Gameday Recap
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Notebook: Trail Blazers 120, Bucks 115 (OT)
Kerry Eggers, for NBA.com Posted Wed Mar 19, 2014 2:36 AM - Updated Wed Mar 19, 2014 2:36 AM
THE FACT: Portland is 20-4 against Eastern Conference opposition, the best mark by any West team this season.
THE LEAD: Damian Lillard's driving layup with 4.9 seconds left sent the game into overtime, and Portland scored a franchise-record 22 points in the extra session to pull out a 120-115 victory over Milwaukee at the Moda Center.
Wesley Matthews scored 26 points, including the 3-pointer that put Portland ahead for good in a game that saw 23 lead changes and 15 ties. Mo Williams came off the bench for a season-high 23 points and forwardNicolas Batum collected 21 points, nine rebounds and nine assists for the Blazers (44-24), who won for only the second time in seven games.
Knight scored 24 points and Sessions came off the bench for 23 points for the Bucks (13-55), who lost their fifth straight game and eighth in their last nine outings. They own the NBA's worst record.
QUOTABLE: "They gave us a new lease on life. We were down. We were like, 'We can't believe this. We needed this game.' We knew the magnitude of it. Once we got to overtime, it was like, 'Whoo, we got the 48 (minutes) behind us. Let's go out and win this game.'"
-- Mo Williams
THE STAT: The Bucks made only one of two foul shots four straight times -- twice each by Brandon Knightand Ramon Sessions -- over the final 1:42 of regulation, opening the door for the Trail Blazers.
TURNING POINT: Portland trailed 103-102 with 2:36 remaining in overtime, but Lillard scored nine of the Blazers' next 12 points and they took a 114-107 lead with 25 seconds to play.
HOT: Lillard scored 15 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter and overtime.
NOT: Portland forward Dorell Wright, starting for the injured LaMarcus Aldridge, was 0-for-8 from the field, including 0-for-7 from 3-point range.
QUOTABLE II: "You can look at the (missed) free throws, but we had other opportunities to win that game. The guys played really hard for four quarters, and even in overtime we did some really good things. I was proud of the effort. Portland is a good team even without Aldridge."
-- Milwaukee coach Larry Drew
GOOD MOVE: Stotts went small through the fourth quarter and overtime, with 7-footer Robin Lopez, small forward Batum and guards Matthews, Lillard and Williams.
BAD MOVE: Drew went too long with rookie guard Nate Wolters, who never found a rhythm. Wolters was 1-for-5 from the field and finished with four points, six assists, four rebounds and five turnovers in 38 minutes.
QUOTABLE III: "Give Milwaukee a lot of credit. (The Bucks) have had a long season. (Coach) Larry Drew has done a great job of keeping them competing and playing hard. They played hard the whole way. But we didn't come out with the urgency we needed. ... I hope we understand we were very fortunate to win the game."
-- Portland coach Terry Stotts
NOTABLE: Portland's 22 points in overtime was the highest total in the NBA since 2011. ... Batum scored 14 of Portland's first 18 points and had 16 in the first quarter. ... Lillard joins Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin and Kyrie Irving as the only players since 2002 to score 3,000 points in their first 150 games. ... Lillard started the game shooting 1-for-10 but finished 7-for-21 from the field. He was 1-for-11 from 3-point range. ... Aldridge missed his third straight game with a sore back, and Stotts calls him "doubtful" for Thursday's date with Washington. ... Ersan Ilyasova, who missed Milwaukee's 101-92 loss to Charlotte Sunday and has been in and out of the lineup all season with a sore ankle, started and finished with 12 points and nine rebounds before fouling out. The Bucks will not play Ilyasova in the second of back-to-back games the rest of the season, however. ... O.J. Mayo, who has lost his spot in the Bucks' rotation, sat out his fifth straight game.
UP NEXT: For the Bucks, Thursday @ Golden State, Sunday @ Sacramento, Monday @ L.A. Clippers. For the Trail Blazers, Thursday vs. Washington, Saturday @ Charlotte, Monday @ Miami.
QUOTES
HEAD COACH LARRY DREW
On the overall effort of the team tonight and Ramon's end of game free throws:
"I mean, he missed them, but we had other opportunities to win that game. Certainly you can look at the free throws and say that, but there were other plays that happened that put us in position where we could have won the game, not just those free throws. The guys played hard, they played really hard for four quarters and then I thought even in overtime we did some really good things and, as I told them after the game, I was very proud of their effort and I wanted those guys to know because this Portland team is a good basketball team even without Aldridge. They got some guys that can really score the basketball. They've been putting a lot of numbers on the board and I was really proud of the effort from my guys."
On Portland's 39 three point shots taken and Milwaukee's effort to defend them:
"Well, we knew coming into this game that we were going to have to defend that three point line. They spread you out and they let it go and we had to defend the three point line. They had some good looks where they just missed shots, but that was one of the things that we really had to defend coming into this game was to get to that three point line and with a lot of long shots we knew there would be a lot of long rebounds. Our other concern was just to try to control the glass, but we knew they were going to let it go."
On great individual efforts within the team tonight and positives to take from the game:
"Yeah, there are. I think if you look at [Chris Wright] who struggled the first half, I thought he came back and did a better job offensively the second half and he did a better job defensively the second half. I thought [Ersan Ilyasova] played well the second half, [Zaza Pachulia], I think he finished with 17 and 13, he played well. [Ramon Sessions] came in off the bench and gave us a big lift. I thought [Giannis Antetokounmpo] did well while he was in there, Jeff Adrien, but we had some guys that played well, you know, just unfortunate that we didn't finish the game the way we hoped that we could, but hopefully we'll build off the effort and learn how to finish games moving on to Golden State."
ZAZA PACHULIA
On the result of the game tonight:
"It's our fault. We can't start looking around, it's our fault. We have to realize one thing, little things that if we had done a little bit better, I'm sure we would have won the game tonight because the effort was there and we fought all the way through even though it's midnight in Milwaukee, we fight for 52 minutes. But again, we have to learn. It's a young team, we have a lot of young players and little things matter especially when you're trying to play and compete in a high level like this and play against a great team like the Portland Trail Blazers. The little things matter."
On Ramon's foul shots at the end of the game:
"He can't look at that. I mean, we can't be talking about Ramon's free throws. I'm sure there were some mistakes in the beginning of the game too. I'm proud of the guys and we really put effort in in this game."