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(On tonight’s game) “It was fantastic. We got into a little trouble, (but) Michael (Dunleavy) carried us. He was brilliant tonight. He has had a fantastic year for us. He is having a career year. We are putting the ball in his hands a lot. Jermaine (O’Neal) carried us in the first half and Michael (Dunleavy) carried us in the third quarter.”
(On Jermaine O’Neal) “They had trouble with Jermaine. Jermaine is starting to come along strong as we anticipated. We knew we could never be a team that could reach its potential without Jermaine playing the way he has been playing since he has come back.”
(On guarding Zach Randolph) “We pressured him a little bit more. I don’t think we did a good job of coming out to him. We were fronting (Eddy) Curry and that worked well. If you front someone, you need somebody down to protect from the backside. It was Randolph’s man and the idea was to get out to Randolph but we didn’t get out to Randolph. He is a great scorer.”
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(On tonight’s game) “In the second half we came in here and decided that we wanted to pick up the tempo. We did a good job of moving the ball and my teammates found me and I made some shots. It was pretty fun tonight.”
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(On tonight’s game) “We are playing great team basketball. We are moving the ball on offense and we are playing good defense.”
(On Isiah Thomas) “It is hard for me to watch Isiah go through that because he is such a great coach and such a great person. Isiah is one of the fiercest competitors to play the game and that is how he coaches. I know that because I played for him.”
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(On tonight’s game) “As a coach you bring certain things to the table. We say the right things but we don’t gut it out for 48 minutes. We don’t grind, we don’t compete like we should for 48 minutes tonight. A lot of things can be said about me and the teams that I coached and the way I played, but I have never been excused of not having heart or competing. Tonight was very discouraging to me because we didn’t collectively play with heart and compete like I know I do.”
(On the team) “I think we have the talent but just because you have talent and skill doesn’t necessarily mean you have the heart. I am not talking about one individual, it is a team. You have to have heart as a team. One thing we prided ourselves (in) last year, I thought as a team we had heart and courage and we competed. I am not getting this out of this group right now."
(On making adjustments) “Clearly we have to do some things different so yeah everything is up in the air.”
(More on tonight’s game) “We don’t have the grit to sustain a run. A team makes a run at us and collectively we just cave. We just give in. We had a good basketball game going and then all of a sudden, for whatever reason, our team stopped competing as a team. We just gave in and let it happen. There has to be some individual, professional pride that comes from the guys out on the floor. Tonight, we didn’t have that.”
(On Eddy Curry) “I thought Eddy did a good job. He had 16 points and he got to the foul line 10 times in 29 minutes but before you knew it, the game was over. Eddy did his job tonight. He had a tough cover with Jermaine O’Neal, but that’s Jermaine. When the other things happen, that is problematic. I can give you a lot of things but I can’t give you pride and heart. A certain amount of that, a team collectively, as players have to bring that to the court every night. Very rarely do we come in here and discuss something that happened strategically. I look forward to that day when I am not talking about heart and courage.”
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(On tonight’s game) “They were really clicking out there tonight and our lack of defense didn’t make it any better. They just got hot tonight. They made some big shots and they are a good basketball team.”
(On Mike Dunleavy) “That is a team defensive thing. Anytime one guy scores as many buckets as he did, we have to do a better job of noticing who is hot out there and gearing our defense towards him. We did a good job of getting Jermaine (O’Neal) in foul trouble, he went out of the game and Dunleavy took over.”
(More on tonight’s game) “We had our chances tonight. We just blew it. They made some big runs and we weren’t able to fight back. It is just one of those nights. It is one of those games that you really can’t plan for. We did a good job at times, but it seemed that when we got flat they got hot. That is the wrong combination.”
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(On tonight’s game) “Offensively we didn’t execute. Defensively we didn’t stop anybody. They got hot behind the three-point line in the second half and that killed us.”
(On bouncing back) “That has been the story. Every step forward we take, it seems like we take a step in the other direction. We have some things to figure out as a team. By no means is our season over or our spirits broken. We have some things to figure out. We better do it quick because we have some tough games coming up this week. We have to come back before Christmas and the holidays and get a couple of victories.”
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(On the team having pride and heart) “I think so. I think my teammates have pride and heart. I know I do. I am a competitor so I am obviously disappointing. Nobody likes to lose. We have to try and start winning.”
(On the team) “I think it is about the way we play together. That is the bottom line regardless of how much talent you have. It is a long season.”
