SONICS ASSOCIATE HEAD COACH DWANE CASEY:

On the game:
We did a good job of switching out of pick and rolls, but we just couldn’t find the basket tonight. We couldn’t get in a rhythm with our three-point shooting. Tonight we just couldn’t find the basket. I don’t know whether it was a combination of back-to-back game nights or heavy minutes throughout the game that made us weak on offense, but, like I said, we just couldn’t find the basket.

On the Clippers:
There is no question that L.A. was more focused mentally tonight. We didn’t have the defensive drive that you need to be a top ranked team in this league, and that’s something that we have to work and build on mentally. We have bigger goals and bigger heights to go to. You can’t just come out every night and try to outscore people. That style of play won’t last forever.

GUARD LUKE RIDNOUR:

On the game:
No excuses. They had the same circumstances we did. We had better movement last night pushing the ball. Tonight though, we were stagnant, and we didn’t shoot the ball well at all.

GUARD RAY ALLEN:

On the game:
It’s like we gave up on defense in the fourth quarter, it’s like we gave up stopping them. We just let them score too many points. Defensively, when we needed a stop, we didn’t get one. It was a bad energy game for us overall.

L.A. CLIPPERS COACH MIKE DUNLEAVY:

On the game:
Well, obviously what a difference a day makes. Our guys did a great job tonight. Just go to the three-point line, and look at those numbers versus last night’s numbers, and you’ll see a difference. We were able to defend them a little bit better and we were able to get in as good a rhythm as they had.

On beating a good team:
Actually, we’ve had some very good games against other good teams too. Then there’s a lot of games we should have won. We didn’t finish down the stretch with those games. In these two games with them, we did.

On preparation for a home-and-home matchup:
We didn’t go through a walk-through. We showed a bunch of film that I cut up from last night so we could talk about it and visually see the mistakes we made, both defensively and offensively. We did very well tonight. We still had some mistakes I wasn’t too happy about, but our guys did a good job. Offensively, we scored 103 points and didn’t give them a chance to win. I thought down the stretch we executed well and had some good looks.

On Rick Brunson seeing less action:
Rick Brunson has been great for us. I thought his legs looked a little tired tonight. He played 38 minutes last night. So coming into tonight, I was trying to gage everybody and I saw that he looked a little bit sluggish at times. Darrick Martin stepped in and did a good job.

GUARD DARRICK MARTIN:

On getting a chance to play:
I got to play a little high pick and roll, which is my game, and I enjoyed it. It’s good to have an opportunity to play and showcase myself. Hopefully things will blossom into something else. I enjoy the guys, I enjoy being home, and I am just having fun with it.

On his performance down the stretch:
When things are in order, it’s amazing the confidence you can feel. Coach ran the plays for me. He ran high pick and roll and just let me do my thing. With each look I had a little more of a swagger. It was a good night.

FORWARD COREY MAGGETTE:

On Martin:
Darrick came in like he had been playing in this system for the past year. He comes in runs the offense the way it’s supposed to be run, just like Rick Brunson. These guys know the way to play by doing the right things and I tip my hat to them.

On the game:
The biggest thing was at the beginning of the game. Yesterday they were hitting shots but tonight they weren’t. With so much firepower, if they don’t hit their shots in the beginning it gives the other team an opportunity to establish a lead, which is what we did. We also got steals and played good defense and took advantage of what we could.

FORWARD ELTON BRAND:

On playing against Danny Fortson down low:
He doesn’t do anything too malicious or too dirty, he is just a physical player. They got some buckets late off the pick-and-roll, but we definitely wanted to box him out.

2004-05 Postgame Quotes/Notes Archive