Postgame quotes and notes: Mavericks 83, Blazers 77
Official postgame quotes and notes following the Portland Trail Blazers’ 83-77 defeat to the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night at the Rose Garden.
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BLAZERS POST GAME QUOTES
Friday, April 9, 2010 – Final Score: Dallas 83, Portland 77
COACH NATE McMILLAN
“Before the game, I said basically, this is what we are going to be facing next week. You’re going to be playing in this type of intensity where every call is going to be questioned and you’ve got to stay calm out on that floor and be able to get to the next possession. You’ve got to be able to play that style of basketball, then you’ve got to be able to get to the next play. I thought we were okay. There was a lot of calls where guys felt like they were getting hit and you’ve got to play through that in situations like that. A week from now and I would say definitely our next three games with the opponents that we’re facing, starting with tonight – LA, who is in the playoffs; Oklahoma City when they come in here on Monday, it’s going to be that type of atmosphere and we’ve got to be able to play through that.”
“This is the type of basketball that it’s going to be. It’s going to be a grind-it-out, and you’ve got to execute and be able to run your offense. Defensively, be able to play that style of basketball and, again, get to the next play. I don’t think we were bad. I thought there was a lot of stoppage of play with those guys going to the free throw line. But that’s playoff basketball. You’re going to get hit sometimes and you’ve got to be able to play through it.”
“This time of the year, you’re going to see this style of basketball. We talked about that, expect it where it’s going to be a physical game, a grind-game. Every possession is important, so you’ve got to take care of the ball, you’ve got to execute, defensively, you can’t assume that anyone is going to go get balls. It’s that time of the year.”
On Dirk:
“He didn’t get to the paint a lot – we were fouling on his jump shots out on the perimeter – but he went to the free throw line 17 times. You can’t put a guy like that on the line. They got into the penalty early in a couple of those quarters. They took advantage of that. We got into the penalty with about 7 or 8 minutes to go in the quarter, and at times, I thought we settled as opposed to attacking the basket. I thought we could get to the basket and we settled at times.”
On Dallas defending Roy:
“We didn’t have a lot of movement. We needed more movement tonight, better screens to free up guys. Basically, it was a lot of iso at times. And they’re not bad. They got into him, tried to pressure him, and anytime there was a screen, they double teamed him and trapped him and they forced other guys to make shots.
BRANDON ROY
On composure:
“We got upset about some calls, but we just didn’t make shots. I thought if we would have made shots, it wouldn’t have looked as bad. I think we reacted – maybe we overreacted. But again, I don’t think the technicals were the reason why we lost this game. Offensively, we didn’t execute well. You’ve got to give Dallas credit. I thought they had a pretty good game plan tonight. We’ve got to do a much better job if we face them again.
“I thought it was a good game. Even during the game, I was like ‘this is a good game for us.’ I’d rather face it tonight then the first game of the playoffs. We wanted to win this game, but I thought it was a really good game for our team. It was a nasty game. We were excited and maybe there were some quick whistles there on the techs, but we’re not going to point any fingers. We know we could have played better, but we hadn’t played in a game like this in a while. I can’t remember the last time I played in such a tough game. It was gritty. I was just happy we played in it. We’ve just got to move on from it.”
“This time of year, you play teams that don’t have anything to play for then you play a tough game. It’s like you get an easy game, then I think tonight, this was a game Dallas really wanted. They didn’t want to allow us to sweep them. It was really physical, a lot of grabbing. I could tell that they game planned for some of our offense. It felt like that Houston series. I was like ‘everything we do, they seem to know it.’ You could tell they pay attention to detail. It was a good game and now we see where we’re at. We have to get better if we want to win a playoff series.”
“…They were a little more battle ready tonight. It was better to do this then the first game of the playoffs and get our butt kicked. It was a good game for us.”
MAVS POST GAME QUOTES
Friday, April 9, 2010 – Final Score: Dallas 83, Portland 77
COACH RICK CARLISLE
ON BRANDON ROY
“We were just real active tonight. Roy is a great player and a lot of times you have to commit two to him. When we did, we scrambled, and there were several sequences where there were multiple players on the floor tonight for both teams. It was a great basketball game, it was just pure effort by both sides, and the difference was a couple plays here and there. We’re happy to get out of here with a win. Portland is a damn good team.”
ON DIRK
“Dirk’s our guy. We play through him. He’s going to make good things happen for us. I thought the key tonight was that we had a lot of other guys step up at critical times.”
ON GAME
“You play a game in the 70s, and you’re looking at a playoff-type game. I love the way we battled. I love the way both teams battled. We really wanted this game tonight and you can tell.”
DIRK NOWITZKI
ON GAME
“It was a tough, physical game. Both teams didn’t give up a lot…The last time we played here, a week or ten days ago, they were just way more physical and they were way more ready. They were more physical, they got every loose ball, and we talked about that yesterday; about how we had to be ready from the jump and I think we did a better job staying with them today and playing a more physical game. It was great.”
ON PERSONAL GAME
“I felt like last week when we played here they really got into me; I took a couple of shots where they forced me to take that I didn’t really like…For this game, I wanted to play off the dribble a little more, a little show and go, quick drive a little more off the dribble, and I was able to attack in that way (tonight).”
ON BLAZERS
“We were struggling with this team all season long. They are long and physical, obviously with Camby now in there it adds another long guy who can play physical. They have big shot makers: B-Roy and Aldridge, so they are a very good team. They are obviously not a team you want to see in the playoffs, but if you look at all the teams down there, all the teams are playing well, and you don’t want to see anybody down there, it’s going to be tough no matter who you see. But it’s good for us to get a win against them and we’ll see what happens in the playoffs.”
POSTGAME NOTES
Dallas 83, Portland 77
April 9, 2010
— Tonight marked the 110th straight Trail Blazers sellout at the Rose Garden (including playoffs), dating back to Dec. 21, 2007.
— Despite the loss, Portland won the series with Dallas, 3-1, for the first time since 1998-99 (3-0).
— Portland currently sits in seventh place in the Western Conference (48-31), holding the advantage over San Antonio (48-31) with a 3-0 series win … Oklahoma City is one game ahead in sixth place (49-30).
— Portland is now 12-11 against the other seven playoff-bound teams in the West, including four series leads (three series already won).
— Before tonight, the Trail Blazers had won 45 straight games when allowing 88 points or fewer, dating back to Nov. 14, 2008.
— Portland has still won 11 of its last 14 games and 14 of the last 18 to improve to 48-31 … The Trail Blazers are only three games behind their 79-game pace from 2008-09 (51-28).
— Portland snapped its six-game home winning streak tonight, tied for its longest this season (Nov. 6-25) … The Trail Blazers allowed fewer than 100 points for the 14th straight game at the Rose Garden.
— Portland’s 77 points are its fewest ever at home against the Mavericks.
— The Trail Blazers are now 17-7 after the All-Star break, the fifth-best record after the break in the NBA this season … Portland’s 22-8 second half last season marked a franchise best (by percentage).
— Portland drops to 15-4 with its starting lineup of Nicolas Batum, LaMarcus Aldridge, Marcus Camby, Brandon Roy and Andre Miller, losing with that starting unit for the first time this season (6-1) … The 19 games are the most of any starting unit this season for Portland.
— Trail Blazers have now forced their opponents into more than 10 turnovers in 26 consecutive games.
— Portland limited an opponent to fewer than 100 points for the 56th time this year (42-14), the most by any team in the Western Conference.
— Dallas’ 33.8% field goal shooting mark is a Trail Blazers opponent season low, while its 24 field goals made ties a Portland opponent season low and is a new Mavericks season low.
— Dallas made 14 more free throws than Portland tonight … Entering the game, the Trail Blazers had averaged a 3.0-point advantage from the foul line by converting on 234 more foul shots than their opponents.
— Brandon Roy’s first field goal tonight was the 2,000th of his career.
— Marcus Camby grabbed double figures in rebounds for the eighth time in 10 games and the 44th time this season, including 23 games with at least 15 rebounds.
— LaMarcus Aldridge has scored 20-plus points in three straight games and 32 times overall … He led Portland in scoring for the 21st time this season.
— Rudy Fernandez converted on three 3-pointers for the first time since March 14.
— The 77 points for the Trail Blazers are one more than a season low (done twice).
— Portland finished the second quarter on a 7-0 run in the final 2:12 … Dallas finished the first quarter on a 9-0 run, holding Portland without a point for the final 4:03.
— Dallas clinched the Southwest Division with tonight’s win and San Antonio’s loss vs. Memphis.
— Dirk Nowitzki notched his 20th double-double of the season … He ran his consecutive free throws made streak to 55, dating back to March 29.
— Dallas had averaged 53.0 points in the paint in two games heading into tonight before scoring just 18 points in the painted area tonight.
