Postgame Quotes
October 28, 2016
Rockets vs.Mavericks
Bull Head Coach (
Mavericks’ Wes Matthews
(On the game)
“We were in position to win this game. They went on a little run in the third quarter and we just couldn’t get over the hump. We were fighting. We gave up a couple threes. We fought hard. Missed some shots. Made some shots. It’s how the NBA goes. We just have to make sure we continue to stay the course and play together.
(On his offensive opportunities)
“I’m not worried about my shot. Y’all can worry about it. I won’t. I’m gonna stay aggressive and shoot my shot. They’re gonna fall. ”
(On his defensive efforts tonight)
“I’m gonna play both ends of the court. I’m gonna give you everything I have every night. If it falls, it falls. I’m gonna stay aggressive on both ends of the court, especially on the defensive end, even if I’m missing because I think the next one is going in. I’m never gonna hang my head on that. It’s a team game.”
Mavericks’ Harrison Barnes
(On tonight’s team defense)
“I thought Wes did a great job on him (Harden). He made thing difficult for him. There was about a four or five game stretch there that kind of broke the game open in the second half, and a lot of that was mistakes we made defensively, leaving guys wide open and letting Ariza get hot. We just have to do a better job defensively.”
(On personal performances in first two games)
“I feel good. I’m getting good shots. In the preseason I was struggling shooting it but they were shots that I felt like I could knock down, and I’m still getting those looks. Now it’s just a matter of putting this all together. We’ve had moments, but we haven’t quite but it together where we’re making baskets and getting stop. So I think that’s the biggest focus right now.”
Rockets Guard James Harden
(Was tonight an example of your team playing defense better?)
“It was better. We can still get a lot better, but we didn’t let it happen again. Some of the mistakes that we made in that first game we corrected them and we got better at them. The result was different. We’re together in this. That second unit did an unbelievable job, especially the start of the fourth quarter pushing the lead up. We got several stops in a row and that’s what we need. The starters got back into the game and closed the game out. Great effort from everybody that touched the floor and that’s what we need to do the entire season.”
(The Mavs started the game switching everything; did it take a little while to read it?)
“I missed a couple of easy shots individually, but Trev made some big shots, Eric, Clint did his thing on the glass, and that second half I figured it out. I talked to coach and figured it out and I was little more aggressive and I got some shots to fall.”
(Talk about the groove you were in towards the end of the 3rd quarter?)
“Yes, I was in a groove and it was time to close out the quarter. That’s one of the things we’re preaching. We got to end quarters the right way. We have to close quarters out defensively and score the basketball to give us momentum throughout the entire game.”
Mavericks Head Coach Rick Carlisle
(On the game)
“We gotta play better. I liked our aggression up until the last 3 minutes to go in the third. The last really tough physical play we made was when Bogut took the charge in the end of the third. From there on the game changed, and we didn’t adapt to the way the game changed. We didn’t make any more of those tough plays and that killed us.”
(On not being able to stop all the Rockets players)
“We gotta execute better. Execution is a lot of things. We had some free throw block outs missed, we had some missed assignments, we had some bad decisions on personnel. Where we over helped at times and opened up guys for threes. It’s become a game of inches, you’ve gotta win the game of inches to beat talented teams with great players.”
(On Wesley Matthews)
“Some of them were very good, and others . . . we were up against the clock several times, he was forced into some tough situations and made a couple of them. Hey, without Dirk out there, it’s very hard on offense and we knew that. But, it shouldn’t take away from what we’re doing defensively and how tough we’re playing, and how involved we are as a team. I need to look at the film to gauge the whole thing, the last 15 minutes we just lost something. That was real disappointing.”
(On Dirk traveling to the next game)
“I don’t know. I’m hoping that he does. He has an illness, I don’t know the nature of it, and we’ll hope for the best. Look, Dirk’s not going to be around here forever. On nights like tonight we’re going to be sitting him some times, no doubt about that. The other guys have to step up and step forward, and I’m one of them. We all gotta raise our level of game when a guy like that isn’t on the floor.”
(On Harrison Barnes game)
“I expected Barnes to play extremely well, and I think he has a chance to be a very special player and I’ve felt that all along. And I like the way he competed tonight, this is what we expect. We expect him to play at a high level at both ends. I don’t know what the numbers expectations is, but we need to win games. We need him to do whatever is within his abilities to help us win. Tonight he put the ball in the basket, which was much needed with Dirk out. Some nights we’re going to need more to guard a great player, he’s still going to be a guy we depend on for production on offense.”