Exclusive GAME# 38: BLAZERS @ KINGS - JANUARY 1, 2019 - Quote Book

[SlyPokerDog]

Sacramento Kings Postgame Notes


Portland Trail Blazers (22-16) vs. Sacramento Kings (19-18)

The Sacramento Kings fall to the Portland Trail Blazers 113-108 in front of a sold out crowd at Golden 1 Center as the Kings have now dropped four straight to Portland.

Sacramento was down by 14 at the halftime break as they were able to cut it to six by the end of the third. Sacramento would make a push with a 10-2 run that would help them retake the lead with 9:09 to go in the fourth for their first lead of the game since being up 33-32 with 8:52 remaining in the second quarter. The Kings would wind up going on a 24-9 run to go up 101-92 for their largest lead of the game with 3:10 left in the final frame.

Over the next three minutes, Sacramento would go 1-for-9 from the field as Portland would storm back with a 11-2 run to force the game into overtime. In the overtime period, the Kings limited the Blazers to just three field goals on nine tries, but Sacramento went 1-for-11 from the field, including 1-of-6 from beyond the arc in the overtime period.

TEAM

Sacramento ended the night going 44-for-115 (.383) from the field, as they shot under .400 percent for the third time this season and move to 1-2 in games when shooting below the .400 percent threshold. The Kings now hold a record of 4-14 when being outshot by their opponent.

The Kings finished with 30 fast break points on the night as they have now done so on seven different occasions, moving to 4-3 in games when they score 30-plus fast break points.

Portland finished the night with 11 steals and 10 blocks, which ties for the most steals and blocks in a game by an opponent this season. Portland has now had 11 steals in two games and 10 blocks in three games this season.

PLAYERS

Buddy Hield ended the night with a game-high 27 points while Nemanja Bjelica totaled 14 points and 16 rebounds. Bjelica totaled five offensive rebounds to go with 11 on the defensive end, tying his career-highs while setting a new career-high with 16 boards as he picked up his fourth double-double on the season.

Damian Lillard finished with 25 points going 8-for-21 from the field and a perfect 8-of-8 from the charity stripe as 14 of his 25 points came in the fourth quarter and overtime period.

Jusuf Nurkic collected 24 points, 23 rebounds, seven assists, five blocks and five steals while also knocking down 14 free throws on 16 tries. Nurkic becomes the first player in NBA history with a line of 24 points, 23 rebounds, five blocks and five steals, according to Basketball Reference.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

KINGS HEAD COACH DAVE JOERGER:

“I think that was a heck of an effort by our guys. I’m really proud of the effort we put forth, we just didn’t play great as far as shooting the basketball. Our defense was much better, and to come back from 14 and take the lead against a very good Portland team that’s been together a long time, been doing it together a long time – I’ve got a lot of respect for those guys and they kept hanging around. We missed shots towards the end of regulation – a couple of those go down and probably not even go to overtime.”

ON IF HE LIKED THE QUALITY OF SHOTS THEY WERE GETTING BUT THEY WEREN’T FALLING

“Yeah, I thought we had shots in the paint that just didn’t go down.”

ON IF THERE ARE CONCERNS OR IF THIS IS SOMETHING THEY’LL LEARN FROM

“I think it’s a good learning opportunity of what we’re looking for. I thought we got good shots, pretty decent possessions at times, there were times we dribbled a little too much and had to play with the pass and the cut and open up some other guys. De’Aaron [Fox] struggled to score and we all struggled to score – we shot 38%. We shot 55 shots in the paint, we converted 22 of those. So I think that’s kind of where the game was.”

ON DEFENDING DAMIAN LILLARD

“He picks and chooses his spots of when he wants to go and I think he’s one of the best scorers if I’m not mistaken in the second half in the league. He gets everybody involved and then picks and chooses his spots. What’d he shoot – three layups in the last minute of the game – I don’t know if there were two, there might’ve been three. He just went around people and shot layups. Which is kind of what happened in the first half, it was different guys. I thought our defense was much better in the second half.”

 

[SlyPokerDog]

KINGS GUARD De’AARON FOX:

ON IF HE FELT GOOD ABOUT THE WAY THEY DEFENDED DAMIAN LILLARD UNTIL THE END OF THE GAME

“Definitely, he started making tough shots. I think we guarded pretty well the whole game. We just couldn’t get shots to fall in crucial times.”


ON STRUGGLING TH LAST TWO GAMES TO PUT TEAMS AWAY

“We’ve just got to execute at the end of the game. We had shots, we had makeable shots and we just didn’t make them. They made the plays that they needed to. Like I said, Dame hitting fade-aways from the corner, tough shot, but he makes those.”

ON BOGDAN BOGDANOVIC’S SECOND HALF

“He was big. [He] didn’t see the ball go through the basket for a while and then got comfortable and started seeing the shots go through. He was playing really confident towards the end of the game.”

ON HOW DIFFERENT IT IS TO PLAY IN AN OVERTIME GAME

“It feels like the last five minutes of a fourth quarter – it feels the same. Close game, there is no difference in an overtime game than a regular close game in the fourth quarter.”

 

[SlyPokerDog]

KINGS GUARD BOGDAN BOGDANOVIC:

ON HOW HE GOT HIS RHYTHM GOING IN THE SECOND HALF

“I started the game really bad and took some bad shots trying to get myself in rhythm. I was just trying to make myself available for players and try to close out the game and be hot for the fourth quarter. Justin [Jackson] made a play for me and that’s what [got] me in rhythm. Still, another game we lost and another game we had in our hands and we missed the game-winning shot. It is what it is, it’s the NBA - from winning three games in a row to now we lost two in a row, that’s the NBA.”

ON IF IT IS FRUSTRATING NOT TO BE ABLE TO CLOSE TEAMS OUT

“We were able to do it, to come back from a 10-point deficit and snatch a game – we’ve got to be smarter and we’ve got to make shots, nothing else.”

ON WHAT HE SAW FROM HARRY GILES TOINGHT

“He changed the game for us. He set some great screens, he was tremendous on defense, he changed the whole rhythm of the game. It was great for him. He is a pretty confident guy and that’s what we want him to do.”

 

[SlyPokerDog]

TRAIL BLAZERS HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS:

“That was a hell of a game. I loved our effort to finish regulation. Damian [Lillard] was incredible at the end of the fourth. Obviously, [Jusuf] Nurk[ic] had an outstanding game – I heard it’s the best five by five in the history of the league. I don’t know, but sounds good to me. He was awesome – hit his free throws, made good passes. The effort it took to come back and win in overtime, I was really impressed with our guys.”



ON MAKING A COMEBACK DESPITE BEING DOWN LATE IN THE FOURTH



“We kept competing. Sacramento plays really hard, they push the tempo. We never let our guard down. We made some stops. I thought Damian was really aggressive taking the ball to the basket a couple of times, hits a three. CJ [McCollum] hit a big shot. To make a comeback like that you have to be good at both ends and we were.”



ON JUSUF NURKIC TONIGHT



“Nurk’s been on a roll. The last four games he’s been a really effective player inside – scoring, passing, rebounding. Tonight might be the best game he’s played as a Blazer. He did a little bit of everything.”



ON IF NURKIC WILL GET THE BALL MORE DUE TO HIS PLAY AS OF LATE



“Yeah, it goes hand-in-hand. When he’s effective, he gets the ball. We’ve talked about it, he’s gotten better. It’s never been not about throwing it, it’s been about being a productive post player and he’s been very productive the last five games.”

 

[SlyPokerDog]

BLAZERS GUARD DAMIAN LILLARD:

ON BEING UNDER THE WEATHER TONIGHT

“Yeah…I had a little cold. I woke up this morning feeling a little beat up and tired, but I’ve been sicker.”

ON WHAT CLICKED AT THE END OF THE FOURTH QUARTER AND THE LAST FIVE MIN IN OVERTIME

“I just think the second half they outplayed us, for most of the second half. In our last time out, it was a little bit over three minutes, it was a seven-point game and that’s a lot of time. At that point, you just have to come together as a group, forget about everything that’s happened and you have to make plays happen from that point on to pull out a game. I thought we did a great job of that. We made the plays on both ends that we needed to make to get it done, force overtime and we went and did it again.”

ON WHAT IT’S LIKE PLAYING WITH JUSUF NURKIC WHEN HE’S PLAYING WELL

“He’s making the game easier for everybody else when he plays that way, because it’s a post presence. A lot of times teams are playing small line-ups. So, he’s going to command a double-team and we have guys on the perimeter cutting, guys that can make shots, so you kind of force them to make a mistake. So, from that point it’s just him, they’re either going to let him go against their guy, which sometimes they do. He’s scoring because he’s so much bigger, so skilled and then when they send two, he’s making the right plays. I think part of it is just him getting fed over and over. He’s just getting in a good rhythm. The other part is just him playing stronger and more physical. When his mind is right, these are the kinds of performances he’s capable of.”

 

[Scalma]

ON IF NURKIC WILL GET THE BALL MORE DUE TO HIS PLAY AS OF LATE



“Yeah, it goes hand-in-hand. When he’s effective, he gets the ball. We’ve talked about it, he’s gotten better. It’s never been not about throwing it, it’s been about being a productive post player and he’s been very productive the last five games.”

Cool. Now hold your shooting guard to that same standard, asshole.

 

[KingSpeed]

Cool. Now hold your shooting guard to that same standard, asshole.

Stotts doesn’t deserve that namecalling.

 

[Bruno_Sabino]

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[PtldPlatypus]

I love to read the quote book

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