duncan228
03-06-2010, 01:50 AM
Post Game Quotes (http://www.nba.com/spurs/gameday/100305.html)
Head Coach Gregg Popovich
“It was a good effort. Sometimes it’s difficult to play the same team back-to-back. I thought we had good focus and did a good job.”
On the three-pointers - “They went in. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t.”
On the defense - “We did a good job on Peja Stojakovic. That’s always a big key for us. Keith Bogans did a wonderful job and when Richard Jefferson had him, he did a good job. I thought that was important.”
Manu Ginobili
On tonight’s victory - “Tonight we are happy to have the won the game and now we have a tough road trip ahead of us. Memphis is a great team and they play hard at home and of course they are the best team in the league right now.”
On feeling healthy - “I’m feeling very good for the last month or so. I’m feeling very active and like I can really attack the rim. I feel like I can out smart player and the shots are finally falling a little more. Honestly I can’t complain. I’m feeling good.”
On personal/team Play - “I’m just playing and enjoying the game right now. I try to make myself better and also help the team get to the NBA Playoffs. Hopefully then (making the NBA Playoffs) we will have a good run.”
Keith Bogans
On personal play - “I’m always shooting. Fortunately I’m able to get off plenty of shots. Coach is always telling me to get my shots off. Tonight when I was made my first couple of shots my teammates were good about getting the ball back to me.”
On defending Peja Stojakovic - “The best way to defend Peja is not to let him catch the ball. My approach tonight was to make Peja work before he got the ball and hopefully by the time he got his opportunity for a shot he would be to tired to take a good one. That was my main focus guarding Peja tonight.
Head Coach Jeff Bower
“Tonight I thought that the Spurs played at a high level. That forced us to play well. We competed and played extremely hard. I thought we played well for a lot of the game. The Spurs got us tonight. The one thing we felt that we needed to do in this game compared to Mondays game; was that we had zero points in the transition in the first half on Monday. Today we had 10 points in the first half. We were able to get more scoring in the open floor; which is what we need to do to be successful. We had to earn every bucket we made. We had to work extremely hard on every defensive possession. But I thought we answered the challenge. I don’t think we had enough plays to come out on the plus side on the road.”
When asked about the lack of scoring from his starters - “Well, we tried to beat them on one side as they’re a group that has been sticking together for years. We know that if you try to keep the ball on one side of the floor against them, they’ll just load up as they’re really active defensively. I thought at times in the game we were able to look on one side and get a reverse as we usually had success when we attacked their backside. But we’re going to play hard and keep fighting as they’re a good basketball team.”
David West
On what the Spurs did tonight to make this game so difficult - “Well, we tried to beat them on one side as they’re a group that has been sticking together for years. We know that if you try to keep the ball on one side of the floor against them, they’ll just load up as they’re really active defensively. I thought at times in the game we were able to look on one side and get a reverse as we usually had success when we attacked their backside. But we’re going to play hard and keep fighting as they’re a good basketball team.”
On the Hornets playing at their best when the ball is changing sides on the floor - “That‘s what you have to do in order to get yourself good looks and shot attempts at the basket. When you bring the ball up on one side, you have to know that you‘re looking to make plays on the backside when the defense is shifting.”
On getting double-teamed tonight - “We‘re going in these games now expecting teams to double me, whether it’s at the elbow or after I make a couple of dribbles. But the guys know that if they give me a good angle I’ll find them as we’re trying to share the ball. It’s not just going to be on one guy to make all the plays, we just have to continue to get collected efforts from everybody.”
Darren Collison
On the Spurs defensive play tonight - “I don‘t know. When they were guarding me they were trying to go under as I settled for my normal jump shot, which I usually hit. They tried to go over the screen as I tried to attack the big as much as possible to stretch them out or get an easy lay-up. But I was just taking what the defense gave me.”
On trying to read the Spurs defensively - “Yeah. I thought D-West did a good job when they doubled him as we were loading up on one side as he did a good job in kicking the ball out to Peja or Posey. We were trying to read the defense as much as possible as these last four games have nothing to do with our offense, it has to do with our defense. Our effort was there today, they just hit some shots as that pretty much was what our game plan was as we wanted to force them to hit shots and not get easy buckets. I don‘t know how many threes they had but they had a lot of threes as that‘s what it is going to take to beat us.”
Head Coach Gregg Popovich
“It was a good effort. Sometimes it’s difficult to play the same team back-to-back. I thought we had good focus and did a good job.”
On the three-pointers - “They went in. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t.”
On the defense - “We did a good job on Peja Stojakovic. That’s always a big key for us. Keith Bogans did a wonderful job and when Richard Jefferson had him, he did a good job. I thought that was important.”
Manu Ginobili
On tonight’s victory - “Tonight we are happy to have the won the game and now we have a tough road trip ahead of us. Memphis is a great team and they play hard at home and of course they are the best team in the league right now.”
On feeling healthy - “I’m feeling very good for the last month or so. I’m feeling very active and like I can really attack the rim. I feel like I can out smart player and the shots are finally falling a little more. Honestly I can’t complain. I’m feeling good.”
On personal/team Play - “I’m just playing and enjoying the game right now. I try to make myself better and also help the team get to the NBA Playoffs. Hopefully then (making the NBA Playoffs) we will have a good run.”
Keith Bogans
On personal play - “I’m always shooting. Fortunately I’m able to get off plenty of shots. Coach is always telling me to get my shots off. Tonight when I was made my first couple of shots my teammates were good about getting the ball back to me.”
On defending Peja Stojakovic - “The best way to defend Peja is not to let him catch the ball. My approach tonight was to make Peja work before he got the ball and hopefully by the time he got his opportunity for a shot he would be to tired to take a good one. That was my main focus guarding Peja tonight.
Head Coach Jeff Bower
“Tonight I thought that the Spurs played at a high level. That forced us to play well. We competed and played extremely hard. I thought we played well for a lot of the game. The Spurs got us tonight. The one thing we felt that we needed to do in this game compared to Mondays game; was that we had zero points in the transition in the first half on Monday. Today we had 10 points in the first half. We were able to get more scoring in the open floor; which is what we need to do to be successful. We had to earn every bucket we made. We had to work extremely hard on every defensive possession. But I thought we answered the challenge. I don’t think we had enough plays to come out on the plus side on the road.”
When asked about the lack of scoring from his starters - “Well, we tried to beat them on one side as they’re a group that has been sticking together for years. We know that if you try to keep the ball on one side of the floor against them, they’ll just load up as they’re really active defensively. I thought at times in the game we were able to look on one side and get a reverse as we usually had success when we attacked their backside. But we’re going to play hard and keep fighting as they’re a good basketball team.”
David West
On what the Spurs did tonight to make this game so difficult - “Well, we tried to beat them on one side as they’re a group that has been sticking together for years. We know that if you try to keep the ball on one side of the floor against them, they’ll just load up as they’re really active defensively. I thought at times in the game we were able to look on one side and get a reverse as we usually had success when we attacked their backside. But we’re going to play hard and keep fighting as they’re a good basketball team.”
On the Hornets playing at their best when the ball is changing sides on the floor - “That‘s what you have to do in order to get yourself good looks and shot attempts at the basket. When you bring the ball up on one side, you have to know that you‘re looking to make plays on the backside when the defense is shifting.”
On getting double-teamed tonight - “We‘re going in these games now expecting teams to double me, whether it’s at the elbow or after I make a couple of dribbles. But the guys know that if they give me a good angle I’ll find them as we’re trying to share the ball. It’s not just going to be on one guy to make all the plays, we just have to continue to get collected efforts from everybody.”
Darren Collison
On the Spurs defensive play tonight - “I don‘t know. When they were guarding me they were trying to go under as I settled for my normal jump shot, which I usually hit. They tried to go over the screen as I tried to attack the big as much as possible to stretch them out or get an easy lay-up. But I was just taking what the defense gave me.”
On trying to read the Spurs defensively - “Yeah. I thought D-West did a good job when they doubled him as we were loading up on one side as he did a good job in kicking the ball out to Peja or Posey. We were trying to read the defense as much as possible as these last four games have nothing to do with our offense, it has to do with our defense. Our effort was there today, they just hit some shots as that pretty much was what our game plan was as we wanted to force them to hit shots and not get easy buckets. I don‘t know how many threes they had but they had a lot of threes as that‘s what it is going to take to beat us.”