Postgame Quotes - January 23, 2012

(Opening statement): "Look, we had shots at the rim…in the first quarter we had, I think nine shots within three feet of the rim. Unfortunately they were either blocked or led to their breaks…I think we only had one turnover during that stretch. So now it mounts their transition then all the sudden we are operating against the shot clock because we are taking the ball in and they’ve got a whole lot more energy because they are getting easy baskets. You know very disappointing. Very disappointing to just put forth that type of performance.”

(Talk about the Thunder’s defense): “Look we had nine shots within three feet. We missed them all. You have to give their defense credit but you have to get back. We didn’t get back so when you look at the picture and you look at the film, is there are times literally, when we have two blue jersey’s and they have four white under our basket and they still beat us down the floor. Now they have great speed and quickness but for us we just didn’t do enough to make them play against a set defence.”

(Were you hoping for a better team effort after having just beat Portland?): “I don’t say baffling. Disappointed? Yes. Baffled? No. Because we haven’t been consistent so that is where we at right now. We are going to just have to work a whole lot harder and smarter and tougher and together to not have performances like this.”Pistons Forward Jonas Jerebko

On the team’s energy level: “Coming out against a good team like them, we gotta come out with more energy. They hit us first…we went down; we just gotta get back up. You know, we have no excuse for coming out with low energy.”

(On Durant and Westbrook):“They know how to play together; they get easy buckets.”

(On the difference between tonight’s game and the win against Portland):“We have to find a way to play like that every night. I take a lot of the blame for it. I missed a lot of easy buckets around the rim. Myself and my team, we gotta come out more ready to play.”

(Opening statement): “I thought our defense really set the tone tonight right from the very first possession. Russell (Westbrook) was tremendous at leading the team at both ends of the floor. He was getting guys involved, making the right reads and decisions, and he got a lot of open looks for our guys. But defensively, he started it and everybody fell right along. I thought everybody got involved. Serge (Ibaka) was really protecting the basket with his five blocks and his rebounding. We did a good job of only allowing 11 offensive rebounds and only three in the second half. It was a good game from that area.”

(On Serge Ibaka): “I’ve always told Serge that you have to do the things you do at a high level, and he blocks shots at a high level in this league. He rebounds at a high level. He runs the floor. He has to continue to do those three things and his offense will come around and he will get looks. But if you do the things that you do well, other things will usually fall into place. He had a lot of good looks tonight. He could have easily had a double-double tonight but he missed a lot of good shots that he would usually make. He’s one of our best 17 to 18 foot jump shooters. He was good. He’s rebound, he’s blocking shots, and he’s protecting the paint.”

(On the energy of the Thunder from the beginning of the game): “Well that is important to the game—that you have to bring it every night. That’s one of the many things that our team is about. They’re about working every day and every game, and they did that tonight. From the opening tap we really defended, we really got out. I thought the first ten possessions, (Rodney) Stuckey really got out and got to the foul line, but we were pretty good on the defensive end those first four or five minutes of the game. The energy was good from the crowd. For a Monday night, it was outstanding again. But everyone got out and everyone participated. It was a good win for us.”

(On tonight’s performance): “We did a good job defensively. We did a good job of coming out and making our presence known defensively. I tried to come out defensively and affect the game that way…This is fun and very exciting. To have a chance for a lot of our guys to go out there and get some minutes and have us rest a little bit. We’ve been playing a lot and going on the road for awhile and this gives us the opportunity to rest.”

(On signing his new contract): “Once you get that out of the way and get to focus on the team you have and the season ahead of you, it’s definitely a burden off the shoulders…The fans have had my back from day one and it’s my job to come out there and play hard for them every night and that’s what I try to do.”

(On Serge Ibaka): “He’s back to protecting the paint and rebounding. In these past five or six games he has people scared to come in the paint.”

(On the Thunder’s win): “James (Harden) and Russell (Westbrook) got going there and lead us to that big lead. Guys were making shots. We were passing the basketball and we got some stops to get some easy points. So, it was a good game for us…I think we came out there with a lot of intensity. Our coaches from the beginning did a great job of preparing us from the start of this morning. We got a good win. From the defensive end I think we had our best game of the season.”