Postgame Quotes - February 8, 2012

(On the Game)

“Every time the Nets made a run, we would bend, but we didn’t break, we answered. For our team that’s good. You have to play through mistakes and we have to give the Nets credit for making three’s. Overall when you look at it when you hold them to 42 percent field goals. It’s six guys in double figures on 29 assists. We had spurts of good plays. You start habit by habit by making good plays. We’re gaining more confidence in each other and in what we do and finding a way to dig in a little bit deeper. The spirit of our team over our last three games has been a unified effort whether the guys are playing or not playing.”

(On not forcing the offense)

“It was very easy. I thought we did a good job of running in transition and just sharing the ball overall. We had a high amount of assists, so there was really no need to force any shots so everything came in rhythm tonight.”

(On getting back on the court after missing 11 games)

“It was fun. I hate missing games, especially in a shortened season, so it was good to get out there and help my team win another game.”

(On the team’s energy and unified effort)

“I thought we played a complete game. The guys on the bench came in and contributed along with the starters. We really didn’t miss a beat and we played an up-tempo pace, that’s in our favor and we did a good job of sharing the basketball, so that was a great, complete team effort tonight.”

(On the game)

“I thought we gave maximum effort for 48 minutes. We were playing together. Everybody was on the same page, offensively and defensively. I think we just have to continue to get better. We have some things we have to work on. If we continue to play like this we can give ourselves a chance.”

(On the team’s chemistry)

“We’re definitely becoming a more unselfish team, coach has been emphasizing moving the ball, so that’s just all we’re doing and we’re just trying to find the open man to give us as much easy shots as we can.”

(On the team going forward)

“We have to keep this hunger, though. We have to continue to play and give these efforts so the wins will come more often. But we have to continue to play like this. We just have to focus on one game at a time and not get ahead of ourselves and I think we’ll be fine.”

(On the Game)

“I think it’s leaning more towards upset on how we started this game. We had no energy and we have to do a better job of having more energy in the first half. We can’t play one quarter or one half and beat teams. We had a much better third quarter, although we did not start the quarter off great. This was a team that had more energy than us and played with a lot more enthusiasm. Again, we have to generate more energy in this building, we have to generate more energy at home and we just didn’t have it tonight. I try to stay away from frustration. Our guys overall played hard, this wasn’t their best night. We have to do a better job of starting games and understanding what we are doing. I was shocked that the score was 20-20 in the first quarter with they way we were playing. They saw the way we were playing and they turned up the intensity. Again, our guys have to understand it’s kind of the same thing when we play a team, especially after we beat them; they are going to go after us. I hope we have more energy on Friday knowing that they beat us tonight.”

(Deron Williams Fourth Quarter)

“He was valiant. He was trying to keep us in there. Just when we get close again, we turned the ball over and we don’t execute. We just fumbled a lot of balls tonight and we have to do a better job of catching and finishing in the paint.”

(On the Game)

“We came out with some energy, but over the course of the first quarter we became lethargic. That put us in a hole and we were trying to play catch up for the rest of the half. We were climbing up hill for the rest of the game and sometimes towards the end of the game you don’t have energy because you’re climbing uphill the whole game. Teams are going to make some runs, they came and they answered back with their own run. It’s just something that we can’t do, coming out lethargic and with no energy. I think they were finding each other in good situations and making easy baskets.”