See what the Nets had to say after their 102-89 loss to the Orlando Magic.
KENNY ATKINSON
On second half after leading 48-44 at halftime:
"That third quarter, 34 points we gave up. They played better than us. Our defense was pretty good overall except for that third quarter, but our offense wasn’t sharp, [19] turnovers, 23 assists, I think they had 22 points off our turnovers. You can’t turn the ball over on the road like that."
On upcoming week:
"We’ve got a big week coming up so we’ve got to recover, we’ve got to freshen up a little bit. I didn’t think we had great juice tonight. Just not enough juice. We’ve got to recover it. We’re playing two excellent teams right off the bat. Good thing we’re at home, so that will help."
On offense:
"I think the ball is sticking. That’s part of it. We addressed it at halftime, the slow decisions, not moving it as quickly as we should. We only had 23 assists tonight. The ‘play-with-the-pass’ mentality we normally have is not there right now. We’re trying to attack too quickly without getting an advantage. It happens. It’s slippage, and we’ve got to go back to the drawing board and help our guys through this little stretch."
JOE HARRIS
On offense:
"I think collectively we were just a little bit out of rhythm. Maybe the ball was a little stagnant at times. We didn't get into some of our actions, didn't get out in transition quite enough. Defense was actually pretty solid throughout most of the evening, but just seemed like we kind of struggled a little bit to find our footing offensively. Think a lot of that has to do with the Magic and their length, athleticism."
On fatigue at this point of season:
"Everybody's banged up and a little fatigued at this point of the season and it's just about finding a way. Obviously, get to the All-Star break and get a little bit of time to rejuvenate yourself, get back and finish out the year strong. Right now, all the focus is just on these last few games that we have and trying to make them count."
On playing without Spencer:
"It's tough obviously. You lose a player of that caliber, obviously your team's going to be hurting a little bit. We're banged up aside from Spencer too. I think when you're down guys, obviously it gives other people opportunities to step up and play, but at the same time, you miss those guys and you miss what they bring on both ends of tHE ball. It obviously affects the rhythm offensively as well."
D'ANGELO RUSSELL
On offense:
"One of those nights. We were missing a lot of bunnies. I thought our defense was a little better. We were playing off our defense. We just couldn't put the ball in the hoop."
On finishing strong to All-Star break:
"We can’t get comfortable. We’ve got to stay sharp offensively and defensively. I think the mental preparation going into every game has to be us being thirsty. We’ve got to get that mentality like we lost eight in a row. I think teams that don’t have that mentality, we’ll catch them off guard and that will be to our advantage."
On playing without Spencer:
"The loss of Dinwiddie, when we lose a player like that, you’re going to feel it. You’re going to force guys to step up and have to do things they’re not used to doing. Anytime you have a player of that caliber going down, you’re going to miss him.