Toronto Raptors vs. New Jersey Nets
Friday, December 15, 2006 – Air Canada Centre

Post Up | Carter Has Off Night | Photo Gallery | Box Score | Highlights | Notes

Mitchell

Is this about as complete a team effort as you’ve had so far this season?
Well, I just think both games back-to-back, our defense, you know, to hold Orlando to under 40 percent and to hold this team under 40 (percent), it’s just…our guys gave an unbelievable effort. I mean, they’ve just been concentrating and made few, minimal mistakes on defense and we rebounded well. I thought Rasho (Nesterovic) in the back, him being able to guard big guys without us having to trap, just helps us out because we can stay home on shooters, we can dig a little bit. They’re going to score a little bit, but Rasho (Nesterovic), just being able to keep guys from punishing us on the inside. I just thought Joey (Graham) was great, I thought Mo (Peterson) played one of his better games, the three he hit. I thought T.J. (Ford) was unbelievable, the points, rebounds and assists. I thought all the guys who played, they just played well, they played, they competed and they just played tough.

On T.J. Ford’s pace and speed…
Yeah, well, that’s the thing we’ve been talking to him about and I keep telling guys, this is his second full-year playing really, he was injured most of his first year, and he’s still a very young player. He’s still finding himself but the thing about it, he’s coachable, he works hard, he’s learning it also everyday. I thought late in the game he stepped up and hit some big jump shots, couple of 15-footers because they kept going under the picks and that’s something we’ve been talking to him about and working with him and just saying, “T.J., you got to have confidence in that shot and you got to shoot it.”

You gave Vince (Carter) a lot of looks, with different guys on him, was that the plan?
The way he’s been playing, we wanted him to see…we wanted to crowd him, and him to see a lot of bodies. We didn’t want to give him any three’s because he’s just been shooting them so well and then you got to worry about him driving to the basket and we just wanted to not give him any open lanes. He’s just such a good player, it’s tough but our guys, they just continue to work hard.

Parker

ANTHONY PARKER

Thoughts on a good team effort, picking up level of play without Chris Bosh…
Everybody knows they have to step it up and fill that void. You really can’t fill it but we have to do the best we can. I’m really happy with everyone’s contribution.

The team threw a lot of different looks at Vince Carter…
I think the biggest thing is just the help. You can’t play him (Vince Carter) with one guy no matter who it is. You have to show him a lot of bodies and make him take tough shots. If he hits it you just have to congratulate him and try to do it again next time down the court.

How important was the good start tonight?
Coach has been telling us it is so important, especially at home to get off to a great start. When you do that it is tough for teams to catch up. If they do (catch up) a lot of times they run out of gas in the process. I think the start helped us confidence wise and it is what we are supposed to do.

Ford

TJ FORD

On your play in the fourth quarter…
I felt it was time for me to make some plays. They were giving me the same shots I was making, and they were giving it to me all night long. I caught a nice little rhythm and started making some shots.

How important was the team’s start tonight?
We always try to come out and attack first and get the referees on our side. It all started on the defensive end. I think it starts with the big guy down low, (Rasho) Nesterovic because we don’t have to double team anybody. He (Rasho Nesterovic) allowed me to get nine rebounds tonight so I appreciate that from him.

Thoughts on team defense against Vince Carter…
He (Vince Carter) has been on an incredible streak the last week. The main focus was to make it tough for him and make sure when he drives or thinks about driving he sees a lot of bodies.

Frank

Thoughts on tonight’s game…
Yeah you know, we got a little bit out of sorts in the first half. We were just out of character a little bit. We made two runs in the game, one in the first half and one in the second half and then obviously both times we couldn’t get over the hump so you’ve got to give Toronto a little bit of credit. They played well and unfortunately we came up a little short.

Did (Vince) Carter look comfortable tonight?
In this league you’re not going to have a great shooting night every night. You know Vince (Carter) is coming off of two phenomenal performances so I mean he wants to play great every night, but it’s just one of those nights where his shot wasn’t falling and you know that’s part of it (the game).

Does it ever take away (from Vince Carter’s game) when you see him talking to people, talking to his ex-coach, talking to other guys?
No. I think Vince (Carter) is very consistent with his approach. Vince (Carter) has been great for us and it’s not an easy situation coming back here. Vince (Carter) has obviously played at a very high level and he just had a night where his shots weren’t falling and over a course of an 82 game season you’re going have nights like this.

Kidd

Thoughts on the game…
We gave ourselves a chance to win on the road in that fourth quarter. We cut it down and we let it get away from us. It is a long season and there is a lot of basketball to be played and no one is panicking.

How rare is it for Vince Carter to have a performance like this?
He loves coming here and playing but he is human and we can’t always just sit back and hope he goes for 30. Everybody has to do their part and he just had a bad game in his book. We know that he will bounce back.

On matching up against TJ Ford…
He was great, when he plays well they have a good chance of winning and we have seen that in the last couple of games out of TJ (Ford). He has improved this year and he had a great game tonight.

Carter

On his performance…
It was just one of those nights, more than anything I am just disappointed with my free throw shooting. I have worked hard to become a good free throw shooter, so I can be in the attack mode and get to the foul line and to get eight opportunities and miss four, that is a disappointment to me. Outside of missing shots, I took good shots, shots I hit the last two games, so I am not worried about that. There is so many different points of the game and from my aspect I expect better.

On the crowd reaction tonight….
I could care less. It doesn’t bother me at all. I don’t hear it, it is basketball. I can’t get caught up in that, I have been playing basketball too long for that to bother me.

On the Raptors missing Chris Bosh…
I do not care if he is in the game or not. We had a chance to win, an opportunity to win. We had a comeback but we just couldn’t quite get over the hump. It is tough because we gave a big offensive rebound late and earlier we gave up a couple of open jump shots and they kind of pushed the lead back up.