See what the Brooklyn Nets had to say after their 115-107 loss to the Chicago Bulls.
STEVE NASH
On offensive performance:
“We didn’t play with enough pace. Not enough movement and activity. We had a hard time spacing them out because we were a little bogged down. We were playing in tight spaces instead of making them guard in big spaces. Just wasn’t a great offensive performance from us tonight obviously. Some of it’s shot-making, but I think more of it was just playing at that relentless pace. And I don’t mean up and down, I mean just when we get in the halfcourt making quick decisions, having that little burst of interaction and then continuing to play if the first action doesn’t create anything for us.””
On starting Aldridge and Griffin together:
“We'll see tomorrow. We'll see how they come out of this. But we experimented with a big lineup. It was very unlike us in one respect. I don't love it for us. Having said that, it's hard to judge it on one performance. I think some of it we experimented with because of the availability and matchups, but going forward, that's not something I think we'll see a ton of.”
On missing Harden:
“Of course it's a factor. I mean, you're liosing an MVP candidate, you're not as potent. But we still have found a way to win a lot of games this year to win without guys in the lineup. So tonight I just thought we weren't quite sharp enough, we didn't move the ball enough, make quick enough decisions, get downhill and really stretch em out, so credit to them. They played well. We didn't play our best. I don't want to make any excuses about who wasn't here. We could have played a little bit better, a little bit sharper, a little more thrust of pace, and we'll learn from it.”
KYRIE IRVING
On defensive issues:
“We couldn't get as many stops as we needed tonight. When you got Tomas Satoransky going 8-for-10, Patrick Williams going 4-for-5, Daniel Theiss going 4-for-6 and making some timely baskets you got to give credit. In the second quarter I feel like they created separation and we were playing catchup and they just kept coming at us and when you're giving up 30-point quarters consistently or consecutively it makes it difficult to mount a comeback. We put our effort on the line but we definitely could have gotten this game started a lot earlier. Well, not earlier, time wise. It was already early enough. But just in the beginning minutes of the game. You gotta give the Bulls credit. They came to play tonight and they made shots.”
On offense in second quarter:
“We just couldn't make shots. Just indecisive I feel like attempts that occurred in that second quarter when we just should just drive it or make an extra play or create an opportunity for a teammate and they created separation. So like I said you just got to give credit when credit is due. They made shots this early afternoon game and now we learn from what we can and move forward.”
On playing with bigger lineup:
“I'll leave that for you guys to discuss and have fun with that in terms of what that is. But I think in terms of how we feel as players going out there to prepare it would have been nice to have more of a grace period in the morning to get on the court and prepare the way we prepare at home. We had 90 minutes as a team, 115 minutes to prepare before the game before anyone could get on the court and it's just like unheard of. I'm usually at the arena three and a half hours or two and a half hours before the game to get locked in as well as my teammates and today is just one of those weird games where everybody's schedules off and it's an early game as it is it's Easter for some people and we're playing basketball on this day. It took just a little bit longer for us to get it going to get revved up and it cost us. So you give the Bulls credit. But I feel like we did some good things and we can take some positives from here as well.”
BLAKE GRIFFIN
On mixing lineups:
“I think we're going to have some different lineups here for a little bit and you know, hopefully once everybody is healthy and we sort of have more time together, the units are going to be sort of playing together — especially down the stretch in the playoffs -- I expect it to sort of tweak some things and tune up some things. It'll be much better. But the type of players we have allows for other guys to kind of be themselves as well. Any time you have that many option on the floor, defenses have to pay attention to not only one, two or three guys but to the most part five.”
On cutting into Chicago lead:
“I think they just hit big shots. They hit shots when they needed to. They took advantage of the switches. In the first half I thought we were a little slow on our help when we would switch everybody. Second half there were some times when it felt like we could kind of get in there and I felt they did a good job of executing or coming up with a big play when they needed it.”
On playing with Aldridge and Claxton:
“Playing with both of those guys, both of those guys make the game easier. Obviously different players, but Nic’s energy is just unbelievable. He goes and gets to rebounds that he has no business getting. Can sit down and guard 1 through 5 and then does a great job of finishing. LaMarcus can obviously space the floor, block shots, just his IQ, the amount of basketball he’s played and the situations he’s seen allows his voice to really help a lot. I enjoy playing with both of those guys. Sorry, I don’t know if that was your question, but that’s how I took it.”