The Portland Trail Blazers lost five games in a row and their place in the Western Conference has been dropping down. Most recently they were able to snap the losing streak by defeating the Indiana Pacers 133-112.
After the game the star of the team Damian Lillard, who had 23 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists, shared his thoughts on how the Trail Blazers were able to secure the win.
“I know what I’m capable of doing offensively. That’s never been our issue,” Lillard said. “Like I said after last game, I haven’t been my best. I haven’t been my best offensively We just wanted to start this road trip off right. I know that it’s a lot of ways that I can change the game for our team. It’s a lot of ways that I can se the tone and put our team on the edge.
“Brogdon started the game, I think he had like 14 in the first quarter. I came back in the second quarter and second quarter I was like ‘I got him’. We rearranged the matchups and I was like, ‘I got him’ and my intention was just to get into the ball. Just sell out on that end of the floor. They were shorthanded tonight. They didn’t have Sabonis, they didn’t have Myles Turner. And it was Caris LeVert and Malcolm Brogdon. If it was going to be a disaster for us, it would have been those two to do it.
“So, I told CJ [McCollum], you take Caris [LeVert]. I’m going to take Malcolm [Brogdon]. I’m going to sit at half court, I’m going to wait for him, I’m getting over screens, I’m going to finish possessions, I’m going chase him around, I’m going to be be present. We’re going to set the tone of this trip off right. And we’re going to do it defensively, because if we do that against the shorthanded teams like tonight, we’re going to run away with this game.
“I think when we picked up that intensity and that energy and physicality, we ran off. I think at one point we went up 40. The offense was coming much easier, transition, we’re getting open three’s. We started to get what we wanted when we kind of turned the heat up on defense.”
Portland is currently in the seventh place in the West with 33 wins and 28 losses. They are one win behind Dallas and two wins above Memphis.
