duncan228
02-28-2009, 03:00 AM
Post Game Quotes (http://www.nba.com/spurs/news/quotes_090227.html)
Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich
On the game - “We started out with a poor first quarter. It was a bad combination of poor shooting, turnovers and getting beat on the boards. After that, I was thrilled with the way we dug ourselves out. But LeBron took it away with those three three’s. I thought the subs did a spectacular job.”
On the bench - “All of them are great guys and have great character. They all want to better learn the system. It was fun to watch them in the fourth quarter.”
“It happens sometimes (the turnovers). But when you have turnovers, get beat on the boards and shoot poorly all at the same time, you have problems. A few turnovers, I can live with that.”
On sitting Tim Duncan - “He thinks he’s ready. The trainers think he’s ready, but if I’m going to err, I’m going to err on the side of caution. Tim doesn’t stand down much and when he said he couldn’t go on Tuesday; that says something to me. That was only four days ago. Resting him makes me more comfortable.”
On Cleveland Head Coach Mike Brown who had nice things to say before the game about the Spurs and Coach Pop - “He’s being very magnanimous. He was a very, very important part of what we do. I learned as much from him as he did from me. We had a very collaborative relationship. Now he’s off on his own and he’s kick ass.”
Tony Parker
On the game - “They played good. They shot the ball very well. I felt like the whole team ran out of gas. We never got a good rhythm and missed a lot of wide open shots and our defense was not as good as the last two games. LeBron (James) made some big three’s in the third quarter.”
On LeBron James making shots - “Everybody was making shots not just him. (Daniel) Gibson, (Delonte) West, everybody was making shots. We tried to double-team and out of the rotation they were just making shots.
On the play of Pops Mensah-Bonsu and Malik Hairston - “They were pretty good. They played hard and were aggressive to the boards, aggressive to the basket. First time we saw some dunks, the fans were excited. That was good from Pop (Gregg Popovich) to give them some minutes and to see what we got out of the young guys.”
On Tim Duncan not playing - “I wanted Timmy to play because I was worried about a game like that that everybody would run out of gas because of the last two games we spent so much energy on the back-to-back. Especially coming from a long road trip, it was almost 10 games on the road and a tough back-to-back against very good teams. Hopefully he’ll be back Sunday and we’ll play better.”
Roger Mason Jr.
On the game - “Our first quarter was horrible. We didn’t come out with energy and they got a lot of fast breaks and too many turnovers. We played better in the second half but LeBron took over in the third.”
On Cleveland’s ability to hit shots - “They hit tough shots. Our intensity rose as the game went on but they started getting three’s and Delonte (West) hit some shots too. It’s tough.”
On going back out on the road - “It feels like we weren’t home at all. We’ll be back on the road and hopefully we’ll have Timmy back soon. Portland’s a good team but hopefully we’ll get these road wins.”
On Tim Duncan not playing tonight: “I thought there was a good chance he would play. He did some running earlier this morning and I know he wanted to play but I think Pop (Gregg Popovich) put an end to it. Hopefully we’ll have him out on the road.”
Cavaliers Head Coach Mike Brown
On the game - LeBron was big tonight on the boards with 14 big rebounds for us. It was good to see LeBron more aggressive after last night. In the game against the Rockets, everyone on our team had their shots but they weren’t going in. Tonight, we got some good looks and we had to take them.
On Delonte West - Delonte West had a solid game for us despite some foul trouble. He was solid on both ends of the floor and was active by helping us to get a lot of points.
On the Spurs effort at the end of the game - The Spurs reserves never gave up at the end of the game and played very actively on the floor. Pops Mensah-Bonsu came in and showed how athletic he is, helped cut into the lead and close the gap for the Spurs at the end of the game. It was a good win tonight by our club.
On guarding Tony Parker - We were aggressive in pick and rolls early but Tony was still able to get to the paint. He is so good that you can’t take everything about his game away. Either he hits jump shots or he gets into the paint.
On what the Cavs need to improve - Our weak side awareness was bad and we have to learn to get better. It something we need to clean up by watching tape and getting better in practice.
On the Cavs impressive back-to-back record - We have a good group of guys in the locker room that are focused no matter who we are playing. We preach that you have to take one game at a time and don’t look at things in wholes. It makes it easier just to keep your focus on the game at hand.
On Coach Pop’s comment about Coach Brown - It’s flattering that he feels that great about me. I didn’t just learn about basketball in my time with the Spurs but also about things off the court. He is a great coach and a great guy. But we just happened to be playing the Spurs tonight and we wanted to get the win.
LeBron James
On the game - “We came out aggressive. If there’s one thing you have to do to win in San Antonio, it’s execute, offensively and defensively. They are a well-coached team and they are good players. No matter who is on the court for them, you have to be able to execute. We did that tonight.”
On defending Tony Parker - “We just threw a lot of bodies in front of him. He’s really good at attacking. Even though they are good shooting team, Tony lives in the paint. We just tried to keep bodies in front of him and change up coverages. We just try and get a hand up when he throws up a shot. From me to Delonte to Mo, everyone who had to guard him did a good, even the bigs.”
On bouncing back after last night - “That’s the beauty of the NBA. You can play as bad as you have ever played one night, and the NBA schedule allows for you to make up for it the next night. That’s what we did.”
Anderson Varejao
On his preparation knowing that he’s going to be starting in front of Ben Wallace - “You have to be focused every time you go out on the floor. I know I’m going to play more minutes. I know I am going to be playing defense. I just have to keep doing what I do for this team, which is bring a lot of energy and play hard.”
Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich
On the game - “We started out with a poor first quarter. It was a bad combination of poor shooting, turnovers and getting beat on the boards. After that, I was thrilled with the way we dug ourselves out. But LeBron took it away with those three three’s. I thought the subs did a spectacular job.”
On the bench - “All of them are great guys and have great character. They all want to better learn the system. It was fun to watch them in the fourth quarter.”
“It happens sometimes (the turnovers). But when you have turnovers, get beat on the boards and shoot poorly all at the same time, you have problems. A few turnovers, I can live with that.”
On sitting Tim Duncan - “He thinks he’s ready. The trainers think he’s ready, but if I’m going to err, I’m going to err on the side of caution. Tim doesn’t stand down much and when he said he couldn’t go on Tuesday; that says something to me. That was only four days ago. Resting him makes me more comfortable.”
On Cleveland Head Coach Mike Brown who had nice things to say before the game about the Spurs and Coach Pop - “He’s being very magnanimous. He was a very, very important part of what we do. I learned as much from him as he did from me. We had a very collaborative relationship. Now he’s off on his own and he’s kick ass.”
Tony Parker
On the game - “They played good. They shot the ball very well. I felt like the whole team ran out of gas. We never got a good rhythm and missed a lot of wide open shots and our defense was not as good as the last two games. LeBron (James) made some big three’s in the third quarter.”
On LeBron James making shots - “Everybody was making shots not just him. (Daniel) Gibson, (Delonte) West, everybody was making shots. We tried to double-team and out of the rotation they were just making shots.
On the play of Pops Mensah-Bonsu and Malik Hairston - “They were pretty good. They played hard and were aggressive to the boards, aggressive to the basket. First time we saw some dunks, the fans were excited. That was good from Pop (Gregg Popovich) to give them some minutes and to see what we got out of the young guys.”
On Tim Duncan not playing - “I wanted Timmy to play because I was worried about a game like that that everybody would run out of gas because of the last two games we spent so much energy on the back-to-back. Especially coming from a long road trip, it was almost 10 games on the road and a tough back-to-back against very good teams. Hopefully he’ll be back Sunday and we’ll play better.”
Roger Mason Jr.
On the game - “Our first quarter was horrible. We didn’t come out with energy and they got a lot of fast breaks and too many turnovers. We played better in the second half but LeBron took over in the third.”
On Cleveland’s ability to hit shots - “They hit tough shots. Our intensity rose as the game went on but they started getting three’s and Delonte (West) hit some shots too. It’s tough.”
On going back out on the road - “It feels like we weren’t home at all. We’ll be back on the road and hopefully we’ll have Timmy back soon. Portland’s a good team but hopefully we’ll get these road wins.”
On Tim Duncan not playing tonight: “I thought there was a good chance he would play. He did some running earlier this morning and I know he wanted to play but I think Pop (Gregg Popovich) put an end to it. Hopefully we’ll have him out on the road.”
Cavaliers Head Coach Mike Brown
On the game - LeBron was big tonight on the boards with 14 big rebounds for us. It was good to see LeBron more aggressive after last night. In the game against the Rockets, everyone on our team had their shots but they weren’t going in. Tonight, we got some good looks and we had to take them.
On Delonte West - Delonte West had a solid game for us despite some foul trouble. He was solid on both ends of the floor and was active by helping us to get a lot of points.
On the Spurs effort at the end of the game - The Spurs reserves never gave up at the end of the game and played very actively on the floor. Pops Mensah-Bonsu came in and showed how athletic he is, helped cut into the lead and close the gap for the Spurs at the end of the game. It was a good win tonight by our club.
On guarding Tony Parker - We were aggressive in pick and rolls early but Tony was still able to get to the paint. He is so good that you can’t take everything about his game away. Either he hits jump shots or he gets into the paint.
On what the Cavs need to improve - Our weak side awareness was bad and we have to learn to get better. It something we need to clean up by watching tape and getting better in practice.
On the Cavs impressive back-to-back record - We have a good group of guys in the locker room that are focused no matter who we are playing. We preach that you have to take one game at a time and don’t look at things in wholes. It makes it easier just to keep your focus on the game at hand.
On Coach Pop’s comment about Coach Brown - It’s flattering that he feels that great about me. I didn’t just learn about basketball in my time with the Spurs but also about things off the court. He is a great coach and a great guy. But we just happened to be playing the Spurs tonight and we wanted to get the win.
LeBron James
On the game - “We came out aggressive. If there’s one thing you have to do to win in San Antonio, it’s execute, offensively and defensively. They are a well-coached team and they are good players. No matter who is on the court for them, you have to be able to execute. We did that tonight.”
On defending Tony Parker - “We just threw a lot of bodies in front of him. He’s really good at attacking. Even though they are good shooting team, Tony lives in the paint. We just tried to keep bodies in front of him and change up coverages. We just try and get a hand up when he throws up a shot. From me to Delonte to Mo, everyone who had to guard him did a good, even the bigs.”
On bouncing back after last night - “That’s the beauty of the NBA. You can play as bad as you have ever played one night, and the NBA schedule allows for you to make up for it the next night. That’s what we did.”
Anderson Varejao
On his preparation knowing that he’s going to be starting in front of Ben Wallace - “You have to be focused every time you go out on the floor. I know I’m going to play more minutes. I know I am going to be playing defense. I just have to keep doing what I do for this team, which is bring a lot of energy and play hard.”