Wolves vs. Sonics - Postgame Quotes

NBA Postgame quotes
Minnesota vs. Seattle
January 26, 2007 @ KeyArena

Seattle 102
MINNESOTA 100


Minnesota Head Coach Randy Wittman:
“They (Seattle) made plays. You’ve got to give Seattle credit. Ray’s three in the corner was huge. We were up 5 at that time. Gelebale got the leak out for a lay-up and then we foul on a rebound.”

“We put ourselves again in position. It’s almost like Groundhog’s Day of our game against Portland. We just got to keep fighting.”

“I can’t fault our guys’ effort. Again, we’ve got to find ways to make plays at the end of the game, especially on the road.”

(on Craig Smith) “He was awesome. He’s the type of player that can take advantage of a zone. Seattle played zone all night. Craig is a crafty guy at finding seams and then he gets on the offensive boards. That’s one of his strengths.”

Minnesota Forward Craig Smith:
“They came out, drew up a nice play for (Ray) Allen and got him a shot. I thought Trent (Hassell) was right there in his face and contested it but he made a good shot. They packed in the zone a little bit, especially on Kevin (Garnett). We tried to get the ball movement. They just did a good job on the defensive end getting a stop. Then they came down and executed well on the next play.”

Minnesota Forward Kevin Garnett:
“They (Seattle) came out and put together 3 minutes of good basketball and we never recovered from that. We’ve got to finish games off better man…we’re not finishing games off. We have a lead and we’re giving them up. We’re playing with a lot of spirit and a lot of effort, we just got to learn to finish the games off.”

(on whether or not the Sonics defense got tougher at the end) “Not necessarily. I just think they made some adjustments to what we were doing. We didn’t come down and execute the last 3-4 times…they did. Whether it was the extra rebound or Ray (Allen) hitting the corner shot.”

“Great game by Craig, those young boys work really hard and it’s good to see them have good games like this. The games are an elaboration of what they do in practice and how hard they work. We beat the rookies up pretty good both mentally and physically but it’s because they can handle it.”

Seattle Head Coach Bob Hill:
“Well, Mickael Gelebale hit some big shots tonight but if we had the tape of the game of the things he did defensively, the stops he made, the steals he got, the rebounds he got, I mean the kid played. His points were important but all the other things that the guy did were just as important in the game, and having such a big game. A career-high for him.”

“Ray (Allen) was Ray again but I had to play him too many minutes. I thought Luke (Ridnour) and Earl (Watson) did a nice job at the point.”

“Minnesota is good. They beat us pretty good the first time up in Minnesota so we had a little incentive to come and play well. We hung in there and I’m thrilled for Mickael. I’m sure that Ray is happy to get some help. That’s a good win and, again, it’s thrilling to see Mickael have such a big part of it.”

(On Nick Collison’s 6th straight double-double) “I know I’ve told the story about how he and Dwight Daub worked all summer on his athleticism. I watched most mornings and thought, ‘Boy, are they wasting their time.’ And boy, was I wrong. Tonight there were a number of times where his hands were about the rim: he’s dunking offensive rebounds, he’s blocking shots, I mean he’s a better athlete than he was a year ago. Don’t think that’s not helping him now because he’s above the rim now on a number of plays. He’s up there with (Chris) Wilcox now. He’s more athletic now there’s no about it.”

(On Mickael Gelebale) “He’s such a great kid and such a laid back kid. The shot he came off of Ray’s pick to tie the game was a huge play. When he went to the foul line I thought he’s played major Euro-league pressure games so I expected him to at least hit one of them. I’m happy for him and he’s happy too. I’m sure you’re going to find a very happy rookie in the locker room.”

Seattle Forward Mickael Gelebale:
(On his game-tying shot late in the game) “I just hoped that I could hit the shot because it’s my job.”

(On if he was nervous?) “For the shot, no. But when I went to the free throw line, I got a little nervous.”

Seattle Forward Nick Collison:
(On Coach Hill thinking he’s a better athlete this season) “Coach doesn’t know a lot about conditioning. I worked hard. I tried to do a lot more things than I did in college that we had to do as a team in college: just being stronger and more athletic. I had tendonitis all last year and that hasn’t bothered me. My health is a lot better because of it.”

“I’ve got the opportunity to play a lot and the team is playing better. When we’re stagnant and I’ve got to try to score over people I’m not real good at that, but when that ball is moving and I can find seams, and catch the ball and finish, and the lanes open for rebounding, that helps me. It’s just a combination of confidence getting higher after a number of games.”