Exclusive GAME# 30: BLAZERS @ TIMBERWOLVES - DECEMBER 18, 2017 - Quote Book

[SlyPokerDog]

Still waiting for the official quote book to come from the T-Wolves but their PR department sent me notes for the start of the 4th quarter. I have not seen that before.


Portland 85, Minnesota 76

Fourth Quarter Notes

Timberwolves Notes

· Karl-Anthony Towns is approaching his league-leading 25th double-double of the season (139 career), heading into the fourth with 11 points and seven boards.

· Through three quarters, Jimmy Butler has 26 points on 9-of-16 shooting. Butler has already produced his 15th 20+ scoring effort of the season and fourth in the last five outings. Tonight would be his fourth 30+ point performance. Butler’s season-high in scoring is 38, set on Dec. 12 vs. Philadelphia.

· Butler entered the night eighth in the NBA in steals (1.86 spg) and has already contributed three steals. He is approaching his season-high of 5 (2x, MR: Nov. 19 vs. Detroit).

· Taj Gibson has already recorded his 20th double-digit scoring effort of the season. With 10 points and three rebounds heading into the final frame, he is seven rebounds shy of posting his 13th double-double on the season.

· The Timberwolves have committed just seven turnovers in three quarters. The team’s season low is seven (three, MR: vs. Phoenix on Dec. 16). If maintained, this will mark Minnesota’s fourth-consecutive game tallying 10 or less turnovers.


Trail Blazers Notes

· Through three quarters, C.J. McCollum has registered 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting. McCollum averaged 27.5 ppg in four games vs. the Timberwolves in 2016-17, including scoring a career-high 43 points on Jan. 1, 2017 at Minnesota.

· Damian Lillard entered the seventh in the NBA in scoring (25.8 ppg) and has produced 13 points in the first three quarters. Lillard has already registered his 5th double-double of the season and his second-straight with 13 points and 11 assists. He needs two more rebounds to record his first-career triple-double.

· Jusuf Nurkic heads into the fourth with 18 points and six rebounds, marking his 12th double-digit scoring effort of the season. He needs just four more rebounds to record his 7th double-double.

· The Trail Blazers are shooting 10-of-21 from the three-point line heading into the fourth. Portland has made 10 or more three pointers 13 times this season. Including tonight, the Blazers have accomplished the feat in six of the last eight contests.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Minnesota 108, Portland 107 – Monday, December 18, 2017


Blazers Head Coach Terry Stotts


Thoughts on the game after leading in the fourth quarter…

“We built a good a lead. Four consecutive turnovers in the fourth quarter hurt us. We didn’t shoot a free throw in the second half, that hurt. I don’t know the last time that I have seen a team not shoot a free throw in a half. That obviously played a part of it. We put ourselves in that position. We had a ten-point lead but playing in the road is tough. “


On Jimmy Butler’s play…

“He is very effective. He scored in a variety of different ways. He had thirteen free throw attempts, 12 or 13 attempts. So he got to the line. He’s a very good player. “


On the fourth quarter play…

“The last two games, the turnovers, certainly in Charlotte, hurt us in bad way and Minnesota got back in the game with four straight turnovers tonight. It wasn’t a long stretch, but it was enough for them to get back into the game.”


On Jamal Crawford’s play…

“He’s an amazing player, an amazing scorer. That three-pointer he hit form 40-feet, that was a great defensive possession by us; and he’s been doing that for a long time. That play was probably a little bit of a turning point because it was such a good defensive possession and we end up with the ball, and you don’t know how it goes after that.”

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Blazers Guard Damian Lillard


On what’s frustrating about this loss…

“Can’t buy a damn foul call, so that’s the most frustrating part.”


On what he saw happened in the fourth quarter…

“I mean we had too many turnovers, those plays kill you. And the team was trying to make a run and we had a lead. I think on our part that was the main thing is the turnovers. When you get away without a lot of [foul calls], maybe [turnovers] get cut in half. You know, you’re not allowed to grab and all that stuff, half of those [turnovers] may not happen. But, we just have to be stronger with the ball and make smarter plays.”

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Blazers Forward Ed Davis


On how the team feels after the road trip…

“I definitely felt better before we left for this road trip. Like I said, this is a game we had and we let it slip away.”


On free throw discrepancy tonight…

“I need my money. I’ve got nothing to say about that. I just go out there and play, I don’t really get involved in the fouls and all that. But, 21-to-5 is very alarming to say the least. It is what it is, the game is over and we’re on to the next one.”

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Timberwolves Head Coach Tom Thibodeau


On Jimmy Butler’s game…

“Well, that’s Jimmy Butler right there. His last 15 games or so he’s just been off the charts. It’s the toughness that he brings every possession. Special player.”


On the lift provided by Jamal Crawford…

“Jamal was terrific. He played a great game. We were down going into the fourth. He made a lot of tough plays, big shots. That really got us going.”


On defending Portland…

“They’re very unselfish. They play well off each other. Nurkic is very skilled. The guy that gets lost with them, am I’m sure he doesn’t with the coach and his teammate, is Evan Turner. He makes a lot of big basketball plays. They’re a tough team. Their defense is vastly improved. They’re good, very good.”


On the importance of bouncing back after a loss…

“Yeah, and we just talked about it. There’s going to be a lot of close games in this league when you think about it; we lost the Philly game on the last possession. We lost the Phoenix game on a last possession. Tonight we won on the last possession. Just understanding how important everything is, every day, every timeout, every play. Because oftentimes in these games, when you look at the scoring margin – I mentioned this earlier – there’s a lot of teams that are very close. Every night you have to be ready go fight and scratch and win. You gotta make winning plays. I like the toughness that we had. We didn’t go away. Things weren’t going well and we found a way to win. The fourth quarter was the one time I thought we started playing defense.”

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Timberwolves Guard Jamal Crawford


On his game tonight…

“I guess in the fourth, I just wanted to be aggressive. My teammates… Obviously, Jimmy is in my ear all the time. Taj is in my ear. My teammates just want me to be aggressive. Coach put me in some great situations. We saw something and we stuck with it. I think it was a good overall team win.”


On the team needing his performance…

“It needed it. Our guys are going to do what they do every single night. We expect Jimmy to be a star every night. We expect guys to do what they do. We need a spark. I felt like we need to get some passion going. Guys just tried to keep talking, stay in the huddle, stay with it. Whatever it was at that time, just try to ignite something. Our defense really locked in and when we do that we’re tough to deal with.”


On Jimmy’s game…

“What more can you say about the guy? He does it every single night. I think that separates good players from the best players. They have the consistency to do it every single day. Two days ago the guy was laying right there on his back. Literally, he was laying there. You guys didn’t know that, but I’m telling you now. Yeah, I guess it’s breaking news, but the guy was laying there, and 48 hours later he puts us on his back and did an excellent job.”

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Timberwolves Guard Jeff Teague


“Well, it was a must-win for us. He (Jimmy Butler) came out and competed. He came out with a lot of energy from the beginning of the day. In shootaround he a had a lot of energy so I knew he was going to play well.”


On Jamal’s game..

“Yeah, Jamal’s one of those guys that on any given night he can get you 30 points. I played with him before and I’ve seen him do things like that multiple times; damn near every game that year I played with him. I expect that when he comes into the game and I trust him with the ball at the end of the game.”


On the importance of the game…

“Yeah, definitely. We wanted to play well. I think we let one go against Phoenix. We wanted to come back tonight and try to play well and leave home with a little momentum.”

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Timberwolves Guard Jimmy Butler


On having fun out there…

“It’s always fun to win, no matter how it is. No matter if we’re down or ahead, it’s fun to play a little defense if you ask me.”


On defense at the end…

“We got a couple of stops before that, too. I love that. When you’re guarding and playing defense, that means you’re really competing at a high level. When you’re flying around, contesting shots and getting rebounds and taking off, that’s fun to me. I love the defensive side of the game because you’re exerting so

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Minnesota Timberwolves 108, Portland Trail Blazers 107
Monday, December 18, 2017

Timberwolves Notes

· Tonight marks the first time the Wolves have overcome a deficit of 10+ points in the final 8:00 of a game since Feb. 22, 2012 vs. Utah, when they rallied from 15 points down at the 7:59 mark to win 100-98 on Luke Ridnour's walk-off ending a string of 213 consecutive losses in those situations. Overall tonight’s victory stands as the 10th late comeback victory in the past two decades for the Timberwolves.

· Minnesota connected on 11-of-18 (61.1%) attempts in the fourth quarter tonight, outscoring the Trail Blazers 32-22 in the frame. The Timberwolves forced five Portland turnovers in the quarter.

· Jimmy Butler hit four clutch free throws in the final minute of the game, including hitting two which put Minnesota up one with 2.5 seconds left in the game. He finished the night with 37 points, 11 of which came from the free throw line. Tonight was his fourth 30+ point performance in a Timberwolves uniform and 15th 20+ point scoring effort. He finished 12-of-21 from the field and filled the box score with six rebounds, four assists and three steals.

· Jamal Crawford came off the bench and set a new season-high with 23 points on 10-of-16 shooting, his first 20+ point effort of the season. He scored 16 points in the fourth quarter alone, hitting 7-of-10 from the floor. Tonight he (18,372) surpassed Julius Erving (18,364) on the NBA’s all-time scoring list tonight for 65th place. He needs 10 more points to pass Tracy McGrady (18,381) for 64th.

· Karl-Anthony Towns contributed 16 points, eight rebounds and four assists, including connecting on 3-of-6 from deep, marking the 13th time this season shooting 50% or better from the three-point line.

· Including tonight, the Wolves have had eight games decided by three points or less, improving to 4-4 in such situations. Tonight marks the second-consecutive game decided by two points or less.

· With 10 turnovers on the night, Minnesota recorded its fourth-consecutive game committing 10 or less turnovers. The team’s season low is seven (3x, MR: vs. Phoenix on Dec. 16).

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Trail Blazers Notes

· C.J. McCollum recorded 20 points on 9-of-17 shooting. McCollum averaged 27.5 ppg in four games vs. the Timberwolves in 2016-17, including scoring a career-high 43 points on Jan. 1, 2017 at Minnesota.

· Damian Lillard ended the night with 17 points, 13 assists and eight rebounds, registering his second consecutive double-double and fifth of the season. He narrowly missed out on recording his first-career triple-double.

· Jusuf Nurkic finished with 20 points and seven rebounds, marking his 12th double-digit scoring effort of the season. He needed just four more rebounds to record his 7th double-double.

 

[jlprk]

Great thread, Sly. Keep making these and I'll help you. A player could sue a reporter. Does the reporter ask the player to sign something before quoting him?

 

[kjironman1]

I like reading this thread also.