November 20, 2013
NOTES
• Tonight’s win was Portland’s eighth in a row – the longest winning streak for the Blazers since they rattled off 13 consecutive victories from Dec. 3-30, 2007.
• Portland's eight-game win streak is tied for the 15th-longest streak in team history and longest since 2007.
• The Trail Blazers have now won six consecutive road games, tied for the fourth-longest streak in franchise history.
• Luke Ridnour was in the starting lineup for the first time this season. The Bucks have now used eight different lineups through 10 games this season.
• Ridnour finished with a season-high 13 points. It’s his first double-figure scoring effort in a Bucks uniform since he tallied 15 in Game 5 against Atlanta in the First Round of the 2010 NBA Playoffs.
• Milwaukee’s seven free throws tonight were a season low. The Bucks were just 2-10 when making nine or fewer free throws in a game last season.
• With his 1-for-3 effort tonight, Ersan Ilyasova is now 15-of-28 (.536) from three in 10 career games against the Blazers – his best 3-point percentage against any opponent.
• Portland has now hit 10+ threes in a game six times this season, going 5-1 on those nights.
• LaMarcus Aldridge (21 points) has now scored 20+ in 10 of Portland’s 12 games this season.
On Road Game Win:
“We got a win, that’s all I’m worried about. We turned our defense up. When you take our third quarter defense and put it into the first quarter defense, maybe we could get a little bit of rest. But we played well.”
On Bucks Team:
“We shot 40 percent. We haven’t been really shooting the ball well. I don’t know how many games we shot over 45 percent, but we won a lot of games shooting under 45 percent. So it’s got to be something. We’ve played good teams, we’ve played quality teams. That team was tough. This is a tough place to play, it’s a different atmosphere. I don’t care about the big name stuff. They get paid just like we do.”
On Defense In The Second Half:
“I think we realized in the first quarter we weren’t doing a lot of things right. They were beating us to the loose ball. We came out in the second half… we had to be aggressive, defensive, ready to get on the floor, do whatever it took to secure the ball.”
Terry Stotts
On Setting The Tone For The Second Half:
“I am really pleased with our defense in the second half. Particularly the way we started the third quarter and then down the stretch in the fourth quarter. I thought we took a lot of pride in setting the tone. I thought the way we came out in the second half really set the tone for the rest of the game.”
On Making It Difficult For The Bucks:
“A lot of it was finishing plays defensively. Coming up with loose balls and getting off to a good start. In the first half, I was disappointed because there were three or four times where we had a chance to really nail down a defensive possession, and it seemed like they came up with the ball and finished a play. I thought that happened three or four times were we didn’t quite finish a play but second half we did that.”
On Being The Last Day Of A Four Game Trip:
“To finish a road trip undefeated and to do it with the defense and energy that we had the second half is great. There is no question that it was a solid win. I believe it’s the fifth game where we’ve won a game shooting under 44 percent and I think that is something we take pride in as well.”
Nate Wolters
On Tonight's Second Half Struggles:
“We could never get in a rhythm in the second half. I think we only scored 29 or 30 in the second half so that is not going to win many games. We just didn’t come out with enough energy in the third quarter.”
On Closing Out Second Half Deficits::
“We were able to do it once but we can’t dig ourselves holes, can’t be down 8 or 10 in the third or fourth quarter. When you’ve been in that [situation] all year, you basically have to play perfect down the stretch.”
On Getting Back To A More Efficient Offense:
“[We are] struggling to score because we’re not getting any easy buckets. We just got to get stops. I think we got to get out and run a little more in transition and get easy looks, because in the half court it is tough to score.”
Ekpe Udoh
On The Loss:
“We just didn’t bring the energy to start the half. We didn’t really execute as well. We lost to a good team. They’re a really good team right now.”
On Trying To Improve:
“We’ve just got to regroup tomorrow, hash some things out and be ready for Friday.”
On The Trail Blazers:
“They have a really good team. They have a bench now, so that’s a deadly team with the way LaMarcus Aldridge has been playing. They’re a good team.”
On Getting Injured Players Back:
“It’ll be good, but we’ve got to win now. We can’t wait, we’re 2-8. We can’t sit back and wait for that to happen. We’ve got to win now.”
Larry Drew
On The Loss:
“For us and this team right now the margin for error is very small, and it does not necessarily mean turnovers, it means coming out at the start of the third quarter like we did and giving up four baskets in two minutes. In the first half we did a pretty good job defensively. To go in down by two at halftime and then to come out at the start of the third quarter where we gave up four baskets right off the bat, that’s an error on our behalf. We cannot come out flat. We just never seemed to really recover after that. I thought we fought. The guys who came in off the bench did a really good job. Nate Wolters, Ersan Ilyasova, John Henson and Khris Middleton came in and gave us a big lift. Again, we cannot coast into any possession. We’re trying to dig ourselves out of a hole and the only way to do that is to play every possession like it’s going to be your last possession.”
On OJ Mayo's Ankle:
“He said he turned it. He said he stepped on somebody’s foot. We’re going to have to see how he is tomorrow.”
On Portland's Offensive Rebounds:
“We got good looks offensively and one thing I’ve always told the guys is some nights the ball is going to go in and some nights it’s not but we got to be consistent on the defensive end. To start that third quarter we weren’t.”