BOOKER RETURNS
We stayed with it and we kept defending,” Nets coach Kenny Atkinson said. “I thought it was our defense that really kept us in the game. [The Blazers] have two great players and they’re an excellent offensive team, so our guys did a good job locking in.”
When everybody is making shots and playing defense, knowing that when we come to Portland, we have two guys to really focus on, it makes my job easier once we try to contain those guys,” Russell said. “Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum are a big-time duo. They’ve been killing in this league for a while. That was my main focus.”
Hollis-Jefferson played with a painful right hip contusion, but Atkinson said he couldn’t afford to take him out. Describing his steal that preserved the win, Hollis-Jefferson said, “The play before, I missed a shot at the elbow at crunch time. I said, ‘Let me get it back,’ and it so happened that I switched on McCollum coming down the middle. I saw the ball, and I know with my hands being so quick that I could get it.”
INJURY REPORT
