Postgame notes and quotes: Blazers 76, Wizards 74
Official postgame quotes and notes following the Portland Trail Blazers’ 76-74 victory over the Washington Wizards on Friday at the Rose Garden.
BLAZERS POST GAME QUOTES
Friday, March 19, 2010 – Final Score: Portland 76, Washington 74
COACH NATE McMILLAN
“We missed shots. It’s as simple as that – shooting 30 percent. We had open looks and sometimes you can anticipate this happening. That’s what we talked about on the four days off – not having your rhythm. It’s hard to simulate a game, game speed, and game conditions through practice. Last time we played Phoenix, they had four days off; they took two days off and they looked the same way. This is something that we were trying to avoid. We got the game and hopefully we get that rhythm, but we missed shots tonight.”
“We got this game – it was a game we needed to get and we got it. It wasn’t pretty but it would have been bad to lose this game. We didn’t have our rhythm. We didn’t make some shots. We had guys who normally knock down their shots who weren’t shooting the ball well. We’ve got to get our rhythm.
Trouble on pick and roll with Foye in final minutes:
“…They couldn’t hear each other. They got caught not hearing each other and not controlling the ball and he was wide open. You miss that assignment like that and both times he nailed that pick and roll. We made some adjustments after that but it was about controlling the ball.”
Plan for last play:
“Basically, to get the last shot. We got the stop, tie ball game, we want to get Brandon in the pick and roll. If they’re going to play him straight up, spread the floor and put the shooters out there and let him go. He hit and unbelievable shot. We wanted to make sure we got the last shot on that.
Any hesitation going to Roy after he missed 14 in a row?
“No. And that’s the reason why. That’s your guy who you’re going to live with and is very capable of making that shot and plays in that situation a lot.
“Things like that happen. You want to be sharp. You prepare yourself to come out and be aggressive and attack and we had this team with 30 points at half. So they weren’t scoring; we just weren’t making shots ourselves. Those are shots that we normally make. It was a nail-biter for 47 minutes and some second. We were able to get this win so we build from this. We know we have to be better our next game out.”
BRANDON ROY
“I was just thinking ‘finally.’ I took a lot of shots tonight. The majority of them felt good – a couple of them felt like I was a little off balance but I was just laughing, you know, finally, I made a shot. It was the one to help us win an important game for us.”
On last play:
“He [Gee] guarded me earlier in the game and he was getting into my shots pretty good. I talked to Kaleb behind the bench and he was like ‘you might be able to pump-fake him.’ He didn’t really guard me much late and then on that last play, I saw him come into the game. I wanted to step back and shoot it but he jumped so high, I had to step in. I could have tried to maybe draw the foul but I thought he did a good job of not jumping to me, but kind of away from me so I just tried to step in. It felt good when it left…”
“Maybe in the past I would have shied away from it. Tonight, I just kept telling myself you’re going to make one. I was hoping it would come before the last two minutes of the game. I missed the three, then I was finally able to make one.”
“The good thing is that we, in the past, maybe focus on our offense and lost this game. We continued to play D and kept us in the game. We were able to get a win.”
Sluggish from break?
“I felt good. I didn’t feel sluggish at all. I was just thinking that we were just missing shots. Maybe the four days off had something to do with our shots, but I don’t think it had anything to do with our legs. We felt fresh. I felt good before the game and just couldn’t make a shot. Hopefully we’ll play much better against Phoenix.”
WIZARDS POST GAME QUOTES
Friday, March 19, 2010 – Final Score: Portland 76, Washington 74
COACH FLIP SAUNDERS
ON GAME
“Even though we fell behind we kept on grinding it out. Al (Thorton) finally got a little thing going late and then he finally fouled out late which hurt us a little bit because he was active and gave us some rebounding around the basket. But no we move on to LA…We’ve lost a lot of these games late. It’s a matter of, one, make the big stop at the end, point-blank is, there star made a play, that’s what happens in this game, it boils down to the end a lot of times and what star is going to make the plays and who doesn’t.”
ON OFFENSE STRUGGLES
“It’s a combination (of not getting into the offense early and good defense from Portland), they are a good defensive team…it was a grind it out game and we couldn’t get guys to make shots. ‘dray (Andray Blatche) was hungry, too hungry, searching for some shots and not letting things come with the flow. At times we didn’t send screens to get people open. You can’t be that aggressive.”
ON LAST WIZARDS SHOT
“At the end we just didn’t get a screen set. In a late game like that you have to get a screen set, to force the switch to get a little on to a big so you can get the big the ball.”
RANDY FOYE
ON GAME
“It was a team effort. They went up on us, but they let us stick around, and it was a team effort. Everyone was making plays, hustle plays; to get us back into the game…We let them get offensive rebounds at the end of the game, that’s what killed us. Offensive rebounds, and second-chances, and if we were able to rebound at the end of the game we could’ve put it away.”
ON LAST SHOT
“I know he makes a lot of big shots, I thought ‘Zo (Alonzo Gee) did a good job. I came over, and the way he was off balance, it looked like he shuffled his feet…he made a great shot. You can’t stop him you just have to try to make it tough for him when he gets the ball.”
MIKE MILLER
ON GAME
“We couldn’t do that (give up offensive rebounds), it puts a lot of pressure on your defense, and for the most part we played pretty good defense, Brandon Roy just hit a good shot. That’s what makes good players great (missing 14 straight and then making the game-winning shot), he’s there guy, he knows he’s there guy, and he stepped up and made a big shot.”
POSTGAME NOTES
Portland 76, Washington 74
March 19, 2010
— Tonight marked the 107th consecutive Trail Blazers sellout at the Rose Garden (including playoffs), dating back to Dec. 21, 2007.
— With tonight’s win, Nate McMillan tied Mike Dunleavy for third place on Portland’s all-time head coaching win list (190).
— The 32.1% field goal shooting is Portland’s lowest shooting mark in a win in franchise history … The previous low was 33.0% on Nov. 3, 1990, at Sacramento.
— Portland’s 76 points tie a season low (Feb. 19 vs. Boston) and are the Trail Blazers’ fewest points in a win since a 76-75 victory vs. Houston on April 5, 2006.
— Portland’s five game-winning streak is its second-longest of the season (6, Nov. 6-14) … The Trail Blazers have won eight of their last nine games and 10 of the past 12 to become a season-high 14 games above .500 (42-28) … That 70-game mark is just two games behind the Trail Blazers’ pace from 2008-09 (44-26) … After going a franchise-best (by percentage) 22-8 after the All-Star break last season, Portland is off to the same pace at 11-4 after the break this year.
— The Trail Blazers are 5-3 this year in games decided by three points or fewer after going a league-best 9-1 in such contests a season ago … Portland is now 35-13 in games decided by three points or fewer since the beginning of the 2006-07 season.
— The Trail Blazers used a 13-0 run to take a 15-6 lead in the first quarter and did not trail again until Randy Foye’s three-pointer at the 2:11 mark of the fourth quarter gave Washington a 70-69 lead.
— Portland improved to 9-1 with its starting lineup of Nicolas Batum, LaMarcus Aldridge, Marcus Camby, Brandon Roy and Andre Miller, including eight straight wins … The only loss came in overtime, Feb. 26 at Chicago.
— Celebrating his 34th birthday today, Andre Miller appeared in his 600th consecutive game, the NBA’s longest active streak … He and Martell Webster are Portland’s only players to appear in every game this season.
— Marcus Camby’s 19 rebounds are his most as a Trail Blazer but six shy of his season-high 25 (with L.A. Clippers).
— LaMarcus Aldridge notched his 21st double-double, accounting for exactly half of Portland’s double-doubles this season.
— Portland limited an opponent to fewer than 100 points for the 49th time this year (37-12), the most by any team in the Western Conference.
— The Trail Blazers have now won 42 straight games when allowing 88 points or fewer on the defensive end (19-0 this year), a streak that dates back to an 87-82 loss at New Orleans on Nov. 14, 2008.
— Portland has won seven of the last nine games in the series with Washington, including five straight wins at the Rose Garden.
— Portland won at home when shooting below 42.5% from the field for the first time this season after going 0-9 when failing to reach that mark at the Rose Garden before tonight.
— The Trail Blazers have collected more steals than their opponents in 15 of the past 16 games, gaining a 135-75 edge in the category in that span (178-265 turnover margin).
— The Trail Blazers have now made 216 more free throws than their opponents this season, good for a 3.1-point advantage per game.
— Washington’s 30 points in the first half tied a Portland opponent low for any half (first half at Charlotte, Nov. 14) and were the fewest points scored by the Wizards in the first half this season.
— Portland’s 13 points in the third quarter matched a season low for that period (Nov. 25 vs. New Jersey).
— James Singleton brought down a season high and career-high tying 16 rebounds … He grabbed 10 rebounds in the first half alone.
— Andray Blatche had scored 20 points or more in five straight games before tonight, a career best.
