Quotes : Spurs vs Hornets : 10/28/09

When asked if he changed any defensive adjustments when the Hornets went up 12-6 - “I didn’t change anything. It’s a NBA game and things go back and forth. I think our focus got better. Our defense in the first half was good and in the second half it was really poor. I was very disappointed with our defense in the second half. With the amount of points we gave up and the shots that they made, we really lost our focus defensively. Fortunately we kept scoring.”

On Tony Parker going down in the third quarter - “He’s fine. He just got the wind knocked out of him.”

When asked if this is how Popovich is going to run the rotation - “I don’t know. There’s really no plan. We have to see what the game gives and we’ll make the adjustments as the game goes. The main thing is with a back-to-back situation, which is what we have tomorrow. We didn’t have to play our main guys 35 or 40 minutes, so we’re fortunate tonight. There will be other nights where it will be the opposite and they’ll play a lot and have to go play a back-to-back.”

On Richard Jefferson - “I thought he was good. He’s suppose to be good. So, it’s not that big of a deal. It’s not like it’s a surprise. If he wasn’t good we’ll have big problems.”

On Dejuan Blair - ‘He’s showing really good maturity. You just have to give him credit. He’s got a great way about him and he let the game come to him. He didn’t do anything outside his realm of his ability. He played the game and I was real impressed with that.”

On DeJuan Blair - “I think they call him “Da Beast”. He has it all and does it all. He rebounds, scores and always is around the basket to get the ball or rebound. It’s like he has more than just one year of experience in the NBA. He is picking it up really fast.”

On off-the-ball team defense - “About average tonight. I thought at times we could have switched certain things on pick-and-rolls. Lack of communication really hurt us and if we really want to be a good team in this league we’re going to have to learn to talk to each other, help each other and trust each other.”

On Okafor’s performance tonight“He’s pretty good. He’s like a magnet for that ball anyway, so he’s coming over to block and give that weak-side help-defense. That’s something that he’s accustomed to doing. We’ve got to do a better job of adjusting when he does go. We’ve got to veer back and take the big guys off the glass, and we didn’t do a good job of that. Our guys have to understand that we have to stay focused on those things. It’s a lot of the little things tonight. I mentioned to our guys before the game when you play the Spurs and you have mix-ups and lack of communication, they will kill you. [The Spurs] capitalize on every mistake you make and I thought they did a good job of that tonight.”

On the most impressive area of play from the Spurs tonight - “I think it was their spacing. They keep Tim down there and they just play one in and four out. They do a really good job of just keeping their spacing and keeping their discipline on the perimeter. Guys are catching the ball and making their shots, and if they’re not making their shots, they’re looking to put the ball on the floor and create shots for the other team. They’re just a great team to watch and they’re going to be right there in the mix. But we know we have a long way to go and we’re going to continue to get better every day.”

On what the good things were that he saw in his team tonight - “We did a great job starting off the game as we got into our sets really well and everyone seem to know the offense and things like that. Emeka was outstanding, especially with this being his first game with us as I‘m happy to see the intensity he brought. As we continue to play together more and more we should get better.”

On Emeka Okafor‘s performance tonight - “Just to see after not practicing as much but yet tonight to be up at one time 10-4, it was due to him. Me and West talked about how long it‘s been since we‘ve had that opportunity to just drop it in the paint and get fast buckets like that, so I‘m happy with how he played.”

On what he saw with the new additions of the Spurs tonight - “Those guys came in and looked like they‘ve been playing with each other for years. Of course, they‘re going to have to get a little bit more comfortable but McDyess hit some big shots. It‘s the same old Spurs, just different people in those uniforms.”

On grading the team‘s first season performance tonight - “I would say incomplete, I have to watch the film and see. I saw some good things out there defensively but when you play a team like San Antonio sometimes you have to pick your poison. Early on, we tried to limit them in the paint and in return, we allowed them to get some 3-point shots. With them, sometimes you live and die by the three.”

On the Spurs performance - “They‘re one of the top 3-point teams in the league and one of the best teams in the league. With San Antonio, they‘re very smart as they‘re good at adjusting and tonight we just did not do a good job with that.”