January 28, 2014
NOTES
• LaMarcus Aldridge recorded his 22nd 20-point, 10-rebound game of the season, second-most in the NBA (Kevin Love).
• With his 15th point tonight, LaMarcus Aldridge passes Cliff Robinson for third on the Trail Blazers all-time scoring list (10,406). Aldridge finished the game with 23 points, bringing his career total to 10,414 points.
• LaMarcus Aldridge scored the first nine points for the Trail Blazers. Aldridge finished the quarter with 13 points, one shy of his season high for the first quarter (14, Jan. 8 vs. Orlando).
• LaMarcus Aldridge finished the month of January with averages of 26.1 points and 13.1 rebounds in 14 games.
• Tonight marks the first loss for the Trail Blazers when holding their opponent to under 100 points (14-1).
• After shooting 0-12 from the 3-point line through the first three quarters, the Trail Blazers made four shots from beyond the arc in the fourth quarter.
• Portland was held to 81 points, their lowest point total all season and their largest loss margin all season (17).
• The Trail Blazers have been held to less than 90 points only twice this season (88 - Jan. 26 at Golden State, 81 - Jan. 28 vs. Memphis).
• Portland was held to under 40 percent shooting from the floor in consecutive nights for the first time this season (33.7 percent – Jan. 26 at Golden State, 34.5 percent – Jan. 28 vs. Memphis).
• Portland’s bench scored a season low six points tonight.
• The Memphis Grizzlies started tonight’s game on a 10-0 run. The Trail Blazers did not score until the 9:23 mark of the first quarter.
• Memphis was the final Western Conference team that the Trail Blazers had yet to face this season. Portland has yet to face Washington and Atlanta in the Eastern Conference.
On Tonight's Game:
“We just haven’t played well defensively from the start. We didn’t play well offensively throughout the game. The second half defense is what we need to come with throughout the game and the offense will find itself.”
On Getting Behind In First Half:
“We just didn’t have it for whatever reason. No excuse, we just didn’t play well enough. They came out with a sense of urgency that we didn’t match.”
On Confidence After Rough Patch:
“We’re fine. We know we weren’t going to go undefeated this season. We knew we were going to lose games. It’s just our job to minimize the losses, stop the bleeding and get back to our winning ways.”
Are You Concerned About Team After Tough 6 Game Stretch?:
“This is a rough part of our schedule right now. 8 games in 12 nights, or something like that. It’s going to happen. We’ve just got to stop the skid, stop the bleeding. We’re a confident group. We know what we can do. We know we can beat teams. If we come with the right mentality defensively, everything will work itself out.”
On Mike Conley:
“He’s a complete player. He can shoot outside, he can attack the basket, he can go left, he can go right. He’s quick. He knows the game and his team screens for him, so that makes him a tough guard.”
Terry Stotts
On Tonight's Game:
“It was a disappointing game, needless to say. We got off to a slow start. We caught a team that’s trying to put it together. They’re on a roll and they’re playing very well. They showed that in the first half. I thought defensively in the second half, we did an excellent job but the offense didn’t quite catch up with it. The hole was too big."
On Second Straight Game Scoring 12 In Third Quarter:
“Twice in two games, I don’t think that’s the sample size to say there is a theme there. We’ve been a very good third quarter team all year, so things have a tendency to work themselves out."
On Ball Movement:
“I think we can move the ball better. We’ve gotten away from the ball movement that’s important for us. We need each other to help each other particularly on the offensive end. It’s a hallmark of what’s gotten us to this point. I think it’s somewhat human nature for players to – everybody has a lot of confidence in themselves and when things are going poorly, they want to help the team. That’s where you have to trust each other even more.”
On Confidence After Rough Stretch:
“The NBA is a long season and you’re going to go through rough patches. You can’t get too high and you can’t get too low. We’ve done a great job with that throughout the year and we have to continue to do that.”
Are You Concerned About Poor Shooting:
“I’m concerned in that I’d like to be making shots, but we have too many good shooters for it to continue. We’ll get back on a hot streak. Percentages work themselves out.”
“We’ve played a lot of games lately. We’ve done a lot of traveling. No one likes to use fatigue or the schedule as an excuse, but it is a reality. We need to catch our breath, get our bodies right and be ready to play Saturday.”
Mike Conley
On Focus Of Team:
"I've been very happy with our focus in practices and shoot-arounds and preparation for the game. So, it's spilling into the first quarters, second quarters, and it's giving us a good start to games that we haven't had in the last couple months."
On Offensive Success:
"We cut hard, we moved the ball fast and we made quick decisions. I think everybody was being very unselfish. They were making plays for everybody else. When you have the ball moving like that, everybody feels involved, everybody feels like a big part of the team and the team starts to roll from there."
On What Was Talked About At Halftime:
"We had to continue to play aggressive, continue to attack the rim, continue to play defense because we knew they were going come back and make a run. They're a very good team, the best offensive team in the league, so we know they're going to make their run and we did a good job of just sticking with the game plan and sticking with the way we play."
Courtney Lee
On First Half Tonight:
"We were executing on the offensive end, but for the most part we were doing our damage on the defensive end. I think, what did they have, 48 in the first half? And then midway in the third quarter, I think they had like 53, so coach was talking about our defense. I think we took them out of a lot of things they wanted to run. I credit LaMarcus Aldridge, I mean, an all-star player, he was able to get to the sweet spot and knock down some shots, but he's the only one who had it clicking."
On Focus And Demeanor Of The Team:
"That's kind of hard for me to answer because I don't know what it was before I got here, but from being here, the demeanor and, like you said, the focus is at a high level right now. We're going into every game telling ourselves we're going to win the game. We just need to go out there and execute, like I said, on both ends and we'll get the win."
David Joerger
On Tonight's Game:
"We took their hit later in the game, but the first half we really executed well. We moved the basketball, we screened hard, we cut hard and it all looks good when the ball goes in. I mean, we made a lot of shots. In the first six minutes, we made a lot of shots. In the second six minutes in the first quarter, I thought we made shots the way we want to make shots, which is driving to the basket, but the first six minutes was fun because the ball is going in, but it was too fast. We had to just say, 'woah, woah woah, now hold on,' even if we're ahead, that's still not conducive for us for 48 minutes. We need to get back to going inside and going to the rim. I thought we did a nice job of that. We were in attack mode on both ends of the floor. Most of the night, we were the aggressors. They've had a tough stretch. They've played nine games in 13 days. So, you're catching a team that is a very potent three-point shooting team a little tired right now and we're very physical. I don't think we're a fun team to play. So, it'll be a fun couple games we get to play against them all year round."
On What Happened In Third Quarter:
"We did a nice job executing and [Zach Randolph] got cooking and just doing a nice job - we moved the basketball as well as I've seen us move the basketball, and the reason we moved it well is because guys were open. And guys were open because we screened hard, our spacing was good and we were cutting hard. The other thing is that it's a lot easier to get into offense when you get stops and you take the ball out of bounds all the time and you end up being slow and you end up walking into stuff and then we end up yelling whatever we yell at the end of the shot clock like the shot clock is running down. So it was important for us to flow into offense and flow into post ups and flow into drives. I thought Mike Conley was absolutely fantastic tonight. I thought he set the tone early, he ran guys into people, he set people up off the dribble, he got his jump shot going, he got to the basket, he dropped off, I mean, I like my guy. I won't say anything about anybody else's guy, but I love our point guard."