Cavaliers coach Byron Scott on cutting the Lakers’ lead from nineteen to four: “I just think we got aggressive. I thought our guys got that much more aggressive on the defensive end and we had some opportunities to get up and down the floor a lot better in that spurt. I thought our second unit did a good job when they came in of being aggressive on the defensive end, and caused us some turnovers.”
Cavaliers coach Byron Scott on tonight’s game: “I never look at games like this as a moral victory, that’s the bottom line. The bottom line is we want to win the basketball game. I thought we’ve played better, I thought we could’ve played a lot better, especially in the first half. One of our nemeses right now, this year, is turnovers. You can’t have twenty turnovers against good teams like this. We had opportunities, we had a lot of wide open shots tonight that we didn’t knock down. We didn’t finish in the paint real well. Those are two areas that kind of kept us.”
Cavaliers coach Byron Scott on what he has learned about the team on their 7 game road trip: “They’ve got a lot of fight, a lot of fight. They don’t give up. I challenged them at half time, I think we were down eighteen, I just vocally challenged them and I thought they came out and responded well.”
Cavaliers’ Kyrie Irving on his personal performance tonight: “I would have traded it in for a win tonight. Every single game I go into, I’m just taking what the defense gives me. Coming into the third quarter, I thought I needed to be a little bit more aggressive and get my teammates involved. We were making a few shots and I wish a couple chippies would have gone down. Our momentum was picking up and once our second group came in, it picked up even more. Going into the fourth quarter, I thought we had a definite chance to turn it over, but give credit to the Lakers --- they’re a great team and they did a great job of closing it out.”
Cavaliers’ Kyrie Irving on going against Kobe Bryant: “He’s a superstar. Being out there, sometimes you catch yourself watching him cause he does some incredible things out there. I thought [Anthony Parker] did a great job on him especially in the second half. We just didn’t close out the game and that’s the area where we need to get better at.”
Cavaliers’ Antawn Jamison on team’s play tonight: “People were asking about coming back here after what happened last year. It’s a different team and we pretty much put that behind us, but that first half kind of brought back a little bit of memories a little bit. The one thing about this team is the character we have is that we never give up. As a team, I like the character that we have. Guys were positive in the locker room at halftime, we came out and had a better showing and put ourselves in a position to win.”
Cavaliers’ Antawn Jamison on what he learned about team on the road trip: “I think this is going to be a deciding factor for how this season goes --- we have to find a way to win on the road. I think at home, we play with a different mentality and energy. We have to find a way to tune out the crowd and to realize the importance of every possession on the road, and I think we’ll be able to take that step towards getting to that goal. Before this trip, I knew we had great team chemistry and guys pulling from one another, but the biggest thing we can learn from this trip is understanding what it takes to be successful on the road.”
Cavaliers’ Ramon Sessions on team coming back from 19-point deficit: “The second unit, we try to come in and be aggressive. The big guys were getting rebounds, we were getting outlets and we were just trying to push the ball.”
Cavaliers’ Ramon Sessions on Kobe Bryant’s three consecutive 40-point games: “That’s why he’s one of the best in the league, if not the best. That’s why he’s Kobe Bryant. The name speaks for itself.”
LAKERS HEAD COACH MIKE BROWN
Lakers coach Mike Brown’s opening statement: “I thought the first half, on both ends of the floor, we did a solid job. The ball moved, bodies moved. We had some great looks from the floor in the first half, 18 assists on 24 made baskets, and defensively we were solid too.”
Lakers coach Mike Brown on how Kobe Bryant played: “I could go on and on about how well Kobe played for us in terms of scoring the basketball. He’s shooting over 50% from the floor and he hit some tough shots but we have to keep trying to make sure that we keep executing offensively so we don’t have to rely on him so much. But it is always a good thing to have a guy like Kobe Bryant in your back pocket.”
Lakers coach Mike Brown on Derek Fisher: “The 10 assists is a very good basketball game but more importantly than that is the zero turnovers. For a guy playing 30 minutes and having the ball in his hands as much as he had it in his hands, to have those 10 assists with zero turnovers, it was good to see.”
KOBE BRYANT
Lakers’ Kobe Bryant on tomorrow’s matchup with the Clippers: “It’s a good test. I’m looking forward to it. It’s going to be a good challenge. We’re going to be pumped up and excited. There’s going to be a lot of energy.”
Lakers’ Kobe Bryant on playing at a high level despite wrist injury: “It’s motivation. Nobody wants to hear about a bad wrist as a reason for a bad game. No one wants to hear excuses so I have to get out there and do what I do.”
Lakers’ Kobe Bryant on other players stepping up in Steve Blake’s absence: “The young fella’s are going to have to step up, do their job, and facilitate. My wrist isn’t ready to handle that much so the young fellas are going to have to step up and play big minutes.
Lakers’ Kobe Bryant on Derek Fisher: “Derek has been racking up the assists and played extremely well. He played with a lot of energy, solid defense, and made some big plays.”
Lakers’ Kobe Bryant on playing against Chris Paul tomorrow: “He is not-stop and he has a very high motor. He gets into the paint and creates problems and mismatches. I think the biggest thing for him is that he has a similar engine to mine. He is extremely competitive and extremely feisty and that’s his biggest strength.”
MATT BARNES
Lakers’ Matt Barnes on how the Lakers got back control of the game in the end: “You know, just making smart plays. A team like this, their confidence grows as you let them stay in the game and tonight was a perfect example of that. Up twenty [points], you have to find a way to close them out but we didn’t and they battled back but fortunately we got the win.”
Lakers’ Matt Barnes on Kobe’s playing with an injured wrist: “He’s a special player. He’s showing that night in night out. I think the leagues in trouble once his hand heals.”
Lakers’ Matt Barnes on whether losing the early lead tonight will hurt them in tomorrow’s game against the Clippers: “I think no matter how many minutes everyone played tonight the whole team will be ready for tomorrow’s game just like they [Clippers] will be. There’s no excuse. Everyone has the same type of schedule.”