duncan228
05-09-2010, 11:41 PM
Post Game Quotes (Suns Game Four) (http://www.nba.com/spurs/gameday/100509.html)
Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich
On the game - “Congratulations to the Phoenix organization. They’ve done a great job from top to bottom from the Ownership to Management to Alvin and the Coaches. The players are most important, obviously, and they’ve done a great job. First off, their patience from one year to the next; they deserve a lot of credit. From our perspective, I’m proud of our effort. They made it hard for us to guard them for 48 minutes. We’d go into the fourth quarter and someone for them would step up. Those are the kind of things that happen with that team. The effort was there. They did everything we needed them to do. This season was a tough one for us in ways. They made it to the Second Round of the playoffs. I’m proud of what they did and that’s that.”
On turnover - “In the first half, turnovers killed us. We were better at that in the second half. You have to be pretty perfect defensively. We have to be pretty perfect.”
On Steve Nash coming back after getting six stitches - “(jokingly) We’ve given him a lot more stitches than that. I think it’s sweet for him. He’s a class, class, class guy.”
On Manu Ginobili…did the broken nose affect his play the remainder of the playoffs? - “That did go through our minds. It was discussed. He had a tougher time since then. It’s a question of subjection and you can’t put a finger on it. It wasn’t due to a lack of effort. He stuck his nose in; it just hasn’t worked out for him.”
Tim Duncan
On what he thought about this series after getting past Dallas - “That was not what we expected coming into this series as we thought from past experiences we could do some things to control this series as they just outplayed us. All in all, they just outplayed us as they shot the ball incredibly and they defended pretty well. Tonight we missed a couple layups and they hit threes as that was happening the entire series, even in the plays where we defended pretty well. We give them credit, we say good luck to them and we start doing what we have to do to get ready for next year.”
On being shocked by the sweep - “Yeah, obviously we didn’t expect to be swept. Every game that we played we thought we were in it as they just found ways to get it done and take it away during the last few minutes of the game. We give credit to them, they played better than us and now we move on.”
On if the Suns were playing better offense than the Spurs' defense - “Yeah, we talked about it before this series that we needed to keep them under 100 points as those are the kind of the games that we win and we were unable to do that. Like I said, they just shot the ball well and defensively for some stretches, we did pretty well. We just couldn’t find a way to combat it.”
On how big it was to not have reliable three-point shooters - “It was a little bit of that and just a little bit of every thing. We need to just think about next year, whether working on our spacing, shooting, things like that. But to keep people honest, they outshot us and that was the difference in the entire game. Their three-point shooting to ours was so much better and that’s what continued to spread the floor for them which made Steve and Amare able to go out and make plays.”
Manu Ginobili
On if he was surprised by the sweep - If you would have asked me that ten days ago, I would have said yes. But after the first three games, no. They played better all four games and made shot they had to make and played good defense. We didn’t play as good offensively as them and we weren’t able to make all of the shots that they made.
On the game - Yes, no excuses. Today, I didn’t make a shot. It was not a great day to have a bad offensive night. When you get blitzed on every pick and roll, you have to find the open teammates. If we decided to do that to Amar’e, he has to find somebody. I try to do that and I think I did pretty well but the times I had open looks I just couldn’t make it. You have to give them credit, they made the shots and won the series.
On the Suns' defense - They really stepped up and were aggressive on defense, their rotations were always there, hustle was there as well. I think the big difference was the key moments of every game they seemed to make every shot. Amar’e had two big 18 footers, Jason Richardson had a contested three-point shot from the right wing that was unbelievable. He really hurt us because we were trying to get things going and make a run. Every time we had a run and were up a little bit they made a big shot. You have to give it to them, they were better than us.
On the season's slow start, strong finish, and playoff loss - This season, we finished pretty well compared to with the way that we started. We have to start stronger and but ourselves in a better spot in the first 40-50 games and lost so many games we shouldn’t have lost. That’s why we were in the seventh. All of those teams played better but only it was separated by four wins. We should have been able to get in position. We stepped up the last 20 games, played great against Dallas and lost to Phoenix, who was the better team.
On if the Spurs can still contend - I really think so. I have been telling people this for five years, when people started to talk about age. I think we are always competitive, we went past the first round, second round and then we had one of the worst series we’ve played in my time here with the Spurs. We faced a team that did everything better than us. I would go with these guys again and play just as hard. We ended up playing good basketball except these last few games.
On the Suns' well-rounded team performance - That was the key to how they beat us. They beat us in a game when Amar’e scored, when Nash would score, when Nash didn’t score, when they had less than 10 points in transition, when we didn’t turn the ball over – they always found somebody to step up. In Game Three it was Goran and Barbosa and today it was Amar’e, Jason Richardson, Dudley’s big shot, every game they had somebody different. You have to have depth and players stepping up to win.
Tony Parker
On the series - “It’s a tough one but we have to give credit to Phoenix. They played great once again and they made a lot of shots and tough threes. We were playing good defense, our rotation was pretty good but they just made big shots after big shots.”
On Phoenix making big shots to swing momentum - “I have to give them credit as they did it all series whether game two, game three, game four, they just made shots. To win basketball games and to win a series you have to make shots and that’s what it is. Free throws, missed layups, we had a tough time to get it done offensively but I though defensively we did a good job.”
On if he felt physically well - “Yeah I was fine, it was just that I got a shot before the game to try to get it more loose as it was ok during the game.”
On Steve Nash and coming back after the stitches - “He played great. Pop wanted us to go over the pick and [Nash] was making good decisions whether making his own shots or passing to Stoudamire, as he also was making big shots. They made shots, they made good plays, and they made the right decisions as they deserved to win tonight.”
On his feeling about what the Suns accomplished in this series - “They have to be very happy after all those tough losses over the years by beating them a lot. Obviously I’m very sad that we lost but at the same time I’m happy for Nash and Stoudamire because every year they played very hard against us and it never went their way and now this year it went their way. They were making all the shots and making all the right plays.”
Suns Head Coach Alvin Gentry
On the game - “I have so much respect for the Spurs and the way they do things. We try to pattern our franchise after them. We want to be what they are. I have all the respect for Gregg Popovich and what he’s accomplished and how he’s got that done. I think they’re a class organization. Tonight was a classical example of it doesn’t matter how dire straits you think it is they always seem to scar the heck out of you. There’s no quit in the Spurs. We beat an incredible and a class opponent. With that said we did a great job of staying in the game and hanging around. They just won’t let you play great. I thought we did a great job.”
On Grant Hill - “I don’t think he nearly gets the recognition he deserves defensively. In two series he’s guarded the best player on the floor. With what he has done to Manu I don’t think that anyone has done that.”
On Steve Nash - “Steve played well. It’s just something with the Spurs and his nose or eyes. It’s always something with his face. Steve has taken us to a good place and it all started in training camp. He’s just a determined person. I thought he had a better year this year that the years he won the MVP’s.”
On his bench - “What our bench has done for us as a whole every night we’ve had somebody step up and do a good job for us. We’re a really good team collectively. I’m so proud of these guys and what they have done and how they’ve gotten it done. I just have a ton of respect for our team and what we represent.”
On what he told Stoudemire after his technical foul - “I told him you have to keep you composure. This is not a team that goes quietly into the night and they’re going to do everything to stay in the game. It was a good hard foul, a playoff foul."
On what the Suns need to get better at going into next series - “I think there’s a lot of thing we need to look at. We got to get better at rotations, middle drives and penetration. We didn’t shoot the ball well. Every step you take your going to play a better team. The next team, be it the Lakers or Utah is going to be a better team, so we have to be better.”
Amar'e Stoudemire
On playing the Spurs - It’s always tough to play the Spurs. They have a great pedigree and fight until the end for us in this series. We played great, our both teams, first and second unit played well. It was a total team effort in this series.
On Nash in the fourth quarter - In the fourth, Steve had Stoudemire vision and played great. He did phenomenal. He got a couple of shots to drop and that helped build his confidence. We played a two game and Tim couldn’t figure out who to let go and we took advantage of it.
On beating the Spurs - It’s great. During the trade deadline, we weren’t sure whether I was going to be in Phoenix or not. I feel great about not leaving. We took that confidence we had before and carried it to the second half of the year. We did a great job of defense in the second half, studied more, even after teams figured out what we could do. Other teams tried to take away things and we adjusted well. Our team did a good job of carrying that over, playing well and not we are going to the Western Conference Finals.
On the Suns' team concept - We have always had a good and always deep. But this year, Alvin has done a great job at building confidence in each play. Every player has helped us win. We can depend on our second team.
On Manu Ginobili - Manu is a crafty player. He is extremely crafty, left-handed and we wanted to take away his aggressiveness on the screen and roll and make him a playmaker. We did a good job of trap and contain, once he kicked out we rotated and was there on the weakside to help the help defender. We did a good job at rotating defensively. We did a good job this year but are still improving.
On if the Spurs are too old - Tim is still very effective and a focal point. Manu is still crafty and you can never underestimate those guys because of what they done in the past with championships. Manu and Tim played well but on defense we were able to contain them.
On closing out the Spurs - The great thing about our team is that we have a close out instinct with the Spurs. Being up 2-0 it would have been easy to relax and the Spurs could have won Game 3 but we treated it as the first game of the series and we did the same with Game 4. That’s what great about our team. We get along really well and that goes a little unnoticed. When you get along that well as a unit it’s translates to the basketball court and we play hard for each other. That’s one thing that was different about this series.
On winning in San Antonio - “This is a great feeling. This has been unbelievable this season and is an unbelievable group of players. We don’t want this to end. We want to keep playing and win all we can. This was a fun series. We need to continue to stay focused and play hard. A lot of people doubted us in October and a lot of people doubted us in this series. I’m sure the next series will start with the same doubt and with that being said we need continue to come together as a team and play hard. Winning in San Antonio is very special for us.”
On the difference - “We believed we could beat the Spurs. San Antonio has had our number for so long and these teams have been through so much. We have some new additions to this team that really made a difference. A lot of people in this locker room never experienced the wars between San Antonio and Phoenix. We have confidence as a group and believe we defended well against the Spurs. This is a great team that executed and trusts each other. We also kept our composure and trusted each other tonight.”
On the game plan - “I think some of this night was play calling however the defense was also big for us. We tried to contain Manu Ginobili Tim Duncan and Tony Parker. Tonight was all about going out and competing but you can’t couch effort, guts, courage and toughness. Sometime you just have to go out lace’em up and compete. We knew the Spurs weren’t going to quit and we expected them to compete. We did what we had to do tonight and we are very excited about what’s next.”
Steve Nash
On his eye - I can’t see out of it, it doesn’t want to open. I am just fortunate that I had the chance to get back out there and I didn’t know how it didn’t keep me on the sidelines. When I got hit, I initially didn’t think it was a big deal but I wanted to give it a try and luckily it worked out. It seems like something always happens, we three and a half games clear sailing so it seems like something always happens. I was able to get back out and feel fortunate to help my teammates.
On playing in the fourth quarter - I was trying to seize whatever I could and not change my game too much. I didn’t want to go out there and be self because of my eye. In the first few minutes I was out there I was worried if I was being selfish. I got that one three on the break just to see if it could spark anything and help me stay on the floor. I tried to concentrate on setting my feet and making the shot and fortunately it worked. I just wanted to win the game. I just didn’t want to be out there faking, we had a great opportunity. I don’t want to glorify it, but it’s been a long time since I have beaten this team. I tried to do everything I had to do to close them out tonight.
On winning the series vs. the Spurs - We played well and they were coming in to the series with a lot of confidence. They had beaten a Dallas team that some picked to make it to the finals. Our teams just match up better against the Spurs than Portland and we were able to use our depth, defense and everyone took turns stepping up. We aren’t the most talented team but we believe in each other and enjoy playing together. It is a pleasure to play with this group, when you play the Spurs you have to have enough fight to win.
Jared Dudley
On Steve Nash - “Steve looked like he was in a boxing match tonight. When Steve left the game the Spurs went on a little 10-0 run but we hung in the game and made some big plays. Tonight was a total team effort that you see night in and night out with us.”
On closing out the series in San Antonio - “All the Spurs need is a little momentum and confidence. I really don’t think we played very well tonight but we hung in the game and made big shots when it counted. For us to beat the Spurs the way we did is big. For one the Spurs have given us so many problems in years prior. This city also needed this series to validate how good the Suns are as a team. I am very happy for us right now.”
Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich
On the game - “Congratulations to the Phoenix organization. They’ve done a great job from top to bottom from the Ownership to Management to Alvin and the Coaches. The players are most important, obviously, and they’ve done a great job. First off, their patience from one year to the next; they deserve a lot of credit. From our perspective, I’m proud of our effort. They made it hard for us to guard them for 48 minutes. We’d go into the fourth quarter and someone for them would step up. Those are the kind of things that happen with that team. The effort was there. They did everything we needed them to do. This season was a tough one for us in ways. They made it to the Second Round of the playoffs. I’m proud of what they did and that’s that.”
On turnover - “In the first half, turnovers killed us. We were better at that in the second half. You have to be pretty perfect defensively. We have to be pretty perfect.”
On Steve Nash coming back after getting six stitches - “(jokingly) We’ve given him a lot more stitches than that. I think it’s sweet for him. He’s a class, class, class guy.”
On Manu Ginobili…did the broken nose affect his play the remainder of the playoffs? - “That did go through our minds. It was discussed. He had a tougher time since then. It’s a question of subjection and you can’t put a finger on it. It wasn’t due to a lack of effort. He stuck his nose in; it just hasn’t worked out for him.”
Tim Duncan
On what he thought about this series after getting past Dallas - “That was not what we expected coming into this series as we thought from past experiences we could do some things to control this series as they just outplayed us. All in all, they just outplayed us as they shot the ball incredibly and they defended pretty well. Tonight we missed a couple layups and they hit threes as that was happening the entire series, even in the plays where we defended pretty well. We give them credit, we say good luck to them and we start doing what we have to do to get ready for next year.”
On being shocked by the sweep - “Yeah, obviously we didn’t expect to be swept. Every game that we played we thought we were in it as they just found ways to get it done and take it away during the last few minutes of the game. We give credit to them, they played better than us and now we move on.”
On if the Suns were playing better offense than the Spurs' defense - “Yeah, we talked about it before this series that we needed to keep them under 100 points as those are the kind of the games that we win and we were unable to do that. Like I said, they just shot the ball well and defensively for some stretches, we did pretty well. We just couldn’t find a way to combat it.”
On how big it was to not have reliable three-point shooters - “It was a little bit of that and just a little bit of every thing. We need to just think about next year, whether working on our spacing, shooting, things like that. But to keep people honest, they outshot us and that was the difference in the entire game. Their three-point shooting to ours was so much better and that’s what continued to spread the floor for them which made Steve and Amare able to go out and make plays.”
Manu Ginobili
On if he was surprised by the sweep - If you would have asked me that ten days ago, I would have said yes. But after the first three games, no. They played better all four games and made shot they had to make and played good defense. We didn’t play as good offensively as them and we weren’t able to make all of the shots that they made.
On the game - Yes, no excuses. Today, I didn’t make a shot. It was not a great day to have a bad offensive night. When you get blitzed on every pick and roll, you have to find the open teammates. If we decided to do that to Amar’e, he has to find somebody. I try to do that and I think I did pretty well but the times I had open looks I just couldn’t make it. You have to give them credit, they made the shots and won the series.
On the Suns' defense - They really stepped up and were aggressive on defense, their rotations were always there, hustle was there as well. I think the big difference was the key moments of every game they seemed to make every shot. Amar’e had two big 18 footers, Jason Richardson had a contested three-point shot from the right wing that was unbelievable. He really hurt us because we were trying to get things going and make a run. Every time we had a run and were up a little bit they made a big shot. You have to give it to them, they were better than us.
On the season's slow start, strong finish, and playoff loss - This season, we finished pretty well compared to with the way that we started. We have to start stronger and but ourselves in a better spot in the first 40-50 games and lost so many games we shouldn’t have lost. That’s why we were in the seventh. All of those teams played better but only it was separated by four wins. We should have been able to get in position. We stepped up the last 20 games, played great against Dallas and lost to Phoenix, who was the better team.
On if the Spurs can still contend - I really think so. I have been telling people this for five years, when people started to talk about age. I think we are always competitive, we went past the first round, second round and then we had one of the worst series we’ve played in my time here with the Spurs. We faced a team that did everything better than us. I would go with these guys again and play just as hard. We ended up playing good basketball except these last few games.
On the Suns' well-rounded team performance - That was the key to how they beat us. They beat us in a game when Amar’e scored, when Nash would score, when Nash didn’t score, when they had less than 10 points in transition, when we didn’t turn the ball over – they always found somebody to step up. In Game Three it was Goran and Barbosa and today it was Amar’e, Jason Richardson, Dudley’s big shot, every game they had somebody different. You have to have depth and players stepping up to win.
Tony Parker
On the series - “It’s a tough one but we have to give credit to Phoenix. They played great once again and they made a lot of shots and tough threes. We were playing good defense, our rotation was pretty good but they just made big shots after big shots.”
On Phoenix making big shots to swing momentum - “I have to give them credit as they did it all series whether game two, game three, game four, they just made shots. To win basketball games and to win a series you have to make shots and that’s what it is. Free throws, missed layups, we had a tough time to get it done offensively but I though defensively we did a good job.”
On if he felt physically well - “Yeah I was fine, it was just that I got a shot before the game to try to get it more loose as it was ok during the game.”
On Steve Nash and coming back after the stitches - “He played great. Pop wanted us to go over the pick and [Nash] was making good decisions whether making his own shots or passing to Stoudamire, as he also was making big shots. They made shots, they made good plays, and they made the right decisions as they deserved to win tonight.”
On his feeling about what the Suns accomplished in this series - “They have to be very happy after all those tough losses over the years by beating them a lot. Obviously I’m very sad that we lost but at the same time I’m happy for Nash and Stoudamire because every year they played very hard against us and it never went their way and now this year it went their way. They were making all the shots and making all the right plays.”
Suns Head Coach Alvin Gentry
On the game - “I have so much respect for the Spurs and the way they do things. We try to pattern our franchise after them. We want to be what they are. I have all the respect for Gregg Popovich and what he’s accomplished and how he’s got that done. I think they’re a class organization. Tonight was a classical example of it doesn’t matter how dire straits you think it is they always seem to scar the heck out of you. There’s no quit in the Spurs. We beat an incredible and a class opponent. With that said we did a great job of staying in the game and hanging around. They just won’t let you play great. I thought we did a great job.”
On Grant Hill - “I don’t think he nearly gets the recognition he deserves defensively. In two series he’s guarded the best player on the floor. With what he has done to Manu I don’t think that anyone has done that.”
On Steve Nash - “Steve played well. It’s just something with the Spurs and his nose or eyes. It’s always something with his face. Steve has taken us to a good place and it all started in training camp. He’s just a determined person. I thought he had a better year this year that the years he won the MVP’s.”
On his bench - “What our bench has done for us as a whole every night we’ve had somebody step up and do a good job for us. We’re a really good team collectively. I’m so proud of these guys and what they have done and how they’ve gotten it done. I just have a ton of respect for our team and what we represent.”
On what he told Stoudemire after his technical foul - “I told him you have to keep you composure. This is not a team that goes quietly into the night and they’re going to do everything to stay in the game. It was a good hard foul, a playoff foul."
On what the Suns need to get better at going into next series - “I think there’s a lot of thing we need to look at. We got to get better at rotations, middle drives and penetration. We didn’t shoot the ball well. Every step you take your going to play a better team. The next team, be it the Lakers or Utah is going to be a better team, so we have to be better.”
Amar'e Stoudemire
On playing the Spurs - It’s always tough to play the Spurs. They have a great pedigree and fight until the end for us in this series. We played great, our both teams, first and second unit played well. It was a total team effort in this series.
On Nash in the fourth quarter - In the fourth, Steve had Stoudemire vision and played great. He did phenomenal. He got a couple of shots to drop and that helped build his confidence. We played a two game and Tim couldn’t figure out who to let go and we took advantage of it.
On beating the Spurs - It’s great. During the trade deadline, we weren’t sure whether I was going to be in Phoenix or not. I feel great about not leaving. We took that confidence we had before and carried it to the second half of the year. We did a great job of defense in the second half, studied more, even after teams figured out what we could do. Other teams tried to take away things and we adjusted well. Our team did a good job of carrying that over, playing well and not we are going to the Western Conference Finals.
On the Suns' team concept - We have always had a good and always deep. But this year, Alvin has done a great job at building confidence in each play. Every player has helped us win. We can depend on our second team.
On Manu Ginobili - Manu is a crafty player. He is extremely crafty, left-handed and we wanted to take away his aggressiveness on the screen and roll and make him a playmaker. We did a good job of trap and contain, once he kicked out we rotated and was there on the weakside to help the help defender. We did a good job at rotating defensively. We did a good job this year but are still improving.
On if the Spurs are too old - Tim is still very effective and a focal point. Manu is still crafty and you can never underestimate those guys because of what they done in the past with championships. Manu and Tim played well but on defense we were able to contain them.
On closing out the Spurs - The great thing about our team is that we have a close out instinct with the Spurs. Being up 2-0 it would have been easy to relax and the Spurs could have won Game 3 but we treated it as the first game of the series and we did the same with Game 4. That’s what great about our team. We get along really well and that goes a little unnoticed. When you get along that well as a unit it’s translates to the basketball court and we play hard for each other. That’s one thing that was different about this series.
On winning in San Antonio - “This is a great feeling. This has been unbelievable this season and is an unbelievable group of players. We don’t want this to end. We want to keep playing and win all we can. This was a fun series. We need to continue to stay focused and play hard. A lot of people doubted us in October and a lot of people doubted us in this series. I’m sure the next series will start with the same doubt and with that being said we need continue to come together as a team and play hard. Winning in San Antonio is very special for us.”
On the difference - “We believed we could beat the Spurs. San Antonio has had our number for so long and these teams have been through so much. We have some new additions to this team that really made a difference. A lot of people in this locker room never experienced the wars between San Antonio and Phoenix. We have confidence as a group and believe we defended well against the Spurs. This is a great team that executed and trusts each other. We also kept our composure and trusted each other tonight.”
On the game plan - “I think some of this night was play calling however the defense was also big for us. We tried to contain Manu Ginobili Tim Duncan and Tony Parker. Tonight was all about going out and competing but you can’t couch effort, guts, courage and toughness. Sometime you just have to go out lace’em up and compete. We knew the Spurs weren’t going to quit and we expected them to compete. We did what we had to do tonight and we are very excited about what’s next.”
Steve Nash
On his eye - I can’t see out of it, it doesn’t want to open. I am just fortunate that I had the chance to get back out there and I didn’t know how it didn’t keep me on the sidelines. When I got hit, I initially didn’t think it was a big deal but I wanted to give it a try and luckily it worked out. It seems like something always happens, we three and a half games clear sailing so it seems like something always happens. I was able to get back out and feel fortunate to help my teammates.
On playing in the fourth quarter - I was trying to seize whatever I could and not change my game too much. I didn’t want to go out there and be self because of my eye. In the first few minutes I was out there I was worried if I was being selfish. I got that one three on the break just to see if it could spark anything and help me stay on the floor. I tried to concentrate on setting my feet and making the shot and fortunately it worked. I just wanted to win the game. I just didn’t want to be out there faking, we had a great opportunity. I don’t want to glorify it, but it’s been a long time since I have beaten this team. I tried to do everything I had to do to close them out tonight.
On winning the series vs. the Spurs - We played well and they were coming in to the series with a lot of confidence. They had beaten a Dallas team that some picked to make it to the finals. Our teams just match up better against the Spurs than Portland and we were able to use our depth, defense and everyone took turns stepping up. We aren’t the most talented team but we believe in each other and enjoy playing together. It is a pleasure to play with this group, when you play the Spurs you have to have enough fight to win.
Jared Dudley
On Steve Nash - “Steve looked like he was in a boxing match tonight. When Steve left the game the Spurs went on a little 10-0 run but we hung in the game and made some big plays. Tonight was a total team effort that you see night in and night out with us.”
On closing out the series in San Antonio - “All the Spurs need is a little momentum and confidence. I really don’t think we played very well tonight but we hung in the game and made big shots when it counted. For us to beat the Spurs the way we did is big. For one the Spurs have given us so many problems in years prior. This city also needed this series to validate how good the Suns are as a team. I am very happy for us right now.”