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| Wednesday, April 29, 2009 Final Score: Denver 107, New Orleans 86 Hornets Post Game Quotes
“I think they are as good as any team in the West. Obviously, the Lakers are the best team in the Western Conference. That would be a great match-up. I think Denver is just as explosive as any offensive team in the Western Conference. They do much better on the defensive end; guys seemed to be committed on that end of the floor. Dallas, the next round for them, is going to be an interesting match-up as well. Right now they are playing with a lot of confidence extremely well on both ends. They are going to be a very worthy opponent." I think the first thing; it would be a little bit different series if we were all healthy. That is the biggest thing. There is not a whole lot different that we could have done. Guys had to play a bunch of minutes, which is tough. Especially when you are playing against a team that is as explosive as they are. That makes the whole situation tough, but the biggest thing is just wishing we were all healthy. We are a better basketball team than we shown in this series. I don’t take anything away from Denver. I think they played extremely well. Hats off to them and George Karl I think he has done a fantastic job. Chauncey when he got over here I knew there would be a difference for them.”
“We were just uncomfortable with the ball and made too many mistakes and we are dealing with a team that has got weapons they can reach and make you pay. We know they are pretty solid; they are a solid basketball team. I think it came down to it that we lost confidence in our ability to stop them. Even when the game was close we didn’t have the confidence. That lack of confidence didn’t carry through the whole game on both sides of the ball.”
“First I want to say congratulations to Denver. They did an outstanding job all season. I don’t think anyone had trapped the ball screens as good as they did this series. I think with Birdman and Kenyon they are two athletic bigs and they did a great job." Advice to Melo: "Just not to be satisfied with getting out of the first round. Now it gets more intense. I think Chauncey is the best thing that could have happened to Denver. I think the mindset he has given this team right now is going to fuel them in that next round." Do you think JR has become more solid and dependable? "I think so. Me and JR talked a lot this past week when they were in New Orleans for those two games. My rookie year we were attached at the hip and we just laughed about how far both of us have come. We were once the back court of this team and I told JR how amazing it is to see him now. He shoots from outside outstanding, but the thing that makes him so dangerous now is he can put the ball on the floor. I think he has built up a lot of trust in his teammates.” Nuggets Post Game Quotes
“The monkey has been pretty heavy on this team at times. I am happy for Melo to get the monkey off our backs. I think he’ll play better now that the stress has lessened. New Orleans is a pretty banged up team. We are not a 20+ point better team than they are in four games. They are much better than that. I think we are good. I haven’t been able to say that in a proud way. Dallas is playing good basketball, but I like my team. I thought we were going to be a good team this year; I never thought we could be this good. The organization, led by Stan, has a togetherness to it that we haven’t had in the past, which has unified everybody. We have gotten to the first step of what we wanted and maybe we can establish ourselves as a final eight team instead of a final 16 team. The three-ball on this court has been pretty powerful. Not just in this playoff series, but in the past couple of weeks. All the games at home have had a fatigue factor. Usually around the end of the third quarter is when we start to crack them.”
Taking hometown team to 2nd round: "Feels great. I know it has been a long, long time for this team, this organization. For me to just be a part of it feels great to be a hometown kid." Is it a different feeling than Detroit because you are from here? "It feels a little different because I am on my home turf. It is a little sweeter, but we got a long way to go to accomplish what we did in Detroit." On taking care of business: "The game played out exactly how we talked about. They were going to come out, fight and scrap to make it a game. A tied game at halftime and we said you know it is playing out exactly how we like it, get aggressive, make a couple runs, and run away from them." Second round not end goal: No it’s not, but it was fun to get out of the first. That monkey was really big on our backs around here. It feels good to get that off our shoulders. We can kind of relax, go out and play. Try to keep making the season special.”
On getting the monkey off your back: "Finally, it took me five years to get that gorilla off my back. It was a great feeling. It just want to soak this moment up. Hard work did pay off for us, but we have a lot more work to do. Tonight we do what we got to do, celebrate it. Tomorrow we get back in and get ready for Dallas." On coming out of game: "George kept asking, kept asking how was my stamina out there but I said George I’m good I’m going to get this one. He said all right, go get it. If I could have played the whole game I could have." On his emotions during the last minutes: "It is finally here. I have been on the other side of the fence in New Orleans’ situation, I have been there. Over my past five years I have played against the best teams in the Western Conference, I have been down 3-1, back against the wall and I never want to experience that again. I told my team tonight let’s just go out there and play harder than them. I think the first half we were trying to win the game all in one possession. Half the time we rallied, told everybody, look, let’s take our time, let’s execute plays, do what we have been doing and the game will come to us." After hitting a three, camera caught you saying “this is my house” "This is my house. Chauncey moved in with me." |
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