See what the Brooklyn Nets had to say after their 125-119 win over the Denver Nuggets.
STEVE NASH
On comeback win a response to losing streak or bad first half:
“I wouldn’t make any grand delineations. It was a response to the first half. That’s what I saw. If we really wanted to respond to those four games we maybe would have had a better start. I thought while we were frustrated as a group in the first half we found that toughness and resolve in the second half and got it done and we’ll just move on. There’s no guarantees you’re gonna win the next game. Our mentality has to be we’re willing to outwork people, we’re willing to do the little extra bit of effort every possession to win that possession and at the end of the day we’ll look up and see how many points we scored and how many they had. If we’re willing to do the extra work like we were in the second half tonight a lot of good things can happen for us.”
On ball movement in fourth quarter:
"It's a tricky one, because we want them to attack in transition. So if we get stops, we want them to attack in those before the defense is set. Having said that, we did get into a little bit more action down the stretch. We were able to get into some pick-and-rolls, getting some pin-downs, we were able to put pressure on them. They were starting to double Kevin and we can get it out and swing it around and make some threes. So we did a little bit more, a little bit more of a diverse shot profile. And some of that was ball movement, but some of that was also just getting stops and getting opportunities to push the ball and transition in the flow.”
On defense in second half:
"We didn't change anything. It was just we just worked, worked together, worked harder. And there was less doubt. Sometimes that's the benefit of being down is you don't have time to analyze or you don't have time to doubt. You just kind of play and play hard and pick it up. And so really, it was just a great effort by the guys in the second half.”
KYRIE IRVING
On team mood after win:
"The energy in the locker room is changed drastically since we started the game, I'll tell you that. Just coming out, getting embarrassed like that on somebody else's homecourt for the third consecutive game, giving up thirty plus points in the third quarter and then climbing out of a hole and then coming out of halftime and we just intensified our effort on both ends of the floor. And once we started playing good basketball, guys got aggressive, the ball started finding the right people. Had a few mistakes here and there on the defensive end, but we were pretty locked in — knowing that they were coming off the back-to-back as well. So we just had to withstand a lot of their runs."
On defense recently:
"I think we have remained resilient in terms of our effort throughout this stretch as we've been doing so. It's not easy to just nitpick on one thing we can get better on on the defensive end. It's always going to be a team effort. It's always going to be a team responsibility and I think you look back at the last few games — that defensive end is going to be the difference between the good and great teams and being able to lock in on that end. And as I say, we were embarrassed the last few games just giving up 32-plus points, 33-plus points to these home teams, you're climbing yourself out of a hole. There's a lot of energy it takes to climb back in it, so I think we're just paying attention to it, we're aware of it, we're conscious of it and we can't start like that moving forward. And if it does happen, we still have to be able to battle through. That's the game of basketball. We've still got to hold our heads high and find each other on the offensive end and then get back on defense. It is a difference that you can feel or even just the fans or an observer can feel just when the energy on our team is up and we're doing the right things, following the game plan."
On replicating urgency for playoffs:
"It just comes from our preparation and the way we work beforehand, and then the game will be a lot more effortless, still catching up on a lot of rest in-between these games, so we understand that we don’t want to put anything less than our best foot forward when we’re out there. This is not guaranteed. We can feel the pressure in terms of kind of the environment intensifying. Each one of us as individuals has accomplished a lot. Now that we’re all kind of in this new thing, we really have to figure out kind of what are our buttons to push? How do we get the most out of each other. How do we push each other to that level that we’re trying to get to? The regular season is here, this playoff level is here. The refs are gonna ref different. The players are gonna be more locked-in in terms of the game plan, and it’s really gonna come down to who wants it, kind of, literally, who wants it. So I like those types of competitive games and we’ve just got to communicate with one another with what we want and what we see, so it’s gonna be uncomfortable for a little bit longer the next few games, but I’m pretty sure we’ll have spurts of games, but we’re learning, so happy with that."
KEVIN DURANT
On defense in second half:
"I think we understood what we were doing that second half. I think we were in between actions. We had good intentions, but sometimes they may have been off. We should've switched on one possession, and we switched when we shouldn't of on the next possession. So, I think we got on the same page in the second half and just played our hardest and was able to make up for a lot of the stuff we did in the first."
On responding to losing streak:
"I think the last week or so we've emphasized a few things that we've shown in the second half. You know, playing great one-on-one defense, boxing out, getting rebounds and flying off the court on the offensive side. And if we consistently do that, we in good shape. I mean we won this game and they shot 26 more shots than us. So, if we somewhat make the possession battle even, then we in great shape. So, you know, that second half was who we are and hopefully we build on it."
On dealing with Denver ball movement:
"I mean they made 3s to start. Michael Porter hit his first three or four 3s and then you know then after that Jokic got going. But then you got guys like Markus Howard come off the bench and make an impact you know when they up 12 or 13 push the lead to 16, 18. So I think they did it collectively to start but we was able to corral a bunch of guys in the second half, from Austin Rivers to even Michael Porter we did a better job on him in the second half and Jokic. So I think we corralled a lot of their guys in the second half and that switched the game up for us."