Trail Blazers vs Wizards Monday, 01/21/13 AT 07:00PM

Postgame Notes And Quotes: Tough Streak Continues

01/21/13

Written by: sarahhecht

Monday, Jan. 21, 2013 Final Score: Washington 98, Portland 95

POSTGAME QUOTES

HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS
“I told my team this, when we’re in these situations and we’ve been in a lot of them lately, is that it’s all the little things during the course of the game that get you to that point. The last possession, Crawford hits a hell of a shot. Wes made a good effort to contest it. Once again, we made a good effort to tie it up, but it’s the little things through the course of the game, the little breakdowns – every team has breakdowns, but we have to shore them up so that we aren’t necessarily in that position.”

On Crawford’s game winner:
“We took away most of their play. I thought they had two options that they were looking at. Crawford catches it 28 feet from the basket, takes a dribble and shoots a contested jump shot, so you know, he made a shot. I don’t think there was much we could have done to disrupt that. It’s hard to deny everybody the ball.”

On Nene having success early:
“He made his jump shots for one. He got it on the block and stepped off, he got two run-outs early – we can’t let him outrun our team whether it’s our big guys or our little guys. He made his 15-17 foot jump shots and then he was making stuff around the basket. He had 17 in the first quarter, the first nine minutes, and then he has 7 the rest of the way.”

On stretch of games following similar pattern:
“No, this has been remarkable to have this many games come down to the last 30 seconds in a row. You don’t see stretches like this. The one thing that hasn’t wavered is that I like the way our team competes. You can’t take anything away from them on that. I don’t think anybody can fault their effort as far as competing and staying in games. The pendulum has swung a little bit in the close games, but that’s part of sport.”

On Leonard’s performance:
“The first half, his jump hook and his jump shot might have been the first two times all year where he didn’t hesitate. He went right to his hook and he went right to his jump shot. That was good to see. His stamina, he got a little tired early, but I thought he played a little bit better than I expected he would.”

On Lillard finding success in fourth quarter after starting 2 for 12:
“The one thing about Damian is whether his shot is going or not, he stays with it. He did the same thing tonight.”

NICOLAS BATUM
On Wizards success at start:
“They shoot 90 percent through six minutes, they missed one shot. We really have got to play defense from the start. That’s on us, that’s the starters.”

On Crawford’s game winner:
“Big shot. That was a big shot, a step back three. What can I say? That was a good shot.”

Did you realize you were close to triple double?
“This time I was more focused on winning the game, not a triple double. So I just tried to go rebound, get assists, scoring. I was more focused on the scoreboard than stats. I was like ‘we can’t lose tonight. We can’t lose tonight.’”

WESLEY MATTHEWS
On game winner by Crawford:
“He came off a back screen on Ariza, I had to bump that and chase him out to the top of the key. He caught it about 4, 5, 6 feet outside the three point line, dribbled it in to 2, 3, 4 feet behind the three point line, shot it, I contested the shot and he made it.”

“We shouldn’t be losing, especially at home. We don’t take anything away from these teams, but we’re better than that.”
“We’re just losing games we shouldn’t be. We’ve got to bounce back, get off of it, get off this losing streak, get off this losing track.”

On defense early in the game:
“They shot 87 percent from the field early on in the first quarter. We have to stop digging ourselves holes. We played lock down D in the end of the third quarter, fourth quarter. No reason not to be doing it to start.”
“They started off with a good groove, but we didn’t help. Our guards have to help the bigs, bigs have to help the guards. We have to play with a sense of urgency and play pissed off.”

POSTGAME NOTES

- Triple-double … Nicolas Batum finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high 11 assists, marking his first career triple-double … Batum is the 14th Trail Blazer to record a triple-double, and the first since Brandon Roy did it against New York on Feb. 1, 2008 … It is the first triple-double by a Trail Blazer in regulation since Damon Stoudamire on April 15, 2005 at Golden State, and just the third triple-double by a Trail Blazer in the Rose Garden.

- Good company … Batum joins LeBron James and Rajon Rondo as the only players to record three steals and two blocks to go with a triple-double this season … Batum is the first Trail Blazer to record a triple-double while also recording three steals and two blocks since Clyde Drexler in 1991.

- Close call … Tonight marked the 10th consecutive game played by Portland that has been decided by six points or fewer.

- Double-double … LaMarcus Aldridge (17 points, 12 rebounds) recorded his ninth double-double in the month of January, tied for the most in the NBA.

- Finishing strong … Damian Lillard scored 12 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter, making all five of his field goal attempts.

- Season best … The Trail Blazers shot 75.0 percent (12-of-16) in the fourth quarter, tied for the team’s best shooting percentage in any quarter this season (Jan. 7 vs. Orlando, 3rd quarter, 15-20 FG).

- Return of Meyers … Meyers Leonard, playing for the first time since Dec. 29, played 12 minutes and finished with six points and four rebounds, shooting 3-of-3 from the field.

- Halfway point … Through 41 games this season, the Trail Blazers’ record is 20-21, matching their record through 41 games last season.

- Series history … Washington won both meetings against Portland this season for the first time since the 2004-05 season.

- Four in a row … The Trail Blazers have lost four home games in a row, the first time that has happened since Feb. 6-16, 2012.

- Season highs … Nene (24 points) and Martell Webster (24 points) both recorded season highs for scoring tonight … The two combined for 48 of the Wizards’ 98 points.