RAPTORS: Post Game Quotes

Post Game Quotes

Mitchell

SAM MITCHELL

On the game…
We just didn’t shoot the ball well. I mean, 38 per cent it’s hard to win. Our defense was good against this basketball team. We made some mistakes, we gave up some lay-ups, some open shots but we rebounded the ball well and for the most part I think we got good looks. We took some questionable shots but all teams do that. We just did not shoot the ball well. It’s not execution, because we are running plays and we’re getting fourteen or fifteen wide open shots. We have to step up and knock those down. We have to be aggressive and when opportunities present themselves on the fast break, we have to convert those.

After Deron Williams made his free throws, why didn’t you call a timeout?
Well, we only have one 20 second timeout left. You have to burn them early, to correct little things that we talk about during shootaround. With one timeout and 17 seconds, we’re down by three, you would like to see us penetrate and get a quick two if possible and if they help and we can kick it out for the three, kick it out for the three.

Were guys just pressing at the end of the game?
Probably a little bit. It’s seems like we are playing much freely on the road. Our defense was good. It’s hard to fault the defense, it’s hard to fault the rebounding. I thought Kris Humphries and Jamario Moon played well, but we have to have more people than those two young guys. We count on them to give us energy and to give us minutes, but not to win the basketball game.

Moon

JAMARIO MOON

Thoughts on starting for the second straight game…
We lost so it wasn’t too big. After the loss, you really don’t think about what you did. After a loss, you think about what you could of done and you think about what you’re going to work on in practice.

How did you guys go from your blow-out in Chicago and shooting 38.5%?
We have 82 games so we are not going to shoot 50 per cent every night. We just come out and we just play basketball.

Bosh

CHRIS BOSH

Coming off a two game winning streak, were you thinking this was a sure win?
We had a couple of looks, we got a little scattered on fast breaks, we got a couple of loose balls ad we let shots slip through our hands. That happens sometimes. On loose balls we need to convert ourselves we played pretty good defense and we had a lot of contested shots. On the other hand, we got a step it up on our open shots.

Uncharacteristic team play…
It is okay, we were still in the game. When it’s all said and done we were still in the game. We still had a chance to win. We have to work harder and shoot the ball with confidence.

On your play…
Well, I can’t worry about that, I have to keep doing the things I am doing. I know what I’m doing now, is what I am supposed to do. We have a lot of games left and sometimes you’ll come out flat.

Jerry Sloan

JERRY SLOAN

Not a pretty win, but you’ll take it?
Well yes, you take any win you can. People don’t realize how difficult it is to win. We were real fortunate we were making free throws. We came down the stretch and made a couple of baskets. We had a difficult time stopping them every time, which is difficult to do. It’s a wonderful win for us, the first game of the road trip.

On the lack of flow considering the two teams…..
Well you never know, I don’t know their team. I know who they are, but I don’t know their team. They (players) know them better than I do. We just had a bit of a difficult time trying to run the flow in the early part of the ball game because we were not going to be able to run at all. Fortunately we had some guys come off the bench and gave us a nice lift. It kind of kept us in the ball game both times in the first and second half.

Boozer

CARLOS BOOZER

It was not the prettiest game, but you got the win…
We will take any win. It wasn’t pretty, but they did a good job defensively and we did a good job defensively. On offence we struggled but we came out with a big victory.

Did you have a feeling it would come down to the last few minutes?
That is our game, a bunch of runs and most games come down to the last three or four minutes and that is what happened tonight. We hit our free throws and prevailed.

The game had a lack of flow…
Two very good defensive teams, and a very good defensive game. We were prepared for them and they were prepared for us.

Williams

DERON WILLIAMS

That last play, it looked like you got T.J. Ford up in the air twice before he finally got that shot off…
I was just trying to run him off a three, make him do something else, give it up or take a bad shot. He ended up taking a shot over Mehmet (Okur) and if he makes it we can live with that.

Did you think they were going to go back to T.J. Ford for a three?
I don’t know, he had just hit one so I guess he had the confidence He is a quick guy so he can get his shot off pretty much anytime he wants.

Were you guys getting frustrated out there tonight?
We were just missing shots, we weren’t as crisp as we usually are offensively. I think a lot of it has to do with their defense. They are a solid defensive team, they make you work, they pressure you. So like I said it is a good win for us against a team like that on the road.