Exclusive PLAYOFFS: ROUND 1, GAME 4: WARRIORS @ BLAZERS - 4/24/17 - Quote Book

[SlyPokerDog]

HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS

How would you describe the first quarter?

“It was kind of indescribable really. Look, they came out really energized, focused. I mean they showed their championship pedigree and we were slow to react to it and we just couldn’t get it going. We didn’t play nearly as well as we needed to and they showed why they’re a championship team.”


Were the guys exhausted tonight?

“I don’t know about exhausted, certainly a slow start. It’s hard to be exhausted in the first quarter. It’s playoff basketball and I don’t know if we let up after having a good game in game three, it’s hard to say but I think it’s much more about them and how good they are. Obviously we didn’t play as well as we needed to but I wouldn’t use that as an excuse.”


What can you say about Lillard tonight?

“Damian competed. I think he showed today what makes him a special player. He never stopped competing. One of his best attributes is his will and his will power. I thought that showed tonight. We needed him, he kept battling and when things weren’t going well, things eventually turned around in large part because of him.”


Thoughts on season and second half of season:

“I’m sure we’ll evaluate this season but this was a roller coaster for us from day one. It’s been an up and down season, frustrating in some ways, but I think, as I told the team, what I’ll remember most about this team is how we competed after the All Star break to make the playoffs. That showed a lot of character and I was very proud of the way we competed and made the effort to make the playoffs. It’s a bad way to end the season, it usually is in the playoffs, but when I look back on this season that’s what I’m going to remember most is how we came back since the All Star break.”


On Warriors championship pedigree and comparing to recent playoff matchups against Warriors and Spurs:

“It’ll be ultimately decided in the playoffs. Last year they won 72, 73 games, so I would have said the same thing last year. Ultimately Golden State will be decided by how they fare in the playoffs and if they win a championship. That being said, I think they’re better than they were last year, I think they’re more versatile, I think they’re more explosive offensively, I think they’re playing with a purpose considering what happened last year. So they’re formidable and it’s going to take a great series for anybody to beat them.”


What about McGee gave you problems this series?

“With all due respect to JaVale, he was the recipient of a lot of good passes and playmaking. He has a talent to finish around the basket and if we didn’t keep our man in front of us, if we didn’t do the right coverage on a pick and roll, if he got out in transition, he was the recipient of some good passes. To his credit, he’s an athletic big man who can finish around the basket. He complements the other players on the roster really well because you have to account for him around the basket and you certainly have to account for the other guys all over the court.”


On looking forward to next season:

“Well I think it’s a little too early to talk about next season right now. We’re a relatively young team, I think we’re the youngest team in the playoffs. This was a good experience to understand playing against a team like Golden State. Neil has done an outstanding job with the roster every offseason and I’m sure, obviously there are always changes going from one season to the next, but a lot of our growth is going to have to be internal. The players on the roster now need to continue to get better as they have.”

 

[SlyPokerDog]

DAMIAN LILLARD

How do you view the season as a whole?

“The way it ended was frustrating but I think we could take a lot from our experience this year. I Thought iw as an up and down year. It wasn’t the season we came in thinking we were going to have. We had the opportunity to give up and just accept the fact that we were 11 games under .500, we haven’t played how we wanted to play this year, but I think we showed our true character as a group and fought and gave ourselves an opportunity that a lot of teams didn’t get which is to play in the postseason. We had a tough draw, the best team in the league. I felt good about it, I thought we played them well a lot of times in our last ten matchups. I felt like we played them really well but they also showed their championship pedigree. When you can’t sustain that mental focus for 48 minutes, five minutes and you’re down 25 points. We’ve seen that a number of times. It happened against us. In game 2 it happened. Game 3 we built up a lead and had a little bit of slippage and they did it again. Tonight they jumped on us. Like I said, I’m proud of what we showed in the regular season and gave ourselves a chance but looking at the way this first round went, I think it’s obvious that we need to go back and get better individually and come back ready next year and put it together better as a group. You never want to go out like we just did and it’s disappointing.”


On being a young playoff team:

“Being young, fine. You can use that however you want to but it’s no excuses. You’re an NBA player and we’re an NBA team. In the NBA, anything can happen on any given night. When you get in the playoffs, you play against a team like them and you’ve got to have your mind right. A lot of slippage that we had, it didn’t have to do with us being young. We’ve been young all year. We’ve had plenty of experience and plenty of time to figure it out. We played them 10 times this year including preseason and they haven’t changed. So at some point mentally you got to be aware of what they do, how they play, what guys like to do and use that to your advantage. That’s what you do as a basketball player and as a professional, you have that level of understanding. Ours just wasn’t good enough in this series but being young and people saying that, that’s overrated. That’s an excuse.”


On playing first 3.5 quarters tonight and mindset:

“I didn’t even know that coach was going to do it but at shootaround, I said that we need to come out and have some pride, we’ve got to fight to the finish. They jumped on us. I’ve watched them play enough – it seems like every game they play this year has been on TV and I’ve seen them have huge leads and teams just keep on coming and coming. The way they play is so fast paced, taking transition threes and cutting, they’ll allow you to get back into the game. So when we got down 20, I know that we can run off points quick. I know that I can get hot, CJ can get hot, our crowd gets into it and things go in your favor that way. So I felt that if we put together a good run, we could get back into the game. Plus, this is all we have. Regardless of what the score is, this is our season right here. So I wasn’t going to go out there and just lay down because of how the game started. I was going to compete until I wasn’t on the floor no more. Coach left me in and I gave it what I had. They just had the better team, they had the better night.”


How excited are you about having a healthy Nurkic and time to work preseason?

“I think everybody is really excited about Nurk, having that post presence, a guy we can throw the ball on the block to and him being able to score and make plays. And also his confidence is really high. I think to win in this league you have to have guys who have true confidence. I think he’s a guy who has that. He just brings something to our team that we didn’t have, a swagger that he has, he’s really impacted our team so I’m excited about moving forward with him and getting on him this summer, making sure he’s working. He had a great run with us, it was 19 games and he’s young, just making sure he understands you had a great stretch but that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen just because it happened one time. It’s a long year. He has to be ready for it because we want to be a championship team and you’ve got to go through this. For him, he has to understand how important he is to that and I think he does. So to answer your question, I’m really excited about having him going forward.”


Do you look at playing Warriors as a barometer?

“They’re a championship team. Watching them and playing against them, it’s obvious. They’re very consistent, whether they’re up or down they just continue to play. They continue to be who they are, they play loose, they play together, they have a great understanding of how to play the game. That’s hard to play against when you have that with the talent that they have. For us, we look at them and you don’t want to say do what they do, but you want to have that cohesiveness and that understanding and that effortless flow to the game. You want to have that and that trust that they have with each other, you want to have that with your team. And you also have to understand that if you ever want to get out the West, you’re going to have to go through them. I understand that’s what it is. It’s always been that way in the NBA. I think about when the Pistons was just beating up on Jordan and was kicking his butt every year and he had to get through them if he wanted to get to where he wanted to get to. That’s just what it is because they’re going to be there, they’re going to be there every year and we have to look at that and understand that we have to be better, we have to go get better and come back better as a group if we want to move past them.”

 

[SlyPokerDog]

ACTING HEAD COACH MIKE BROWN

Have you been a part of an avalanche like that first quarter?

“No, that was unbelievable. Our guys were locked in on both ends of the floor. I wish I could say this one thing or that one thing was really good but everything that we tried to do, we tried to do it at a high level and it worked. Our guys, give them a lot of credit for coming in with the focus that they did. That was fun to watch, fun to be a part of.”


Was that because of you? What do you think it was? Why did it click so much?

“I don’t know if I’ve ever been around a group like this. I’ve said before, Steve has done a fantastic job – not a great job but a fantastic job of laying the foundation here on both sides of the floor, culturally, and our guys appreciate the ownership that they have. They were just locked in, they were focused and that’s what they’re more than capable of doing. Now to sustain that for 48 minutes in the NBA is tough because everybody is good and everybody is going to go on a run, but our group, if there’s any group out here, they’re capable of doing that because of who they are and the foundation that Steve has laid.”


Do you think there was any mindset in the locker room to prove chemistry is there with Durant and Curry?

“Maybe, I don’t know. They don’t talk about that out loud. Possibly. Knowing that group, they just want to do it the right way no matter who’s on the floor. It seems like throughout the course of the year, when we’ve had guys that are injured or whatever, we’ve had somebody else step up and it seems like it’s been different guys stepping up at different times. So I think more than anything else when you give a group like that ownership of the process, they just want to do things the right way no matter who’s on the floor.”


Did you have a feel or vibe before the game?

“I was talking to somebody about that earlier in the day and in the past, you kind of read your team and you feel if your team is serious and you’re kind of walking around, locked in and focused or whatever. You have a good shootaround, a nice sweat. We didn’t have one tonight. This team is just on a different level. They can be loose. They can crack jokes before the game, they can crack jokes during shootaround with one another, about one another and they can go out and do that. I think the biggest thing is just whatever’s happing at that particular time in the locker room before the game, just enjoy the moment, understand what our jobs are and go out and try to do them. But in terms of trying to read these guys, at least I know I can’t. Steve may be able to but I can’t.”


Will this week off before next series be good for this team?

“Yes. In the past, I’ve been in this situation before as a head coach and certain teams, certain guys you worry about having this much time off. But I truly think it’s good for this group. So for us to be able to come in here this weekend and close the series out in four games knowing that the other series is at 2-2, I think can be beneficial for our group going forward.”

 

[SlyPokerDog]

KEVIN DURANT

On testing his body out early:

“Yeah that was the plan, just go out there and be me. We got off to a great start, felt good to be out there with the team.”


On if he sensed the type of game they were going to have beforehand:

“Not really but we knew we needed to throw the first punch. We knew it overwhelmed them a bit, especially knowing we were up 3-0 in the series and we knew we wanted to make the first punch. Klay [Thompson] got us going, getting to the free throw line on the first play and I think that’s always huge when you get aggressive on the first play. He made a great move that kind of got us going again. We cruise on from there but you have to give credit to the Blazers, they made it tough on us all series. Those two guards that they have are some of the best that I’ve seen in a long time, they’re well coached and this arena is amazing so you have to give them credit all season for fighting their way back and getting into the playoffs. It was a fun series to play against them.”


On the positivity of Steve Kerr still being involved with the team:

“We’re all thinking about coach and wishing that he gets better. You can tell he’s kind if forcing his way into being around and he wants to be around the team but you can tell he’s still hurting a bit. That’s just how unselfish he is and he always thinks about the group. I think he should be a bit more selfish with his time and his body but he wants to be around the group, I’m glad we got hear his voice in the locker room and practice and stuff like that. Just hoping that he gets better, praying that he gets better and we all have his back. Coach [Mike] Brown and the rest of the coaching staff did a great job filling in for him.”

 

[SlyPokerDog]

STEPH CURRY

On why Golden State clicked early:

“There was a sense of urgency. Obviously the opportunity to close a series out and there was a nice energy to us before the game, kind of loose, but focused. It showed in the first six minutes that we could, hopefully, establish ourselves and continue the momentum that we built in the series. Our defensive intensity and focus was the reason we got it done tonight. In the first (quarter) we didn’t let them score for a while and we turned our defense into offense. It was a fun way to play and close out the series.”

On having Kevin Durant back:

“He’s obviously a big part of what we do and when we can have everybody back and effective on the floor, we’re obviously a better team. I think we need his presence as we go through the playoffs, for him to get a rhythm, get his feet under him. He’s kind of been in and out of the lineup the last month and a half, so I know it’s big for him to get out there and show some energy for us and feel good about his body. The rest of the play kind of took care of itself.”

On if Steve Kerr talked to the team before or after the game:

“He mentioned something after tonight about where we are in our journey. One series down and obviously playing a great Portland team, who had an amazing season and finished out the regular season strong to even just get in the playoffs. Commended them on what they were about. Us taking care of our responsibilities in this series and doing what we did. Now we have a little bit of rest and we’re looking forward to who we’re going to play in the next round, but just understand the perspective of what we’ve just accomplished and what we have in front of us. This is one step in the journey.”

On what created their sense of urgency:

“We had an opportunity to close the series out. You don’t want to let go of the rope or give the other team any kind of confidence or momentum. We did a great job of putting ourselves in a great position coming into game four with an opportunity to move onto the next round. I think the way that we showed up in the first quarter said a lot about our mindset and focus. We’ve got to keep that up and understand that the way that we played tonight on both ends of the floor is a great recipe for success down the road. Moving the ball, swarming on defense, turning defense into easy offense and using all the talent that we have on the floor.”

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Postgame Notes - April 24, 2017
Golden State 128, Portland 103
Round 1 • Game 4

TEAM
• Portland’s bench outscored Golden State’s bench, 54-31, and outrebounded them, 27-20.
• The Trail Blazers’ bench made 10 3-pointers (of 22).
• This series is only the second time the Trail Blazers have been swept in a best-of-seven playoff series (1999 Western Conference Finals against San Antonio).
• With 45 points in the first quarter, the Warriors tied the NBA record for most points scored in the first quarter of a playoff game.
• The Warriors advance to the Western Conference Semifinals for the third consecutive year and the fourth time in the last five seasons.

PLAYER
• Damian Lillard has scored 762 points in his postseason career (34 tonight), moving him into eigth place on the Trail Blazers playoff career scoring list.
• Damian Lillard’s 27.8 points per game are the third most by a Trail Blazer in a single postseason (Bates - 28.3, 1981; Vandeweghe - 28.0, 1986).
• Damian Lillard (34 points) has 10 postseason games of 30 or more points in his career, second most in Trail Blazers history (Clyde Drexler, 14).
• Al-Farouq Aminu scored 25 points, the second highest scoring total of his postseason career (30, 4/25/16 vs. L.A. Clippers).
• With 25 points off the bench, Al-Farouq Aminu scored the most points for a Trail Blazers reserve in the playoffs since CJ McCollum scored 33 points on April 29, 2015 at Memphis.
• Noah Vonleh finished with 14 rebounds, the most by a Trail Blazers reserve in the playoffs since Jerome Kersey (14, 5/7/93 at San Antonio).
• Shabazz Napier scored a postseason career-high 14 points (10, 4/19/17 at GSW).