Exclusive GAME# 42: BULLS @ BLAZERS - JANUARY 9, 2019 - Quote Book

[SlyPokerDog]

Postgame Notes - January 9, 2019 Portland 124, Chicago 112 Game #42 • Home Game #24

TEAM

• Portland won its third straight game and improved to 5-1 in its last six contests.

• The Trail Blazers assisted on 28 of their 47 field goals. It was Portland’s fourth straight game with at least 25 assists, the longest streak of the season.

• The Trail Blazers shot 47-of-83 from the field (56.6%). It was the team’s second-highest field goal percentage of the season. Chicago shot 46.2% from the field (43-of-93).

• The Trail Blazers reserves outscored the Bulls bench, 56-41. Portland’s bench shot a com- bined 23-of-36 from the field (63.9%) and 7-of-11 from the three-point line (63.6%).

• Portland improved to 6-0 when the bench scores at least 50 points.

• Portland outrebounded Chicago, 43-37, and outscored the Bulls in the paint, 60-56.

• All 12 of the Portland players that played scored.

PLAYER

• CJ McCollum had a team-high 24 points (10-14 FG, 2-4 3-PT, 2-2 FT) to go with three re- bounds and four assists.

• Jusuf Nurkic recorded 18 points (7-11 FG, 4-5 FT), eight rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block. Nurkic has scored at least 18 points in seven of the last eight games.

• Damian Lillard finished with 16 points (4-12 FG, 2-5 3-PT, 6-6 FT), one rebound and 10 as- sists. It was his second double-double in the last three games and his fifth of the season.

• Seth Curry led Portland’s bench in scoring, finishing with 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting (3-5 3-PT) to go with one rebound and one steal. He has made a three-pointer in 12 straight games.

• Zach Collins had 16 points (6-9 FG, 2-3 3-PT, 2-2 FT), nine rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block before fouling out in 26 minutes. His four assists matched his career high.

• Al-Farouq Aminu logged eight points, four rebounds and one assist while matching his sea- son high of three blocks.

• Meyers Leonard finished with eight points and six rebounds while shooting a perfect 4-of-4 from the field.

• Nik Stauskas scored eight points (3-4 FG, 2-3 3-PT) to go with three rebounds and three assists in 16 minutes off the bench.

• Wendell Carter Jr. led Chicago with 22 points (7-9 FG, 1-1 3-PT, 7-7 FT) to go with six re- bounds and one assist. It was his third game this season with 20-plus points.

• Kris Dunn added 15 points (7-14 FG, 1-2 3-PT), five rebounds, seven assists and two steals for the Bulls.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS
Zach Collins seemed particularly active tonight:

“Yeah he was. I thought he kind of got off to a little bit of a slow start but his activity on the boards, around the court – in pick and rolls, they were blitzing with him which doesn’t happen a lot so he was able to get some rolls and finished around the basket. He had a defensive presence around the rim, vertical and affected some shots. I thought he had a really good game.”


On the bench as a whole contributing – what did you like best?

“Everything I just said about Zach and then Seth has been on a roll offensively. He’s aggressively looked for his shot. I think he’s kind of comfortable in that role. Kind of mixed the rotation a little bit where CJ was in with him some, that worked out well. I liked the activity – more than anything else, I liked the activity and the flow of the second unit.”


On McCollum’s night:

“Particularly the first half, I thought he had a good rhythm offensively with primarily floaters, but I thought he was able to get to his spots and particularly the first half, I thought he was playing well in the flow of the game and he got his shots in the rhythm of the game.”


On Stauskas back in the rotation:

“Well with Moe out, there’s minutes out there. Jake played with the starting lineup. Tonight was very similar to the start of the season actually with Jake starting and getting those minutes and Nik coming in with the second unit. I thought after missing a couple games, he came in and – like I said, he had a really good practice yesterday. He and the rooks played some one-on-one and he was in a really good rhythm, I think he showed that tonight.”

 

[SlyPokerDog]

DAMIAN LILLARD

How were you able to pull away in the second half?

“We tightened up. I think the first half, we had some good moments but in the second half, we just tightened everything up. We started to get a few more stops. The end of the ball movement was turning into points. We kept trusting each other and we made more shots. It was good energy in the game. We got something from a lot of guys. When we get those types of efforts from so many different people, we’re going to get this type of result.”


You’ve taken fewer shots in the first half of games lately and feeling out games – did you have the maturity/patience earlier in your career?

“I wouldn’t say it’s maturity. I think it’s just understanding – you know, trying to help CJ get going, Nurk’s been rolling, allowing him to keep doing that, Seth’s been making – just playing the game honest. I think that our past few games haven’t been against –well outside of OKC and the Rockets – it hasn’t been like we had a stretch we played against all playoff teams, teams in the playoffs and not looking down at any of our past few opponents, but they’ve been teams that we’ve been able to get things that we might not have been able to get against those other teams because you’re so familiar with them, their style. So I’ve just been kind of letting the game happen, just making the right plays and guys have been playing really well.”


Are those your calls or is it just reads?

“Mostly when I’m on the floor, I make most of the calls. I’m looking at the coverages that I’m seeing – how they’re guarding guys, what we can do to take advantage of it, and that’s what I’m calling. Just trying to put them in bad positions. I know there’s going to be games I’m going to have to go out there and be more aggressive and make more happen, but you’ve got to recognize those situations. When it’s not necessary, it’s tough to do that all the time so when you don’t have to, you can manipulate the game and control the game other ways, I think it’s necessary to do that.”


On Kemba Walker and Hornets coming in Friday:

“I love Kemba’s game. He’s been having his best year this year. He’s been really aggressive, really leading their team. They’ve had to fight for every win they have and he’s been a huge part of that. Just like every night at my position, it’s going to be another tough night.”


What did you think of bench tonight?

“We had a lot of guys come in and play well. It’s good to get guys feeling good about themselves and playing confident and going out there and doing it in the game. The more we can get those types of efforts out of guys and have guys believing that they could do it, the better off we’ll be as a group.”

 

[SlyPokerDog]

HEAD COACH JIM BOYLEN

On the game

“We didn’t have the grit that we needed on the defensive end. We gave up two big offensive rebounds in the third quarter that I thought kind of turned the game and gave the Blazers some light. I thought we did a pretty good job on [Damian] Lillard and not a very good job on [CJ] McCollum. I told the team, ‘I’m not discouraged.’ We did a lot of good things and I thought our pace was better. It felt like we had our chests out and that we played the right way.”

On Zach Collins’ two offensive rebounds in the third quarter

“That’s in-game failure. We have to be a defensive team, we talk about defensive rebounding, our transition defense and pass quality. First half, we had poor pass quality and too many turnovers and in the second half, we didn’t rebound the ball and we didn’t guard. The Blazers are going to score some, but I think 124 is too much.”

On lulls in the third quarter

“Mentally, that beats us down… I think that happens in an NBA game, you go through a drought, or maybe you make all the right plays and the ball doesn’t go in or maybe you don’t make any of the right plays and the ball does go in. That happens in our league. What I don’t like is the effort things that we control, the physicality things, when we lose on those.”

 

[SlyPokerDog]

WENDELL CARTER JR.

On getting more chances to touch the ball tonight than in recent games:

“Just demanding the ball…all my teammates know I’m a very unselfish player, I’m never going to take bad shots…just me touching the ball is going to keep me engaged…especially on the defensive end, if I just touch the ball, I don’t have to put it up towards the rim at all, just me touching the ball each possession, it feels good.”

On taking three-point shots more often recently:

“Yeah, for sure, just taking them when I’m open…not necessarily looking for them, searching for threes, but if I’m open and I’ve got the green light from my coaches, then I’ll take it.”

On using his developing three-point shot against opposing big men:

“That’s something I want to build on, just being more comfortable stretching out other players, and then being able to drive by once they respect it. I’ve been practicing it before and after practices, and it feels real comfortable coming off my hand, so I definitely look forward to shooting more of them.”

On staying with the Blazers for most of the game, then losing it down the stretch:

“The rebounding and our pick-and-roll coverage wasn’t the best tonight…it was just an effort thing; we didn’t stick to the game plan that we were supposed to, but we’re learning and growing. I have no regrets with what we did as a team tonight. We learn, we move on, and we’ve got another game in two days.”

On the Bulls continuing to strengthen their defensive rotations:

“It’s just something that we have to work on as a team, being more reliable on the defensive end. I feel like all of us are pretty talented on the offensive end, so defense is where we’re struggling right now…we’re going to fix it if everybody buys in…I feel like everybody’s bought in, so I feel like we can make it work at some point.”

On the Bulls’ increased offensive pace relative to recent games:

“We’re just getting the ball up quicker, not having so many plays, but having multiple options to play, so we know we’re running as we come down the court, depending on who takes the ball out, the little things like that…we can get into things a whole lot quicker…we work on not putting your head down when they score because it’s an NBA game, we’re just trying to get answer-backs throughout the game, just trying to score.”

On playing against a physical player like Jusuf Nurkic:

“He’s a very physical, great offensive player, great defensive player…he definitely tested me tonight, and that’s what this league is about: being tested by the greats. That’s actually someone I used to look up to before I got to the league, someone who was very solid and reliable day-in and day-out. It was great being out there and going against him tonight.”

 

[Scalma]

Wendell Carter looked up to Nurkic coming into the league? Hahha he’s got a future in politics.