“A good win for our guys. For us, any road win right now is a good win. I thought one of the biggest differences in the game, in the second half I think we had two turnovers for two points. The same thing happened against the Knicks. In the second quarter of the Knicks game towards the end of the first quarter we started turning the ball over a lot and they were able to get out in transition and get some easy buckets. That affected our defense because we didn’t get a chance to set our defense, and I thought tonight two turnovers for two points was huge. Obviously Kyrie (Irving), 31 points, five assists, two turnovers in the 35-36 minutes he played was a big night. He’s a guy that has to continue to be aggressive for us scoring the basketball. And I thought he did it at times especially when we couldn’t find a way to score. That’s what his job is. But, we got contributions from everybody. I thought three guys off the bench were huge for us. Anderson’s (Varejao) hustle, his ability to rebound the basketball. He had 14 rebounds and 31- 31 ½ minutes was huge. I thought Dion (Waiters) had a tough first half. He bounced back and kept his head in it. I thought he played defensively the right way. I thought he was very physical guarding his man, guarding his position. He had five rebounds in 29 minutes, so it was huge. Obviously it was a stretch there where he carried us offensively. He hit shot after shot after shot. But, he didn’t just settle for jumpers. What I like that he did was he attacked the rim. He attacked the rim when he needed to, and he shot the jumper when he needed to. Big second half for him on both ends of the floor, not just offensively but defensively too. (Matthew Dellavedova), he’s a guy that just keeps himself ready. You’re not stopping a guy like Arron Afflalo, but you just try to make him work. I thought (Matthew Dellavedova) did his best to try to make Arron Afflalo work. Obviously the two big threes he hit were huge for us. His energy, his physicality, his presence was a big game-changer for us throughout the course of the second half.”
On his view of the flagrant foul on Anderson Varejao:
“They probably got it right. They called Flagrant 2. I didn’t even see (Andrew) Nicholson in the picture so I don’t know how he hit him. But, the officials went back and they reviewed it and they took their time reviewing it, so they probably got it right. I just thought Andy (Anderson Varejao) was wide open and that’s how late (Andrew) Nicholson was coming in fouling him. I’m assuming they got it right.”
On whether Anderson Varajeo is okay:
“I think so. I don’t know.”
On what he thinks about Dion Waiters sticking up for his teammate:
“It was a good team win. I thought different guys contributed, and I say that because it’s good to see it. It’s good to see each other having each other’s backs. I’ve said this before. We talked about this at the beginning of the year. We have a circle, and we want everybody in the circle that’s a part of this group. And if you have one foot in and one foot out, that isn’t going to work. That means a lot of different things. On the floor we’ve got to have each other’s back and off the floor we’ve got to have each other’s back. That’s just another way to describe or show; hey, right now everybody’s in the circle and right now we can keep everybody there because there are a lot of outside influences, even ones that are close to the circle that are pulling guys out. So we’ve got to make sure we’ve got a bunker mentality and we protect one another. We cheer one another. We support one another. And you can do that in a lot of different ways and that’s one of them.”
“He (Waiters) did a great job of just letting the game come to him. He was being aggressive when we needed him to. He was knocking down tough shots and that’s what we needed him to do.”
“I think we are starting to develop our identity as a gritty team especially when things are not going our way offensively. We are not letting those types of things stop us. We are playing with continuity and some flow and we look good out there. It feels good to be out there with one another and we are playing for one another on every single possession.”
“Every road game or at home is a stepping stone for us and a chance to get better. I think we got better now.”
“We have been down the wire with them (Miami Heat-next opponent). They are a good basketball club as everybody knows. We will go in there and try to compete and come out of there with a win.”
“They (bench) did a phenomenal job. They just came out, played, showed toughness and got it done for us.”
“I had to turn it up. I had to be aggressive. I was frustrated in the first half. I let it get the best of me in the first half. I just told myself in the second half to come out and be aggressive.”
“In the first half I had a couple of them (shots) go in and out on me. I put my head down. It was a frustrating half but I gathered myself. In the second half I had to get my thoughts together and go back out there and perform.”
(On altercation with Nicholson at end of game)
“I didn’t even see it. When I passed the ball and was running back I just heard Andy scream. That is why I reacted so late because I didn’t know what happened and I heard Andy say something like ‘don’t do that’. That is Andy. He is my big brother. I learned a lot from him and a person like that you just have to have his back no matter what. That is just everybody on the team. If anybody else was in that situation I would have done the same thing. It is not about being the toughest guy on the team. It is about having your teammate’s back and sticking up for one another. At the end of the day, we are all we have. I think that was a cheap shot and I didn’t really see it, but he could have hurt himself worse than what he did.”
“Only my right knee has some swelling to it but I will ice it and will keep getting treatment and I will be fine tomorrow.”
“I still don’t know what happened. I laid it up and a second later somebody hit me. I didn’t even know it was him so I am going to watch it and see what really happened. Yes, I was surprised. The game was over and there was no need for that.”
(On Waiters and teammates coming to his defense)
“It means a lot and that is the way we have to be. We have to fight for everybody and have everybody’s back. It is a good feeling. That means we are getting better as a team.”
“In the first half it was my right knee (due to collision with Oladipo) and in the second half it was my left knee.”
On his team’s loss…
“I just think they had shot-makers. At the end of the day that’s what the NBA is about, being able to cause the defense to react and put the ball in the bucket. Dion Waiters was able to do it and Kyrie (Irving) was able to do it down the stretch.”
On Cleveland only having two turnovers in the second half…
“I think that one person had the ball in their hands and that one person was shooting it. Whether it was Kyrie (Irving) shooting it or Dion Waiters shooting it; I think that limited their risk of turning the ball over when that guy shot it.”
On Cleveland’s defense…
“I think that they did a good job of eliminating Arron’s catches on the post. I think that was one of the things that I give them a lot credit for doing. He even got a smaller guy on him and his ability to not give us a post position affected us a little bit so, you have to give those guys credit but some of our looks were wide open and the ball has got to go in.”
On Victor Oladipo…
“He’s just getting better by the day. His ability to worry about today’s game is pretty impressive and to play against a high level backcourt like the Cavs’ backcourt, you’ve got to give Victor a lot of credit.”
“Those guys hit some tough shots, especially Dion Waiters. He got the lane a lot and got a couple “and one’s”. I didn’t know it was a 14-0 run but watching the film, that’s something that I’ll look at. When we get back on the floor, we have to value each and every possession, especially on the defensive end.”
“As a team, we all have to buy in, and we know that if a guy is hot, give him the ball and just be ready. You know if we want to win games, that’s our goal, we have to buy in together and know that this is a team effort each and every night.”
“They made good plays and that’s what happened. We didn’t match up and they made plays.”
(On his flagrant foul)
“I didn’t mean to hurt him; I didn’t try to hurt him. I didn’t think I pushed him that hard. But it’s part of the game.”
“I’ve been working out and so I have a different mentality, different approach to the game. So focus on the defensive end and rebounding.”
“Towards the end of the game, they hit shots; we missed shots we normally make. It’s a growing process; it’s a really long season. We have to keep watching film and learning how to get better from it.”
(On his 2nd half)
“I was trying to pick my spots, learn when to be aggressive and when not to be. I felt that I could have been a little more aggressive in the fourth quarter. Again, that’s something I have to watch. I think I did all right on defense. He’s (Irving) hard to contain, someone like that who’s in attack mode, shoots a lot. So, he’s great player too, so that makes it tough. I think I did an all right job on him today but again there’s stuff that I have to work on.”
“We have to learn to come out and get good starts in every quarter. We have to watch film and learn from it.”