HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS“Certainly that was a game that we could have, should have won. We played some very good basketball. Give the Clippers credit, they made a lot of shots in the second half, shot the ball well from the three, shot the midrange well, we kept them away from the rim and we scored more points in the paint than they did, but ultimately they made a lot of shots. We probably could have defended a little bit better, but we kept them out of the paint and Chris Paul had a terrific game. Both halves – 16 and 10 in the first half and 25 and 7 in the second half – he had two games in one.”
How did you feel the team handled the game after flagrant foul was called on Kaman?“Well, it’s easy to say we didn’t handle it very well, but I would probably say more that the Clippers really picked up their aggressiveness. Again, they made a lot of shots, a lot of shots outside the paint. Part of our defense is to force contested midrange shots, which we did, and they had a lot of guys shoot the three very well. Blake Griffin had 8 threes on the season and he made 2 tonight. Sometimes those things happen.”
On tough loss:“Look, you hate losing game. You hate losing at home and you hate losing to a team that you might see in the playoffs. There’s a lot of things not to be happy about tonight. But, we were very competitive as were they. All four games with the Clippers have come down to the last couple minutes. That’s part of the NBA. You don’t like dropping games at home, but sometimes you do.”
LAMARCUS ALDRIDGEOn what changed to lose lead:“We started out aggressive and making them react to us. I thought the second half, they turned it up and we really didn’t turn up our intensity too. Second half, I thought they were the aggressive team and we were trying to find our rhythm. So it’s a learning process and you live and you learn, but we know we played better in the first half and they outplayed us in the second half.”
On Clippers changing defense on you and making it more difficult:“They were digging and I couldn’t get to the middle on my jump hook. They tried to force me out and just try to keep guys in my lap the whole second half, so I really didn’t feel comfortable trying to go to the rim.”
On losing after having 19 point lead:“Of course it’s awlays hard to lose one that you had control of, but I think at this point of the season you try to live and learn from it, watch film and see the things that we could have done better in the second half.”
On potentially facing Clippers in the playoffs:“Playoffs is different. This is the regular season. I think everybody goes to a different level in the playoffs, so you can’t compare what happens now to the playoffs.”
ARRON AFFLALO“I just thought they played with a lot of intensity in the third quarter. They made a run, we made another run back, but then they made another one in the fourth quarter. They did what they had to do to win.”
On defense:“Chris Paul played well obviously and JJ made shots. They didn’t do anything out of the ordinary.”
On losing game after being 19:“We were up whatever we were up, but you have to be able to maintain that.”
HEAD COACH DOC RIVERSOn if Chris Kaman’s shove was the greatest thing to happen in the game:“It didn’t hurt, but CP (Chris Paul) already had it going before that to be honest. That just brought more energy into the game. When you’re lacking energy, you’re just looking for anything. Little plays like that can help you, or they can do you in too. You never know how that’s going to go. I was happy how we responded after that.”
On being down 19 points and giving up 68 points:“I was fine, but I didn’t want to give up 68…My whole thought was get through the half. Stay in striking distance. Third quarter, once we got it under the ten mark, we felt good. They got it back up again. I thought our bench tonight, it’s funny they didn’t have a lot of points tonight but they stayed on the floor. I think CP came back in with seven minutes left. That was huge for us. I felt, to me that may be the difference in the game because [if] we bring him in too early, he doesn’t have energy to finish the game. He came in fresh. He came in active and I thought that was a huge stretch.”
On what his striking distance is:“For me, 12-14, as long as we stay in that area. A three is 11. That’s what I was thinking the whole game. I didn’t like how it started but you can clearly see we weren’t moving. They (Trail Blazers) were flawless the first quarter and a half. They got every shot they wanted. A lot of it was them and a lot of it was us as well.”
On the team:“I just liked our body language, our fight. Guys were up cheering. Guys we subbed a little different today. Guys who were sitting down, were up cheering. So it just felt like we had a chance. It doesn’t mean you’re going to win the game.”
CHRIS PAULOn if being shoved by Chris Kaman took him to the next level:“No the shove didn’t even take me to another level, it gave me a chance to make it to the free throw line and get a little rhythm but I think it was just a gutsy win. I think our bench was huge, when they started the fourth quarter, it gave us life. At any time if Portland were to have went on a run we might have said ‘Alright, y’all can have this one’ but we just stayed the course.”
On if being a gusty team is something he would’ve called them a couple of years ago:“My memory’s not that good anymore, I don’t even remember out team two years ago. I don’t know. Every time we were making a run, we’d foul them on a 3 or they would hit a 3 or somebody would hit a big shot and it’s funny, JJ [Redick], even though he was five for nine from the 3 tonight, it seemed like he was missing because we’re all so used to him making everything. So I think one of the biggest shots is when he hit that one 3 on the wing and then there was a timout and I told him ‘You’re hot now, all you’ve got to do it make one and now you’re hot’.”
On how surprised he was from getting pushed by Kaman:“I was really surprised. I used to sort of know [Chris] Kaman really well but I didn’t know what happened or not. I stole it and then with the push, it’s all good. No hard feelings.”
MATT BARNESOn if Kaman shoving Paul changed the momentum of the game in their favor:“I think we were already playing well but it just gave us a little bit more incentive. Anytime you go and rough our point guard up, it’s going to turn us all a little bit. I’ve gotta stick my hat out, especially to Turk [Hedo Turkoglu]. Turk played a big stretch in the second half, knocked down some big shots, made some big plays for us. Chris [Paul] was amazing, Blake [Griffin], JJ [Redick] was incredible so it was a good team win tonight.”
On if it seems like they have bad blood with anyone in the league:“We have bad blood against the whole league and I think they have it against us. It’s whatever, sometimes it gets physical and we’re okay with that, just lik