Wolves - Lakers Postgame

NBA Post-Game Quotes
Minnesota @ Los Angeles
Nov. 9, 2007 @ Staples Center

Los Angeles 107
MINNESOTA 93

CLICK HERE for the Wolves postgame audio

Minnesota Head Coach Randy Wittman
On the fourth quarter:
“Well, yeah it doesn’t boil down to the fourth but I thought the difference was five minutes in the third quarter. L.A. came out and went on a, I think, 12-2 run to start the third quarter and put us in a hole that was too much to overcome. We fought back and continued to fight and these guys are that way. These guys are young and they’re not going to quit. We can’t come out of halftime, we talked about at halftime, being here on their court, and that they’re going to come out here and try to take the game right away and that’s kind of what they did.”

On the Timberwolves and their record:
“We’re behind the eight-ball a little bit there. Obviously, we miss Randy Foye and then Rashad (McCants) being out; two more perimeter guys that can help us create things. We’re at such a deficit right now at the free throw line all four games. Tonight, it was a 41-14 night again, and that’s hard when you get outscored at the free throw line by 29-30 free throws to have a chance and we’ve had a chance every game. We’ve got to continue to clean that up and hopefully the whistles will change. Our guys are getting smacked and hit down there as much as anybody else and we just don’t seem to not get that right now.”

On Timberwolves forward Al Jefferson:
“Al’s still got to now continue his growth at the other end. I mean, he’s a very talented kid; rebounds the ball and can score the ball different ways. But now he’s got to take it at the other end and prove himself at the defensive end. We give up too many easy baskets on the other side that are backbreakers.”

On the second half:
“We talked about it at halftime. We got to make sure we’re coming out and hitting them first and they came out 12-2 I think and started the third and put us in a hole. But our guys fought. Again, we can’t let ourselves get in this hole against a good team on the road. I thought we came back out a little passive at the start of the third and they came out and knocked us on our heels. There’s nothing more than that. They came and hit us first and we didn’t hit them.

Minnesota Guard Sebastian Telfair
On tonight’s game:
“I think we went out their and competed, we tried to do everything we could to try and win the game. But down the stretch in the fourth quarter we have to make plays for each other, get into the right sets that will get our go to guy, big Al, the ball.’

On his mind-set coming off the bench:
“It’s always the same mindset coming off the bench or starting the game, as long as you come out and finish the game that’s all that really counts. But if I come off the bench I want to bring a spark to my team.”

On expectations for their young team:
“For all of us to get better, but still learn how to win, we need to win games even though we are young. A lot of guys are still trying to establish themselves in this league, like myself. I want to establish myself, get my nitch, let people know what I can do in and out, try to get something that I can do consistently and I’m still trying to find that.”

Minnesota Guard Ryan Gomes
On the new team:
“We’ve been in a lot of games, close; we’re just not finishing up. We missed a lot of chippies tonight, they shot a lot more free-throws than us once again and we have to get to the basket. Of course tonight was different, we got a lot of easy shots that we missed around the basket, I think overall we played well but playing well isn’t good enough when you don’t win. Some teams can get away with playing well and squeaking out a win. But on the road you can’t do that, where at home maybe, but on the road you cant just play average and think that you are going to win.”

On coming back in the fourth quarter:
“It’s coming out in the third quarter, the first three minutes of the third quarter they really took aggression and pushed the lead to fourteen, I think it was, and now we’re playing catch up for the rest of the game. We come back and down six already, you can’t let them go on an eight point run and we call a timeout and now we have to regroup. You can’t let that happen. It’s very important, like the start of the game, to come out in the first three minutes and establish what you are going to do and they established first tonight.

Los Angeles Head Coach Phil Jackson:
On his team’s performance:
“There were flashes of what I thought was some pretty good basketball out there. There are still some rudimentary things that we are not doing very well… we made some plays and were able to put the game together a little bit in the second half.”

On Lamar Odom’s first game back and team’s turnover rate:
“I had him in and out of there a couple times-- gave him a break-- he has great stamina, and he played well tonight… I’m still not happy with the turnover rate. We have to stop being so risky. ..Especially in transition out there… all in all, it was a pretty good game for someone coming in the line up to kind of change the chemistry a bit and balance the team out there, and we responded pretty well the second half.”

On the lineup with Farmar, Bynum and three small forwards:
“I liked that line up, I think it gives us a lot of ball handlers and passers in that situation, and some three point shooters. They played well together in the past, but there is still some getting to know each other out there.”

On his various combinations of players:
“Yeah, I think I probably had five different combinations, at least, out there on the floor tonight. Lamar at small forward, power forward, guard a little bit… ”

On Luke Walton’s turnovers:
“There’s one that he passed the ball down the middle of the lane, the other Vladimir was open, but he thought it was for Drew, and neither one of them grabbed it…he tried to do some things that I thought were a little bit risky...”

On Bynum’s rebounding:
“Yes that’s very positive for us. John just told me it’s the first time we’ve had three guys in double figures in rebounding in a year and a half of basketball. That would be maybe 100 games, 120 games perhaps, not sure. But, Andrew’s a guy that does gobble up those rebounds. If there’s a ball available, he’s going to get it, and I like that. And Lamar out there helps us a lot on the boards too. That’s an important aspect of the game.”

Lakers Center Chris Mimh:
On tonight’s victory:
“It was great. First and foremost that’s what we needed. We felt we dropped on we needed to have in last game. We came out and played a pretty good game and got it done.”

On the team’s ball movement:
“Our ball movement is great, we just need to understand that some of the passes we might need to hold off on, get the offense set and make sure we get a good look.”

On how he felt his first game back:
“It felt really good. Now we got a day off tomorrow, I’ll go in and get some conditioning, lift weights, and get some shots up, prepare for Sundays practice. We got a big road trip coming up.”

Lakers forward Lamar Odom:
On when he thinks he will be back to 100%:
“Maybe a couple of weeks, where I would gain that strength in my shoulder that I had before I hurt it. But it will take some time, playing the three helps me a little bit.”

On playing the small forward position:
“It felt good. When you are on the perimeter a little bit more it’s less banging, so I just picked my spots. Of course I’m going to play the ball a little bit. We are going to use our versatility as a team. Today we had Luke [Walton], [Vladamir Radmanovic] and myself on the court on the same time and kind of switched everything. I think it will help us immensely.”

Lakers Guard Kobe Bryant:
On the team’s performance tonight:
“We are doing ok. We just got to continue to work hard; it’s such a long season. We are doing alright. We just got to get everybody back healthy now, we got Lamar back now and that’s a big step in the right direction and we just got to get the rest of the guys out there.”

On Lamar Odom’s play tonight:
“[Lamar Odom] looked great, he didn’t look tired. He looked aggressive and it looked like he was in good rhythm.”

On the team’s defensive effort:
“We are playing hard; we are definitely playing hard. We did a much better job defensively in the second half. Telfair got hot and made some long range three pointers and kind of kept them in the ball game, but overall second half I think we did a good job defensively.”