Halftime Speech By Coach Stotts Sparked Blazers’ Win Over Magic

At the end of the Portland Trail Blazers’ win against the Orlando Magic, praise went to Damian Lillard for his fourth-quarter heroics and franchise-record-setting 10 made 3’s. But the win can also be traced back to head coach Terry Stotts, who let his team know his dissatisfaction after the first half, Mike Richman of NBC Sports Northwest details:

But before Lillard’s second half eruption, Stotts delivered a heated halftime speech, challenging his team to play with focus and intensity on the defensive end.

“At halftime coach wasn’t happy with us at all,” Nik Stauskas said. “He just basically told us that we haven’t been competing for the last couple weeks on the defensive end and he was calling us out and making sure we brought that energy. Luckily we brought it in the second half.”

Evan Turner says the team’s current three-game losing streak was at the center of his speech as well:

“He challenged us and we accepted the challenge. What he was upset about was he said we weren’t playing desperate enough for coming off a three-game (losing streak).”

You can read more from Richman here.