NBA Post-Game Quotes
Minnesota vs. Portland
November 2, 2005 @ Target Center

Portland 86
MINNESOTA 90

Minnesota Coach Dwane Casey:

"First of all, I thought it was an excellent team effort. I thought we were a little tight. We had some of the first-game jitters. It was good to get it out of our system. Sometimes it's good to be fired up, but we were a little tight. We gained our composure in the second quarter (and) into the third. We struggled a little bit offensively in the fourth quarter, but our defense was pretty good throughout."

"I thought Eddie Griffin did an excellent job rebounding and blocking shots and really being a force in the paint. Portland is the type of team that lives in the paint. They want to get closer and closer and closer in... Richie was huge. He was pumped up. I was more shocked that he missed the free throw. I think he's a career 90 percent free throw shooter. We wanted to get him in there at the end. He came in and played great against his old team."

"I got tighter when we scored only 14 points in the first quarter. I was okay until that. When you have someone down like that, you have to have the killer instinct and the winning attitude and put them away. Those are the little things that we have to correct. When you have a lead, you have to preserve it and make sure you take care of business."

"It was situations that we have seen in exhibitions. That's why you have exhibition games... I think tonight was a good example of guys getting used to playing together. When our second unit came in during the second quarter, they played well because they have gotten most of the minutes during the exhibitions. That paid great dividends for us."

"I told (McCants) as he was coming out of the game, 'Get this out of your system.' The young man is going to be a talent. I met with him today to relax him because he was nervous. You're going to have those games as a rookie. Just bounce back from it. I don't care how many defensive mistakes he made. I have been on him so bad about it. I don't want him to forget about what he does best, and that's being an offensive player."

"Marko did a solid job. He's a big point guard. He and Kevin had a little thing going similar to what Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton had for us in the '90s with the two-man game. It's tough to stop when you have that kind of size at point guard. I thought they got us going. Other than those two turnovers, I thought he had a solid basketball game."

"(Miles) is a great player. He's a great athlete. He backed up what he said he was going to do. We have some things that we didn't want to go to as far as double-teaming him, but we have those in our pocket. He got his points, but I thought we did a good job on everyone else."

"Nate's an excellent guy and an excellent coach. It was almost like we were playing against ourselves. We run a lot of the same sets. I knew a lot of the sets they were going to run. They knew some of our sets. We have worked on those plays a lot together over the last five years. They are going to be a good team. They have a lot to learn, they are a young team."

Minnesota Forward Kevin Garnett:

"A win is always good. Being home for the home opener, new team, new coach... It felt real good to get a win."

"Energetic is a better word for how we felt early in the game. I think a lot of guys, including myself, were very energetic, very excited to be out there. It felt good to be back in the Target Center, and the crowd, the energy, the intensity... It was just fun. It took us a couple moments to settle down, and then when we got into a rhythm we looked like a brand new team. We calmed down and started focusing, and got it right."

"In practice and a couple times in preseason I think (Frahm) was having some difficulties. He felt like he was not shooting as well as he knows he can. But we as a unit and as a group just continue to encourage him, and you know, against his former team he was real excited. Every time he shot it, he thought it was going in -- and a majority of them did. I was happy for him. He had a great game."

"This is probably the most defensive team I've ever been a part of, from A to Z. Every guy on this team is learning, can play, or is capable of playing good defense. When we had to make some stops, we made some stops. Some people made some tough shots, but for the most part we made it difficult. We did what we had to."

"Eddie's great. We call him the flyswatter -- he's blocking shots like my grandmother used to kill flies. Not only that, but Kandi's playing with a defensive presence and it feels good to have some help."

Minnesota Forward Wally Szczerbiak:

"We didn't play our 'A' game by any means tonight, but we had a lot of guys step up. Richie was huge, the bench was big, our defense was solid. Nights like tonight, we're going to be able to get wins as long as we play hard on the defensive end, and that's what we did."

"(Casey) knows we can put the ball in the basket. He knows we have scorers on this team. But the key is going to be coming up with a team defensive philosophy and a team attitude on defense that's going to get the job done -- to hold teams to 80, 90 points -- and we did that tonight."

"Defense leads to easy baskets in transition. It leads to getting into a flow and getting the crowd into the game. I think they like to see the effort on defense, and then once all our shots start falling, it's even going to be more fun. We're just continuing to get better. This is a learning process. This is a start to a new era -- Coach Casey's first win -- and we're glad to give it to him."

"Richie was huge. That was big. He was on Portland's team last year, so maybe he had a little point to prove. He came up huge. We needed those shots. We needed those 'threes'. He had nice legs, hit them in transition (and) didn't hesitate at all. He was a big key to our victory."

"I think we played ugly in the first quarter, but we held them to only 21 points, even though we only scored 14. We weren't in the flow. We weren't hitting our shots. Maybe we were a little amped up. Then we settled in. The second unit came in and gave us a big lift, and we were able to carry on and get a nice victory."

"We've got to define roles. I told the guys, 'Let's just stop all this motion stuff, passing the ball around, and let's get it to the Big Ticket and play off him with some time on the shot clock, and do what we're comfortable doing.'... If we just turn off Kevin, get him the ball, he'll make a big basketball play -- and he took us to victory again tonight."

Minnesota Guard Richie Frahm:

"That's a different team altogether. Looking over there, it's hard to be competitive against them because they have Coach McMillan, whom I have good, fond memories about. And Portland, that's a different team. They've got a different chemistry there. So I'm happy to see that they've got that pointed in the right direction. But I had to go somewhere else, and I like the situation I've got here. Hopefully tonight was just a sample of things to come, and if we can come out there and do this, that would be great."

"There's been a mentality that I'm a rhythm shooter. A guy like me, you've got to come off the bench in short minutes and you make things happen -- either it's good or bad. You go for broke. Tonight just happened to be a good night, and hopefully there's more of those than bad... They played me at the '3' tonight, and I don't think a lot of '3's like to guard a three-point shooter. So that's basically where I hang out. I got my looks tonight."

"It's a marathon, 82 games. I think you come prepared every night. That's all you can do. If you hit your shots, you hit your shots. But if not, you can't let that affect the rest of your game. I think we've got enough scorers on this team that they'll survive if I don't score, so we'll be all right."

Minnesota Guard Marko Jaric:

"We were a little bit nervous. We were playing in front of a home crowd. They got us in the first quarter (but) as soon as we started to get loose, started playing our basketball, we got back in the game. I think we should've closed the game when we were up 10-15 points, but they came back and we were tough again -- and that's good."

"Richie is a great player, a great shooter... We have a really long bench, and definitely if we want to make the playoffs, the bench needs to give us a good effort -- and so far, they're doing that. One night it's going to be Richie, the second night it's going to be somebody else. (He's) definitely a great player, a great shooter, and he helped us out a lot tonight."

Minnesota Guard Rashad McCants:

"(Garnett)'s the best player on the planet by far, hands down. There's never been a doubt in my mind about that. Just being with him for the past two months, (it's) incredible. He gives me tremendous confidence out there. Even when I was down and out, missed those last three layups, he was just pounding on my chest, 'Come on, let's go. You're going to miss those, but you've got to get one more.' That's all I need, is a guy out there that's going to push me... It pushes me to a new level. I've got a guy out there who's the best player on the planet pushing me. You can't ask for much more."

"Richie, that's what he does. He's brought in to make those shots. Five 'threes'... You can't ask for anything else. Richie kind of struggled early on in the preseason, but we all knew. Richie's like a Fred Hoiberg out there: just spot up and hit those shots."

Portland Coach Nate McMillan:

"That's the one thing we have asked of these guys, is to play hard and play for 48 minutes. I thought we tried to do that. We just didn't make some plays. One too many times, we didn't move the ball. We got close, (but) we turned the ball over. I thought we came down two or three trips in a row and turned the ball over when we were down by four. A couple of times we just couldn't get that extra possession, that extra rebound. The little things we talk about, we condition for, we train for, was the difference in the ballgame. You play 45 minutes, and the last three minutes you lose it."

"I like the effort. That's what we want. I think if we get that kind of effort every night, we'll have a chance to win ballgames like we did tonight."

"I thought (Miles) did some good things. I thought he was aggressive with the ball. He made plays. I want him to be aggressive making decisions. With him playing with the ball, he and Zach have to make good decisions with that ball. When teams double-team or clog in on us, guys are open. They have to deliver the ball, and I thought for the most part he did that. A couple times he came down and shot the ball a little quick, but for the most part he did a nice job offensively, being aggressive and going to the basket."

Portland Forward Darius Miles:

"We played hard. We had a couple of jump shots I took (where) we could've had better shots, but I thought we played hard... We waited too long to get out. They underestimated us at the beginning of the game, and we came out hyped and ready to win. They made a run and we got down, then we made a run to come back and get down by two, after answering their run. KG hit a big shot. That's what they pay him for; that's why he gets all that money."

"(Garnett) amazes me. I'm such a fan of his. He's like a big brother. Every time we play against him, we talk after the games. It's a big brother type of a thing. It's always a challenge when you play someone that you looked up to since you were in high school."

"I thought we could've at least got one of these games on the road. It'll be very hard to go into Denver and get a win. I saw that they lost last night, so they will be looking forward to playing us. They're not going to be underestimating us. I thought tonight, KG and them were underestimating what we really had over here, and what we came to do. They thought it was going to be an easy game, and we surprised them."

Portland Forward Zach Randolph:

"I didn't get a lot of touches in the second half. They were double-teaming me. The baskets were going in and out. I was out there being happy it was our first game in a couple of months. I was down (about) missing some layups, but overall I felt pretty good."

Portland Center Joel Przybilla:

"When we perform and play hard, we can compete with anyone in this league. We've got guys like Zach Randolph and Darius Miles, who were on tonight. That's what their job is: to score. We count on them, and if they can bring that every night, we'll be in a lot of ballgames."

"I never play well in this arena. I don't know what it is. I've got to keep working, we have to keep working, and we have a big game Friday in Denver."