Trail Blazers Head Coach Terry Stotts
On the game
“I thought we defended in the 2nd half, even though the numbers don’t show it. I thought New Orleans made a lot of mid-range jump shots. We did a much better job of limiting points in the paint, and limiting transition, 2nd chance points; all those things in the 2nd half. We made a good shot, they made a good shot. It was just another tough one to lose at the end.”
On the defensive issues in the 1st half
“I really don’t like saying too much after the game. I like to watch the video. It’s not one thing. When you give up 40 points in the paint, there is a lot of cause. Its penetration, it’s not helping out one another, its transition. There is a lot of different areas that we didn’t do well in the 1st half.”
On the pick and roll coronation between Jrue Holiday and Anthony Davis
“I thought Holiday made a lot of tough mid-range shots. I thought we defended decently in the 2nd half, and forced them to take shots out of their comfort zone, but he (Holiday) made some good shots. I didn’t necessarily think he got to the rim, as he did in the 1st half.”
Trail Blazers guard Wesley Matthews
On the team’s defensive skills
“We have good defense, we just have trouble aligning with our offense. The offense isn’t going to come with you every night.”
On tonight’s game
“We have 24 wins. Two consecutive loses aren’t going to keep us down. We’re going to make mistakes, but at the same time we aren’t going to act like this is the best we can do.”
Trail Blazers Guard Damian Lillard
On what the team can do to improve
“It’s a lot of stuff. This was just a game that we couldn’t pull out our best abilities. We just need to learn from this game and use it a way to win our next one.”
On the team’s defensive skills
“We just have to do a better job of improving it. It’s something that we care about, but in order to win more games we need to get it under control.”