When you’re winning a close game and the other team tries to get physical, you have two choices: you can whine, sulk, and try to avoid contact... or you can go right back at them. The Portland Trail Blazers chose the latter when the Houston Rockets tried to muck up the game late, and Blazers coach Chauncey Billups took notice in his postgame interview. Billups said “this is who we are... let’s come out and do what we do and be who we are” after losing to the Rockets the night before. Billups also said “we depended on [Deni Avdija] a lot on both sides of the ball” after Avdija was asked to guard Rockets star center Alperen Sengun down the stretch:
Anfernee Simons got the well-deserved walk-off interview, finally getting a solid game after a rough season so far.