Postgame Quotes

SPURS VS. SONICS APRIL 22, 2002 SPURS QUOTES

Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich

“Seattle did a great job of being aggressive. They pounded the boards and that was the ball game as far as I’m concerned. We’d make a good stop and they’d stick it back in. They deserve credit for pounding the boards all night. Then down the stretch we missed some free throws and that hurt us.”

On Game 3:
“Game three is in a month and a half from now. I’m sure Seattle would like to play tomorrow, but for opposite reasons we want to. We just have to sit and wait.”

Do you think you could’ve won the game?
“Definitley. You have to take your hat off to them though. They outplayed us tonight. I think they executed their game plan very well and they killed us on the glass. I think their offensive rebounds proved to be the difference in the game.”

Was this a more physical game than the first one?
“You kind of expect that after the way game one went. We won by 21 points. They’re professionals and they have a competitive side also and we know they are going to come out with fire. But, what we needed to do is match their fire with our own and tonight we didn’t do that.”

Was their domination on the boards due to not having David Robinson?
“David is an excellent rebounder. To have a seven footer as athletic and versatile as Dave is, that definitely helps. I think we need put a bigger emphasis on the guards getting in that rebounding area. The ones, two and threes so we can help out Tim, Malik, Mark, Cherokee, whoever is in there at the four and five.”

On the Sonics rebounding tonight:
“They were huge tonight. They were big on the boards and it was too much for us to overcome in the long run.”

“They were a lot more physical tonight. On the glass they were more active and were a lot quicker to the ball. Tonight it cost us the game.”

On the absence of David Robinson:
“Of course he was missed. If he was in the game they wouldn’t have been able to go small on us. It is what it is but we can win without David, but still we hopefully we get him back soon and we can move on.”

On the Sonics run in the second quarter:
“We didn’t finish them off when we should have. We allowed them to hang with us and they were able to rebound and beat us out at the end. “

On the Sonics rebounding:
“They have a lot of big guys who can get it done on the glass. They pick their times and do what they do at the right time. Guys like James and Baker went to the glass hard tonight.”

“It was huge not having David on the court. We are going to compete and guys like Cherokee and Mark Bryant are going to pick up the slack. We are going to find a way to get it done and move on.”

SONICS QUOTES

Sonics Head Coach Nate McMillan

“We were more efficient with our offense in the second half than we were in the second and third quarters of Saturday’s game. Our bench came out and stepped up and played well for us.”

On rebounding:
“They (Spurs) are a very good rebounding team. Tim (Duncan) and (Malik) Rose are monsters on the boards. The key to the game is to keep them off the boards and not create second opportunities.”

On Rashard Lewis:
“He played big. Late in the fourth quarter he came through and gave them some big shots. Early on we wanted to develop him into a go-to player. Tonight you saw that potential.”

“It starts with Jerome and Vin. They did as good of a job on Tim as you can do. They made him work for them (his shot), nothing came easy. They made him take tough shots. We can live with him taking tough shots.”

“We had to put the pressure on them tonight after game one. We were able to contain them. It was a little more physical tonight, but it’s going to be a war the rest of the way. We just kicked it up a notch.”

“This was huge. We tried to run hard and we were rotating well. We had an over all good game. “

“Games can be up and down. They can get the momentum then we’ll get the momentum. Last game we didn’t keep our intensity the whole game but tonight you saw what can happen if we play a complete game. We were much more focused tonight. We executed better, we played hard, we were cutting hard, getting to loose balls, and getting rebounds. Tonight we did the things we didn’t do on Saturday. Now the fight is just starting.”

“Now they should feel the same way we did coming in here. They want to come into our place and get one or two and we need to hold home court advantage. Right now the best thing for us to do is take each game one at a time as best we can. Tonight we got a big win against a good team.”

“Robinson’s a blocker. He’s a force down there and they missed him. He also leaves us with two seven footers down there to guard on defense. But Malik does a good job to filling that role. But we were going to have to be aggressive and go to the rim whether Dave is down there or not. We know they want to force us to kick it out and settle for jumpers.”

“Tim is an excellent player and we just tried to make him work to get to his post-spots. We tried to confuse Tim and cut out some of those assists he was getting the other night passing out of our double-team. We knew coming in we could steal a game or two here if we did that and executed our game plan. So we got exactly what we wanted a split. Now we have a great opportunity to go back to Seattle with it tied up. We know they are going to come out and play great but we are going to fight. We just have to come out with the home court advantage on Saturday, play hard and see what happens.”

“We’ve said from the very beginning that we may not be the most talented team in the playoffs but we are going to fight just as hard if not harder than any other team. We played hard tonight and did things according to our game plan. We were aggressive offensively and defensively. Tonight we shut down the things that hurt us in that third quarter last game.”