NBA Post-Game Quotes
Minnesota vs. Denver Nuggets
November 13, 2005 @ Pepsi Center

Denver Nuggets 102
MINNESOTA 91

Minnesota Coach Dwane Casey:

“I thought we participated instead of competed. You can go right down our roster. We didn’t show up. Denver was competitive; we didn’t play with any purpose what so ever. You can’t win in this league playing defense like that. We should be a better rebounding team. They got well shooting 58% from the three point line. I don’t know what that says about our perimeter defense. We’ve taken a step back defensively. Rashad McCants made a dumb play. I told him if he wants to play in a Minnesota Timberwolves uniform he’s not going to do those theatrics. There is no place in basketball for taunting, it has been addressed and won’t happen again. We have to let our offense and our defense speak for themselves. IT was a huge game for Marcus Camby he played monster. He has played the best basketball in his career the last three games. We weren’t clicking anywhere offensively. Denver picked up the slack, Elson had solid minutes and Najera came in and did the same.”

Minnesota Guard Rashad McCants:

“The dunk; you know when I dunked it, I came down and he had bumped into me and I was going forward, he was going out and there was nothing I could do about it but keep playing. I was just in the game trying to compete, and it was a little bit of a surprise that he gave me the second technical, but it was any kind of derogatory thing towards any player or anything like that. I was just trying to show emotion to pick my team up; we were down, just trying to give us a boost of energy. I was just trying to do what KG does when we score a bucket and boost the guys up.”

Minnesota Forward Wally Szczerbiak:

“They just had a hell of a game. They were crashing the boards a lot and getting a lot of rebounds and that didn’t allow us to get into our transition game. They got way too many dunks and lay-ups and that wasn’t good defense on our part and our game plan was to take those shots away. We obviously have some work to do. We just have to start giving a better effort.”

Denver Coach George Karl:

“Camby was fun to watch tonight, he did it all. His offense has really improved; showed he was a class player on the court tonight. We played with the same toughness and intensity that we played with last year, now we need to take that on the road. I told the team this morning that we had lots of energy and intensity for the first two and a half weeks of training camp but that we have seemed to have lost some of that. Tonight I think we played with some of that intensity.”

Denver Center Marcus Camby:

“I was just going out there and just trying to play hard. With K-Mart being out tonight I was just trying to step up my level of play and will my team to a victory. I feel the pressure every night I step out on the court especially with Nene being hurt so early. Each night I just go out there on defense, rebound and block shots and let my offense come from there. The line up worked well tonight. I have confidence that whoever coach puts out there can get it done.”

Denver Forward Carmelo Anthony:

“Before the game, George (Karl) told us he wanted us to get up and down the court, and he wanted to call as few plays as possible; he wanted us to get out there on our own and get up and down the court. That’s what we did tonight and it paid off for us."

On DerMarr Johnson
"If you give it to him in the corner it’s money, you can count it as three. He’s going to play defense, he’s long on defense and he takes the burden off my shoulders by guarding the best players on offense and I get a little rest on the defensive side. It was must win game. Hopefully this is our turn around game.”