Postgame quotes and notes: Blazers 103, Grizzlies 93
Official postgame quotes following the Portland Trail Blazers’ 103-93 road victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night.
POST GAME QUOTES
GRIZZLIES 93, TRAIL BLAZERS 103
MARCH 1, 2010
TRAIL BLAZERS HEAD COACH NATE McMILLAN
On tonight’s win:
“I thought our guys responded tonight. In the third quarter, we came out and got the ball moving with an incredible third quarter. That is impressive to me when you talk about playing in the fifth game of a long road trip, especially with Memphis’ standings. Memphis had our number this year. I thought our guys came out in the second half and took this game.”
On the second half:
“We talked about turnovers. I thought we were really loose in the first half with the basketball. They (Memphis) didn’t play very well, but we played poorly in the first half. We got some stops defensively and talked about not giving it back in one play, and it slowly chipped away. We ended up having probably our largest quarter this season.”
On major plays:
“We’re going to need to make shots. Brandon (Roy) took over in the second half. LaMarcus (Aldridge) did a nice job, but Nicolas (Batum) continues to knock down foul shots and that’s going to be the ball game. When (Marcus) Camby, (Juwan) Howard, Nicolas (Batum), (Jerryd) Bayless and (Andre) Miller are knocking down shots, the results are normally good.”
TRAIL BLAZERS CENTER MARCUS CAMBY (4 points, 7 rebounds)
On the team’s third quarter performance:
“I think we really got started with our defensive energy. I think in the first half, their team had 34 points in the paint. We started to build our defense from the inside-out and got hot at the right time. We had 41 points in the third quarter.”
TRAIL BLAZERS GUARD JERRYD BAYLESS (9 points, 5 rebounds)
On second half:
“We had to get back and play defense. I think that in the first half, we were messing around and our defense wasn’t really as focused as it should have been. In the second half, we got together and were able to take the lead.”
On learning from teammates:
“I have learned a lot from Andre (Miller) in the short time that he has been here. I just want to take what I have learned and keep getting better.”
TRAIL BLAZERS GUARD ANDRE MILLER (12 points, 11 assists)
On Memphis’ guard Mike Conley:
“My only advice to him would be to slow down a little. He’s definitely going to be a good point guard for a lot of years. He’s very quick and I have to grab him and not let him get going, but he did. That is the reason I forced so many turnovers during the game.”
On defending the Grizzlies:
“We just came out with a sense of urgency and were being aggressive with our hands. We were trying to get easy baskets. We let them come out and get a lot of baskets in the first half, but we cut down our turnovers in the second half and forced them into turnovers.”
HEAD COACH LIONEL HOLLINS
On the game:
“We didn’t come out with the same energy in the second half or defensive intensity. They picked up their defensive intensity and we backed up. We didn’t keep attacking like we were in the first half. We turned the ball over. I think they had 16 points in the third quarter on turnovers for 16 of their 41 points, and we had 16 turnovers for 21 points. You can’t win that way.”
On the Grizzlies’ turnovers:
“That’s exactly what happened [we shot ourselves in the foot]. Even the play where we got the steal on the out-of-bounds play, we go in there and we get our shot blocked when we should have just passed it off for any easy layup. We just kept turning the ball over. We’d get steals, we’d put it on the floor and they’d get a turnover. We’d get an outlet pass, and there are three guys up the court for a layup and it’s tipped away. Those kinds of things you can’t do. I was just telling the players it’s about mental toughness. You just can’t play at one level. If the level of intensity rises, you have to rise to that level. That takes mental toughness. That takes maturity.”
On O.J. Mayo:
“Guys struggle sometimes. He had looks. He missed them. He missed free throws. Sometimes it happens to players. For me to sit here and speculate why would be a disservice to O.J. Every player that played has had bad nights and they shot the ball poorly. Sometimes every time you look to make a pass the other team is standing there to catch it instead of your team. It’s just part of the game of basketball.”
On winning on the road and losing at home:
“We’re not playing as well at home as we have been on the road. We go into New York and we jumped on the other team. Down the stretch we executed. In the last three minutes we outscored them 13-2. We go to New Jersey and outscore them 8-2 down the stretch. That’s what you have to do to win. We haven’t done that at home. We haven’t until tonight even gotten ahead early at home. We talked about getting out and making a play from behind. We just gave it right back, just like that. We were forcing bad shots and missed shots and missing free throws and bad defense. I don’t think we’ve executed defensively nor offensively well enough to win at home. I have always been a person that believes it doesn’t matter where you play. If you don’t do it, you won’t win. If you don’t execute, make shots, play defense, rebound, make free throws or do all of the little things, you’re not going to win no matter where it is. We’ve been doing it lately on the road, but haven’t been doing it at home. Now we have to go back out on the road for tough games against New Orleans and Chicago. Can we do it again? We’ll see.”
GRIZZLIES FORWARD RUDY GAY (19 points, 7 rebounds)
On the loss:
“They ran out. They moved the ball and hit tough shots. Andre Miller really pushed it and of course, Brandon Roy had a good game, but basically it was the other guys who brought the true intensity.”
On losing the lead:
“We just seem to try to play a little faster and we don’t have to. When we play our pace, we basically dominate the game. If we had done that the whole game, it would have been a
different outcome.”
On losing at home and winning on the road:
“I can’t answer why we seem to win games on the road. Maybe we like our backs against the wall…maybe we like being the underdog, maybe we like to have everybody against us. It could be a lot of things, I’m not sure.”
GRIZZLIES CENTER MARC GASOL (15 points, 11 rebounds)
On the loss:
“We have to raise the level of toughness, mental toughness and physical toughness to be able to win those kinds of games.”
On the Trail Blazers:
“They are good players, too. They were making some big shots. Brandon Roy made some big shots, and they were finding an open man. We have to get better and come back tomorrow and get ready for our next game which will be really, really important to us.”
On road wins vs. home losses:
“We don’t like that because we know it’s affecting our fans, and like tonight we have a great atmosphere. That’s our fault though. We know we have to put them in chairs and we have to make them feel like they can come here and see one of the best teams.”
GRIZZLIES FORWARD DARRELL ARTHUR (2 points, 3 rebounds)
On the loss:
“We just have to get out there and play. If we play like we do on the road, I think we’ll do well.”
“We didn’t have control of the ball. We turned the ball over a lot. We let them score off our turnovers. We had eight turnovers in the third quarter compared to their 16 (points off turnovers). We couldn’t get anything going offensively or defensively. We have games like that, but you just have to look forward to the next one.”
Team Notables
• Memphis’ season-long home losing streak extended to seven games, the club’s longest since a seven-game home losing skid from Jan. 6-31, 2009… The Grizzlies have not scored 100-plus points in their last eight home games, averaging 91.8 points in that span.
• Portland defeated Memphis at FedExForum for the seventh-straight game, the longest current road winning streak against any team for the Blazers… The Grizzlies have not beaten the Trail Blazers at home since Dec. 21, 2005.
• The Trail Blazers finished their five-game road trip with a 4-1 record (.800), with their only loss coming in overtime on Feb. 26 at Chicago.
• The Grizzlies lost their 13th game this season in which they led by double-digits… Memphis led by 14 with 1:44 left in the first half.
• The Grizzlies were limited to 16 points in the paint in the second half after scoring 34 in the first half.
• Portland outscored Memphis 41-21 in the third quarter on 66.7 percent shooting (16-of-24 FG)… The Blazers’ season-high 41 points matched their first-half point total and were an opponents’ season high for any quarter against Memphis.
Key Stat of the Night
• Memphis committed 16 second-half turnovers after just five in the first half, while the Trail Blazers turned those turnovers into 26 points (26-3 margin) in the second half after Portland had just four points off turnovers in the first half.
Key Run of the Night
• Leading 91-89 with 3:25 remaining in the game, Portland went on 12-4 run to end the game.
Player Notables
• Brandon Roy scored a game-high 25 points (7-of-18 FG) along with seven rebounds and five assists… In four games against Memphis this season, Roy averaged 24.5 points.
• Marc Gasol finished with 15 points (6-of-10 FG) and 11 rebounds for his 25th double-double of the season… Gasol averaged 18.0 points and 11.0 rebounds in four games against Portland this season.
• Nicolas Batum scored 21 points (7-of-11 FG) and is averaging 26.0 points in his last two games after averaging 6.3 points in his previous seven games… The 52 points over the last two games are a career high for a two-game span.
• Zach Randolph collected 22 points (7-of-13 FG) and seven rebounds… Randolph led the team in scoring for the 22nd game this season, including the last four-straight games.
