Postgame Quotes: Spurs vs. Bulls 12/26/07


Gregg Popovich
Pete Myers
Tony Parker
Marcus Williams

Ime Udoka
Matt Bonner
Luol Deng
Kirk Hinrich

Click on a player to read quotes

Gregg Popovich

"It was a good win tonight. I thought we were very focused, the guys executed well. I was pleased with Matt Bonner’s physically, he did a great job. It was good to see Tony get back into a pretty good rhythm. It was a good night."

on getting stops in the second quarter leading to transitions

"Well stops equal transitions for every NBA team. It’s important not to trade buckets. You need to get some stops and some boards and get out and go and try to get some easy ones. The league is too tough to just sit there and ask for it. You got to get something in transition to make your job easier."

on Ime Udoka ‘s performance tonight

"I think Ime is feeling more comfortable with the minutes and where he should be on the court and how he’s reacting to his teammates and how there’re reacting to him. He did a fine job."

on Tony being more of a "shooting point guard"

"Tony has always been sort of a combo point guard. We always would like him to score that’s basically who he is. That’s his first notion is to score and I don’t want to take that away from him, he’s good at it and that’s good for us."

when asked if Brent Barry re-aggravated his left calf

"Yes he did. I haven’t seen how bad it was; It happened pretty quickly to him. That was very disappointing. He and Manu are both important parts of our perimeter game; so that was the bad part of the evening."

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Pete Myers

"I thought tonight we played in spurts. Our first unit looked really good early in the game however our bench (other than Chris Duhon) really didn’t give enough effort tonight. When you play a team as solid as the Spurs you need a good effort from the bench. Tonight our bench really hurt us."

"One of our biggest struggles night after night is giving enough effort to win games. The Spurs won the championship last year they have great play makers that know how to win. To beat a team like this takes a collective effort for a solid forty minutes. To contain the Spurs a team must play forty minutes and tonight we didn’t have that effort."

"Tony Parker is a determined penetrator. Tony doesn’t let any traffic slow down his path to the goal. I have to give Tony his credit he is a great finisher. Tonight Tony was determined to break us down and help the Spurs score points."

"Bottom line tonight we really struggled shooting. Lots of times in the NBA when you struggle to score points it can deflate you. We need to rely on our starters like Ben Wallace to get this team through tough games. Losing is a habit we don’t want to get accustom to. We need some wins to regain our team’s confidence."


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Tony Parker

"In the first quarter, they came out with a lot of energy and that almost always happens when you lose your coach. But in the second, we played better and really picked things up. In the second quarter we made stops and the resulted in a very good quarter for us. We played solid defense and made some big baskets. We really different do anything different strategy wise, in the second quarter we just played really good."

"Lately I am just trying to create offense for myself and making the most out of opportunities that present themselves. Then of course we always have Tim inside, and his presence creates opportunities for the entire offense."

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Marcus Williams

"I was just driving through Austin when I got the call from my agent today letting me know I was coming up. I just stopped in Austin, picked up a few things and headed on down around 3:30. It’s one of the best Christmas gifts someone could ask for."

"Right now I just want to focus on my defense and rebounding because that is going to be my role on this team. I have to prove I can guard some of the best perimeter players in this league and get rebounds."

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Ime Udoka

"With Manu out and Brent now out too, our entire bench is going to have to be more aggressive and try and replace some of those points. I wouldn’t say there is a lot of pressure, but we all do understand that we have to step up and replace that effort."

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Matt Bonner

"Manu and Brent are huge offensive players for this team and I would say that we are under pressure really, but it would certainly help if the bench can come up and replace some of those things."

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Luol Deng

on tonight’s game

"They played better, what can I say? They are a good team. We struggled making shots, our defense was good but offensively it was hard. They are well coached and offensively we just didn’t know what we were doing."

on adjusting to a new coach

"I’ve never had to get used to having a new coach, it’ll be an adjustment. We’re fine and we’re just going to have to keep playing, it’s a long season."

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Kirk Hinrich

on tonight’s effort as a team

"During certain stretches of the game we just let them get away. They are a great team. I feel like we played bad and we could have played a lot better. As hard as it, we could have done things better."

on covering the Spurs on defense

"We tried to cover Tony Parker differently than we had before; he just got off on us. They figured out how to exactly cover what we were doing and Tony took advantage of it. We tried to do totally different things with our defense but the Spurs are so good. We tried different things from the start; like in the way we cover the pick and roll scheme but the Spurs just adjusted. They just figure out how to get the job done – there were definitely stretches we just let it get away."

on having fun playing basketball

"John Paxson is right, we weren’t really having fun playing basketball. It’s not fun to lose and especially when we have been trying to play the physical ball that we are used to. We can’t impose our will and our game plan, at least not this year."

on the new coach

"We will know in the next few days. As players we are just trying to clear our minds and figure out how we make the team better, refocusing, starting playing better and loosening up."

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