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
Well it was a bad combination going 3-of-17 with eight turnovers. We were probably lucky to have eight points. I give Memphis a little bit of credit, they are a good defensive team. That probably had something to do with it, but I thought we played a little too much off the dribble. Certainly we missed some shots that we could've had.
It seemed like when they wanted to turn up their defensive pressure, they did. They challenged a lot of our shots, but during that stretch on the offensive end, we had three or four opportunities that didn't go, and they ran the other way with it. The lead went from four to 12 pretty quickly.
It seemed like when they wanted to turn up their defensive pressure they did.
Two games in a row (against Washington). At their place the first time we played them, T.J. made a big defensive play - he got an offensive foul. He made the steal this time.
I told the team before the game that I really felt our offense would come even though we were missing Michael, and we had to focus on the defensive end of the court to win the game.
They really took the challenge defensively and we won with defensive. T.J.'s three-point play was big, but that came off a defensive play.
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.
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.
Andrew and Jamaal did a fantastic job of rebounding the ball. Andrew a lot of the time is guarding a smaller player, so he has to chase them around and Jamaal cleaned up every defensive board and that was big. When we didn't turn it over, we were effective at getting it down into the post.
When we didn't turn the ball over, we got some good opportunities. Michael's approach was terrific. He got in little more of a rhythm and made some timely shots.
We felt if we won this game, there was good chance we'd have the tie-breaker at the end of the season. That was definitely on our minds.
We held them off and made shots. We did a lot of good things.
Our turnovers led to their transition and we didn't do much to stop them.
That's what Houston wanted to do - keep it close, get to the fourth quarter and have McGrady take over. Offensively, it's tough when the ball doesn't go in.