RAPTORS: Post-Game Quotes

Post-Game Quotes

Mitchell

SAM MITCHELL

Thoughts on the game…
I thought the guys who needed to step-up, stepped-up. They guys who played, played well. The defense was good, we did the things we wanted to do and we rebounded the ball. We made some mistakes, but we played hard and that’s the thing we do most nights. We have nights where we don’t shoot as well, or don’t execute, but we compete.

On your team defense tonight…
Jamario’s (Moon) defense on Wallace (Gerald) was good. The defense, AP (Anthony Parker) and Carlos (Delfino) did on Jason Richardson, who has always given us problems with his athleticism. Rasho (Nesterovic) showed defense on Okafor (Emeka) and that was just beautiful.

On Kris Humphries…
He played well but I think he can do better, but we need him. Him, Joey (Graham) and Darrick (Martin), those guys stepped up and played well for us. Carlos (Delfino) and JK (Jason Kapono) have been playing well for us all year, but those three guys came in and played well. Jose (Calderon) only had 34 minutes tonight.

humphries

KRIS HUMPHRIES

What was the key to the team’s defensive intensity tonight?
I think just helping each other out, and we were talking. We were doing a lot of switching, guys got held up a couple of times and they got easy buckets, but as a whole we made them (Charlotte) work for everything.

What was the key to your offensive game tonight?
I came out and started slow, it was ‘do the things that get me on the floor’, which is defense and rebound. From there Jose (Calderon) and Darrick (Martin) got me the ball in positions where I could be successful.

Calderon

JOSE CALDERON

Thoughts on the game…
We had a really good game tonight and it was a good win for us. Like I said before, without Andrea (Bargnani), without Chris (Bosh) and T.J. (Ford), everybody plays together. Today Kris Humphries and Joey Graham had a good game. They helped us to win and we need everybody to win games.

Thoughts on your fourth win in a row at home…
It’s our court. We have to take care of our home court, because we are going to need it at the end of the season. That’s why we keep working and fighting every night, because we have to win games here.

Thoughts on ball movement and sharing the ball during the game…
Nobody is looking to get an assist. I think we just try to find the wide-open guy. It doesn’t matter who it is, because the next time it is going to be you and that’s why everybody passes the ball.

Vincent

SAM VINCENT

It seemed like you couldn’t buy a basket tonight…
No, you know what, I said it early, if we are going to have a chance to win Raymond Felton, Gerald Wallace and at least one other of our core guys have got to play well. When that group is seven for 38, then we don’t have a chance. Our core players who have to provide us with some scoring punch, tonight they just couldn’t get it going.

Was it mental or a lack of effort?
I’m not going to say it’s a lack of effort because these guys want to win, they want to play hard. They did play hard. But they need to be focused on what it takes to be able to come out and compete in every single game in the NBA. Whether that’s getting to bed early or whether that’s eating properly, whatever it is we don’t have the depth for two or three of our core guys to not perform. So you’ve got to do what you need to do to get your body ready to play, and they obviously didn’t do that last night.

On Jared Dudley’s play…
(Jared) Dudley was great. The rookie came in, he played hard, he played aggressive. He was a bright spot in what was just a miserable evening. So I really commend Jared for his efforts, but we have got to get that effort out of our key guys and we didn’t get that today.

RICAHRDSON

JASON RICHARDSON

Thoughts on the game…
We came out flat in the first quarter and once you get down by 20 points it is tough to come back from there. We have to do a better job of coming out better.

Are you disappointed with they way you played?
A lot of them went in and out. I just had a bad game tonight. I want to be one of the top guys on this team every night. Nights like this happen sometimes in the NBA where you can’t make a shot.

DUDLEY

JARED DUDLEY

Thoughts on the game…
They are a good team. They play well together, even without (Chris) Bosh. They penetrate and kick and we always had to go underneath the screen and it was burning us a little bit. They shot the ball well and offensively we struggled and missed some easy lay ups. We really didn’t get it going from outside and we forced some shots. We struggled a little bit today and you can’t hang our heads down long.

You had a good game tonight…
I just try and play to the best of my ability and make it hard for the coach to take me out of the lineup. I want to be a starter in this league, I want to play big minutes and if I keep having games like this it will help.