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 a performance that we needed. Defensively, that was one of our better games. Our defense contributed to our offense and a lot of times it's the other way around. You like to have a game like that this time of the year.
With a four-point lead, we didn't do a good enough job of stopping Carter down the stretch. You want to make him shoot as far out as possible and keep him away from the basket. He got a lot of calls going to the basket.
Obviously, we had a hard time scoring. We didn't score any points in 10 minutes and you compound that with McGrady getting hot and on a roll . . . that's what Houston wanted to do. They wanted to keep it close in the fourth quarter and have McGrady take over. But offensively it's tough when the ball doesn't go in.
One of the reasons we got him was because he's always been a very good defender. But he really improved his scoring overseas. He brings a nice balance, and it seems when he is on the court, good things tend to happen.
I was really proud of the way we came out both halves. Offensively we were good, but I think what we did at the defensive end contributed to our offense. T.J. did a good job pushing.
Right now he doesn't need to be an offensive force for us. He made some good plays, was available on penetration. We don't need him to score every time he touches the ball. He's very mature with his approach. That showed.
Point guard is the most difficult position to replace. When you lose someone at another position, you can makeshift it a bit. But you need to have ball-handlers out there, especially against a team like Charlotte that wants to pressure you. It's a challenge.
We're coming back to the Bradley Center, and the Bradley Center has been a great building in the playoffs. They call it home-court advantage for a reason so we've got to go home and take advantage of it.
Both team wanted to get the fifth seed. I told the team we're disappointed now and we should be disappointed. But we can't dwell on this and let the disappointment of this loss carry over into the playoffs.
Both teams wanted to get the fifth seed. They may have had a little more in the tank but I was proud of the way our team competed. We were down and to come back in the fourth quarter we just couldn't keep them off the free-throw line. Washington played well and deserved to win.
The good thing about tights is, it makes even 48-year-old legs look better. But I would say of the five of us, I don't think any of them were anything to write home about.
When Dirk has his jump shot, he's going to be a tough cover. They put him in a lot of different situations, and he takes advantage.
Joe is still playing limited minutes and he's still in an adjustment period as far as managing the game. And managing if you want to save his (last) 2 or 3 minutes until the end of the game or not.
Joe and Charlie's rehabs are going well, but we haven't even looked at a return date for those two guys. They're both on track and where we want them to be.