Post Game Quotes 12/20/14

Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich   (What did you think of the effort tonight?) – “I thought it was great. I thought we were great. Really proud of them. We could have handled the ball better. Giving up 25 points off turnovers on the road is not going to make it easy to win a game, but I thought the effort and the play out of these guys was really spectacular.”   (What was the difference down the stretch as far as what the Mavericks were able to do?) – “We turned it over, and Ellis went to the rim four times in a row.”   (How does Rondo change what the Mavericks did in the past and what they’ll do in the future?) – “He just got here.”   (Now that Kyle Anderson is being forced to play some minutes are you starting to get a feel for what he can do and what he’s good at?) – “Sure, he’s a young kid. He hasn’t been playing very long. Every minute he gets is like an education for him.”   (It’s been a tough week with the overtime losses and now to come up short with this great effort – what do you tell the team after this?) – “We have a day off tomorrow and a shoot around Monday morning.”   (The tempo – you slowed things down tonight?) – “Well, yeah, we didn’t think we could run with them, so we had to slow it down.” Spurs Forward Aron Baynes   (Could you talk about the effort tonight)   “We knew what it was going to be like going into the game. The biggest thing for us was we wanted to play within the system and when we do that we’re always in there competing. That’s what we want to do. We want to take care of the ball and play good defense. I think for most of the game we did that. We had a few breakdowns that hurt us in the end, but we played pretty well for most of the game. They’re a great team and they have great players. All the credit to them for coming down and making plays at the end of the game. You know that’s just way this game is. We have to be even more sound, better on defense, and we just had a few breakdowns that we have to fix.”   (How do you think you played with the extra minutes tonight?)   “Like I said, I’m just trying to play within the system and when you do that good things happen. I’m trying to make the most of it. When the other guys come back and my number is called I can go in there and help. Every minute I play builds the confidence and makes me more comfortable playing with these guys.”   Spurs Forward Matt Bonner   “We played as hard as possible and we left it on the court. It was tough only having eight active bodies out there. They’re a great team and Monta Ellis kind of took things over. He made some big plays and we just couldn’t hold on.”   (Was that the most disappointing part being so close to winning and have it slip away?)   “It’s always disappointing to lose games, especially when you’re winning most of the game. We did our best and we don’t have any regrets. We got better today and we’re going to use this game as a learning experience and move forward because it’s a long season.” Mavericks Head Coach Rick Carlisle   (On the team’s performance in the second half…) “Well we needed to take it to another level. We weren’t very good in the first half. San Antonio played really a great 3 and a half quarters and we were just able to chip away and stay in it and get the lead to get a little bit of cushion at the end. We were fortunate. We didn’t play our best and we didn’t shoot the ball well. But it is a really good win and it’s the kind of game we expected.”   (On Rondo’s performance) “I love Rondo. I thought he played well. He didn’t shoot particularly well, but he did a lot of great things. He did a lot of things that most guys in that position just don’t do – rebounding, making plays, things like that.”   (The effect of Rondo going into the middle of San Antonio’s zone…) “We did that in the second half. That was a change that we made to try to make plays in there. It was effective for a stretch. That is one of the things that is unique about him. You can put him in some unusual situations and he got Chandler a dunk one time, got Dirk a wide open shot, got someone else a three on another play. San Antonio had a good game plan. They were going to shorten the game and junk it up with the zone and try to get us in the bonus every quarter. It almost worked – it was a very good plan but we overcame it.”   (On Monta Ellis’s performance…) “He was the best player on the floor tonight without question. Without him getting 38 points, this was going to go the other way.”   (On Devin Harris’s performance…) “Harris has been playing really well. He is playing his game within our system and that is what we need. If he has a wide open three he has to take it. He had a couple of big ones. And his pressure on the ball in the second half changed the leverage of the game.” Mavericks Forward Chandler Parsons   (Playing Spurs without top players) “When they sit their top guys like this, their top 5-6 guys are out, they played with their hair on fire. They have absolutely nothing to lose. These guys want this opportunity and they work very hard every day and don’t get these minutes every day like these other guys do. They played hard and they competed. We knew there was going to be a dog fight just because they weren’t playing their top guys they were going to be a push over. We obviously didn’t play great. I’m glad we hung in there and at the end of the day it’s still a win against the Spurs. We’ll take it however we can get it. It doesn’t always have to be pretty.”   (Getting a win against the Spurs) “That definitely wasn’t the Spurs tonight, but at the end of the day it’s a win for us in a crazy, competitive conference and every single game counts. Come April, it’s going to say we beat the Spurs and no one will remember who didn’t play. Either way it was their choice go not to play those guys and it was a big win for us to protect our home court and get our feet wet with (Rajon) Rondo. You guys can see what he’s capable of doing. He can fill up the stat sheet and do a little bit of everything. No one really shot the ball great tonight except for Monta and he was huge in the fourth quarter. We needed everybody tonight.”   (What kind of player is Monta) “He’s unbelievable. He’s one of the most clutch players I’ve ever played with. He’s got a knack for scoring the ball, especially late. He’s fearless. We need home to continue to close out games for us because we’re going to have a lot of close, competitive games in the conference.”