Exclusive GAME# 58: WARRIORS @ BLAZERS - FEBRUARY 14, 2018 - Official NBA Quote Book

[SlyPokerDog]

Postgame Notes - February 14, 2018
Portland 123, Golden State 117
Game #58 • Home Game #28

TEAM

• Portland ended a seven-game losing streak to the Warriors, beating Golden State for the first time since February 19, 2016.
• The Trail Blazers have won 10 of their last 11 games at Moda Center.
• Portland enters the All-Star break six games above .500 (32-26). The Trail Blazers were 10 games below .500 at the All-Star break last season (23-33).
• The Trail Blazers outrebouded the Warriors, 49-41, and outscored them in the paint, 44-40.
• Portland’s bench outscored its Golden State counterparts, 21-16.
• The Trail Blazers scored 27 points off of 16 Golden State turnovers while the Warriors scored 17 points off of 14 Portland turnovers.
• Portland shot 48.4% from the field (45-of-93) and 36.4% from the 3-PT line (12-of-33). Golden State shot 47.8% from the field (43-of-90) and 35.1% from the 3-PT line (13-of-37).


PLAYER

• Damian Lillard finished with 44 points (14-25 FG, 4-11 3-PT, 12-12 FT), three rebounds and eight assists. Lillard has scored at least 39 points in three consecutive games. He is the first player in franchise history to accomplish the feat, and the first player in the NBA to do so this season.
• Damian Lillard has scored a combined 133 points over the last three games, representing the highest-scoring three-game span in franchise history (119 - Roy, Dec. 12-18, 2008).
• Damian Lillard has made a three-pointer in 40 straight games. It is the third such streak of 40 or more games in a single season in team history and two games shy of Lillard’s own record (42, 11/22/16 - 3/7/17).
• Damian Lillard (12-12 FT) has made at least 10 free throws in three straight games, tying the longest streak of his career. Lillard has made 46 consecutive free throws over the last six games, eight shy of the longest streak of his career (54, March 8-24, 2016).
• CJ McCollum scored 29 points (12-26 FG, 3-8 3-PT, 2-2 FT) to go with five rebounds and two assists. McCollum has scored at least 20 points in six of the last eight games.
• Jusuf Nurkic finished with 17 points, 13 rebounds, and three assists. It was his 14th double-double of the season, which is the most double-doubles he has had in a season in his career (13, 2016-17).
• Al-Farouq Aminu recorded nine points and 11 rebounds. Aminu has pulled down double digit rebounds in three of the last five games.
• Kevin Durant scored a season-high 50 points (17-27 FG, 6-14 3-PT, 10-10 FT) to go with seven rebounds, six assists and two blocks to lead the Warriors.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS

“Great way to go into the break. It was obviously kind of a signature win for us this year so far. We knew we were going to score points to have a chance to beat them and we made a lot of good plays. Dame was terrific from the start. We withstood many of their runs, which they’re capable of doing and continued to make plays. So anyway, it was a really good win for us, a win that we definitely needed.”


Lillard has the highest scoring three-game stretch in franchise history; is it any more than him having a good run?

“I don’t know, I just know that he’s a pretty determined player. I think he’s in a really good rhythm right now. It is a really good run.”


What did you like defensively?

“We competed. I mean, we were locked in. They do so many good things offensively, sometimes it’s easy to get lost when you’re actually playing – they can score against good defense. There were things that we could have obviously done better but I thought we made them work and Kevin Durant is an outstanding offensive player and made some shots that only he can make.”


On withstanding run in the second quarter being important:

“It was. You get a 19 point lead in the first quarter against a team like Golden State, you know that’s not a safe lead. I don’t know what they cut it to before we brought Damian back in and got the offense clicking again. You’re always walking a fine line when you’re playing a team like that because of how good they are and the runs that they can make and the fact that we didn’t give in – yes, they made their runs, but it wasn’t prolonged and they didn’t put multiple runs together and we were able to withstand it.”


On McCollum making shots when you needed them:

“He did. With the way the game was on both ends, it was kind of a one-on-one skills, because so much switching and going at different matchups. The start of the fourth quarter when Damian was out, CJ made some nice plays to kind of stem the tide during that stretch, and then he hit a couple matchups later on that he was able to take advantage of.”


How do you feel about where you are heading into the break?

“We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. We’ve got a lot of teams out there fighting for playoff spots and it’s not about where we are, it’s just the next game. It’s not about where we are, it’s about where we’re headed.”

 

[SlyPokerDog]

DAMIAN LILLARD

How does this rank among your wins this season?

“It might be our best win as far as the quality of the opponent, how we started the game, how we weathered the storm, how focused we were defensively. We scored points like we need to and we had a presence on the defensive end. The crowd was excited, it was a lot of energy in the building. Going into the break, with how tight the standings are in the West, needing to come up with a big win and we came up with it, so it’s probably our best performance. If not the best, definitely top two, top three.”


How do you describe your play – biggest three game scoring stretch in career and franchise history?

“Just urgency and focus, just understanding that like I’ve said, it’s a tight race, it’s a lot of teams in the mix. You get to the point in the season where guys are fatigued physically and mentally and to be a leader of a team, you’ve got to be willing to lead the charge and not just by saying it, it has to be your actions. I feel like that’s just who I am. The strongest guys are going to survive. Right now our team is showing that we’re there mentally, not just me but every guy. We’re getting strong play from Moe, we got strong games from Nurk, strong game from CJ, Chief, Ed – I mean everybody is coming with that energy. For us to be one of those final teams, we’ve got to be able to be one of those teams that has it. Each season, it’s always a few teams that fall by the wayside and we’ve just got to make sure we’re not one of them. As a leader, I’ve got to be the guy to lead that charge.”

 

[SlyPokerDog]

HEAD COACH STEVE KERR


On what caused their slow start:

“The same thing that’s accounted for the starts we’ve had for like the last month, it’s got to matter, the game’s got to matter from the beginning and we were careless on both ends. Bad shot selection, careless with the ball, careless defensively, not getting up on shooters. I give them credit, Portland came out and they were hot right from the start but we have to be ready to play and we just weren’t.”


On their mindset:

“I thought we were in a good frame of mind. I thought we had sort of gotten past that a few days ago. I think when you have like a month straight of bad first quarter starts you can’t blame it on the All-Star break, we were doing that 30 days ago.”


On if he’s worried/disappointed for his team:

“No, no, I love where we are, I think we’re in a really good position. I loved our fight tonight, the last three quarters we fought like crazy but it’s hard when you dig yourself a 20 point hole on the road against a great offensive team and then you decide “OK we’re going to play, we’re going to play now.” No, it’s too late but I liked our fight. We’ve got some things to clean up, we have 24 games left, stretch run, I like where we are.”


On what made the difference down the stretch:

“They made some shots, we missed some shots. Sometimes it’s as simple as that. We had some looks, we had our chances, we got some good ones. We had guys who were playing their tails off the whole game but we just couldn’t quite get it done. Like I said, in a game like this you never look at ending, you look at the beginning. We were fighting like crazy, we fight from 20 points down to tie it or whatever we did, we were within one, I think, in the last couple of minutes. You can’t look at the last two minutes, you look at the first 12.”


On if being a half game behind Houston after this loss will be motivation:

“No, no, I don’t think that is something that the guys are looking at. I think it’s all about our play and whatever happens with everybody else that’s what happens. We can control our team and how we play and there are a lot of things we can do better with.”

 

[SlyPokerDog]

KEVIN DURANT


What was the end of the line in terms of this game?They made shots. They had timely shots. It seemed like every time we were closing the lead they hit a big shot. Dame made some tough ones on us. You have to give them credit. They came out and shot the ball well. They’ve been hot at home the last month, and it showed tonight.


Kerr said you have to want it, did you feel like you were going through the motions?Nah. I wouldn’t say going through the motions, but we had to have more of a sense of urgency when we’re out there playing. They were up to play us. Teams want to play us. They’re excited to paly against us. Some guys are going to have great shots, and they knocked down about 4-5 3s in that first quarter which got them going. You just have to be prepared. I think it will be good to get away.


Going into the break like this, is there any concern?Not at all. Not at all. We definitely have to be better, but we just have to be better. It’s not a panic or anything we just have to be better. We’ve got guys who work hard and want it. I’m confident that we’ll come back better and be ready for the second half of the season. Even if we lost 5 in a row, we can’t do anything about it. We just have to keep moving forward and get better. We lost this game, we have to keep growing. That’s my thing – every day try to get better.




DRAYMOND GREEN


Another rough first quarter, down 13, is that basically the game lately?Yeah. I mean, you can’t with a team like that who has so much firepower offensively. We got ourselves back in the game, but that’s a tough hole to get out of. We were right there and can’t get over the hump. It’s tough when you fight an uphill battle the whole game.


You guys went small second half, looked like you were everywhere defensively, how much are you on lock when you go small?I have to. I’d be the only rim protector. Usually when we’re small KD is flying around the perimeter, so it leave a lot of responsibility on me at the rim. It did feel good to kind of get going a little bit defensively. Kind of cause a little bit of trouble.


What do you think of Kevin tonight? Did you feel like he was trying to will you there at the end?Yeah. The whole game, even when we were struggling, he was the one who had it going for us. Keeping us in striking distance. He knocked that 3 down. Tough call. He was great for us tonight.





STEPHEN CURRY


Why do you think you guys came out so flat, especially that first quarter?Me. There’s a point in the first quarter, I had a transition off a stop and I wasn’t really paying attention to the top of the key, Aminu gets a steal and they come down and hit a 3. They build momentum off a play like that. Then, we just didn’t have much aggression in the first quarter. I guess a team that plays the way that they do, and take the shots that they take, if they’re having a good night we have to take care of the other end and have good possessions and be assertive and make them play on the defensive end and when you spot them.. whatever it was… it could have been 20, but it was 13 at the end of the first quarter. We played well after that, but that’s where you let the basketball gods decide the game at the end. Loose ball here, tough shot there so we have to be better.


What did you think of the final minutes?I mean Dame made some tough shots. CJ made some tough shots. Obviously, KD played amazing all game and kept us in it. He gave us a chance down the stretch. Obviously, the Klay 3 in the corner or KD’s game-time shot, whatever. But if you spot teams that many points in the first quarter you give yourself way to much to have to deal with with a talented team like Portland.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

 

[KingSpeed]

STEPHEN CURRY

Me. There’s a point in the first quarter, I had a transition off a stop and I wasn’t really paying attention to the top of the key, Aminu gets a steal and they come down and hit a 3. They build momentum off a play like that. Then, we just didn’t have much aggression in the first quarter. I guess a team that plays the way that they do, and take the shots that they take, if they’re having a good night we have to take care of the other end and have good possessions and be assertive and make them play on the defensive end and when you spot them.. whatever it was… it could have been 20, but it was 13 at the end of the first quarter. We played well after that, but that’s where you let the basketball gods decide the game at the end. Loose ball here, tough shot there so we have to be better.
.

Is Curry saying we take stupid shots and got lucky?

 

[SlyPokerDog]