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HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS
On Vonleh:
“Obviously he played really well in the second half, fourth quarter. He made some big plays. That was pretty evident. I think it took him a little while to get back into the rhythm. His first half, I think it was an adjustment for him to get back to playing at that level, but certainly he made big plays especially at the offensive end, but defensively got some rebounds. I was really happy for him. It’s been a tough month for him to be out of things and for a young man who loves to work and loves being on the court, it’s been a tough month.”
Is that as aggressive as you’ve seen him?
“Well, by virtue of the fact that Damian and CJ and all of those guys aren’t on the floor, obviously he’s getting the ball and had more opportunities, but he plays one on one – we don’t look to go to him, but in this situation we did and he delivered.”
Have you seen that from him behind the scenes?
“I think he’s gotten better, no question. He’s one of the hardest workers that we have and we’ve got a lot of hard workers. He’s put in a lot of time. Again, last year was a year of fitting in and he did that well and I was glad that he was able to take advantage of the situation tonight.”
On group that finished the game:
“I was really happy for the five that finished the game. They made big plays. Obviously Noah carried us offensively with his baskets but defensively, they were aggressive. They rebounded, they contested shots, and I was glad that in that situation to be able to come from behind and get a win, it’s good for them.”
In general, how did this game compare to the first preseason game?
“I was disappointed. I didn’t think we played as well as we did against Utah. Offensively, I didn’t think we passed the ball as well. You’ve got to give Phoenix credit for the way that they defended. They had about eight Earl Watsons out there just getting after people and pressing up and being aggressive. You can really tell Earl has kind of made his mark with that team already and they’re going to be a handful to play throughout the season by virtue of how they play. That being said, I don’t think we adjusted quick enough to the style of play, both transition defense, penetration off the ball, one on one play. Offensively yes we did miss some shots, but I don’t think we helped each other out very much. We only had six assists at halftime, but like I said, I want to give Phoenix credit because they had something to do with that as well.”
DAMIAN LILLARD
What did you think of guys that
“I thought they did great. It was a little bit of a heated game, it was a competitive game, and those guys went in there and took the challenge. They jumped in the fire along with the rest of us that had been playing the first three quarters of the game. I was proud of what they did. They competed on both ends of the floor. We came up with big defelctions, big defensive rebounds, and we executed late in the game. We won the game getting stops and executing down the stretch.
On Vonleh:
“That was big time, but I’ve always thought highly of Noah. Even in the summer, when I talk about wanting to be the first person to get to the gym, the person that I see coming in is him. He’s always over there going through three shirts in a workout because he sweats so much. It’s fun to see him go out there, even though it’s just preseason, to go out there and play well down the stretch of the game. He’s been hurt, he couldn’t go in camp like he wanted to and he looked good out there.”
Have you seen him that aggressive?
“When he got back to practice, we kind of laughed at him a little bit and told him he had something on his mind, he had some pent up aggressive, because he was attacking the offensive glass, jumping over the top of everybody, fouling, just all over the place – and he brought that same thing tonight. Down the stretch, he played aggressive. He was bouncing around out there and he looked good.”
On importance of young players seeing veterans’ support:
“It was good because it wasn’t at the end of a blowout where – it’s like I hate when you get up by 30 and a guy make a shot, and you’re jumping up and down, I feel like that’s showing up your teammate. I was glad that we could genuinely be happy for him in a real game situation where he’s getting buckets and getting rebounds and blocking shots, situations that we need him to do it to win the game. So I was really proud of that.”
How do you feel things are coming along with the rotations?
“I think it’s coming along. I thought we did a better job in the Utah game as far as this guy handles, we want to do this, we want to do that. I think they made it harder for us to get to what we wanted to get to because of their style of play, but we had to find a way. It was a little bit rough. We didn’t move the ball as well as we did in the first game due to what they did defensively, but I was proud of the way we found a way. Guys didn’t stop playing, we just kept playing, the bigs kept sprinting into screens, we stayed aggressive and we found a way going into the fourth to have a lead.”
On Vonleh:
“Obviously he played really well in the second half, fourth quarter. He made some big plays. That was pretty evident. I think it took him a little while to get back into the rhythm. His first half, I think it was an adjustment for him to get back to playing at that level, but certainly he made big plays especially at the offensive end, but defensively got some rebounds. I was really happy for him. It’s been a tough month for him to be out of things and for a young man who loves to work and loves being on the court, it’s been a tough month.”
Is that as aggressive as you’ve seen him?
“Well, by virtue of the fact that Damian and CJ and all of those guys aren’t on the floor, obviously he’s getting the ball and had more opportunities, but he plays one on one – we don’t look to go to him, but in this situation we did and he delivered.”
Have you seen that from him behind the scenes?
“I think he’s gotten better, no question. He’s one of the hardest workers that we have and we’ve got a lot of hard workers. He’s put in a lot of time. Again, last year was a year of fitting in and he did that well and I was glad that he was able to take advantage of the situation tonight.”
On group that finished the game:
“I was really happy for the five that finished the game. They made big plays. Obviously Noah carried us offensively with his baskets but defensively, they were aggressive. They rebounded, they contested shots, and I was glad that in that situation to be able to come from behind and get a win, it’s good for them.”
In general, how did this game compare to the first preseason game?
“I was disappointed. I didn’t think we played as well as we did against Utah. Offensively, I didn’t think we passed the ball as well. You’ve got to give Phoenix credit for the way that they defended. They had about eight Earl Watsons out there just getting after people and pressing up and being aggressive. You can really tell Earl has kind of made his mark with that team already and they’re going to be a handful to play throughout the season by virtue of how they play. That being said, I don’t think we adjusted quick enough to the style of play, both transition defense, penetration off the ball, one on one play. Offensively yes we did miss some shots, but I don’t think we helped each other out very much. We only had six assists at halftime, but like I said, I want to give Phoenix credit because they had something to do with that as well.”
DAMIAN LILLARD
What did you think of guys that
“I thought they did great. It was a little bit of a heated game, it was a competitive game, and those guys went in there and took the challenge. They jumped in the fire along with the rest of us that had been playing the first three quarters of the game. I was proud of what they did. They competed on both ends of the floor. We came up with big defelctions, big defensive rebounds, and we executed late in the game. We won the game getting stops and executing down the stretch.
On Vonleh:
“That was big time, but I’ve always thought highly of Noah. Even in the summer, when I talk about wanting to be the first person to get to the gym, the person that I see coming in is him. He’s always over there going through three shirts in a workout because he sweats so much. It’s fun to see him go out there, even though it’s just preseason, to go out there and play well down the stretch of the game. He’s been hurt, he couldn’t go in camp like he wanted to and he looked good out there.”
Have you seen him that aggressive?
“When he got back to practice, we kind of laughed at him a little bit and told him he had something on his mind, he had some pent up aggressive, because he was attacking the offensive glass, jumping over the top of everybody, fouling, just all over the place – and he brought that same thing tonight. Down the stretch, he played aggressive. He was bouncing around out there and he looked good.”
On importance of young players seeing veterans’ support:
“It was good because it wasn’t at the end of a blowout where – it’s like I hate when you get up by 30 and a guy make a shot, and you’re jumping up and down, I feel like that’s showing up your teammate. I was glad that we could genuinely be happy for him in a real game situation where he’s getting buckets and getting rebounds and blocking shots, situations that we need him to do it to win the game. So I was really proud of that.”
How do you feel things are coming along with the rotations?
“I think it’s coming along. I thought we did a better job in the Utah game as far as this guy handles, we want to do this, we want to do that. I think they made it harder for us to get to what we wanted to get to because of their style of play, but we had to find a way. It was a little bit rough. We didn’t move the ball as well as we did in the first game due to what they did defensively, but I was proud of the way we found a way. Guys didn’t stop playing, we just kept playing, the bigs kept sprinting into screens, we stayed aggressive and we found a way going into the fourth to have a lead.”
