Exclusive GAME# 48: ROCKETS @ BLAZERS - JANUARY 29, 2020 - Quote Book

[SlyPokerDog]

Postgame Notes – January 29, 2020

Portland 125, Houston 112

Game No. 48, Home Game No. 23



TEAM

• Portland shot above 50% from the field for the third straight contest. The Trail Blazers were 46-of-89 (51.7%) from the field while the Rockets shot 40-of-94 (42.6%).

• Portland outrebounded Houston 50-39, recording 50-plus rebounds for the 11th time this season.

• The Trail Blazers outscored the Rockets in the paint, 50-42.

• Portland scored at least 125 points for the fourth straight game.

• The Trail Blazers had six players score in double figures for the 10th time this season.

• Portland handed out 24 assists to Houston’s 21.


PLAYER
• With a layup at the 9:14 mark of the second quarter, Carmelo Anthony (26,073 career points) passed Kevin Garnett (26,071 career points) for 17th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. He finished with six points (2-11 FG, 2-2 FT), 13 rebounds, five assists and one steal.

• Damian Lillard recorded the first triple-double of his career, finishing with 36 points (11-21 FG, 6-12 3-PT, 8-10 FT), 10 rebounds and 11 assists. It was his sixth straight game scoring 30-plus points, marking a new franchise record.

• CJ McCollum had 22 points (9-19 FG, 1-7 3-PT, 3-7 FT), five rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks. It was the fifth time in the last six games that he scored 20-plus points.

• Trevor Ariza matched his season high in scoring from his first game in Portland (Jan. 23 vs. Dallas), finishing with 21 points (9-14 FG. 3-6 3-PT) to go with four rebounds, one assist and two steals.

• Hassan Whiteside recorded 15 points (6-9 FG, 3-4 FT), 10 rebounds and five blocks in 28 minutes. It was his 12th game with at least five blocks this season, good for the fourth-most in team history (18, Walton, 1976-77).

• Gary Trent Jr. had 10 points (3-7 FG, 2-5 3-PT, 2-2 FT), five rebounds, three assists and two steals in 26 minutes off the bench. It was his fourth time scoring in double-figures in his last five outings.

• Nassir Little had 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting (2-2 FT), two rebounds and one block in 18 minutes off the bench. It was his fourth career game in double-figures.

• Russell Westbrook paced Houston with 39 points (16-29 FG, 1-3 3-PT, 6-6 FT), 10 rebounds, six assists and two steals in 42 minutes. It was his eighth game with at least 30 points in his last nine games.

• James Harden recorded 18 points (5-18 FG, 2-8 3-PT, 6-6 FT), five rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks in 38 minutes. It was his fifth game scoring under 20 points this season.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS

On overall thoughts about the game…

“I was really proud of the way we played, especially after the poor start. That first three minutes was a rough three minutes, but we bounced back, and I thought we played good offense throughout the night, we made our runs with aggressive defense, creating some turnovers, getting out in transition. Holding (James) Harden under 20, two games in a row, is quite an accomplishment. It’s always good to get a win.”

On Damian Lillard’s first career triple double…

“I’m happy for him. He’s been playing great, I’m glad they gave him that last tip as a rebound. To be honest, I’m surprised he hasn’t had one before now. He plays an all-around game, but to get your first triple double, on national tv against a really good team, it’s pretty cool.”

On if the team is playing their best basketball…

“I think we’re playing well, we’ve played some good games, I think over our last 15 we’re 8-7. Dame’s (Damian Lillard) playing his best basketball this season, we’re kinda in a rhythm. I think Trevor (Ariza) has certainly added a lot to the roster and he’s played well in the games that he’s been here. But I don’t think you can ever get over confident, we’ve got the Lakers on Friday, and that’s why you can’t get too high or too low, but we are playing well.”

On defending James Harden and how Trevor Ariza helps the defense…

“We ran some traps at him, we did our diamond, got the ball out of his hands, that’s probably more it than anything. He scored some there at the end, we fouled him on a three, but for him to only take six free throws, and three of them were late in the game, that’s solid. Trevor knows him, he played with him, he’s able to deny him, but just getting the ball out of his hands was the biggest thing.”

On how much they ran the diamond tonight…

“I’m guessing 10-12 possessions.”

On Trevor Ariza’s overall performance…

“Trevor’s been in the league a long time. He knows his niche, he knows how to play, he makes open shots, he defends, he gets out in transitions, he finishes when he has opportunities around the basket, he just knows his role and he knows how to do it well.”

On the upcoming game against the Lakers…

“It’s probably going to be a tough night for a lot of people, it’s going to be an interesting night. It will be interesting to see how it evolves.”

On how important it was to keep the Rockets off the free throw line…

“Defensively, you transition free throw line and then three against them, and if you can limit one or two of those areas or at least you can lower their average, you have a good chance. So they got their 47 threes up, but we kept them off the line, and for the most part they didn’t get a lot in transition, so two out of three ain’t bad.”

On both coaching staffs wearing Kobes…

“Other teams around the league have been doing it as well.”

On Trevor Ariza’s contributions…

“He’s playing well. I think his effort, concentration, and focus defensively has really improved. He’s shooting the ball well, he had two or three really good looks in the fourth quarter that he missed that I thought were going in. He’s a confident shooter, and I thought the play at the beginning of the fourth quarter, they trapped us, and he just dribbled up and took a little 15 footer rather than playing tentative, so I think he’s playing very confident and we all know he can shoot.”

On Nassir Little’s performance…

“He did a good job working the baseline. Defensively he’s got room to grow, learning the league and overall personnel, but his energy and athleticism are really important, and offensively he found the open spot around the basket and was able to convert.”

 

[SlyPokerDog]

DAMIAN LILLARD

How does it feel to get the first triple double?

“It’s about time. It took eight years. I think it’s been plenty of times where I could have just kind of hunted it – I’ve been two rebounds or one assist away, but it’s just something about I never wanted to go out there and just chase it. Just growing up, my dad would just always be on my case about playing the game the right way and letting it play out how it’s supposed to play out. So that’s kind of been my approach with the triple doubles and tonight, I was close but a lot of times where I was like alright, tonight I can’t walk off the court stuck at nine with all this time and everybody was like, ‘Get one rebound, get one rebound.’ So I was like, ‘I’ma crash the offensive glass, get in position to defensive rebound’ and the last shot came off and I just jumped first and I got my hand on it and I tried to tip it in, boom.”


How did it feel to get it in a win against a good team like Houston?

“It was good. I was just playing the game. I was just making the plays that I saw, making the right passes and guys made shots. They’ve got a lot of guys – Russ is crashing in there, offensive rebounding, PJ Tucker, House – they’re all just flying in there so you’re kind of in the area just getting a body on the guy so you’re going to be in position to get more rebounds. They shoot a lot of threes, so it’s longer rebounds and it was just more out there and I was in position to get them just understanding personnel and that they’re going to shoot a lot of threes – so it just worked out.”


They went small a lot – Whiteside paid off tonight:

“They went small and we just put Whiteside on PJ Tucker because he’s a corner three point shooter, not so much on the arc so we knew that we could keep him in the paint and whenever those guys try to get downhill or get to the rim, we knew we had rim protection. So we wanted to just be up into the ball, try to get it out of James’ hands and when it got to somebody else, just be ready for the iso and knowing that we’ve got the best rim protector in the league behind us, and he did a great job.”


Does it mean anything more to get the triple double against Westbrook with his rebounding and that he’s known for that?

“I mean, not really. It was my first career triple double, it didn’t really matter who it was against. I’m just happy that it came in a win like you said, and just that it was a performance where it was needed. It wasn’t like we just came out here and blew a team out and I just benefitted from it by just getting a stat line. I think it was a kind of team effort where it was a real game and it led to a win too.”


What did you think about Ariza tonight?

“He’s huge. He’s been – since he’s been here, from the get-go, he’s been impacting our team defensively, from an experience standpoint, just being a vet and understanding and being able to change the game on the defensive end. The way he runs the floor, the way he screens, his understanding of spacing in situations on offense – it’s really helped us. It’s made a difference in our team so far.”

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Trevor Ariza

Thoughts on defending James Harden

Put as many bodies as possible, when he sees a lot of bodies the player that he is, he gets off the ball and makes the right plays and it worked for us because we got it out of his hands and got what we wanted.

Does it help that you know him and played with him?

I mean, we get to watch him every night on TV so everybody should know his tendencies. I’m definitely familiar with his game and know what he likes to do and where’s he comfortable getting the ball. We just tried taking him out of his comfort zone.

How do you think you’ve been able to come in and make an impact seamlessly?

The players. These guys here have a very high IQ and are very talented and all I have to do is catch the ball and shoot it or get the ball and put it in the basket or rebound and make simple plays.

Can you talk about how comfortable you are in a starting role? In Sacramento did you know that you were coming off the bench?

I didn’t know that, that was the role that was asked of me. I tried to do it to the best of my ability, and it didn’t work for me or for that organization. I ended up here and things are working good so far so hopefully we continue to improve and get better and I continue to learn what’s going on.

What did you think of Dame (Damian Lillard) with his first triple-double? Did you know he was close?

Yeah, I looked up and saw that he needed one rebound and it was exciting. I didn’t know it was his first one, I just thought it was another one he was going to rack up. It’s great, we had two historical nights, Melo (Carmelo Anthony) moved up (scoring list), Dame got his first triple double, it’s exciting.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

HEAD COACH MIKE D’ANTONI


Thoughts on the road trip

“It is what it is, we can’t change it. Wasn’t good and wasn’t a great road trip, but we learned some things and we just need to play better. We didn’t play great tonight, we didn’t make shots that we needed to, and they played well.


Thoughts on having so many defensive breakdowns tonight

“Well it’s because they have one of the best offensive players that just broke us down. We tried to double, tried not to double, and he’ll shoot from almost half court. (Damian) Lillard obviously and (CJ) McCollum, they’re good. We didn’t play great and we did everything about even. We fouled too much and that put them on the line. First half I think we had 14 fouls and they had one. The difference is 11 points, sometimes it’s just little stuff that we didn’t do right.”


Thoughts on the small ball lineup tonight

“Good, I thought we got a lot of open shots. Bench made them but Eric (Gordon) wasn’t on and PJ (Tucker) wasn’t on, but I don’t think the small ball hurt us. Because they kind of beat us when we weren’t there.”


Ready to get back home after being on the road for a week

Yeah, I mean it’s part of the season. They (Trail Blazers) deserved it and we ran into a good team. We didn’t play well.”


On James Harden finding his rhythm again after being trapped by opposing defenses

“I’ve never been trapped in my life. Yeah it makes it tough, that’s why they do it. We‘ve got to have depth to help him and we do.”

 

[SlyPokerDog]

RUSSELL WESTBROOK


What changed after the 1st quarter that allowed them (Trail Blazers) to get quality shots

“I think we did a good job for the most part. We gave them some open shots in the second half and they made some big runs that we couldn’t stop.”

What did you learn about this group after being on the road for a week

“It’s important, we didn’t finish the road trip out the way that we wanted to. We got to get back and be ready for Friday.”

Do you feel like the team has stepped back defensively

“No, you can’t step back. We’ve been pretty good all year long and they made some shots. They put us in positions that we need to watch film so we can get better. We will be alright.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

AUSTIN RIVERS

“The way they got going at the first quarter on and the shots they were getting, was that just a credit to an offensive team that going or were there things defensively that you would point at?”

A little bit of both, there was pretty bad miscommunication on defense tonight. We were kind of all over the place, so that’s on us. Not the coaches or anything like that. They laid out the game plan and we all have to be in unison. Tonight, I thought we just really miscommunicated things and just gave them too many easy looks. When a team gets going it’s hard to slow down that train.

On if the half-court defense tonight
This is one of those games where we’re going to have to watch film, and talk, and be honest with each other. Call out certain things, and certain guys, things that we have to work on. It’s on everybody, it’s not a cause for concern. It is one thing that we have to clean up, and we will. You have to, because the team we play next is a really good team. It doesn’t get easier on us. We’ve got to clean this up, and we have to play better basketball as a whole. The last ten games we haven’t played our best basketball. We’ve had games here and there, the Utah game, plenty of other guys, but as a unit we just have to be better, more consistent. Start putting this together.

On his three-point shooting taking off recently
I’m in a mentally good place, I really reflected on those games I missed. It gave me a chance to clear my head, focus on things I need to focus on. I was focusing and caring about things I shouldn’t. I felt like I was in my own way before those games. Sometimes you get a chance to sit down and watch the game from afar, and look at yourself in the mirror and think about the things you aren’t doing well. Things you have to do better. Stop pointing fingers. I’m coming in to each game with a clear conscience and the right mindset. Just aggressive, and it’s translating to all of this stuff, so I’ve got to keep doing it.

 

[SlyPokerDog]