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| Saturday, January 31, 2009 Final Score: San Antonio 106, New Orleans 93 Hornets Post Game Quotes
On what went wrong tonight in the first half: "I think the first thing we talked about was protecting the paint, I think they had fourteen points in the first quarter out of the 28 they had, and that’s what got them started. They made some shots but not as many shots in the first quarter as they did throughout the game. I thought just letting them get to the basket, giving up too many easy baskets got them going pretty good offensively in the game as it was a trend that continued throughout the game even though they ended up with 38 points from the paint. That was still too many points and when going against a team this good you can‘t allow them to have lay-ups and wide open jump shots and that‘s what we gave them in the first half.” On the defensive issue of points in paint against certain teams like the Spurs: “Well, it has become more of an issue since Tyson and David were out tonight. Tyson‘s been out so it‘s still been an issue as we sometimes take for granted how good he is on the back end. Before Tyson and David went out, we were one of the better teams in the league as far as not giving up points in the paint and since they‘ve been out I think we give up like 40 plus points on average. We just have to do a better job individually and as a team understand that that real estate down there is precious and we have to do a better job of closing the gaps and making Tim shoot shots with a contested hand.” On if impressed with the movement on the offense: “A little bit, a little bit better. It‘s just disappointing with the turnovers, 14 turnovers for 25 points which meant almost every time we turned it over they scored. Transition-defense wasn‘t as good, we allowed Tony to get in the paint too much and we just didn‘t get back real good on the defensive end. [The Spurs] are one of the most underrated teams in transition in the league, a lot of people don‘t give them credit for being a running team but they do get up and down the court pretty well.” On if a 7-game series started tomorrow, what area would concern him against the Spurs: “Number one, points in the paint. Number two, we really have no answer for Manu, we really don’t. He‘s been able to dominate us on the perimeter, beating our guys off the dribble, getting to the bucket, hitting the shot from the perimeter, we just have to find a way to slow him down when we play this team again. The biggest issue was points in the paint, which is a good thing we don‘t play them tomorrow because Tyson is still hurt.”
On the fourth quarter: “In the fourth quarter there weren’t many fouls called against us and it really hurt us. The Spurs just know know play great defense. I tried to be aggressive and after ball screens they left me open and I thought that I might as a shoot the basketball because I was hitting. But in the fourth quarter we had lots of open shots but it seemed as if every run and every call just didn’t go our way. We had a chance but it seemed that every called seemed to go the other way. You could say we got a little frustrated, got a few technicals and the game got away from us. We got our shots tonight but I bet if we played the same game against them it could look different. David West hits a few more open looks, I make some more shots, Peja shoots better – and it’s a completely different game.” On the Spurs offense tonight: “The Spurs were clicking on all cylinders. Michael Finley was big for them and he hits his shots he gives the entire team confidence.” On possible carryover from previous loss: “No, it was just a tough game. In the first half it was tight but in the third quarter the Spurs jumped out and in the fourth it got away.”
On Michael Finley tonight: “Michael Finley was hitting some big shots in the game today. Whenever he can compliment the Spurs big three of Tim, Tony and Manu, it’s a great advantage for them. He was hitting his shots tonight and was big for them.” On the Spurs tonight: “We didn’t play the way that we could have. They are a great team that is very competitive and a championship caliber team.” Spurs Post Game Quotes
Opening statement on tonight’s game: “Obviously it was a good win for us. I thought we competed hard for 48 minutes and it got us through.” When asked how he felt about everyone contributing: “Well they did, everyone contributed. I thought they would be tired tonight after getting back so late the other day; it always hits you the day after. We were concerned about that. We worked through it in the beginning of the game. We did looked a little cloudy, a little slow, a half step behind, but I thought they picked up they’re defense and got back into the game and ended up with a good win.“ When asked if Finley would get the ball more since he was hitting the shots early in the game: “Not especially, spacing gets him the ball. He doesn’t have any problem finding shots. We don’t call the Michael Finley number that often. We’ll call sets where he’s in a position to catch and shoot.” On Chris Paul: “I thought Tony and Chris were both great. They went at each other, Tony scored, Chris scored and they both put on a hell of a performance.” On the Rodeo road trip: “We always have the same mentality. I think that the media makes a big deal out of it. It’s not as if we’re doing anything differently. We don’t have a new offense or a new defense when we go on the road. We enjoy it because it gives us an opportunity to focus, but we don’t do anything different strategy wise.” On starting Kurt Thomas on David West: “I thought Kurt did a real good job. He’s a good defender, he’s obviously strong and we wanted to start him out on that match up.”
On the game: “It was a big win for us. We knew they had a tough one last night. We wanted to come out with energy, and I think we did that.” On the key to success tonight: “I think defensively the biggest key was that we didn’t want their shooters to get hot. Obviously Chris Paul had a huge night, but their other guys…Peja…Butler…and Posey didn’t get a whole lot done. That was a key for us.” “We didn’t want to let Paul get his. He made some unbelievable shots. We contested and still he made some tough shots. Great players do that.” On playing 3 top-tier teams in a row: “We want to see progress. Coach Pop always talks about it. It’s not necessarily about the opponent but about ourselves and getting better. We’re starting to see ourselves improving and we want to continue to do that.” On Michael Finley: “Fin was great. We were getting good passes to him…he was getting the ball in rhythm…he was knocking down his shots. It was huge for us early on.” On his first rodeo road trip: “The guys said they’ve had some success, so there’s a little bit of pressure. I want to be a part of a winning road trip. We’re going to be ready.”
On this game, getting contributions from everyone tonight: “We had a very good game, especially offensively. Defensively it was just hard to contain Chris Paul…he was unbelievable today. Sometimes against a great player you have to make decisions. We didn’t want him to get to the rim as much, and he started making threes. We contained the rest pretty well.” On his dunk on Hilton Armstrong: “It really felt good! It was the first of the season. It took me 45 games, but it finally came. I’m glad that I could finally explode and go hard at the rim and get a nice dunk.” On looking for consistency in his game: “I’m trying not to get too over-excited about the last two games, because I know the way I played in the previous three games. I just have to be calm and let the game come to me and be as patient as I can be.” |
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