Postgame notes and quotes: Blazers 102, Nets 93
Official postgame quotes and notes following the Portland Trail Blazers’ 102-93 road victory over the New Jersey Nets on Tuesday.
Post Game Quotes
New Jersey Nets vs. Portland Trail Blazers
2/23/2010
Nets (93) Trail Blazers (102)
Portland Head Coach Nate McMillan:
(On the game)
“I felt like tonight we were going to win it because the players were talking to each other and they weren’t going to let this game slip away and they didn’t. The Nets got hot, Courtney Lee and Devin Harris were great in the second half. What we tried to do with Brook Lopez was move him around. He is just a big guy, he is smart and he is long.
We got the stops we needed and got the win we needed”.
Trail Blazers center Marcus Camby
(on his reaction to the injury…)
“ I went up to contest the shot and Devin Harris was driving to the basket. I think Lopez stepped on my ankle and my momentum went the other way and I rolled it. It’s pretty sore right now. I took an X-ray and it was negative. So I guess we will treat it as day to day.
(on his status for tomorrow nights game….)
“I’m most likely doubtful but who knows, it only happened tonight. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow night. “
(on his comfort level with his new team…)
“It’s still a daily process. I’m just trying to gain experience playing with the guys and figure out what coach wants me to do on the court. But so far I’ve been able to pick up stuff pretty quick.”
Trail Blazers guard Brandon Roy
(on his reaction to Camby’s injury…)
“Just not again, because it seems like our centers are dropping. But you know in the middle of the game it’s hard to pay attention because we are in the middle of the game we’re trying to win. But the biggest thing was just not again. It really seems like our center spot is cursed. Then we heard it was just a grade one ankle sprain so that was a relief. But it was a great win tonight so we feel a lot better about it.
(on the aggessiveness in the fourth quarter….)
“At this point I’m trying to win a game in the fourth quarter. Tonight I really didn’t want to lose this game and feel like I didn’t give my best. I just want to keep getting better. Each game is a chance for me to get my rhythm back. I just wanted to attack the rim and not think about it.
(on LaMarcus’ play…)
I thought he played with great patience tonight. He found a real good rhythm. I found him in the post and I thought he did a real good job with the double teams. As long as he is scoring it gives the rest of us a lot of confidence.
Nets Interim Head Coach Kiki Vandeweghe:
(Second game tale of two halves … )
“A little bit of tale of two halves. Yes, I didn’t think that the first half we came with the type of effort we needed. I think that everyone realizes that and I think our guys realized that. They really got after it in the second half, unfortunately we dug our selves too big of a hole and this is a good team. We got it down to 6 points or so, but they were able to weather the storm and hit some shots at the right time.”
(On the game … )
“We missed a few key shots and they made their shots. Generally lots of time what happens if you make a big comeback and don’t go ahead and run out of steam and we did run out of steam. Courtney was great, Devin was great, I think Brook played well, Yi played hard, and Trenton played great defense on Roy. Again, we dug our selves too big of a hole, we fought back and I think we really ran out of steam. Our legs were tired and missed some easy shots.”
Nets Guard Devin Harris:
(On the game … )
“They got some easy post ups. Aldridge was taking advantage of our defense early on. They got some transition buckets early on and the intensity obviously wasn’t there the first couple of minutes. We fought back but we can’t give a team like that, that big of a head start.”
(How the game went … )
“We just wanted to push up a little bit, get some more possession to get it a little bit more into transition. It’s not so much me and Courtney, it’s the defense. We got stops, limited them to one shot, and got into transition. I tried to get us off to a good start. Courtney did a great job throughout the quarter. We fought back hard”
Nets Center Brook Lopez:
(On learning from last game … )
“I guess so. Courtney played very well knocking down big shots and Devin stepped up.
(On the last couple of minutes in the fourth quarter … )
“It’s good we’re getting Devin to where he was last year. I am sure the injury was tough. He’s attacking the basket and drawing fouls.
(Our three best players played well and still lost … )
“That’s a good team and that’s one of the better efforts we’ve given. Especially the fact that we were down by such a large deficit.”
Notes:
The Nets set a new franchise record losing eight consecutive home games.
Courtney Lee tied a career-high with 28 points on 11-of-18 shooting including 4-of-4 from downtown. The 11 field goals made ties a career-high. He also tallied 28 points on 1/8/10 at New Orleans. Lee has gone for 20+ points six times this season.
With the win tonight, Portland has now swept the season series against New Jersey for the second straight season and the Nets have not won at home vs. Portland since 3/15/06, 78-65.
Brook Lopez recorded his 24th double-double of the season tonight with 17 points and 10 rebounds in 43 minutes. Coming into tonight’s contest, he was tied for 15th in the NBA for double-doubles.
The Nets had two 20+ point scorers tonight for the 15th time this season. Both Devin Harris and Courtney Lee tallied 28. New Jersey is now 3-12 when two players reach 20+ points.
The Nets scored a season-high 33 points in the third quarter tonight. Their previous high for points in the third quarter was 32 at Atlanta on 12/13/09. The highest point total in any quarter this season was 36 in the first quarter vs. Memphis on 2/21.
Devin Harris tallied a season high 28 points tonight on 9-19 shooting. His previous season high was 27 versus Milwaukee 2/10.
