January 4, 2014
NOTES
• The Trail Blazers were outscored by 28 points (64-36) in the paint tonight.
• Half of the Trail Blazers’ losses are by 2 points or less.
• Tonight’s loss is only the second time all season that the Trail Blazers have lost when leading the game coming into the fourth quarter.
• LaMarcus Aldridge is the only NBA player to record at least 29 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks in a game this season.
• Robin Lopez recorded a career-high nine offensive rebounds.
• Nicolas Batum recorded his first double-double of the season tonight with 10 rebounds and 10 assist (recorded a triple-double on Nov. 2 against San Antonio).
• Tonight marks the first game this season that Nicolas Batum did not make a 3-pointer. Prior to tonight, Batum had made at least one 3-pointer in 33 straight games, tied for the second-longest streak in team history.
• Portland grabbed rebounds tonight, the most in a regulation game this season (recorded 60 in the OT game against the Clippers on 12/26). Three players totaled double-digit rebounds for the Trail Blazers (Lopez – 15, Aldridge – 14, Batum – 10).
• The Trail Blazers only shot 13.6 percent (3-for-22) from the 3-point line tonight, their lowest 3-point percentage and 3-point total of the season.
• Robin Lopez’s 10 games with at least six offensive rebounds are the third most in the NBA (A. Drummond – 16, D. Jordan – 11).
• LaMarcus Aldridge had a season high five blocks tonight, his previous high this season was three (12/15 at Detroit and 11/25 at Golden State). Aldridge had three blocks in the third quarter of tonight’s game.
• The Trail Blazers outrebounded the 76ers 18-8 in the third quarter (6-1 on the offensive glass).
• Nicolas Batum has recorded at least seven rebounds and seven assists for the eighth time this year, second in the NBA to LeBron Lames (11).
• Portland went on an 11-2 run from 5:09 to 2:56 in the second quarter to create the first tie of the game (47-47).
• With his sixth point tonight, LaMarcus Aldridge passed Jerome Kersey to become the fourth-leading scorer in Trail Blazers history (10,068).
• The 76ers made their first six straight shots and opened the game on a 20-4 lead.
• Thaddeus Young tied a season high 30 points tonight.
On Tonight's Game:
“It was us. We gave that game away from the start. We did a good job battling back. We played our style, our brand of basketball for three quarters. Unfortunately, we gave up entirely too many in the first. It gave them confidence to make some plays that they probably wouldn’t ordinarily have made in that stretch.”
On Tough Night Offensively:
“We were just missing shots. We got looks that we wanted to. We just didn’t make them this time.”
On Giving 76ers Confidence With Slow Start:
“Every team in this league is talented. They can play. They have guys on that end that are hungry. They’re playing well. This is now four straight that they’ve won on their road trip. They came in with some confidence. They came in with a chip from our first meeting. Any time you give a team a little bit of life, it’s going to be a game. Unfortunately, our offense couldn’t bail us out again.”
On Tough Night Offensively:
“We didn’t make shots. We still fought defensively to be in the game at the end. Our shots just didn’t fall for us late.”
Was It As Simple As Shots Not Falling?:
“It was just one of those nights. We all had great looks. I had open looks all night. I missed shots. I thought guys had open looks, we just didn’t make shots tonight. You have nights like that. Our defense kept us in the game. Then late, we didn’t do all of the things we should – offensive rebounds and things like that.”
On Overcoming Slow Start To Takes Lead And Be In The Game At The End:
“Yeah but no moral victories. We don’t want to be in the game, we want to win. We fought threw starting slow and not being good defensively in the first half of the first quarter, and then we played better defensively for the rest of the game but our offense didn’t come through for us.”
Terry Stotts
On Tonight's Game:
“We had chances to win it and we didn’t quite make enough plays in the fourth quarter. It was a tough loss. I thought we competed well defensively on the whole. Obviously, we got off to a poor start defensively, but for the game, it was a good defensive game. We just couldn’t quite get over the hump offensively, especially in the fourth quarter”
On Falling Behind Early:
“They pushed it, they made shots, they got a trail-three, they got to the rim. But we responded pretty well to it.”
Evaluating Performance Tonight:
“After getting down early, I thought defensively we really competed. I thought we had a lot of good looks offensively. We had our threes, we had shots in the paint, we had offensive rebounds, we had transitions. But it was one night I think our offense kind of let us down. We didn’t shoot the ball as well as we’d like. We had turnovers. I thought we kept competing. The shots in the paint were there, we just couldn’t quite come up with the finishes.
“It’s easier to look at the start, getting down whatever we got down, but we recovered from that. They’re a good team. They’re a scrambling team, they play hard, they have a lot of energy, they push the ball. It was probably our highest possession game of the season. They keep coming at you. So I give them credit. They scrambled and chased us off the line, but in the end, I don’t think we made enough shots.”
Were You Happy With The Shots You Got?:
“It’s not like we took a lot [of threes]. 22 is a moderate number. I don’t know if any of them were end of quarters or whatever, but I thought we had good looks at threes. We missed some shots on the perimeter and we missed some shots in the paint.”
Spencer Hawes
On The Win To End The Road Trip:
"It's a testament to the guys in here and kind of the resiliency effort going on after Christmas, being able to recharge the batteries, recharge the mind a little bit and come out, especially after how we played - I personally don't think we played very well in that Phoenix game - but bounced back and momentum is a crazy thing. Once you get it, you can't let it go. We have it right now, so we have to keep rolling with it."
On The Defensive End Tonight:
"Especially after how they did us last game, we made a couple adjustments. Pick and roll coverage, I think, was big, trying to cut off that water and stay out of rotations and coach has been working behind the scenes trying to figure out that three-point thing. I think on this trip, we finally got a hold of it."
On The Clutch Free Throws At The End Of The Game:
"That's a situation you want to be in. To have the opportunity to put away a game or try and put your team in a position to get a big win on the road. [Evan Turner] stepped up after me and knocked them down and we got a couple stops, so that's the formula."
Brett Brown
On Tonight's Game:
"What do you say? I give the guys so much credit for fixing the thing that we were so poor at when we played them the last time. It starts and ends with our defense and then you get a little bit more specific and you look at the three-point line, which we dumped so much of our heart and soul into trying to guard. We did that. To come up here and beat this team on their home court - this is a hard venue. I've come up here many, many times and gone home a loser many, many times. It's just one of those venues like Golden State where it's intimidating, it's loud, and they're well coached and they have an excellent team so, you weigh it all up, it's a real satisfying win."
On What Helped The Team Win Tonight:
"We could've got deflated several times. I thought we started the game with a little bit of a swagger, I thought that we shared the ball well and ran out of it. In the middle two periods, I give Portland credit. Their defense picked up. We said from the start that we wanted to come into the season with just a very high fitness base and I give my strength and condition coaches all the credit - and the athletes credit - the guys came in in extraordinary shape and I think that that has served us well in trying to run and play multiple games in short periods of time. For all of those reasons, we leave the west coast proud of their efforts, proud of our efforts."
On Summing Up The Road Trip:
"It's a team that's growing. I think it's a team that's slowly finding an identity in regards to defense. We've always had an identity with pace on offense, but we're slowly finding our identity in defense within ourselves. We know we have a long ways to go, but I think once everybody just sort of admitted we have a problem that we have to fix and nothing good is going to happen unless we address it and fix it as a group we're going to get it done defensively, I felt like we saw the light and we kept moving and I attribute this west coast trip to that solely."