Post Game Quotes -- Dec. 31, 2006

George Karl - Denver Nuggets Head Coach
“We just have to get better shots. I told them when the suspensions occurred; I have no idea how we are going to win, except that we can win. Every game you have to figure out how to get a little better. The effort the last two games has been great, but…Dallas is a very good defensive team. We got good shots a lot, but we didn’t know where they were coming from and there was no confidence in them to make them. After New Orleans I thought the home court would give us some confidence, but it seems like D.J. (Johnson), L.K. (Kleiza), and Kouba (Diawara) are shaken. You’ve just got to shake it off and come back and win some games next week. Survive this fifteen game suspension and keep getting better. We’ve gotten a lot better in the last couple games, hopefully we can sustain our defense and improve our offense. I feel bad because I can’t help them as much and we know that the games are going to be long for us because of the lack of skill and the lack of numbers. The longer the game, the better team usually comes forward. Tonight we probably would have won a 44 minute game and New Orleans we probably would have won a 40 minute game. But that’s not the way it is. We’ve got 48 minutes and I’ve got to figure out a way to rest them or build more confidence in them and help them out and win these games. When we get everyone back it will be a lot easier to build a foundation of success.”

Marcus Camby - Nuggets Center
“It felt good for the most part, I had the adrenaline going. Just have to do what I can out there with us being undermanned. Just trying to go out there and help our team out. I felt good. I thought my condition would be lacking but I felt pretty good out there. My hand still hurts every time I shot or touched the ball so I tried to suck it up and just try to give it all to help the team."

On playing with Allen Iverson
"It felt good to finally get out there and play with him. I haven’t had much practice time, or any practice time, we were just going on the fly out there. It was great to play with him."

On lessons younger guys are getting
"These are valuable lessons. I was just trying to encourage Kouba going down the stretch because the ball seemed to end up coming into his hands when we needed the big shot or the big three. He missed those shots, and normally he would knock those shots down. I just try help to pick up his confidence and let him know it’s alright and you’ll knock down the next one. That’s all they can do, this is a learning experience. When Melo and J.R. come back, their time is going to dwindle a little bit, but at some point during the rest of the season we are going to need them again. This is a valuable lesson and valuable minutes these guys are getting."

Allen Iverson - Nuggets Guard
“It was tough. We had it, we just didn’t finish it. We didn’t finish it out. We had all the opportunities in the world, we just didn’t get it done. We had opportunities, guys had wide open looks. We’ll take those shots. I’ll take them any day. Guys just got to knock them down. You can’t make them all, but we didn’t make them when we needed to make them."

On Camby playing
"That was good for us. It’s just a good feeling to have another piece of the puzzle out there. We’re going to need Marcus to be effective. He came in and he did a great job for us. That’s what we need guys to do, to come in and play hurt. And that’s what he did and he showed a lot of character and a lot of guts. We didn’t want a moral victory, we wanted to send a message about winning. They didn’t have their best player and we didn’t have a lot of our guys, so hopefully the next time we see them we’ll be full strength."

MAVERICKS QUOTES

Avery Johnson - Dallas Mavericks Head Coach
“Tonight was a really special win for us. This is at the top of my proudest moments this season. It was a total team effort. We could have easily found an excuse for this game. The Nuggets had our backs to the wall. Josh Howard had one of his best games in a Mavericks uniform. Not just because of the 28 points or 17 rebounds, but he took four charges and took five turnovers. Tonight there were two teams that refused to lose. we had trouble guarding Boykins and Iverson. We tried to keep three guys in Allen Iverson’s area. We tried to keep it out of his hands. They missed some shots, but we competed.”

Jason Terry - Mavericks Guard
“Tonight’s game was probably one of our toughest of the year playing without Dirk. The Nuggets are revamped, they are much more reenergized team with A.I. out there running the helm. Boykins is playing well, they still got guys hurt, coming back, but they are going to be tough. Down the stretch they are going to be a playoff team."

On their attitude going into a game without Dirk
"Just to be aggressive and play our style of basketball. I think we did that for about two or three quarters there, but like I said, tough ball game. The Nuggets played us tough tonight."

On the Nuggets being undermanned
"With them it’s just how can A.I. hold up until those guys get back? He’s done it in Philly and I think he can do it. He’s got about a couple weeks and Melo and those guys will be back. They’ll be a fun team to watch.”