On the game:
“ When we were down by 10 points, I definitely had confidence in our second group that they could keep the 10 point lead or shorten it. But when we came in, the Nets started to make shots. When a team is doing that in the forth quarter, it is kind of hard to come back”
On the Nets game-play:
“They hit us in the mouth on both ends of the floor and we were not executing. We got in a hole and it is hard to fight back especially against a great team like Brooklyn.”
On Anderson Varejao:
“ He was great tonight. He had 35 points and 18 rebounds so he was definitely aggressive on both ends of the floor and we need to raise our play to match his”
On Varejao’s game-play:
“I was just trying to be active and tried to be aggressive on offense. I was just doing what the coach was telling me to do which was playing hard and playing physical ”
On the game:
“They are a pretty good team. We had a chance to get back in the game because it was only a 10-point game. In the forth quarter they played great and made a lot of shots.”
On the game:
“I thought the offense was a lot better today as a whole. There are some things we can improve and some things we can do better, but there was definitely a better flow today, a better rhythm. It seems like we are forming better chemistry out there.”
On dealing with Cleveland’s fourth quarter run:
“Every team is going to make some kind of run and we were able to withstand it. It still got kind of close, a little too close for comfort, but we got stops when we needed them and we opened the lead back up. Then, they kind of came back, Kyrie got hot and got to the line, which hurt us a little bit, but in the end we won.”
On Kyrie Irving:
“He’s a great player. He’s so tough to guard. He’s got the ball on a string, so when he’s in a pick-and-roll situation it’s very tough for our big men to get out on him because he’s so good at splitting it. He’s quick and he can shoot the ball so well that you can’t just back off him, so he’s one of tougher players to guard.”
On Joe Johnson and himself:
“It definitely felt like we played better together today and we both got going today, which was good, so hopefully we can continue to make improvements. He and I have been talking a lot the last couple of days about trying to get each other going and finding out where our spots are on the court.”
On discussion head into 4th quarter:
“Just to stick together, basketball is a game of runs and they’re obviously going to make theirs. They have some very talented players, especially Irving, so you know he’s going to get some buckets. We just wanted to keep together, do our best to get stops on one end, and coming down the other we all just clicked. Deron got us some really good looks in there and Joe couldn’t miss.”
On feeling comfortable down-low in the paint with Joe and Deron in the backcourt:
“I’m fairly comfortable it’s definitely a work in progress. They just make the game so much easier because they draw a lot of attention, so when my guy’s not looking, I try to cut in there and get some easy points.”
On Kyrie Irving and Anderson Varejao:
“They communicate very well, very vocal and are willing to help each other out. That’s something me and Hump have been trying to immolate”
On things coming together:
“Yeah, absolutely, and we’re all still learning every game, no question. It’s only going to get better for us.”
On discussion going into 4th quarter:
“We just wanted to focus in a little more and execute, you know, offensively. Defensively we couldn’t get stops down the stretch, but we were able to come down and get some easy baskets, so we just tried focusing in a little more.”
On getting into an offensive rhythm:
“I just got some good looks and we got into transition I shot a couple three’s in transition which got me into a little rhythm. Guys were finding me and I was just trying to take my time with my shot.”
On the second unit and being the anchor:
“Just a little more grit, toughness and the guys are real relentless on both ends of the court. It takes our intensity up defensively which gets our fans involved and were able to make runs.”