Nets vs. Rockets: Joe Harris, Kyrie Irving, and Steve Nash Top Quotes

See what the Brooklyn Nets had to say after their 120-108 win over the Houston Rockets.

“Nic has been outstanding, but we have a lot of depth there. We want to give a lot of guys looks at that position. We also know Nic's injury history, we don't want to overload him because he is a valuable piece to our team. So we want to continue to develop him. We don't want to overrely on him, we don't want to overburn him physically, or mentally and just allow him to develop at a more natural pace. And so I think right now we're in a pretty good spot with him. And of course, we could’ve played him more. We know that, we see that too. But at the same time there's other guys, Jeff had some really good moments, Blake had some big moments, DJ starts it up for us and both halves. So you got on the line, everyone plays their part. It's allows us to develop Nic at the right pace and keep him in that sweet spot where he can be very valuable for us.”

“First and foremost, really proud of our guys. They’ve had a lot thrown at them this year. We’ve had a lot of different lineups, tough schedule, and a new group. We’ve had three new groups in a sense, so for them to stick together, to continue to pursue what we’re asking them to pursue, big picture and in the short term with the details, it’s impressive. First half was the doldrums, especially the first quarter, to a tee. But second half was outstanding effort and improved physicality. So that again I’d say we’re really proud for what they’ve accomplished considering everything that’s been thrown at them.”

“Some of its make or miss. Some of it's the ebb and flow of the game, they came out hot, we came out cold and obviously it reversed a little bit by the end. But part of that is that we turned the dial up. We gave them to too many mental errors in the first half, too many lackadaisical efforts, late close-outs, missed reads. And so they're able to get in rhythm. And then it was one of those nights where everything's going into the basket gets bigger and they continue on that. And conversely for us, we weren't making anything but we've the harder we played the tougher we got; then our ball started going in as well. So you know, there's a lesson in there for us, but at the same time, I thought overall, you’re just grateful that they did come around for us, but most importantly, we got more physical and defended and caring. And that was the difference in the game.”

“Yeah definitely. I think anytime especially guys coming off the bench bring a level of energy and intensity you know especially a night like tonight that's something we needed. We were definitely flat there in the first half and Nic provided a spark even when he came in first half, especially second half. It's one of those things where it doesn't necessarily take one person but it could be the domino to kind of start and get everybody to turn.”

“I think we were able to get out in transition kind of get some easier looks that way and once you see one go down we kind of fed off the momentum. But I think a lot of it had to do with the pace that we were playing with. We were able to get stops defensively and then get out and run in transition and we were either finishing at the rim or taking uncontested 3s.”

"Blake is obviously an extremely talented player and he's very smart as well. He makes a lot of the right plays. He's definitely the perfect type of big that you want for today's game where you're able to kind of get him the ball, play through him he can space the floor knock down shots and so he adds an element where we're really lucky to have in a big man in a four or five man at times.”

“I think it says a lot of different things. I don’t know if I can necessarily pinpoint everything in terms of what we’ve been through but I think we’ve been able to learn throughout this process what it takes to build something special, or something different or unique and then how much, I wanna say sacrifice, it takes to show up every day, do your job at a very high level and then depend on the person next to you to do their job at a high level. And it’s not just a concept. It’s more or less about the actions that we put forth and the energy that we put forth. So I think we’ve been able to learn how to be flexible with one another, how to expect things from one another without expecting too much. Just holding each other accountable and when you do that with a mature group you’re able to accomplish a lot of different things, so I feel like we’ve been able to take this time to develop deeper relationships. We’re all new and this group is so new. We have big transitions in the season that we’ve had to adjust to and I think we’re doing a good job of shaking it out.”

“It reveals very little honestly, you know, because we’re gonna get every team’s best shot, so that’s something that we’ve come to accept. And when I say it reveals very little it’s just that we know the game plan that we need to execute and it’s up to us to go out and do it at a very high level. Sometimes we don’t make that choice in the first four minutes or the first five minutes where we get down 18-6 or 18-4 and we’re just digging ourselves out of holes on the scoreboard. I’m listening to the chatter from other teams on the court and they just continue to say, attack us, attack us, attack us, and I’m here on the court as well with all my teammates just saying, it’ll turn over for us. Just gotta be resilient, persevere through this, and we’ll start making shots, but more or less it just comes with our effort. Gotta bring it from the first five minutes. In the last few games we’ve failed to do so, so we played catchup and we got away with this one, but against the great teams we know we’ve gotta bring it from minute one.”

“He's just learning the ups and downs of the game, the flows of the game, how to manage his wind, when to make an impact, how he can make and impact without having the ball, with having the ball, playing alongside other players that have different skill sets, being able to adjust, and do it on the fly: come in, play 5 minutes sometimes, play 20 minutes sometimes, don't play at all. It's a young person's journey in this league. Not everybody gets the opportunity to be a No. 1 draft pick or top-20, or get to play 40 minutes a game on a team (that’s bad). You know not everybody gets that opportunity of those same touches, so with him here, he has a unique opportunity to learn from everybody ahead of him but want to see him excel at a level, at a championship level. We all want to see each other do well, but specifically for our young guys in the locker room, just continue to learn from us and they'll continue to grow.”