See what the Brooklyn Nets had to say after their 129-88 win over the Golden State Warriors.
KENNY ATKINSON
On the defensive effort:
“Obviously we knew taking D’Lo (D’Angelo Russell), try to bring his percentages down, that was the game plan – first part of the game plan – and limiting Draymond’s (Green) effect on the game with his passing. And mission accomplished. I like how our young guys finished it, you know, finished the game. They showed real progress. All around good defensive effort.”
On team's focus in recent games:
“Golden State, I thought, played really well the last three games and this game really worried me, so taking care of business was important. Now we look forward to playing two elite teams in the next three games, and it will be a good test to see where we are. But we know we are going to need our physicality and athleticism to play against those two teams. So, good test coming up for us.”
On familiarity with D'Angelo Russell in preparation:
“Yeah, I do think it helps knowing him, definitely, and knowing how good he is. Obviously we made a concerted effort to limit his touches. He was 5-for-8 from mid-range in the first half, just so everybody understands that the analytics doesn’t always work out. I don’t know what he was from mid-range in the second half, I would be curious to see, but heck of a player – glad we slowed him down a little. But definitely an advantage when you know a guy.”
JOE HARRIS
On what's clicking with teams focus level:
“I think just defensively we were locked in. A lot of the stops we had turned in to easy offensive baskets. And then it’s one of those nights where I think everybody shot pretty well, I had a good rhythm early on. A lot of times in the NBA— they’re (Warriors) at the end of a really long road trip, guys getting traded before the game for them, so it’s sort of unfortunate circumstances. It kind of puts people in a bind a little bit mentally. You can go through a little bit of a funk and we just happened to have good rhythm and played with a lot of confidence.”
On playing against D'Angelo Russell:
“It’s awesome to see D-Lo. Even this summer, connecting with him, getting to hang—it’s unfortunate, one of those things, sort of bitter sweet to see guys that close to you leave in free agency. But to have him come back, you kind of pick up right where you left off, just obviously him in a different jersey. But those friendships that you make, those are lasting. If you stay around in the NBA long enough, you’re going to bounce around, your teammates are going to bounce around, but those friendships, they remain constant.”
On replicating defensive effort going forward:
“I think everybody was locked in in terms of what the game plan was, knowing the personnel, knowing who we were shifting off of, knowing who we were staying attached to, trying to take away. I thought we did a good job just contesting everything too, even if we were in rotations or scrambling, it seems like guys were always getting in to contest. They didn’t have a lot of just clean, open looks. But then a little bit of that I think can be attributed to what I just mentioned, the fact that they are kind of going through sort of an unfortunate time with guys getting traded right before the game and just being at the end of a long road trip.”
CARIS LEVERT
On competing against D'Angelo Russell:
“Honestly, it was a little weird. I’ve never played against him before. In my first year, I was injured with my foot, and, obviously, the second year he came here. So it was a little different, but it was good competing against him for sure.”
On if team is back on track after 5-2 stretch:
“Yeah, I think so. Obviously we wanted to get the win in Washington, but I think we played really good basketball these past couple games. Hopefully it carries over to the next three, because they’re going to be tough.”
On Rodions Kurucs' shooting:
“It’s really encouraging to see. When I was coming back from my thumb injury, we did a lot of extra work and stuff like that, three-on-three with those guys and he was really shooting the ball extremely well. So just for us, encouraging him to shoot whenever he’s open.”