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| Monday, March 2, 2009 Final Score: New Orleans 98, Philadelphia 91 Hornets Post Game Quotes
On somehow finding ways to win games: “We really haven’t played our best basketball in the last five games, but like you said we keep finding ways to win games. That’s what the important thing is so we are just going to continue to find ways. I think we have some confidence in ourselves that when the game is on the line we are able to get things done to win the game."
On winning five games in a row: “We have been trying to be really aggressive, and put together complete games on both ends of the floor and it’s been working out for us. We got a little energized after the All-Star break, these stretches are going to get a little tougher for us but, above everything else we just wanted to like I said put together some complete games.” On anything different he has been doing over the last five games: “I have just been trying to stay aggressive, and go out and keep the initiative. I feel like if I play well it gives us a better chance to win games. My mindset has just been to stay really aggressive.” On the bench being able to step up and hit some big shots: “Well obviously we get opportunities to see the floor with Chris Paul penetrating and probing the defense. When we got guys hitting shots from the outside, and be able to get extra shot attempts on the glass. It is really going to help us out, and we know that when teams start sinking in it’s up to us on the perimeter, that if we don’t have the shot to make the extra pass and count on our teammates to knock the shot down." On being able to make big stops when they needed to: “Philadelphia is a dangerous team, they are young and athletic, and so our whole thing was to make sure to match their energy. Set the tone early, we knew they were going to make a run, but we were able to make some plays and hold them off at the end."
On the way they pulled it together at the end of the fourth quarter: “We have great confidence in our defense so that we don’t have to rely on our offense to win games. The Sixers are a well coached team and we knew that they would make some baskets; we just didn’t want them to get a bunch of points in the paint. We wanted them to take contested jump shots, and get some rebounds so we could get up and down the court. On if it helps to have reliable shooters: “We got a lot of shooters. It’s something that really helps this offense out when we hit the open shot.” Sixers Post Game Quotes
On tonight’s game: “I thought we got off to a sluggish start tonight. We got down a little tonight, but we battled back. I thought we played a good game, but not good enough. They are a very good team with a couple of All-Stars and they made some big shots. We had a couple of chances to put pressure on them, but we didn’t come up with the shots. Overall, I thought the team played well and we executed our game plan as best as we could. On the team’s performance after the all-star break: “Coming out of the break we weren’t aggressive defensively or offensively pushing the ball. We are doing a better job though. We had 23 fast break points tonight; we pushed the ball more, and tried to be more aggressive. The Miami game was a good game, New Jersey we played well, and even tonight we played well. It just wasn’t good enough. We talked about the little things that we need to work on. We need to come up with more offensive rebounds, get loose balls, and make plays. These are the things that will put us over the top because we don’t have a large margin of error. We can’t have games where we miss a lot of free throws or shoot a low shooting percentage. We don’t have to play a perfect game; just not have a large margin of error. Our team will always compete. They always play hard, always compete, they want to win and they are down when they lose. We have some practice time this week and we are going to work on the little things that will put us up.”
On the New Orleans Hornets: “They’re just playing good ball. They did a really good job of getting the ball in places they wanted to. They did a good job defensively of trying to take stuff away from us. Chris Paul is a great point guard. They just had it going tonight.” On looking forward to the next game: “I think the main thing we need to do is take focus. It’ll be a couple days before we have a game so we mainly just need to get ourselves and prepare for the next game. We’ve been having tough losses with the close games. I think we’ve had a learning experience in those past losses.” On the Hornets three-point shots: “Tonight they (Hornets) hit some tough shots. Basketball is a game of percentages. The further out the shot, the lower their percentage is. If you want to give up something, you give up the tougher threes.” |
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