(On tonight’s game): “Tristan (Thompson) was great again. He had 21 points and 11 rebounds. CJ (Miles) came off the bench and gave us not only a lift offensively, but I thought he was really good defensively. He had some great defensive position plays for us that resulted in some run outs for us. You give Charlotte credit. They played hard, and they try to play the right way.”
(On the team’s defense in the second half): “I thought we were real good in the second half. The first half they had 26 points in the paint. I think they had 12 in the second half. I think their shooting percentage went down drastically in the second half because we were there contesting a lot of shots. I don’t think they got anything real easy in the second half.”
(On the play of Tristan Thompson and Anderson Varejao down the stretch despite foul trouble): “It was tough from the standpoint that those guys are our best pick-and-roll defenders, and that’s what Charlotte wants to do against us. They want to run ball screen after ball screen after ball screen to try to run us around. They do a great job of it. We wanted to get (Thompson) out on the floor as soon as we could. That was beyond his years what he did out there on the floor, playing with foul trouble.”
(On the team’s play): “With our first group, we’re still trying to find each other’s rhythm. We’ve got guys that can make plays, we just have to find our rhythm. Getting into a rhythm translates on both ends of the floor. We have to push the tempo more, get stops and stick to our game plan.”
(On the second half): “We put a string of shots together and guys were hitting shots. It shouldn’t take us being down that many points for us to get going. We have to dictate what we do on offense and how we play, we didn’t do that tonight.”
(On playing Indiana tomorrow): “It’s on to the next game. We will take what we learned from here, watch film tomorrow, go over Indiana and get ready to play.”
(On tonight’s game): “Our second half defense was much better, particularly on (Kyrie) Irving. The biggest thing was that after we gave up the lead in the fourth, we had enough fight and enough poise to come back and make some plays. We had some really good defensive possessions. There was an Irving pick and roll and Bismack (Biyombo) got up and blitzed it and Gerald (Henderson) made a good rotation where we had to cover and ended up with (C.J.) Miles with a contested shot so it’s indicative that we have hard-playing guys and we played hard.”
(On Kemba Walker’s play down the stretch): “Obviously it’s his competitive spirit. That’s the thing that stands out right now, more than anything else. He wants the ball at the end of the game. He’s highly competitive and he made the biggest shot.”
(On Jeff Adrien’s contribution): “Jeff Adrien was a big part of that win. In the NBA, on most teams you’re going to have 11 or 12 guys that that have a chance to win or lose a game for you. He hasn’t been playing at all but he’s a hard worker. He’s been great in practice. He got his chance tonight and he did a great job.”
(On Bismack Biyombo): “He rebounded the ball well and made a couple of big plays. That’s what he has to do and be consistent. He has the ability. He has to be able to play with the same intensity every night. If he does that, he can rebound the ball and be a good team defender.”
(On his three-pointer that broke the tie with 58 seconds left): “I saw that the shot clock was running down and we had about five or six seconds left and he didn’t close out fully on me. I saw that his hand was down and I went up for the shot and I was able to make it.”
(On the win): “That was huge. We needed that win. We really wanted to win against Houston, but we made a few mental mistakes. We corrected them today and we were able to come out with a big win.”
(On the team’s mindset): “We want to come out and bring the intensity, bring the energy. We want to get things going early, we don’t want to play from behind and we want to win. We want to win the first quarter, then go out there and win every quarter. That’s what it’s all about.”
(On his play on defense): “I’m just accepting the challenge from Coach (Steve Clifford). He wants me to be a great defender and I’m taking on the challenge. I’m going to go out there and try my best to contain whoever I’m guarding, stay in front and get some help from my teammates. That’s what it’s been, it’s been five-man basketball. Whoever is on the floor, we’re all out there helping each other. That’s what it’s all about.”
(On tonight’s game):
“Everybody played hard and we were all looking forward to a win. It feels good to see everybody playing that way and to get a win like that. It’s fun.”
(On the team’s defense in the fourth quarter):
“We were trying to get as many stops as possible and obviously down the stretch it helped us a lot. We forced them to turn the ball over and that helped us. It’s just a team effort and I appreciate my teammates.”
CAVALIERS NOTES:
- Kyrie Irving scored 16 points and has now scored in double-figures in four straight games dating back to last season.
- Tristan Thompson posted his first double-double of the season scoring 21 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.
- CJ Miles scored 22 points and has now scored in double-figures in both games this season.
- Jarret Jack scored 15 points and has scored in double-figures in three straight games dating back to last season.