SPURS 119, Mavericks 106

Postgame Quotes: 05/21/03

Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich:

On the game - "It was a pretty good game. I was happy to get a lead and somewhat hold on to it. We have a pension for figuring out ways to allow those things to dissipate. We had a lot of good contributions from a lot of people. Obviously I’m pleased that we stepped up and knocked down some free throws.”

On Malik Rose - “Malik is an in and out player. He’s very versatile. Not having him for the end of game one was a big factor for us. When they go small it’s difficult for David. Having him available tonight was important.”

On the free throws - “When you get down to the last four teams. They are all pretty mature and experienced teams. They understand the next game is important and don’t look ahead.”

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Tim Duncan:

On Malik - "He’s huge for us. He’s an important other post presence for us. He has quickness. He can slide his feet to guard the perimeter. When he plays well like the big man he can be on the post, that helps tremendously."

On the lead collapses – “It’s the same old thing. It’s a tough situation. We just wanted to come down and get a set play. We realized the time and the situation and that we were still up by nine points. We just had to calm ourselves down.”

On the free throws - "We didn’t work on it any more that usual. Everybody knows the importance of making free throws. The last game we missed sixteen; that was a game we should have had. We don’t want to be in that situation again."

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Mavericks Assistant Head Coach Donn Nelson:

On the game - "We dug ourselves in a hole in the first half and expended a lot of energy trying to get out of it. We ran out of energy. I’m proud of the way our guys competed. The tempo was to our liking. In the second half we just didn’t make shots we generally do."

On getting to the free throw line - "In a playoff series like this taking the ball hard to the basket has it’s place and we attempted to do that. We didn’t get to the free throw line as much as we would have liked. They have the MVP, the premier player in the league. He came out with a vengeance tonight."

On Dirk’s three fouls in the first half - “Obviously we were more guarded. We don’t want our best player getting four fouls. Tim and David can sense it and smell it. (Coach) Pop went at it like he did. It’s like a prizefighter. When you get cut, you go after that cut.”

On Don Nelson’s ejection - "That’s Nelly being Nelly. He keeps all of us guessing. The manner in which he was ejected tonight was surprising to all of us on the bench. (on Del Harris’s ejection) I think Del protected me from getting tossed."

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Steve Nash:

On the game - "We don’t feel like we are in a bad position. We would have liked to get two here but the bottom line is tonight we didn’t play well enough to win. We didn’t deserve this one. We got frustrated by some things early. You can’t do that. You can’t fret about things that are out of your control and you have to hold it in; hold it together. You have to relax and play through it. In the second half we did a better job of trying to overcome adversity. We have to continue to do that.”

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Michael Finley:

On Don Nelson’s ejection - "The ejection didn’t have an effect on us. It didn’t get us motivated to play better. That thing with the referee was between him and the ref. We as players have to play.

“From what I saw of the confrontation with the ref and Nelly, I think he was right in his argument. The refs had to set the tone. They let the coaches and players know they weren’t taking anything."

On mindset after the loss - "We’re fine mentally. Our mindset to get two games would have been great, but to get one is okay. It’s up to us to go home and play the way we’re capable of playing. We haven’t played a great game yet.”

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Dirk Nowitzki:

On the game - "We were down a lot but this team can get hot at any moment. We never really feel like we are out of a game. We believe we can always come back. Even tonight we got back to within 9 or 7 and we just needed to get a few more buckets and a few more boards and this one could have been another story. But Duncan was huge in that regard. Every time we really got close he picked up a huge rebound or a huge basket that would put the momentum back in their favor.”

On foul trouble - “I kind of put myself in a bad position tonight getting in foul trouble early. I was never real able to find my rhythm and that kind of extended to the rest of the team. We knew coming in to this one that they were going to come out aggressive. That’s why they got the calls. Many times the more aggressive team gets the calls.”

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Nick Van Exel:

On the game - "We never really got a chance to play well. The players on the court should dictate the game…nobody else. Somebody else took this game from us. Let us play the game. Let the players dictate things. You’ve got two teams squaring off for an NBA championship.”

On home court advantage - “We knew coming in here how it was going to be. We knew we would have to play through some initial energy from the Spurs, but anything can happen on the court when these two teams play. We are never going to go away. We are never going to lose confidence. Still the hole we got ourselves into tonight was just too much to overcome. We tried but they just got the best of us.”

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