Postgame Quotes: Kings @ Mavs
November 20, 2009 by kingsconnect
Sacramento Head Coach Paul Westphal
“Well I have to say, as I can say pretty much every night this season, I’ve been very impressed with our young guys and our whole team with the effort. To come in here and have a chance to knock off Dallas and play them the way we did, I was very impressed with our group. When we learn to take care of the ball a little bit better I think we’ll come out with our share of wins in these kinds of games. We have the utmost respect for Dallas and we just couldn’t get over the hump with our turnovers and it would’ve made it a little more interesting. But I love our intensity and how our guys are playing together and we need to keep that up. I’m very proud of them.”
(Another big game for Tyreke Evans – talk about what he did out there tonight…)
“You can’t really say too much about him. I mean, 20 years old and to come out and do what he did tonight. The guy is a real player and he’s going to be around for a long time. He competes – he goes out there to do everything he can to win the game. And there are a few things he can work on and improve but find me a 20 year old who doesn’t have a few things he can work on and improve. We’re really glad to have him.”
(When you hold Dirk to 20 points – you figure you’ve got a pretty good shot at winning…)
“Yeah, that doesn’t happen very often. You hate to waste those nights when he’s not torching you. The Mavericks got great performances off the bench. Pretty much every guy you name came in and hurt us one way or another. Of course, Jason Terry did what he does and sealed the deal. But that’s why Dallas is tough to beat.”
(Nocioni did a good job frustrating Dirk…)
“Well I don’t know if Dirk was frustrated. I would never say that. But Noc works. It’s a thankless job to go battle Dirk. Pretty much every minute Noc was on the floor he was guarding Dirk and trying to make his life as tough as he could make it. It’s a thankless task and he’s [Nocioni] a very hard nosed and determined player.”
Kings Forward Jason Thompson
On the game…
“It is veteran team. We just, like you said, have to protect the ball a little bit. That is what is going to make or break us and help us win close games. I’m not sure with the rebounding, I know they had a lot of offensive rebounds in the first half. But, if we clean some of that stuff up we can maybe end up winning.
On the difference this season…
“Yeah, I mean, this is just a different team. Guys are coming in with more energy. Coach Westphal makes us have the mentality that we have to win. We had 12 turnovers in the first half and I am not sure what we ended up with, but it is tough to win games like that. We showed a lot of poise to stay close, but we fell a little short.”
What can you take from cutting it close…
“I think even though we are still a young team, we’ve won close games. We obviously think we are a better team than our record says. We can’t let these games on the road get away, even though the Hawks are playing really well, we let some turnovers at the end of the game get away against them and lost by a few as well. I think if we keep protecting the ball and win the rebounding battle, we can play with any team in the league.”
Kings guard Andres Nocioni
On his play on Dirk…
“I think I did a pretty good job, the problem is, you know, Dirk is a great player he can do a lot of things and you can play the best defense in your life and he is still going to make shots. He is really long and a really high level player and he is tough to guard. He’s just a great player.”
On the team’s play…
“I think we did a pretty good job coming here. We played hard enough to make a run in the last five minutes. So, I think we did a solid job. I think we played well. We need to take care of the ball a little bit more. I think we had too many turnovers and that is the reason why we lost the game. But, we were close and we played well. For a young team like this one, I think we have some kind of game like that, it will help us a lot.”
Dallas Head Coach Rick Carlisle
“We were doing OK until we gave up 37 in the 4th quarter. In the 4th quarter and the way it ended it’s going to leave a bad taste for everybody. Some disappointment. But getting the win is important so we’ll be glad for that and we’ll work to get better. We’ve got to do better than we did in the last minute. You give up 3 threes in 24 seconds that’s not acceptable. He needs to get better – we will do better.”
(On the bench…)
“Those guys played good. Tim Thomas is getting his feet under him, getting his legs under him. Big contributions [from our bench]. It’s a good win, that’s a very much improved team. Paul [Westphal] and Mario [Elie] and their staff are doing a great job with them. They’re going to continue to get better and they’re going to be hard to play for everybody all year long.”
(On Kidd from three this season…)
“He was our best shooter from three last year. Just because you miss a few doesn’t mean you’re not a hell of a shooter. And so he’s just stayed with it and kept working on it. And it’s a rhythm thing. We’ve got some different personnel’s for the shots – the times come in different places. So, you’ve got to be systematic in your approach. The same thing happened to Josh [Howard] last year – he missed his first 10 [from three] and then he ended up being a 35-36% shooter [from three] for the year. If you take the 10 misses out he was probably closer to 40%. You’ve got to be careful about looking at stats and doing the math.”
(On Gooden’s play…)
“We knew he was a good player. Tonight he had a rough night with luck around the basket and getting the ball to go in. He had some good looks and the key is for him to just to keep doing what he’s doing because he’s making a great effort and bringing great energy to us. 16 rebounds is just phenomenal in 30 minutes. That’s been key since Damp has been out and Humphries stepped in tonight and did a really terrific job, too. So we’re going to have to do it by committee. We’re going to have to get help from a lot of different guys. To win games with some of your key guys out you’ve got to be a true team so that’s what we’re attempting to do as best we can.”
Mavs guard Jason Terry
(What is it about the Mavs and the 4th quarter?)
“Well it’s winning time and regardless of what the score is something just turns on in your head and tells you to go for the kill. Tonight was just a tough game. They were making shots and just finding a way with some of their guys out and injured and of course teams play a lot harder when that happens and we just grinded it out. It was another gritty win for us and we’ll take it.”
(You guys just couldn’t shake Sacramento off tonight)
“We stayed resilient on both ends of the floor and if we didn’t get a stop or if we got a stop we came down and executed on the offensive end and got a basket and kept them on their heals. Our team is a veteran ball club so you can except down the stretch in the 4th quarter we’re going to execute and we’re going to get people the ball that need to have it and the last 2 ½ weeks you’ve seen signs of that from this team. We’re still thinking about the Washington game and the New Orleans game and we’d love to be 12-1 right now, but we’re 10-3 and we have another one at home before we go back out on the road.”
(Talk a little about the great bench play tonight?) – “Well Tim Thomas is just getting healthy and we love the addition of him to our team. He gives us versatility out there and he plays the 3 and the 4 and the 5 position out there and he can score in many of ways. He can shoot the ball well outside, but he really took it strong to the basket tonight. Kris Humphries is just full of energy and he’s just happy to be out there on a winning team and we really like his contributions.”
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