duncan228
01-24-2009, 01:35 AM
Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich
On the game - “Timmy did a great job anchoring the team and carrying us for 48 minutes. We had to work hard. New Jersey played really well. They wanted to win badly and Timmy wasn’t going to let that happen.”
On the defensive effort late in the game - “Tim did a great job the entire game. Bruce and Roger did a great job down the stretch. We double teamed him (Vince Carter) and kept him in front of us and out of the lane.”
On the play of Tony Parker - “His aggressiveness was important for us. He and Tim were both real important; Tim throughout the game and Tony in the second half. His aggressiveness was great. We’ve been together a long time (Tony and Coach Pop); he knows what he needs to do. He came out and he did it.”
On coming back out for 0.2 seconds at the end of the game - “They just wanted to end the game the right way.”
On the upcoming game with the Lakers - “We look forward to all our games. L.A. has been a good contest for us the past 10 or 12 years. It’s always a good contest for us.”
On When asked if this was the toughest stretch of quality team to play in the upcoming road trip - “I don’t know off the top of my head. I’m more concerned with what we do than who we play.”
Roger Mason Jr.
When asked if the defense was the key to the win tonight - “Yes, that was it for us, we got stops. We played a little sloppy towards the end and had a few turnovers, but we continued to get stops.”
On when asked how tough is it to guard a player like Vince Carter - “Well he’s just a tremendous player, he’s very talented. He can hit the three; he can make those tough shots. So my job was to make it difficult for him. Toward the end I think that our defense continued to get to him. He hit some crazy shots, but in the end we got some good stops.”
On Tim Duncan’s game tonight - “We see it a lot. The biggest thing is that we keep feeding the horse. He’s down there scoring at will. Early on I think that he had 14 in the first quarter and 20 in the half. So we just kept feeding him the ball”
Tony Parker
On the game - “It was just that Timmy got hot in the first half, he was great tonight. Then at half time Pop came up to me and told me to be more aggressive. We needed someone else to score the basketball, so that’s what I did in the third quarter. Timmy carried us tonight, he was huge tonight.”
On the upcoming tough road trip - “This is going to be a tough schedule. It was nice to get these two wins, because you don’t want to get in that position where you loose the game before the road trip. So, it was a tough game tonight, now we can focus and have a big game in L.A.”
On when asked if the defense was good tonight - “Yeah, I thought we did a good job. We can do a little bit better. Overall we’re doing a lot better that what we were doing a few weeks ago. So, I think we’re on the right track.”
Nets Head Coach Lawrence Frank
On the game - With two-tenths you can’t catch and shoot. You can only tip. That’s all you can do is tip so there was no auguring that. The only hope there was that maybe there should have been three-tenths, but that wasn’t the case.”
“It’s a disappointing loss but there are positives. You ask yourself, with six minutes to go, did we have a chance?...yes. In the final stretch did we get some good looks?...yes. Did they go in?...no. But we were able to get stops and had numerous opportunities in a one point game. We just couldn’t convert. There is no consolation in losing but there is a lot to build on.”
On Brook Lopez’s play - “I though Brook gave a heck of an effort. He did a lot of awesome things at points in this game. He also learned a few things going up against a sure first ballot hall of famer tonight. It all part of a learning curve and there are just some things you have to go through. There’s no side-stepping it. You have to go through some growing pains. There are no short cuts to becoming a really good player in this league.”
On Tim Duncan’s play - “I thought the way we played the Spurs tonight was commendable. There are a lot of things to build on there. But Duncan and the Spurs, they are so tough execution-wise. They bring that every night plus the three point shooting. It’s tough…and Duncan was a beast tonight.”
On his team - “It’s tough to say where we are at right now. I know we’re tired of losing and I think that was reflected in the type of effort we gave tonight and the way the team played. That says more about us. But a loss is still a loss even though we played a lot differently tonight. Tonight is what you’re going to see from this team when we get to 100%.”
Devin Harris
On the game - “Definitely. It was a good effort, team-wise. We just didn’t get the result we wanted. I thought the guys played hard for four quarters. It came down to the last three minutes. They hit a big shot coming out of a timeout, and that gave them the game. If we play the way we did tonight for the rest of our games, I think we’ll be fine.”
How were you so much better tonight? - “I just came out with a mindset to attack. I’ve seen this team a million times so I kinda know how they play me. Just tried to get myself in the lane and get myself going early. Obviously Vince had it going pretty good all night, but I was just trying to read the defense the best I could.”
Were your ribs hurting at all? - “I took a couple shots coming off of screens and what not, but we changed the pad a little, so it can handle a little more pressure.”
On Brook missing the layup at the end of the game - “We missed a couple bunnies that would have changed the game for us. It’s frustrating, but we had a better effort tonight, so I am looking forward to the next one.”
What can Brook learn from playing against Tim Duncan? - “He is the best. The different things that he has…the jump hooks…the shot off the glass…how he screens…how he knows the game. Tim is a one-of-a-kind.”
Brook Lopez
On the game - “You just try and keep a guy like that out of the paint as much as possible, so he has to post up further. He’s great at that bank shot, so you also have to get a hand up at him out there. He’s just a great player. I thought as a team we played really well and had a shot to come out with the win there at the end. We can’t really complain that much.”
On the difference between watching Duncan on film and actually playing against him - “Obviously, it’s completely different. When you’re playing against you really see that great footwork. Just the great moves in general…the pump fakes and everything like that. You gotta be ready when you are guarding him for a number of different things.”
On the game - “Timmy did a great job anchoring the team and carrying us for 48 minutes. We had to work hard. New Jersey played really well. They wanted to win badly and Timmy wasn’t going to let that happen.”
On the defensive effort late in the game - “Tim did a great job the entire game. Bruce and Roger did a great job down the stretch. We double teamed him (Vince Carter) and kept him in front of us and out of the lane.”
On the play of Tony Parker - “His aggressiveness was important for us. He and Tim were both real important; Tim throughout the game and Tony in the second half. His aggressiveness was great. We’ve been together a long time (Tony and Coach Pop); he knows what he needs to do. He came out and he did it.”
On coming back out for 0.2 seconds at the end of the game - “They just wanted to end the game the right way.”
On the upcoming game with the Lakers - “We look forward to all our games. L.A. has been a good contest for us the past 10 or 12 years. It’s always a good contest for us.”
On When asked if this was the toughest stretch of quality team to play in the upcoming road trip - “I don’t know off the top of my head. I’m more concerned with what we do than who we play.”
Roger Mason Jr.
When asked if the defense was the key to the win tonight - “Yes, that was it for us, we got stops. We played a little sloppy towards the end and had a few turnovers, but we continued to get stops.”
On when asked how tough is it to guard a player like Vince Carter - “Well he’s just a tremendous player, he’s very talented. He can hit the three; he can make those tough shots. So my job was to make it difficult for him. Toward the end I think that our defense continued to get to him. He hit some crazy shots, but in the end we got some good stops.”
On Tim Duncan’s game tonight - “We see it a lot. The biggest thing is that we keep feeding the horse. He’s down there scoring at will. Early on I think that he had 14 in the first quarter and 20 in the half. So we just kept feeding him the ball”
Tony Parker
On the game - “It was just that Timmy got hot in the first half, he was great tonight. Then at half time Pop came up to me and told me to be more aggressive. We needed someone else to score the basketball, so that’s what I did in the third quarter. Timmy carried us tonight, he was huge tonight.”
On the upcoming tough road trip - “This is going to be a tough schedule. It was nice to get these two wins, because you don’t want to get in that position where you loose the game before the road trip. So, it was a tough game tonight, now we can focus and have a big game in L.A.”
On when asked if the defense was good tonight - “Yeah, I thought we did a good job. We can do a little bit better. Overall we’re doing a lot better that what we were doing a few weeks ago. So, I think we’re on the right track.”
Nets Head Coach Lawrence Frank
On the game - With two-tenths you can’t catch and shoot. You can only tip. That’s all you can do is tip so there was no auguring that. The only hope there was that maybe there should have been three-tenths, but that wasn’t the case.”
“It’s a disappointing loss but there are positives. You ask yourself, with six minutes to go, did we have a chance?...yes. In the final stretch did we get some good looks?...yes. Did they go in?...no. But we were able to get stops and had numerous opportunities in a one point game. We just couldn’t convert. There is no consolation in losing but there is a lot to build on.”
On Brook Lopez’s play - “I though Brook gave a heck of an effort. He did a lot of awesome things at points in this game. He also learned a few things going up against a sure first ballot hall of famer tonight. It all part of a learning curve and there are just some things you have to go through. There’s no side-stepping it. You have to go through some growing pains. There are no short cuts to becoming a really good player in this league.”
On Tim Duncan’s play - “I thought the way we played the Spurs tonight was commendable. There are a lot of things to build on there. But Duncan and the Spurs, they are so tough execution-wise. They bring that every night plus the three point shooting. It’s tough…and Duncan was a beast tonight.”
On his team - “It’s tough to say where we are at right now. I know we’re tired of losing and I think that was reflected in the type of effort we gave tonight and the way the team played. That says more about us. But a loss is still a loss even though we played a lot differently tonight. Tonight is what you’re going to see from this team when we get to 100%.”
Devin Harris
On the game - “Definitely. It was a good effort, team-wise. We just didn’t get the result we wanted. I thought the guys played hard for four quarters. It came down to the last three minutes. They hit a big shot coming out of a timeout, and that gave them the game. If we play the way we did tonight for the rest of our games, I think we’ll be fine.”
How were you so much better tonight? - “I just came out with a mindset to attack. I’ve seen this team a million times so I kinda know how they play me. Just tried to get myself in the lane and get myself going early. Obviously Vince had it going pretty good all night, but I was just trying to read the defense the best I could.”
Were your ribs hurting at all? - “I took a couple shots coming off of screens and what not, but we changed the pad a little, so it can handle a little more pressure.”
On Brook missing the layup at the end of the game - “We missed a couple bunnies that would have changed the game for us. It’s frustrating, but we had a better effort tonight, so I am looking forward to the next one.”
What can Brook learn from playing against Tim Duncan? - “He is the best. The different things that he has…the jump hooks…the shot off the glass…how he screens…how he knows the game. Tim is a one-of-a-kind.”
Brook Lopez
On the game - “You just try and keep a guy like that out of the paint as much as possible, so he has to post up further. He’s great at that bank shot, so you also have to get a hand up at him out there. He’s just a great player. I thought as a team we played really well and had a shot to come out with the win there at the end. We can’t really complain that much.”
On the difference between watching Duncan on film and actually playing against him - “Obviously, it’s completely different. When you’re playing against you really see that great footwork. Just the great moves in general…the pump fakes and everything like that. You gotta be ready when you are guarding him for a number of different things.”