Terry Stotts
Terry Stotts
Terry Linn Stottsis an American retired professional basketball forward and the current head coach for the Portland Trail Blazers of the NBA. After a playing career in Europe and the Continental Basketball Association, where he played for George Karl, Stotts became a part of Karl's coaching staff on multiple teams in the CBA and NBA. He later got opportunities as a head coach for the Atlanta Hawks and Milwaukee Bucks, before helping the Dallas Mavericks win the 2011 NBA Championship...
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth25 November 1957
CityCedar Falls, IA
It was the first time all night where we let (James) go away from the screen. All the help was to the screen.
It was a quality win against a good team. I'm really proud of how we've picked it up defensively over the last 10 games. ... I thought the contributions from everybody were really good. Our starters defensively set the tone early and they stood up late.
It was a tough game. I was real proud at how hard we competed.
It was a tough game. And we pressed for 36 minutes. In the fourth game in five nights, to show commitment to winning a game we needed to have, the guys showed a lot of heart and character.
It was a tough game all the way. Chicago played well and we knew they'd play hard. We were fortunate to make some plays at the end. Jiri is very good off the ball and sees things very well. He was there at the right time.
It's a challenge. I want to put players in a position where they can succeed, and obviously, so we can succeed. ... How we do that, that's part of the process of building a team.
It's a combination of things. Against Cleveland in the first game, we didn't shoot the ball well. Against Chicago, they were a little more aggressive. Tonight they got hot at the right time. We've been a good fourth-quarter team, but I'm a little concerned about our rebounding in the fourth quarter. One of our goals was not to lose three in a row. We've bounced back all year, so we've got to bounce back now.
There's no limitations at all. I know there's a lot of concern and interest, but from our perspective, he's 100 percent been cleared. He's ready to go and he's quick as ever.
I've been impressed by how hard he's worked,
They are a good defensive team. That probably had something to do with it. But we played a little too much off the dribble. Certainly, we missed some shots that we could have had. The eight turnovers really puts you behind the 8-ball.
As good as we were in Seattle over that five-year period, and that five-year period was as good a five-year period as there had been in the history of the league, I don't know if we had a 14-game winning streak.
The starting lineup has been solid. Some nights they get off to good starts, some nights they don't. If you do make a change in the starting lineup, it kind of singles out a guy. I think we're close to having a lot more wins than we have and I don't think changing the starting lineup does anything.
I've always had a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for the way Toni plays the game. In addition to his solid, veteran presence on the floor, Toni's knowledge and experience will be an invaluable asset to the younger players on our roster.
Our defense got us over the hump. It was one of those games. Boston did a nice job defensively and both teams struggled to score. We stayed with our defense and fought through.