Head Coach Kenny Atkinson, Brooklyn Nets
On the Nets’ first game back since the road trip:
“I thought guys competed. We just have to do it for longer stretches. I thought the third quarter really kind of got us. Really it was our offense. I think we turned the ball over four times I believe, 8-for-23 from the field so credit to them. They (Celtics) turned up their defense and we couldn’t handle it. We didn’t handle it. We’re a team that goes to the free throw line. We drove the heck out of the ball. They had 27 free throws, we had 16, so that’s a disparity right there. That’s too much for us but I thought our guys competed. I thought we played together. They switch a lot and when we’re good we moved it and we drove it and we shared it. When we weren’t good offensively we tried to line them up and play iso ball and I think we’re 30th in the league in playing iso ball. It’s not our game so we just have to do a better job with that.”
On the Nets’ runs being stopped throughout the game:
“I thought we had a lot of periods where we were really good moving it. I thought Caris (LeVert) gave us a big boost. He really came in and he’s able to break down the switches when they do switch so he can go by guys, go by their bigs when they do switch. But overall, first half we had 15 assists. I’m not sure what we ended up with, 27? So that’s good news for us. That’s higher than our season average so a lot of positives. Obviously frustrated with the result but they’re an excellent team. They have a lot of talent, a lot of athletic talent that you saw on display tonight.”
On the Nets’ finding Allen Crabbe:
“I thought it was a real positive in the game. The ball’s going to find him. The ball finds energy so he did a good job, but again collectively I thought we did a good job finding him, screening for him so that’s important. Then that 19-2 run; they put it on us but I thought they turned up their pressure. They really got into us and we tried to play one on one against them and they’re just too good individual defenders. Too strong, too athletic, so I regret that part of the game that we didn’t do a better job moving in.”
Joe Harris, Brooklyn Nets
On what the Celtics were doing to disrupt the Nets’ runs:
““They’re obviously a great team, and whenever it seemed like we were able to make a run, they would come back with a run of their own. It just goes to show when you play against good teams – great teams, in fact – you can’t just have little strings here and there. You’ve got to have the complete game, and that’s where we were lacking. We had some good stretches, but we just didn’t play a complete game like we needed to in order to win.”
On whether the issues were more on the offensive or defensive end:
“A lot of times bad shots offensively can make it really tough on your defense and I think that was a little bit of what happened to us. When we don’t play together and when we don’t play with the pass, a lot of times we take difficult shots and a lot of times that’s very similar to a turnover and they’re able to get in a good offense off of tough shots that we were taking. So maybe a little bit of a combination of both, but I think that was the main problem.”
On whether sinking into a little bit of isolation was an issue:
“Yeah, I think when we play the way that we’re supposed to, playing together with the pass, the way that Kenny (Atkinson) and the rest of the staff kind of preaches, we get good shots and everybody gets good touches and when it starts to go into isolation, that’s when we kind of struggle.”
Caris LeVert
On the Nets’ offensive struggles at times:
“They (Celtics) are a good defensive team, coach stressed that early. We have to play together. I think we did for most of the night but sometimes we got caught in iso-ball and it hurt us.”
On positive takeaways from the team’s effort:
“I thought we played a good game, that’s what coach said. He was proud of the way we fought, proud of the way we competed. Like you said, we shot the ball well, we will watch film and learn from it.”
On playing point guard due to team injuries:
“For sure, it’s all about learning. It’s game to game. Learning different defenses, learning when to attack and to distribute, when to look for your own shot. Like I said, it’s still early in the season and we are all still learning.”