Friday, February 22, 2008

Notes and Quotes: Blazers 92, Sonics 88

I didn't get a chance to post quotes last night, so I'm doing it now. There's still plenty of time to read up on what happened last night before watching what happens tonight. Does that makes any sense?

Notes
Brandon Roy 14 rebounds career high (previous 12 vs. Washington 3/20/07) . . . LaMarcus Aldridge 5 blocked shots ties career high (at Dallas 12/30) . . . Blazers 11 blocked shots season high (old 10 vs. Denver 2/4 in OT) . . . Blazers three players in double figure rebounding (Roy 13, Aldridge 12, Przybilla 11) first time since 4/4/98 at Phoenix (Brian Grant 12, Wallace 11, Rider 10) . . . Przybilla 4 blocks gives him Blazers career total of 425 moving him ahead of Arvydas Sabonis (422) and into a tie with Wayne Cooper (425) for seventh on the club’s all-time list.

Quotes

Nate McMillan
“We’ll take it. We did some good things out there. We wanted to get to the free throw line and be aggressive and tonight we did. It’s always good to get a ‘W’ and build off of that. I think another factor in our win tonight was that we made some plays down the stretch this time.

“We’re still being bothered by those five-minute stretches---this time in the third quarter---when we didn’t execute. But at the end I like the fact that we didn’t settle for jump shots. We took the ball to the hoop and we took care of the ball. But in that bad stretch we made three turnovers in a row and we didn’t make shots. If you get those open shots you have to make them. We got caught too often not knowing how much time was left on the clock.

“I was really pleased that Travis and LaMarcus got to the foul line by taking the ball to the basket. We need both of them to attack the basket and be aggressive.

“One of the reasons I had Jack in the rotation is he is one of our most aggressive guards. He’s a guy who can get to the basket and get to the foul line. Also, I’ve come to realize that we’ve got to find a way to get Joel (Przybilla) in the game because of his rebounding and shot-blocking. That’s why Channing didn’t get more minutes tonight because I kept Joel in the game as long as we could. You’ve got to give up something to get something and I felt we had to have Joel in the game to rebound.”

Travis Outlaw
“Jarrett Jack stepped up big time. We had everyone come in (to the game) and step up for us. It was nice. Joel (Przybilla) is a presence on defense. He really helps make a difference when you know you have a big man under there. I can gamble a little more and get up on my man. We needed it (the win). We really needed it. I think we need to go in there (Seattle tomorrow night) with a level head and play the game the right way.”

Steve Blake
“It was the little things that got us back to a win. It doesn’t matter how you do it. Get that feeling of winning again. It gets your confidence up and just makes you feel good about yourself. Hopefully that will carry over to tomorrow. I don’t think we played particularly hard but we did things down the stretch to win and that’s all that matters.”

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