Mavericks 113, SPURS 110

Postgame Quotes: 05/19/03

Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich:

On the game - "It was a heck of a game. The bad guys won and the good guys lost. They sure can shoot free throws.

“What affected us most was missing free throws. They shot fifty free throws and it’s not like we didn’t shoot any, we shot forty-seven. When you shoot 49 of 50 and 31 of 47 you’re giving the game away. We know it’s a weakness. When you get to the final four teams, those things rear their head.”

On Malik Rose - “It’s a stinger. We won’t know anything until tomorrow.”

On Dallas intentionally fouling Bruce Bowen in the first half - “Nelly has done that a lot before. We fully expected it, if not tonight then another time. We didn’t take Bruce out of the game. I think it was important for his confidence. In the second half they didn’t foul him that way.”

top

David Robinson:

On the game - "We had a lot of bad stretches during the game. They (the Mavericks) did a great job of hanging in there and playing tough and putting themselves in position to win the game. We just didn’t come out and make our foul shots."

On free throw shooting - “They really did a great job of getting to the line, but we didn’t really make our foul shots. In order for us to keep leads we have to do a better job of hitting free throws when we need to get to the line. That will help us down the stretch, but they did an excellent job of just getting to the line and knocking them down. They really gave a great effort, and we just didn’t execute on our free throw shooting.”

top

Tim Duncan:

On the game - "We came out great, with a lot of energy. We jumped out on them. They had to find a way to kill it and they did by fouling Bruce. That killed our energy."

On the 2nd half – “The entire third and fourth quarter they put guys in the middle of the lane in a semi-double team without actually double teaming. They were close enough to discourage anything in the middle.”

On having an 18 point lead and losing by three - "They are a high octane team. They get up and down and the whistle kept blowing left and right."

top

Kevin Willis:

On the game - "I felt that we gave great effort tonight, and just didn’t make freethrows. We have to be ready to bounce back from this game. We have the capability to do that. This is going to be a very long series, and we have to be ready to just counter the effort that the Mavs gave. They played a great game, and we just have to be ready to go out there and play on Wednesday."

top

Mavericks Head Coach Don Nelson:

On the game & free throws - "It was an incredible basketball game, it was great to be a part of it. I’d thought I’d be second in here. It was a great game. We just found that where there’s a will there’s a way and we didn’t give up. Thank God for free throws. We’re better than anyone in basketball. We’re the only team in the league with a free throw coach and tonight we needed it. We’ve taken extra practice the last few days."

On making adjustments at the half - "It was an incredible game. We made major adjustments at halftime. We couldn’t stop Tim, but we found something that worked a little better. In the second half we kept the pedal to the metal. I didn’t get to rest my guys very much, but I said the heck with it."

On winning on the road - “You’ve got to be good and lucky to win on the road against a good team like the Spurs. We were a little good and a little lucky. We have a lot of guys with a lot of heart in the locker room. I would have said the same thing if we lost.”

top

Steve Nash:

On the game - "We didn’t feel like we ever really got the game going in a style we like but what we did do was take them out of what they wanted to do. Our defense on Duncan didn’t stop him of course but at least forced him to pass the ball out of doubles and make others try and beat us."

On free throws - "I’m glad we got to the line that many times, but hopefully we won’t have to rely on a percentage that high throughout the whole series."

On the big win - "This certainly is one of the biggest wins in franchise history but it’s just a small part of our overall plan. We feel really good about it but it’s just one leg of the journey."

On Dirk - “He showed again that he has a total complete game tonight and affirmed his superstar status. He loves the big games and he loves the prime-time stage. He was huge tonight.”

top

Michael Finley:

On the game - "As a team, even when we were down we kept our focus. We kept chipping away and gave ourselves a chance to win in the fourth. In the playoffs sometimes little things lead to big wins and tonight getting to the line did that for us. That’s something we’ve strived to do well all season. We got some key stops and rebounds late and we were able to that because we kept our head."

On the last Mavs basket - "In the huddle coach said he was going to give me a chance to make a play. The big thing in my mind was to just stay aggressive. No matter what I did I wanted to be aggressive because that’s how you make things happen. I knew I had to go strong to the basket and either get fouled or get the basket. Fortunately I was able to get in the lane and get the hoop.”

top

Dirk Nowitzki:

On the game - "We played very well on the defensive end tonight, and did a great job of getting to the foul line. We are normally a good foul shooting team, but struggle at getting to the line. 50 is astounding and we did a great just making plays and getting them into foul shots. I think we did a good job of disrupting their rhythm to come back from that big of a deficit.”

On Tim Duncan - “He was unstoppable tonight. We tried to do more double teaming tonight, and really got out there and just made plays. He really kept them in the game.”

top

Nick Van Exel:

On San Antonio - "It’s great, we love this place. They are a great half court team but they will push the ball when they can. During the L.A. series they pushed the ball.”

On the meaing of the Game 1win - “We don’t know if we proved anything, we have so much confidence in ourselves right now.”

On winning game 2 - “Our mindset now is to go for the jugular. It will be tough, but we will try and limit Duncan and go for it.”

top