SPURS 99, Nets 76

Post-Game Quotes: Spurs vs. Nets 1/21/04


Gregg Popovich
Manu Ginobili
Tony Parker
Byron Scott

Jason Kidd
Kerry Kittles

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Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich

On the game - “It was a good game. It was a good performance in the second half. The defense picked it up and got better than the first half.”

On Hedo Turkoglu starting in place of Manu Ginobili - “If you ask a player if he wants to start or come off the bench, he’ll say he wants to start. Unfortunately we have a lot of character guys and they’ll do what’s best team wise. Manu is mature enough to understand and see where we’re going.”

On defensive changes - “No changes. We always play the same defense. We change it in some situations if we’ve gotten pummeled by a particular play.”

On Rasho Nesterovic - “We had a special message for him at halftime. He came out in the second half and played more physical, more aggressive. He played like it mattered instead of going through the motions.”


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Manu Ginobili

On the game - “I think I can do better. I’m not very satisfied with how I did. The team did really well though, so that helps. I’m just happy about that. I have to get used to coming off the bench again, bringing what I used to bring last year. I just have to produce and play well. I’m feeling better the last couple games. I just have to get confident again.”

On Phoenix - “They are whole different team now. We haven’t seen them since they made all those changes. They are doing pretty well. They are a whole new team with a lot of the young players stepping up to make them better. We are going to have to be aggressive and not let them play their game.”


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Tony Parker

On the game - “It was a pretty good match up for me tonight against Jason Kidd. He’s always good motivation. I had to run the team tonight. We didn’t play well the last couple games, with the loss in Detroit, but my goal was just to help the team play well and try to get the win. That was important for me tonight. It was a good win for us mentally.”

On how he has been motivated - “Pop just got after me to get me going and it works. That’s how our relationship is and since my rookie year has been pushing me and that’s how we do it.”


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Nets Head Coach Byron Scott

On the game - “We just made a ton of mental mistakes and gave them I don’t know how many lay-ups. It’s like we just fell asleep a bunch of times. We gave them way too many easy baskets off of backdoor cuts and lay-ups when we didn’t get back on defense. There is really no excuse for that, not getting back on defense is a sign that you are not communicating. When you get back it may not always be on your man but you have to match up and that means you have to communicate.”

On Kittles - “He was awesome. He appeared unconscious at times knocking down shots from everywhere. He got some good looks in the second half, but not nearly as many. He missed some shots in the second but he still had a great game.”


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Jason Kidd

On the game - “They made stops and we didn’t make baskets. When you are down seven already and you start missing shots against a team like the Spurs you’re going to have a long night. The Spurs played off the double-team well and found the open man. Then in the fourth quarter fatigue really started to set in.”

“To beat this Spurs team we just have to play better defense. For some reason we’ve let that slip up lately. We have to get back to playing good defense. That needs to be a focus.”


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Kerry Kittles

On the game - “It always feels good to have the hot hand like that. That is always good; you wish you could have it more often. They made some adjustments in the second half. They are a good defense team. You can’t expect to get open looks like that against a good defensive team like the Spurs.”

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