duncan228
11-26-2009, 12:47 AM
Post Game Quotes (Warriors Game) (http://www.nba.com/spurs/news/quotes_091125.html)
Head Coach Gregg Popovich
On the game - It’s always good to get a win the day before Thanksgiving. We stuck with it against some players who are really difficult to guard. They lead the league in scoring, but we were able to get it done.
On Golden State - Keith Smart did a great job with them. They were hanging in and played hard. We were definitely impressed with what they did.
On Roger Mason - Everyone always thinks hes just a shooter, but he had a good floor game tonight. He played good defense on some good players. He penetrated and passed the ball. He did a good job.
Tony Parker
On the strategy against Golden State tonight - They play up and down so you have a lot of situations where you can be aggressive and go the basket. I was trying to do that and attack them and not try to slow the game too much. At the same time, you can’t forget Timmy, I can also be aggressive against them. We had a couple open shots that we missed, but overall it was a good win for us. It was good to see Roger back and hitting some big shots for us.
On the play of George Hill - A lot of teams are going small so now with George we can match that and go small. We can put Richard at the four or Michael Finley. George is playing great defense. He can take any guard and tonight Monta Ellis was hot but overall George has a great job on defense.
On Friday’s game vs. Houston - It’s always a rivalry. Going to be a big game and a big test for us because we still need a win on the road. We need to start wining on the road. It’s a good game for us and they have been playing well.
Knowing that Golden State was depleted heading into tonight’s game - You have a tendency to go to sleep. You don’t want to slow down too much on them, we want to get the ball inside to Timmy but if we can attack and get easy baskets that’s big against them. We knew they were going to get tired. Three of their guys played 48 minutes last night so we knew that they would get tired. We wanted to keep attacking, knowing that some point in the game they will miss three, four, five shots in a row and we can get a lead.
Roger Mason Jr.
On going into tonight’s game vs. Golden State - We knew they had a game yesterday. With a team like that you have to keep chipping away and they stuck with us for a while but we finally got them to a breaking point. We are starting to get some consistency. The biggest thing is just sticking with it. It feels good.
On knowing that Golden State was depleted heading into tonight’s game - While you are playing you don’t think about that. You know that if you keep putting the pressure at some point you will be able to break through. With a team like that, they attack, attack, attack. You hope at some point they lose their legs a little bit.
On Monta Ellis - He is playing great. He has his legs back – they go to him an awful lot. That also helps. He is playing really good.
On his shot that falling earlier in the year - I really wasn’t worried about it. My big thing going into the year was that I wanted to be more active defensively. I wanted to focus in. Shots didn’t fall earlier on but that happens as a shooter. I am glad they are falling now. I am trying to show more than just shooting by playing good defense, passing the ball, getting some rebounds – that’s what I have to provide for the team.
On Friday’s game in Houston - It will be big. We haven’t had a lot of success on the road. For us, the road is where we really bond and come together and start doing that.
Warriors Assistant Coach Keith Smart
When asked if it was tough playing with 6 or 7 players - It caught up to us. We played a high level game last night in Dallas, but we gave what we could tonight. Monta has had a couple of good game for us, but he just didn’t have enough in the tank tonight. We needed someone else to play really good tonight for us to have a shot.
When asked what his team did well - We tried to compete and we pushed the tempo. We rebounded and tried to defend, but you’re playing against a team that will take advantage of every mistake you make. The Spurs have a veteran team that is playoff tested. The Spurs have the ability to take their game to another level. Overall our guys, under the circumstances did an incredible job coming here and at least getting a split on the road.
When asked if fatigue played a factor in the third quarter - It wasn’t fatigue, it was the turnovers. It wasn’t anything that the Spurs did to us in the third quarter. It was some bad turnovers and some bad shots we took.
When asked how did Monta Ellis react to the double teams and the pressure from the Spurs - It’s still going to be a working progress for him. For the most part he’s doing the things that we need him to do, as far as leading the team. He can get to the basket when ever he wants, that will be there for him. It’s keeping the team moving in the right direction mentally. We have to make sure he’s ready to play every night. If your best player is ready to play every night, that’s when you move to the next guy.
Monta Ellis
On what changed in the 3rd quarter - They’re a great team. I’m not going to take that away from them. If we just look back at the game we’ll see that we did it to ourselves. We made mistakes. They’re a veteran team and they converted off of every mistake we made. We didn’t do that. They played hard and made plays when they needed to and got the win. That’s all you can say.
On his personal performance tonight - That really don’t matter. We didn’t get the win. I’d rather have 42 and get the win than 42 and the loss. Other than that, I give all that to my teammates and my big men who set the good screens and I was coming off in the pocket and my shot was going down. But it doesn’t mean anything to me without the win.
On the youth learning how to produce night in and night out - The only thing you learn from this is to continue to play. We gave ourselves a chance to win. We had it right there. Like I said, we made mistake and they converted. We only been playing with six or seven guys and we left it all out on the floor. That’s all we can do. We’re not going to hold our heads down. We’ve been playing great ball and we’re going to continue to play great ball. We’re going turn this thing around.
Stephen Curry
On what changed in the 3rd quarter - They’re just a veteran team making plays and we didn’t have an answer for it. We weren’t making shots…we had careless turnovers, myself included. You give up too many of those and you give up a chance to win. We gave them that big run. We’ve got to learn from that.
On someone stepping up behind Monta Ellis - I think I had opportunities. I think I got some easy shots. They were probably the best looks I’ve gotten all year right there around the free-throw line. They just weren’t falling early. And then I had those turnovers…just being indecisive a little bit. We do need that. If he’s going for 40 and we’re right there every night staying level with our opponent, then the next person has to step up and make plays. Like last night…he kept us in the game and then we made big plays down the stretch. We just didn’t have that tonight.
On the youth learning how to produce night in and night out - You gotta be able to sustain yourself for the whole game. I don’t think it was the fatigue with my shot tonight, but it could have played an affect. Trying to just stay consistent the whole game on the second leg of a back-to-back is the tough part. Everybody has a little something to learn from this.
Head Coach Gregg Popovich
On the game - It’s always good to get a win the day before Thanksgiving. We stuck with it against some players who are really difficult to guard. They lead the league in scoring, but we were able to get it done.
On Golden State - Keith Smart did a great job with them. They were hanging in and played hard. We were definitely impressed with what they did.
On Roger Mason - Everyone always thinks hes just a shooter, but he had a good floor game tonight. He played good defense on some good players. He penetrated and passed the ball. He did a good job.
Tony Parker
On the strategy against Golden State tonight - They play up and down so you have a lot of situations where you can be aggressive and go the basket. I was trying to do that and attack them and not try to slow the game too much. At the same time, you can’t forget Timmy, I can also be aggressive against them. We had a couple open shots that we missed, but overall it was a good win for us. It was good to see Roger back and hitting some big shots for us.
On the play of George Hill - A lot of teams are going small so now with George we can match that and go small. We can put Richard at the four or Michael Finley. George is playing great defense. He can take any guard and tonight Monta Ellis was hot but overall George has a great job on defense.
On Friday’s game vs. Houston - It’s always a rivalry. Going to be a big game and a big test for us because we still need a win on the road. We need to start wining on the road. It’s a good game for us and they have been playing well.
Knowing that Golden State was depleted heading into tonight’s game - You have a tendency to go to sleep. You don’t want to slow down too much on them, we want to get the ball inside to Timmy but if we can attack and get easy baskets that’s big against them. We knew they were going to get tired. Three of their guys played 48 minutes last night so we knew that they would get tired. We wanted to keep attacking, knowing that some point in the game they will miss three, four, five shots in a row and we can get a lead.
Roger Mason Jr.
On going into tonight’s game vs. Golden State - We knew they had a game yesterday. With a team like that you have to keep chipping away and they stuck with us for a while but we finally got them to a breaking point. We are starting to get some consistency. The biggest thing is just sticking with it. It feels good.
On knowing that Golden State was depleted heading into tonight’s game - While you are playing you don’t think about that. You know that if you keep putting the pressure at some point you will be able to break through. With a team like that, they attack, attack, attack. You hope at some point they lose their legs a little bit.
On Monta Ellis - He is playing great. He has his legs back – they go to him an awful lot. That also helps. He is playing really good.
On his shot that falling earlier in the year - I really wasn’t worried about it. My big thing going into the year was that I wanted to be more active defensively. I wanted to focus in. Shots didn’t fall earlier on but that happens as a shooter. I am glad they are falling now. I am trying to show more than just shooting by playing good defense, passing the ball, getting some rebounds – that’s what I have to provide for the team.
On Friday’s game in Houston - It will be big. We haven’t had a lot of success on the road. For us, the road is where we really bond and come together and start doing that.
Warriors Assistant Coach Keith Smart
When asked if it was tough playing with 6 or 7 players - It caught up to us. We played a high level game last night in Dallas, but we gave what we could tonight. Monta has had a couple of good game for us, but he just didn’t have enough in the tank tonight. We needed someone else to play really good tonight for us to have a shot.
When asked what his team did well - We tried to compete and we pushed the tempo. We rebounded and tried to defend, but you’re playing against a team that will take advantage of every mistake you make. The Spurs have a veteran team that is playoff tested. The Spurs have the ability to take their game to another level. Overall our guys, under the circumstances did an incredible job coming here and at least getting a split on the road.
When asked if fatigue played a factor in the third quarter - It wasn’t fatigue, it was the turnovers. It wasn’t anything that the Spurs did to us in the third quarter. It was some bad turnovers and some bad shots we took.
When asked how did Monta Ellis react to the double teams and the pressure from the Spurs - It’s still going to be a working progress for him. For the most part he’s doing the things that we need him to do, as far as leading the team. He can get to the basket when ever he wants, that will be there for him. It’s keeping the team moving in the right direction mentally. We have to make sure he’s ready to play every night. If your best player is ready to play every night, that’s when you move to the next guy.
Monta Ellis
On what changed in the 3rd quarter - They’re a great team. I’m not going to take that away from them. If we just look back at the game we’ll see that we did it to ourselves. We made mistakes. They’re a veteran team and they converted off of every mistake we made. We didn’t do that. They played hard and made plays when they needed to and got the win. That’s all you can say.
On his personal performance tonight - That really don’t matter. We didn’t get the win. I’d rather have 42 and get the win than 42 and the loss. Other than that, I give all that to my teammates and my big men who set the good screens and I was coming off in the pocket and my shot was going down. But it doesn’t mean anything to me without the win.
On the youth learning how to produce night in and night out - The only thing you learn from this is to continue to play. We gave ourselves a chance to win. We had it right there. Like I said, we made mistake and they converted. We only been playing with six or seven guys and we left it all out on the floor. That’s all we can do. We’re not going to hold our heads down. We’ve been playing great ball and we’re going to continue to play great ball. We’re going turn this thing around.
Stephen Curry
On what changed in the 3rd quarter - They’re just a veteran team making plays and we didn’t have an answer for it. We weren’t making shots…we had careless turnovers, myself included. You give up too many of those and you give up a chance to win. We gave them that big run. We’ve got to learn from that.
On someone stepping up behind Monta Ellis - I think I had opportunities. I think I got some easy shots. They were probably the best looks I’ve gotten all year right there around the free-throw line. They just weren’t falling early. And then I had those turnovers…just being indecisive a little bit. We do need that. If he’s going for 40 and we’re right there every night staying level with our opponent, then the next person has to step up and make plays. Like last night…he kept us in the game and then we made big plays down the stretch. We just didn’t have that tonight.
On the youth learning how to produce night in and night out - You gotta be able to sustain yourself for the whole game. I don’t think it was the fatigue with my shot tonight, but it could have played an affect. Trying to just stay consistent the whole game on the second leg of a back-to-back is the tough part. Everybody has a little something to learn from this.