Postgame Quotes - January 17, 2011

(On the game) “Not to jinx us but we did a great job in that third quarter. I was very impressed with how we came out and defended and offensively shared the ball. We were attacking getting post ups, guys finding the right man open and even that second group came in a did a great job of distributing the basketball.”

(On three game win streak) “We talked to the team going into the Philadelphia game. ‘We got a five game stretch, lets take advantage of this.’ We were four and one during that stretch and loss to Memphis, but every game I thought we competed and that’s the most important thing right now is getting guys to play at a high level. We’re getting ready to go out on the road and play teams that are playing well but we got to make sure we have the same type of focus, intensity that we had these last three games. These were important wins for us.”

(On the lineup) “Right now I like what I’m seeing out there. I’m very comfortable with the way this group is playing and the guys off the bench are doing a great job.”

(On third quarter adjustment) “Sometimes you can talk too much. You’re playing 82 games. We go in there, we tell them what we see on the tape that we watch. We have a highlight tape and a lot of the time we show the players and what we’ve done is adjust it in regard to saying hey listen this is what we see and this is what we want, lets make this adjustment. We understand that the first five minutes we have to play physical basketball and our guys did that tonight.”

(On Richard Hamilton playing in the future lineup) “We’re searching for something that could make us head in the right direction and we’ve made a lot of adjustments throughout the year. Right now with this group we feel comfortable right now and so we want to ride it as long as we can. Players are in and players are out, it’s happen throughout the season and because you’re in the position that we’re in right now we got to make adjustments.”

(The keys to the last three-game win streak) “The first half is mental. Everybody's been keying in on defense, as far as helping each other, one-on-one defense and executing. Everybody has been on the same page.”

(On importance of defense to start the second half) “It's something that we've had a little bit of trouble with early in the season coming out at the beginning of the second half. That's something we can focus in on, having a lot of energy coming out at halftime.”

(On personal improvement since the beginning of the year) “I've learned a lot and I know what coach wants from me. I know the schemes and I know how to get open in the offense and defensively I've learned a lot on help side and on-ball. I think it's just been me learning everyday every time I step in the gym and every time I step on the court I just keep learning.”

(On rotation) “I think this is an emotional game. Guys have to know their roles coming into the games and I think that is set, that foundation has finally been set. Guys know their roles, when the starting group doesn't, guys coming off the bench and things are just clicking. That's something we've been searching for for quite some time and I think we finally found it.”

(On front court) “Guys have been doing well. Rebounding, Greg (Monroe) has been playing with a lot of intensity, rebounding, and scoring the ball. They (Chris Wilcox and Greg Monroe) really compliment each other well. I think if we keep getting those guys to play that way and we get the production we've been getting out of our bench, we'll e fine.”

(On blueprint of team) “When you play at home, it seems like everybody feels a lot more comfortable playing at home. That's why the contributions we get from the guys, guys coming off the bench and it's just spread around. I think it's up too when we're on the road, it's my job and other guys to really take that leadership and come out and get that energy.”

(On the game) “Unfortunately we caved. Our competitive level has got to come up, it’s as simple as that. What happen in the second half is not acceptable.”

(On Missing Tyson Chandlers interior defense) “You can’t worry about guys that aren’t here. Everybody else has to pick those guys up. We all own it. Myself, on down to the other coaches, to every player. This is not what we’re about and we got to remedy it quickly.”

“In these situations you never get out of it just because it’s time to get out of it. You must fight out of it and we got to fight harder. That’s the really the beginning and end of it. Really we didn’t have enough fight to get us over the hump or even near the hump and that’s disappointing.”

(On their losing streak) “We’re taking small steps. Its not anything new as far as being in this league, you’re going to play through your highs and lows and try to minimize the lows. For us right now we have enough talent we just can’t get enough stops when we need to or make a shot. This is the time for us to get closer together and look at what we can do t individually just to help us out. Team defense has been our blueprint when we were winning and now that we’re not winning our defense has dropped off.”

(On the loss) “This game is about effort and we’re not giving the effort. There are guys that can come and give that effort so I think everybody has to do a little bit more effort-wise and the big thing is never to get frustrated because then you start doing things out of the ordinary. We just have to stay the course.”

(On losing) “Any time you lose its frustrating. When you’re losing more than two games in a row, we’re on a skid right here. We got to put a stop to it.”