was the right way to go and I thought ‘Zo did a nice job. He was aggressive at loose balls, made some hustle plays, which is what we were looking for.”


On defense tonight:

“It’s tough to say because they’re such a good offensive team. I’d like to think that we could have played better but I thought they made a lot of tough shots. They did what they wanted to do. I thought our effort was good, but I don’t know how many possessions in the second half where they kept moving and moving and moving and they’d score at the end of the shot clock. So I don’t know if it’s so much about our defense, obviously it can always be better, but I thought Golden State was really effective with the way that they moved the ball.”


DAMIAN LILLARD

On difference from first to second half:

“They picked it up on both ends of the floor. We knew that they were the best team in the league start of the second quarter to the end of the third. They picked it up on both ends of the floor. I thought we competed hard. Everybody played team ball. We went out there with the right mindset, that’s to be aggressive and accept the challenge. I thought we competed. We tried hard, but they’re the best team in the league for a reason.


On Golden State:

“They moved the ball, they made tough shots. We let them get some open shots and get going. They shoot the ball really well, they pass the ball really well and they did that tonight.”


On success in first half:

“We just played well. We stayed in flow, we attacked, we made shots, we made the extra pass, the right passes. It just went our way. I thought our approach to the game was the right type of approach, which was just to attack the game. It worked out for us in the first half, and in the second half, they just outplayed us.”


On coming in with different mentality knowing Blazers were shorthanded:

“Yeah, I mean obviously with three of our five starters out to start the season, I was going to have to take more control of what was going on on the floor, so I tried to be more aggressive. I still wanted them to honor everybody else on the court and keep moving the ball and put guys in position to be successful and be a threat. I think that was a huge reason why we played so well in the first half.”

 

[SlyPokerDog]

HEAD COACH STEVE KERR
On clinching the Division title:

“Feels great. As Alvin said, if you haven’t done something for 39years, you better celebrate it when you finally do so great moment for our franchise. Kind of shows how far we’ve come the last few years, all the work that so many people have put in. Obviously I just got here to hop on the bandwagon, but what they’ve done the last couple years as an organization, the players putting in the work, it’s all come together. It’s a special night for the warriors.”


On Warriors’ high assist numbers:

“It starts with our defense. The game is connected and our defense is so good at times when we’re right that we’re making stops and getting out and running and now the assists are coming because we’re in transition. If not all on fast break, maybe a four on three where the ball moves. The guys have been phenomenal just sharing the ball all year. That’s kind of our mantra. We want great shots. We don’t just want good shots, we want great shots. I thought the second half we actually really searched out great shots instead of just settling like we did maybe in the first half.”


On how Warriors’ turnovers compared to last time they played here:

“It’s a big transformation from the beginning of the season until now. Just the ability to take care of the ball and value it and still move it and still play with pace because we want as many possessions in the game as possible. We have a lot of shooters. A lot of skill. The more possessions the merrier. If you’re turning it over it’s tough to gain that possession advantage. It’s a big part of our game.”


On tonight’s game:

“Tonight was great because back-to-back, on the road, in a tough place to play, this team even thought their down several of their key guys sometimes that’s a even more difficult game to play, so I thought our guys plays hard. We didn’t play that smart in the first half, but we played hard and we competed and then we found our game.”



STEPHEN CURRY


On winning the Pacific Division:

“It’s a big deal. The first time I think a lot of guys in this room have experienced that, obviously the franchise in however many years. An absolute checkpoint and I hope we finish seeding the same way we’ve been playing and keep our focus about what we’re doing. We’ve wrapped up the division, now we’ve got to wrap up the number one seed and look for the next goal.”


On if he thinks their offense is going to another level:

“I think so, we’re very comfortable with how we’re getting shots every single night and it’s just about executing and not turning the ball over. We’re not worried about turning it over so much as staying aggressive and making a smart play. Of course for 48 minutes we were able to do that, the stats show it, just doing a little eyeball test out there we look like we’re in sync. We’ve got a good thing going.”



On their great third quarter:

“We wanted to be aggressive, just stick to the program, we know we can wear down teams over the course of the game. They came out on fire and making tough shots but we knew that wouldn’t last or at least hopefully it wouldn’t last the whole game. So we just continued to contest shots and grab rebounds and turn in transition points for us and execute on offense and then we would open the game up and that’s what happened.”



DRAYMOND GREEN

On what the next step the team has taken recently:

“Just getting better on offense and defense, executing more and staying locked in for 48 minutes. Obviously tonight they had their run but I still think we were playing hard and that’s the most important thing.”



On 37 assists for the game for the team:

“Getting stops, once we get stops on defensive transitions then it’s hard for teams to keep up with us. That was key for us tonight, once we got defense going into the second half and we starting getting stops, that’s when everything started falling. We always say that the most important part of our offense is our defense.”

 

[SlyPokerDog]