Portland Trailblazers @ Dallas Mavericks Post Game 28 Quotes "Third Time's a charm"

What the Dallas Mavericks and the Portland Trail Blazers said 
after Game Twentyeight of the Perfect Season.

Quotes

Mavericks

Coach Rick Carlisle

(On Dirk's Gamewinner) "It was a vintage Nowitzki shot. Contested, bump, somehow create space, high-arch and the ball goes in. It was really the game-winning shot in a lot of ways, because when it gets to four it just gets a lot tougher on the opposing team."

(On Odom) "I thought Lamar Odom played one of his best games of the year tonight. He had great energy, he was attacking and he was into the game. When Dirk had some struggles early in the third, we went to Lamar and he made a couple of big plays, he hit a three. It was stuff that kept us going during a tough spot."

(On Kidd) "Just coming off this layoff and the calf and he had the hip thing going on, it was basically going to be 18 minutes going into the fourth and then if we needed him for seven or eight at the end of the game, that would be OK, He felt OK going into the first overtime, so he rolled with it, but then it was time to get him out. And that's why it's good to have a guy like West that i can trust to come in and make plays at both ends."

(On Portland) "Portland just kept playing all night long. Portland got down 18 or whatever it was and they just kept chipping away, chipping away, chipping away. They kept their concentration even after they got down. You have to give them some credit."

(On West) "The guy stays ready and he’s a money player. He’s had that reputation ever since he’s been in the league. We had been battling pretty good but we needed a lift. A non-french Lift. J-Kidd was at his minutes ceiling for tonight. West was the guy. The first play of overtime we draw up a play and he winds up with the shot that got us going. He did good things defensively and he was big at both ends."

(On defending Crawfords 3) "The play at the end of the game where West is guarding Crawford, he doesn't allow the guy to get a good look at a 3. And that's the guy that can throw in some tough 3s, so he was big at both ends."

(On 23 Turnovers) "Right now, we have to do better with the turnovers. Right now, we are doing some things that are just uncharacteristically weird out there. I guess you've got to give the Blazers some credit. But some of the turnovers we made put us in a bad way."

Dirk Nowitzki

(On the win) "It was a battle all night long and I thought it was a physical game. We had to dig deep there and grind it out."

(On West in the 2nd OT) "Delonte was unbelievable. He was great for us."

(On making the Gamewinner at the 3rd Try) "You can’t give me two looks. I should have made the first one, really, at the end of regulation going right, great stepback, great look. To me, it was right on line and I thought actually it was going in, but that’s basketball. Sometimes you get the bounce, sometimes you don’t. It was a little long and bounced out. The second one wasn’t that great of a look. I took probably one or two dribbles too much, ended up on the baseline and that was a tough look there. I finally got one."

(On his 2nd half) "I didn’t have much going. I don’t know if I didn’t use my legs enough."

(On the Clippers next) "We’ve still got a long ways to go. The Clippers beat us there a couple of weeks ago on a last-second shot. They’re obviously very athletic and they’re led by one of the best point guards in this league. Paul can score, he can pass, he can hurt you a lot of ways. So, another tough test, but we want to get back to protecting our home court."

Delonte West

(On coming up strong late) "J-Kidd told me to go out there and be aggressive because of the way they were playing Dirk. He said I'd be able to turn the corner and get the shot off. As soon as I turned that corner, it was wide-open."

(What were you thinking!?) "For the last 12 minutes until that overtime, it was hard for me to get loose. I thought about it, i had my man Lyndon Baty at the game I thought about all the things he's been through and I just drew my strength from him. I went out there and played tough, like he would want me to. He kind of propelled me. I sparked my team right there in the second overtime. He’s fighting for life and he was doing it with a smile on his face. You know, he reminded me of Maximus Aurelius in the movie Gladiator. He gets a big thumbs up from us."

Jason Terry

(On Portland) "Give them a lot of credit, they battled all night long. But we definitely wanted to put them away earlier than what we did tonight."

(On losing leads) "We’re used to close ballgames and being a veteran team doing what we have to do to get a win. You would have liked to have seen us kind of close things out, but it didn’t happen."

(On Dirk missing Gamewinners) "I told the coaches ‘Gimme the ball.’ I’m serious. How long we gonna keep this thing going?"

(On Turnovers) "I’m probably averaging five a game for the last two. For me, they say shoot it and you won’t turn it over."

(On West) "He’s always ready when his number is called. He’s either going to do the little things or the big things."

(On the Win) "Again, they’re a tough team. Aldridge obviously showed you why he’s an All-Star tonight, they’ve got a great bench with Jamal Crawford and they’re a tough matchup. But we did a great job tonight and came away with the victory."

Shawn Marion

(On the Game making his shooting Form look pure in Comparison) "All I can say is it's the NBA. You can say this and say that, and at the end of the day we were able to pull out a win. It took two overtimes to do it, but you've got to give them credit. They're a resilient team, and that LaMarcus Aldridge is a handful."

Lamar Odom

(On himself) "I think right now it’s important for me to play well to give the big fella’ a break without us falling off too much. When I say the big fella’ I mean Dirk. He deserves a rest, he deserves to be able to come out the game and the team not fall off too much."

(On Dirk's Gamewinner) "Dirk being Dirk. He made a tough shot."

(On his body, yet again) "I feel lot more confident and comfortable making moves."

Trailblazers

Coach Nate McMillan

(On the Blazers) "We've just got to make breaks for ourselves. We had opportunities, and we've had them all season long, where you've got to make plays, you've got to make shots, you've got to get stops. Again tonight, we don't make shots when we have the opportunity."

(On a more physical second-half defensive effort) "We didn't do that in the first and I thought we scrapped and put up a fight the second half and fought our way back into the game.

(On if Felton's play (4-17FG) requires him to be benched in favor of Crawford (6-23FG) ) "It's time the play becomes better. I have to look at it."

LaMarcus Aldridge

(On the Loss) "A tough loss. We definitely fought in that game. We did everything we had to do to win it. But when it came down to it, they made big shots and we didn't."

(On 15 Points in the 4th) "I started out kind of slow. I was trying to get it going."

(On Dirk's Gamewinner) "He made a tough shot. But he had three tries at it, so third time's a charm."

(On defending Dirk) "I do feel good about my defense. Nowitzki couldn't see the basket half the time."

Gerald Wallace

(On the Blazers) "We did everything to put ourselves back in a situation to win. We got the stop, we got the rebound, we executed on offense, we made the baskets, we made the plays. It just came down to them making more plays than us."

(On the Mavs) "Those guys over there in the other locker room were NBA champions last year. We just came into their house, took their best punches, gave them our best punches and they barely squeaked a out a win. We feel like we were the better team tonight, they were just able to get a win some kind of way."

Jamal Crawford

(On missing a Gamewinner at the End of 1st OT) "It felt good, it was on line. I thought it went in. All my teammates pretty much said they thought it was going in. It was right there, just a little bit short. It was a good play drawn up by Coach McMillan. I take this one personally myself because I take pride in being able to come up with the big shot in the big moment and I felt like i missed that shot and the game could have been over with."

Raymond Felton

(On his confidence after a 4-17 FG night) "Why wouldn't I have it? I shot 17 shots tonight, of course I have my confidence. I ain't going to stop. Shots just didn't fall tonight. Doesn't mean I'm not going to take them. If it's in the offense, I've got to take them. Hey, I'm struggling, having a struggling season so far, but hey, whatever."

Vids

Wright Stuff

Flagrant Game, Flagrant Fouls

Raymond is kiddin

Game Recap

Postgame

Carlisle

JET

Also

Links

MMB | Tcatcap Kinda Grinda

Buried in the overtimes is how good of a game Lamar Odom had. Not much of a statline, but his 10 points were timely and his effort was through the roof on a night where it appeared the Black Plague had struck most of the players on both teams. I'd take a game like this from him every night; he is not going to hit four of five shots all of the time but the effort he showed needs to stay. This game does not feel all that good -- double overtime to best a team that it looked like the Mavs were prepared to blowout -- but it is best to move on. The NBA is not a league run on feelings. Take the win and be happy with it.

The Mavericks face the DeAndre Jordan show on Monday. Wait, that's not right. Oh well.

Blazersedge Final | Recap

What started as an awful game turned into a barn-burner. Trailing from the opening tip, the Blazers spent the evening in comeback mode, eventually coming up short against the Dallas Mavericks in double overtime.

3rd Quarter: Portland's poor offensive possessions continued, however. They could only manage 23 points in the period, The good news: that was their best period of the evening by far. Plus denying Dallas with the blocks and a few steals kept the Mavericks at 18 for the quarter. Awww, heck. The Mavs' own indifference kept them at 18 as well. Portland played so poorly in that first half they convinced the opponent it was for real too. Dallas had a little bit of a ballgame on their hands headed into the fourth up 5, 61-55. Obviously that's exciting if you're a Portland fan but third parties would look at this game and say that at 61-55 after three things were getting ugly. Third parties would be right. The story wasn't so much Portland taking over as Dallas slipping back.

Final Thoughts:

I want to say the Mavericks are a shadow of the team they were in last year's playoff matchup with Portland. The problem is, I fear the Blazers might be too.

Portland Roundball Society

nothing yet

2MG' Difference

It’s a genuine curiosity that Portland didn’t operate through LaMarcus Aldridge (33 points, 14-26 FG, 12 rebounds, one turnover) on every single offensive possession in both overtimes. Nate McMillan’s teams are typically fantastic at running plays that put the best players in a position to succeed and rely on those players to create (via scores in their comfort zone, passes out of double-teams, etc.), but the Blazer offense was entirely too reliant on Felton and Jamal Crawford (19 points, 6-23 FG, three turnovers) down the stretch. I don’t mean too harp too much on the final 10 minutes alone, but considering how good of a shot creator Aldridge has become, the Blazers’ closing possession distribution was pretty indefensible. Dallas defended Aldridge with Brendan Haywood for much of the game, and despite Haywood’s best efforts to contest shots, deny position, and limit angles for potential hook shots, Aldridge converted bucket after bucket. The man only forced both overtime periods with difficult, contested scores, after all. I’m not precisely sure who should be to blame for Portland’s uncharacteristic misuse of resources (McMillan? Crawford? Felton? Aldridge himself? LeBron James?), but someone in the Blazers’ locker room has some ’splaining to do.

Hoopdata Boxscore

From 10 feet and out, ALLSTAR LaMarcus Aldridge made 10 Shots (1 assisted) on 20 Tries. The Rest of the Blazers made 8 of 47.

The Blazers drew 4 Charges, the Mavs 5. Execution, Ladies and Gentlemen.

Stats

FT-Watch

Good ol' Reliable Brendan 'Pretty much done Defensively' Haywood bricked thee of four from the line. So far he is staying at a brickrate above 50%. Celebration for our third best Center, Beaches! [nsfw]

On the other Hand, Odom casually missed both of his 2 Attempts in his best Game of the Year.

Rest

Outrebounded? NOPE, 57-46. It was a minor Miracle (read, LMA) that Portland made it close and to OT.

39 FG, 21 Assists, 5 Steals, 4 Blocks, 23 TO for the Mavs. Hey Rick, whose fault is this?

Bonus

Disclaimer: If you couldn't tell by now, all italic sentences are made up thoughts, not actual quotes.