Portland Head Coach Terry StottsOn tonight’s game“You’ve got to give Sacramento credit for that. They were very aggressive on the ball when we drove to the paint. They got their hands on balls, and I don’t know how many led right to fastbreak opportunities, I know that they had 18 fastbreak points the second half. But other than that I thought we did a very good job in the half court, offensively and defensively.”On what you liked particularly“We did a lot of good things. The first half, other than at the start of the second quarter where we turned the ball over, we built the lead back up. I like the way we built the lead in the second half. And again, their defensive activity and some of our turnovers gave them the momentum and changed the tide. But I liked the way we finished. I thought we had guys make some big shots, thought we moved the ball when we needed to. It would have been nice to take the lead to keep it at double digits, but Sacramento is playing hard and you’ve got to give them credit for that.”On the fourth quarter“Look we’ve had a lot of games where we’ve executed well in the fourth quarter. We’ve won a lot of fourth quarter games. We’ve executed, we’ve come from behind in the fourth quarter. That doesn’t just happen. And obviously we’ve had a couple games in the last two or three weeks, but that’s in the past, and we’re going to continue. Fourth quarter is very important in this league and you’ve got to do it.On getting a road win, after losing the last 9 out of 10 on the road“Thanks for reminding me of that. Winning in this league is tough on the road, and Sacramento beat Memphis here. You know, it’s tough to win on the road in this league. At this stage of the season, when you’re a third, or twenty something games left to go, every game gets magnified a little bit more. Seems like a little bit more importance is Wes MatthewsHow did you feel you played tonight?“I felt we played well as a team. We moved the ball around. In transition we had a couple of let downs where we knew that this team has given us trouble before. We’ve always played this team tough, they played us tough. We stepped up when we needed to, got stops when we needed to, and we closed the game out like we’ve been doing.”Defense…“We locked in. Played their tendencies, they’re a great offensive-minded team. Transition, points in the paint, free throw line, and we just did our best to play aggressive without fouling. Show bodies, show walls, get clean looks, clean drives, just everything that we’ve been preaching from the start of the season.”Having a good shooting night…“Shots were going in. That’s really it. Same shots that I missed the other night, it just went in tonight.”
Damian LillardAttacking the rim in the first half…I took what the defense was giving me. We got a lot of shooters out there especially when we have Arron (Afflalo) Nico (Batum), L.A. (LaMarcus Aldridge) spacing out Wes out there. You have to respect that and honor it so it was basically me and the big man. A few times I got in there and they collapsed and I kicked it out, we got some shots. When they didn’t I just attack the rim and scored.Kings cutting the lead to one…“I knew that they would have been prepared for either L.A. to get the ball and try something or for me to try and make something happen. We trusted it. We threw it in to Kaman because he has a mismatch we felt like and they loaded up to it. I pulled over, we made the right play and I was able to get great look and push it back up to four and I think we controlled it from there on out.”Finding a rhythm …“Yeah, I feel good. I’ve been feeling it but shots weren’t falling and things weren’t going our way as a team. It was a little rough but now it does feel like things are starting to turn around.”
Kings Head Coach George KarlWhen asked if he was impressed with the team’s effort in tonight’s game:“Yeah, I was impressed. We didn’t have much going for us in the first two quarters and into the third, but then the ball started moving. I think that Andre Miller did a good job of getting us some easy baskets. There were some threes that we had. Portland is a very, very good shooting team. They execute real well and know their personality well, probably better than we know ours. There will be a lot of good to show from tonight, but there’s also the frustration of losing the game. As I told them after the game, no one is going to feel sorry for us. On the road trip, most of the teams that we are going to play are playoff teams. It’s going to be important for those teams to win and we’re going to have to play better than we did tonight to win.”On both team’s three-point shooting:“A couple of the threes they made, we fell asleep. Then a couple of the threes that they made were from good plays. You have to take some chances to go after LaMarcus Aldridge sometimes. For me, it’s trying to figure out when and how to be more aggressive and smarter. In general, in the second half, we made some defensive plays that helped create some of our offensive opportunities. We got our hands involved. Then, in the last five minutes of the game—well, we shouldn’t have extended it as long as we did. They found the three ball. We cut their lead to one then they made that three. Then, we might have cut back to two but then they hit another three. They regrouped their lead by making threes.”On Derrick Williams:“Derrick is one of our more skilled players and we’re trying to figure out how he fits with the team. I thought that he and Andre Miller had chemistry together tonight. As a coaching staff, we feel that we should try and get more out of him, and more consistent value. Without DeMarcus Cousins and Darren Collison, you have to figure out how to cover those holes and find out who is going to be responsible for what. At moments, I think we did a good job, but then there were moments when I think that I didn’t do a good job.”When asked why Ryan Hollins had so many minutes in tonight’s game:“The size factor. I was thinking that Portland is so big that I needed to play big against them. Ryan played well. He had the opportunity and showed that he should be on the court.”
Ray MacCallumWhen asked if he’s getting any tips from Andre Miller:“Yeah, I’m definitely asking Andre a lot of questions and he’s always in my ear telling me what he sees. So having him here is real helpful; he’s like an extended coach on the floor. Some of these games we’ve gotten to be out there together playing two point guards together so it’s good out there – he finds me and lets me attack and I try to do the same thing for him.”When asked if there’s anything specific he’s picked up from watching how Andre runs the floor:“Yeah, he does a good job of changing pace and changing speed. He sees the floor tremendously well; he’s really good with the kick-ahead pass and just always finding open guys, making tough passes. He’s also really vocal out there leading guys, getting guys in their spots and just being a true point guard.”On it being the second season in a row where he’s starting at point guard due to injuries:“This time it’s a little bit more games than last year. Last year I think I got to play the same thing, after All-Star break. My minutes increased a little bit this year; since All-Star break I’ve been starting so I’m just trying to take full advantage of the opportunity. I feel like I’ve been here before; (I) just try to go out there and make the most of it.”Andre MillerOn wanting to play one more year in the NBA after this season:“That’s the goal – if it’s the third point guard or something where I have some effect on the team, I’m fine where I’m at.”On how Coach Karl has been different this time compared to the Denver years:“He’s being a little bit more patient right now so he’s going to end up getting revved up in a little bit with his expectations and things like that. I think he’s just trying to get used to the guys, attitudes, different egos you’ve got to deal with as a coach, so he’s kind of easing his way into it.”On Ray MacCallum:“He doesn’t make a lot of mistakes, he’s polished, he’s athletic and he’s taking advantage of the opportunity. That’s something good for a player like that – it’s a confidence builder and you can see his confidence is there when he’s out on the court.”