(On the game tonight): “A good start as far as the total game. Obviously, I didn’t like the way we started the first half or played in the first half. I thought our guys came out and kind of (felt like) they were stuck in the mud. I think a lot of it had to do with just being out playing somebody else. But overall at the end of the game, I thought we did some really good things on both ends of the floor. We still have a ways to go as far as taking care of the ball and things like that. Sometimes our offense looked a little stagnant, too much dribbling. But overall I’m pretty happy with their effort.”
(On the difference between the first and second half): “It really was more of just running our early offense. We just didn’t do a good job of doing that in the first half. I thought that in the second half, we did it. We were really counting on our bench. I think I counted seven straight times where we got a bucket. It was basically our secondary offenses, not really our fast break. We just did a really good job of executing in the second half, moving the ball, looking for teammates. I think in the first half we had (five) assists and (finished with) 18 for the game… So we just did a better job of sharing the ball. We still have a long way to go as far as sharing the ball and trusting each other.”
(On Donald Sloan and C.J. Miles): “I think Donald did a heck of a job. He did his job as far as being the point guard and running the offense. But it really started with C.J. C.J. was pushing the ball up the floor, which is great in the offense that you can have two or three initiate the offense. He was kind of swinging the ball, getting it to the other side, which is something that we’ve been preaching for the last seven days, really trying to get the ball from the strong side to the weak side and then look to attack. Then again, in the third and fourth quarter we just did a good job of executing.”
(On Dion Waiters): “For a first game, I think his debut was successful. Same thing with Tyler (Zeller). I thought both guys at the beginning were a little nervous and that’s understandable. But I thought both of them calmed down and at the end of the day they had pretty good games for rookies. I think tomorrow they’ll relax a little bit more and see how it goes.”
(On Samardo Samuels): “I’ve been impressed with Samardo since the summer. He really listened to what we had to say as far as to what he has to do. He did all of those things this summer and I think it’s all paying off right now.”
(On Dion Waiters’ performance tonight): “You can obviously see that Coach Scott is still in full effect; biting at our legs a little bit, but that’s going to happen. I was actually laughing on the bench when Dion (Waiters) shot his first air ball because I remember my first NBA three ball hit the rim and the corner of the backboard. It’s definitely rookie jitters, but I think he’s establishing himself well going forward.”
(On the second half of tonight’s game): “We got our second wind. In the first half, I was a little surprised based on coming into the game, I had no legs. My legs were moving faster than my mind. When that happens, everybody has to slow each other down, and that’s what we did in the second half.”
(On dealing with rookie jitters): “They honestly just have to go through it; figure out what they need to do to go on to the next game. I had the pleasure of having a veteran point-guard in Ramon Sessions (last season) and he just told me to slow down. I told Dion (Waiters), it’s good to get that air ball out of the way and now it’s time to play; let the rookie jitters go out the window.”
(On what changed in the second half): “Coach (Byron Scott) made it simple. He said it’s not acceptable to have more turnovers than assists. In the second half, we did what we had to do; we took care of the ball and also for us bigs, we started running up and down the court. In camp we’ve been doing a lot of running drills and for us bigs, we have to look up the floor and that’s what we did in the second half.”
(On how his mind frame is different as a starter): “For me, it’s continuing to be a spark and playing hard. I’m getting more comfortable; I know what’s going on and the offense is clicking.”
HEAD COACH LUNA BANCHI
(On being in America on Columbus Day): “Nobody knows about Columbus Day (back home). It was very nice to stay here for Columbus Day. It was very nice. To stay here in Cleveland, it was a short time. We are really impressed by the people. (They were) nice to us, kind to us.
(On the team’s practice time at Cleveland Clinic Courts): “It was a dream. We have never seen anything like that.”
(On playing at Quicken Loans Arena): “Special atmosphere. It was very nice. We are very excited to be here.”