See what the Brooklyn Nets had to say after their 115-107 win over the Chicago Bulls.
STEVE NASH
On Kyrie Irving:
“No signs of a concussion. He had an x-ray which was inconclusive so we’ll really just have to look again in the morning. Probably be rescanned and all that when we get home and we’ll take it from there.”
On defending Nikola Vucevic:
"Sometimes guys make or miss shots. But I thought we did make it hard on him. We were really physical, Nic with his activity, Blake with his physicality, and we gave hard digs and support and tried to make him indecisive. So I think we took him out of his rhythm a little bit. But some of that also was just, you know, he may have just had a rough night as well. But I was proud of our defense. We were the aggressor. We were physical. We made it difficult for him and tried to disrupt him.”
On Bruce Brown:
“Well, he's a solution for us. He’s a Swiss Army knife, so to speak. He can guard multiple positions, he does the dirty work. His physicality and competitive nature I think are a big add to our group. He gets offensive rebounds, he can be a pick-and roll-guy. He makes the odd 3, he's a good free throw shooter. So he does a lot of things for us, and can kind of plug a lot of holes. So he's just a really versatile player for us. And that's not necessarily what I expected; I didn't know a ton about him when we got him to be honest enough. It's been fantastic to see him evolve into this role.”
MIKE JAMES
On Brooklyn's offensive flow:
"I think that’s one of my jobs for sure, coming in and trying to push the pace and trying to get us into the offense quick and quick hitters. When we play with pace and we’re unselfish, obviously we’re a talented team, we’re a good shooting team, besides maybe me right now, but you know, I think we play with pace and move the ball pretty good."
On his role with Nets:
"I think just cause my role’s a little bit different, that’s kind of hurt me scoring wise, but I don’t really know how to explain it. I think just because we have so many different scorers, it’s made me a little tentative at times, which is probably horrible to be, but you know, it’s a work in progress. I think the more I play and the more comfortable I get out there I’ll play better. It’s not like I’m playing bad, I just can’t make a shot in general, but I made free throws today, so it’s better. But I think Steve just wants me to be aggressive. He just wants me to push the pace and play defense. And obviously Kyrie’s a point guard, James is a point guard. It’s not a lot of minutes for me to go around, so I shouldn’t save any energy when I’m out there, I should probably just give everything I’ve got and you know, hopefully if I play super well, maybe I’ll play more than 10 minutes, 15? Something like that. You know. That’s what happens when you’re on a championship team, especially like I did super late. So I’m just happy to be in the rotation right now and be able to play."
On turnaround since halftime in Denver:
"We just looked at each other in the faces and everyone had to look at themselves in the mirror. We had to play harder. Since I’ve been here – obviously, I haven’t been here that long – I feel like sometimes we kind of come out lackadaisical and I think because we’re so talented, sometimes we get a little bit complacent and just figure that we can come back from anything. But when we play how we did tonight, locked in on defense and everybody playing of one accord, it’s really tough to beat, especially when Ky and James are playing, we’re one of the best teams in the NBA."
KEVIN DURANT
On defense against Chicago:
"We were flying around everywhere, we kept it simple, we contested shots well and we boxed out. They had ten offensive rebounds, but I don't feel like those things hurt us that much. For the most part, man, I think we just did a good job of flying around and being there for each other."
On Kyrie Irving:
"Yeah, I thought he would be alright. I know those — he mix it up a lot with the big fellas — so he might catch an elbow here and there. And Kyrie, he plays with such toughness and competitiveness. I knew he'd get up, but I knew he took a nice one, a nice elbow to the face. So, hopefully he gets checked out tomorrow, see's everything is alright and we move forward."
On Bruce Brown:
"I think we just need his energy regardless. Starter, second unit, and Bruce brings it no matter what his role is. And tonight it was no different. He was asked to guard LaVine and it felt like he made every shot tough for him and to lead us in rebounding and score the way he did is a plus and we expect that from Bruce at this point and he's shown us that all season. He's somebody we can rely on."