Postgame quotes: Memphis 109, Portland 105
BLAZERS POST GAME QUOTES
Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2010 – Final Score: Memphis 109, Portland 105
COACH NATE McMILLAN
“We had a game that we let slip away. You’ve got to execute down the stretch. We got control of the game, we have some shots that we’ve got to knock down. We had about five or six shots down the stretch that didn’t go down and that’s the difference in the game.”
On Roy’s kick-out to Webster late in the game:
“It’s what he’s been seeing. If he can get to the basket, he gets to the basket. If the defense collapses, kick the ball out and we had a couple of those. Howard had one that rimmed in and out. Martell misses one and I think Bayless may have missed one. Those are opportunities that we have to capitalize on.”
On last four minutes:
“I thought we fought back. That group fought back to get back into the game and then making plays – we have open looks that when you get those shots, you’ve got to knock them down and we didn’t do that.”
Giving up 54 points in the paint:
“That’s a killer. 54 points in the paint, 27 second chance points, I mean we just got pounded – really the last two nights – in the paint. I thought in the first half, the bigs – Zach and Gasol – controlled it and I thought the second half and the fourth quarter, we started to play how we’ve got to play all year long. We don’t have our centers. Our bigs have to be scrappy, they have to be dirty down in the paint. Tonight, this team averages 52 in the paint and they get 54 so a lot of the damage was done there.”
BRANDON ROY
“We just missed shots. We got all the looks that we wanted. We just didn’t capitalize on some open looks. There’re nights like that. We’ve got to do a better job defensively of trying to stop them, but we got a lot of good looks. We just didn’t make them.”
Is this a frustrating loss?
“It’s is because we had all our looks. We had a lot of chances to win that game. We had two or three offensive boards on one play and usually you win games when you get those plays. We just didn’t get it tonight.”
On getting beat in the paint not having a true center:
“It’s tough. We struggled in the paint when we had two centers. I don’t blame it on these guys. Jeff and Juwan and LA, they try and do the best they can out there. I think Memphis leads the league in points in the paint. We’re fighting and again, I give our guys credit. We kept fighting and we just didn’t make shots.”
“It’s disappointing. There’s not really much you can say. We fought hard. We had control of the game going down the stretch and Memphis made all the plays. We had a number of chances; we just didn’t capitalize on them tonight.”
On kick-out to Webster late in the game:
“I seen Rudy Gay stepped up, he helped. Martell had a good look. He shot it – he’d been making a lot of shots all night. I always make that play whether it’s Martell, Blake, or Bayless. I trust those guys to shoot it and they’ll make it next time.”
