February 26, 2014
NOTES
• Portland’s 44-point win (124-80) is the largest margin of victory for either team in the history of the Trail Blazers-Nets series.
• The Trail Blazers complete their 10-game schedule against the Atlantic Division with a 9-1 mark (5-0 on the road).
• Two Trail Blazers scored 20 points off the bench (Barton, Williams) for the first time since Dec. 12, 2007 vs. Golden State (J. Jones, T. Outlaw).
• Portland set season bests tonight for win margin (44, was 34) and points allowed (80, was 82).
• Portland’s 18 wins against the Eastern Conference (18-4) are tied for the most by any West team this season (Dallas).
• The Trail Blazers have won at least 40 of their first 58 games for the first time since 2000-01
• Portland has recorded five winning streaks of at least four games for the first time since the 2008-09 season.
• Portland improves to 20-3 when Mo Williams scores in double digits this season.
• Portland’s 68 bench points mark a new season high (60, Dec. 14 at Philadelphia).
• The Trail Blazers have made at least 12 3-pointers in three straight games for the first time in team history.
• Victor Claver scored a career high 13 points (previously 12, set on April 1, 2013 at Utah).
• Will Barton recorded his second career double-double (20 points, 11 rebounds).
• Will Barton recorded season high in points (20, was previously 10 - set on Jan vs. Charlotte) and rebounds (11, was previously three - most recently set on Jan. 2 vs. Charlotte).
• Mo Williams registered season highs in points (21) and rebounds (6) and tied his season high in field goals made (8).
• Will Barton tied his first half career high (12 points), which was previously set on April 12, 2013 vs. Oklahoma City.
• The Trail Blazers held the Nets to only 34 points in the first half, the fewest points allowed by Portland in the first half of a game this season (previous was 38 on Nov. 9 at Sacramento).
• Portland scored 11 unanswered points in the final 2:39 of the first half.
• The Trail Blazers closed the first quarter with a 14-4 run in the final 2:54.
On Playing And Finding Success With Injuries And New Lineups:
“This point of the season right now, you want to keep getting better. You want to keep reaching to a point where when the playoffs hit, you’re playing at your best. It’s kind of a gift and a curse, to hit the injury bug at the time that we did in the curse way, but in the gift way, it’s giving people an opportunity to play and get real game reps which is something you can’t simulate in practice. You never know what’s going to happen at point in the season, so for people to already have confidence that they can play and for us to be able to play with a bunch of different lineups that we haven’t done even in practice before – and win – is a good thing.”
On Key To Taking Control Tonight:
“Defense. Our defense was tough. We played with a sense of urgency, a sense of purpose. It just kind of deflated them.”
On Playing So Loose With New Lineups:
“We don’t have anything to lose. We look like an AAU team out there. We don’t have any size other than RoLo. No one is playing their true positions and we don’t have nothing to lose. We’re just playing off of ball movement, off of chemistry and it’s working for us. It’s only going to benefit us later.”
On Not Having To Carry A Big Load Offensively:
“It was great. Guys came in – this wasn’t the first game that they came in ready and really stepped up for us. Will came in and flirted with a triple double. Same thing with Mo. Vic played a great game. Everybody kind of came in and played a great game. It wasn’t necessary for me to have to do a whole lot so it was good to get the rest and I’m excited we won the game.”
On Playing So Loose With New Lineups And Guys Out:
“I think as we’ve been really spacing the floor and moving the ball, playing that way has made it easy for a lot of guys who haven’t been in the rotation for most of the season. We’re just swinging the ball and attacking and playing aggressive. It’s easy for us to play that way. We really started to click that way.”
Terry Stotts
On Tonight's Game:
“Well, I didn’t see that coming. It was a good effort by everbody who played. I thought really the turning point in the game was the second group at the end of the first quarter – Mo, CJ, Will, Victor and Wes, they really picked up the energy, got aggressive. We were undersized but we did a lot of good things during that stretch. We were able to just keep going from there, but I thought that group really did an important job for us in the first half.”
On Rebounding Better Than Last Night In Denver:
“Denver is an exceptional rebounding team and that’s their strength. I don’t know how many shots they missed in Denver, they missed 65, 70 shots so there were a lot of rebounds to be had by both teams. I would have liked to have gotten a few more, but tonight, Brooklyn is not necessarily a strong offensive rebounding team, but the fact that they only had 1 offensive rebound at half was important. I liked the fact that I think at halftime, we had five or six guys with three oir more rebounds. So it was everybody who was conscious of having to rebound the ball. I thought last night in Denver was a good lesson for us playing with this lineup, with a shorter lineup.”
On Claver's Play:
“Victor’s very smart and defensively, very rarely does he make a mistake. He’s in the right place at the right time. He’s very alert to what’s going on and he sees the game. Obviously, I thought Victor had a terrific game. There weren’t too many guys who didn’t have a terrific game tonight.”
On Opportunity To See And Get Confidence In Small Lineup:
“I think it’s kind of been a mixed blessing as far as being forced to play this lineup. We hadn’t played it much and when we did before LA got hurt, it really wasn’t outstanding because we hadn’t played it much and it required a different mindset. The fact that playing Dorell at four and Nic at four, it’s opening up the court a little bit. This was really the first game that that lineup has been really good offensively. Surprisingly, that lineup has been better defensively than it has offensively, so it’s something that in the future, if we need to go to it we can and feel comfortable about it.”
Shaun Livingston
On What He Thinks Needed To Be Better Tonight:
"We have to compete better. I mean, you give them credit, they hit a lot of threes, a lot of shots, but we had too many defensive breakdowns and let them get easy lay-ups. Once they get easy lay-ups, guys start feeling good about their game and start hitting shots that maybe they wouldn't hit."
On Where Defensive Breakdowns Occurred:
"Everywhere, everywhere. I mean, you see they were talking about trying to stop the bleeding, but there was just no, there was really no answer. There was no flow, no continuity from any of us. So, we all have to take responsibility for tonight."
Paul Pierce
On Tonight's Game:
"We lose like this, it's just a complete lack of focus. I mean, no way against any NBA team we should lose should lose by 40 with the guys we got. So, I just say that's a complete lack of focus and that's all I can really say. We just didn't show up tonight."
On The Circumstances Tonight With Aldridge Injured And A Break From Games Since Saturday:
"We could have played against the Eastern Conference All Stars, we shouldn't lose by 40 regardless of who's out there, even if they're missing their best players. I don't know if it's just one of those nights, but at this point in the season, second half of the season with so many games left, there's no way we should come out and play this way."
Jason Kidd
On What Attributed Most To The Loss Tonight:
"Our energy, on the offensive end we didn't make shots and we kind of felt sorry for ourselves, which carried over to the defensive end and we didn't get stops."
On Heavy Use Of Bench In The Second-Half:
“The guys at the end played hard. I had them out there for 18 minutes straight, so those guys competed. Again, on a long road trip, you might have a game like this. You don't want to, but it happens. So, we have to get ready, put this one behind us and get ready for Denver.”
On The Long Break For Recovery Having Not Played Since Saturday:
"It's not a long break. For us, we had a good practice yesterday. This is the NBA, games like this happen."
On Difficulty Rebounding Tonight:
“Well, that's just one of the things that we are trying to address. By team rebounding, there are going to be nights where we are kind of doubled up on rebounding. If we don't get active with our hands and get steals, that's been a problem all season. Nothing has changed."