Wolves vs. Nuggets - Postgame Quotes

MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES POSTGAME QUOTES

Head Coach Randy Wittman: "It was just one of those games. They made plays at the end. I thought a huge one down the stretch was when it was 94-91 and we played good defense, forced them to take a bad shot, and Camby came in and tipped it in. And then AI hits a 'three'... The effort was not the problem. I thought for the most part we played together. We had 23 assists."

"We reached that stretch which has been a problem for us through the preseason. We have stretches where we don't score. We got a little tentative. When jump shots weren't going in, I thought we got a little 'three'-happy there. It felt like we were at 84 points forever. We have to learn as a team to take the ball to the basket.,, Fourteen points in the fourth quarter was obviously our demise."

"This team is going to have to earn the respect of officials (and) other teams. I thought we went to the basket just as hard as they did... We have to get respect, I guess. We can't stop doing it. We can't stop going to the basket. We will get those calls. Our guys need to keep putting their heads down and keep going. We will get those calls, but tonight we didn't."

"I thought we came out in the third quarter and got off to a slower start. I thought to start the game we executed. We made them play defense, we weren't taking quick shots and I thought we had a great first quarter. The third quarter I thought it was important that we do that, but I thought the first couple of minutes we just kind of went through the motions."

"I thought Greg Buckner came in and was really good tonight. He gave us great minutes off the bench. He is a great kid and we knew that coming in. He has been really good with our young kids and being a leader on this team. He has really been instrumental."

Minnesota Forward Al Jefferson: "We didn't have the energy in the second half that we had in the first half of the game. I think that was the difference. The start was very important, but it's not as important if you don't continue to do it. You have to start out the game big and end big. You have to keep it going."

"We showed the fans that we are going to play hard every time we step on the court. We are going to give it all we've got, but we have to win it for the fans."

Minnesota Guard Rashad McCants: "A lot of the positive things we did were get the ball inside and wait for the double-team to come, pass out and make shots. We played great defense teamwise. We just gave up some offensive rebounds. We didn't turn the ball over. We just need to get to the line more."

"We took care of the ball. We only had 12 turnovers and we were in it the whole game... Sebastian and Marko did a good job of getting us where we wanted to go and directing us. The issue wasn't our effort, it wasn't our execution, it was a matter of getting to the line. We've just got to get to the line."

"We want to establish ourselves as a young scrappy team. We are going to make sure we protect our home court. We need to stay scrappy and stay aggressive and execute our offense. Things are good. We have a good plan here."

"It's a man's game, it's a man's league. You have to be professional in the fourth quarter. You need to get to the line. You need to be aggressive."

DENVER NUGGETS POSTGAME QUOTES

Head Coach George Karl: "I said we were going to win games with defense. We had more focus tonight and Marcus was incredible. But a lot of our guys gave us great effort. We had to come back after some bad plays in the first half, especially at the beginning of the game. We're going to be an explosive offensive team, but tonight we won it with defense."

"If you're going to play fast, then wearing down is part of the game by bringing fatigue into the game at the end. We're playing aggressive offense and aggressive defense, and not many NBA teams are going to do that. But that's what we're trying to do. I was a little disappointed that we didn't turn people over tonight because they struggle with ball pressure. But in the fourth quarter we made stops."

"I think you'll see a lot of games like tonight (for Minnesota). I think they're going to play hard. They're going to do good things, but the question will be, will they do enough good things to win games? Winning in this league is not easy. As the game wore on we got mentally tougher."

Denver Center Marcus Camby: "They're a youthful team and they're rebuilding a little bit. They're going in a youthful direction, but those guys played hard. They jumped out on us early, but we had enough veteran leadership to go down the stretch and pull the game out."

"I was just being aggressive and going to the glass. I know they were gearing up on AI and Melo a bit, so there were a lot of gaps in there and we talked about getting into the gaps during shootaround."

Denver Guard Allen Iverson: "In the first half they pretty much did what they wanted to do. In the second half we focused on our assignment and just buckled down and executed. It was their season opener, so they were amped and they played well."

"We have to understand that no matter what team we play, we have to approach the game the same way. We can't come in and think just because a team isn't a veteran team that we can overlook them. We've got to win that game regardless if it's ugly or not."