HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS“I thought we played a very good offensive game throughout. The second half defense, even though we got off to a little of a slow start the first three minutes, we had a very good defensive second half. It was just a good, solid home win.”
On three point shooting success:“I thought a lot of it came off of good ball movement. When we move the ball, it creates a rhythm to the game and shooting is all about rhythm. Wes got on a roll, CJ hit his open ones, Steve hit his, Nic hit his. That’s the way we want to play. If we can get open threes, we want to take them.”
On hustle plays from Matthews:“Wes is a competitor. He finds a way, he wills a way. Plays like that go a long way for the team. It infuses energy, enthusiasm. It’s contagious. Those type of plays, teams thrive on.”
On 28 and 9 from Aldridge looking effortless:“He’s been very effective on the post. The guys are doing a good job of finding him on pick and pop situations or different sets that we run when he’s popping to an open side. When you give him time, he’s automatic. Then on the post, he makes tough shots. He’s been doing it since I’ve been here, so I don’t take it for granted but I know what he can do.”
On limiting points in the paint in second half:“At halftime, I think they only had two points that were not threes, free throws or in the paint out of the [56 points] that they had. I was disappointed with how they were scoring their points in the first half. I didn’t do the math in the second half, but I would venture to say we did a better job with it.”
On back-to-back and planning for more condensed schedule coming up:“You want to take every game and you want to get the wins where you can, and you manage that game. If you have the luxury to look ahead, that’s great but the most important thing is we play Charlotte and we’ve got to find a way to win that game. If you have a chance to reduce the minutes a little bit you can here and there but getting the win is paramount.”
DAMIAN LILLARDOn second half defense:“We made everything hard for them. We were active. We got our hands on a lot of balls and that’s what closed the game out for us.”
On Aldridge making 28 and 9 look easy:“That’s just him. The game comes easy to him. Teams know what he likes to get to and they can’t stop it. I think the scoring is so easy because he’s willing to throw the ball out and we knock down shots from the three point line so it makes people scared to leave, so they let him play on on one. He’s done a great job rebounding the ball, so I mean, the game just comes easy to him.”
On hustle plays from Matthews:“That’s the effort plays that we didn’t always have last year. We weren’t always trying to go after those loose balls. It’s just been a different level of energy and effort from this team on the defensive end and competing for 50-50 balls.”
On winning after losing tough game at Clippers yesterday:“You’ve got to move on. It was a game that we played really well in and we let it get away from us. Right after the game we said that we’ve got another one so we’ve got to let it go and get ready for Denver. We came in prepared and we got it done.”
HEAD COACH Brian ShawOn the game:"We got a little closer. Obviously it wasn’t enough to win a game, but I like the pace of our offense. I thought Ty was in attack mode right from the beginning of the game. I thought our initial defensive stance was pretty good, but we didn’t finish off the play with a rebound. In the first half in particular the offensive rebounds killed us. Just about every time they turned for a wide open three, they kicked it out and got a wide open three.”
On the game:“I did feel better about this game as far as moral victories, but I did feel better with rotation and with the effort that our guys gave, so we just have to keep chipping away...”
On the Blazers:“We still haven’t figured out how to get to LaMarcus Aldridge and cut him down...They had us scrambling. The way their team is built, it’s tough.”
On Ty Lawson:“For the most part, he set the tone from the beginning and that’s what we’ve been wanting him to do is be aggressive and attack the paint and make the appropriate play.”
Danilo GallinariOn his play:“Good, I felt pretty good. It was a good game for us in general, so we have to take the positive thing and take a step forward and be ready to play them again on Wednesday.”
On Blazers three point shooting:“That’s what they do. We need to be a little more aware of that and play on their personnel a little bit more.”
On what they need to get better at to get a win on Wednesday:“I think we need to be better on the boards, getting rebounds and getting out and running without giving them second chances.”
Kenneth FariedOn challenge of guarding LaMarcus Alridge:“He’s a stretch four, I mean literally a stretch four. He can stretch out to the three. He proved that tonight, stepping out and making a three. In the playoffs last year he was a threat to score every time he touched the ball. And that turnaround jumper is no joke. He keeps the ball so high it seems like it’s going to go in automatically.”