Postgame Quotes: 05/27/03

On the need for experience - “We have a good number of guys that have not been in that situation before. (People say) you have to have experience. If you have a half a brain, you realize how important a game like this is.”

On the team having doubts - “No, we are not doubting ourselves. We know that if we play the way we can we will be ok.”

On their defense - "We did not move the ball well. They clamped down on Tim and we did not play as smart as we did the last game. They showed a lot of heart and courage to come back like that."

On failing to close out – “It’s very disappointing. Our goal is to look at four (games). We’re up 3-2 and to close it out in front of the home crowd (would have been great). Our goal is to get to four (wins) before them.”

On not finishing off Dallas – “Our They did what they were supposed to do. They came and got a game and staved off elimination. They outhustled and outplayed us down the stretch. Now we have to focus on Thursday."

On late mistakes - "It is frustrating to work so hard for so long, and by so long I mean the season, and then for five minutes we make some stupid mistakes and let them back into the game. Then we do the same thing for 11 minutes in the second half.”

On the defense on Duncan - “We can see everything that you can see on Tim. Maybe the timing and how hard they did it was a bit different. They really came at him hard in the fourth quarter and were not going to let him beat them. We have all seen that, me, Tony, Jackson, but we did not react like we were taught to and it hurt us.”

On fouling Bruce Bowen - "You (media) put way too much on that. It’s a ploy. I thought he was shooting well, even the two he missed he shot well. It was a ploy I thought was useful at the time, because anything was better than what was happening. I would definitely have done it again if I needed to down the stretch, but we were in a good rhythm and I didn’t want to take us out of it."

On the game - "We won game one and look where it got us. We can’t be satisfied to win this game. We have to play with attitude, we’re not ready to go home yet. We have to fight every possession as if it were our last. We have to go out and play hard. We can’t relax because we’re at home."

On playing back home - "It’s important that we use it as a homecourt advantage. The crowd has to be the rowdiest it’s been all year and the players have to be as aggressive as we’ve been all year. We can’t relax because we’re at home. Some teams do that. The Spurs did that a little bit tonight and I don’t want that to happen to us."

On the second half - "We played so much better in the 2nd half. We felt our backs against the wall. We scrambled for loose balls and scrambled on defense. We were outsized and out-manned but we fought through it. Being down in the game and in the entire series with a shortened line-up, this was incredibly gutsy. I’m proud of everybody."

"We played tough defense and just unbelievable ball in the fourth. We scrambled and helped out on Tim Duncan. We have to keep doing that if we want to contain him. We have to get the ball out of his hands and not let him beat us. Their whole offense runs through him. He is their MVP so we knew in the fourth they would try to go to him."

On fouling Bowen - “It’s a little crazy, but it’s part of the game. I hate Bowen because he’s the competition but at the same time I feel a little sorry for him. It’s certainly a different kind of strategy but we want to take the batteries out of them.”