Postgame Quotes: Kings @ Rockets
November 21, 2009 by kingsconnect
KINGS HEAD COACH PAUL WESTPHAL
(on his team’s play)
“I like the spirit and the effort on this team. Everyone should be pleased with the way we’re playing. I like the way we compete every night. I’m sorry we couldn’t cash in on the effort. This team has heart but we haven’t learned how to win.”
(on the Rockets)
“You have to give Houston credit. They made the plays the last five minutes. They gave great effort and I admire the way they play their game.”
KINGS FORWARD JASON THOMPSON
(on the Kings play)
“This team needs to learn the will on how to win close games. We started to learn this at home and now we need to learn how to win close games on the road. Our guys are playing confident and they are always working hard.”
(on Scola’s play)
“Scola can move around under the basket and step out and make the outside shot. He is a talented veteran player in the league. He knows how to guard established post players and that happens with his extensive experience.”
KINGS CENTER/FORWARD SPENCER HAWES
(on the game)
“You don’t give out consolation prizes but all we want are notches in the win column. They executed better than we did at the end.”
(on the team’s play)
“A lot of guys stepped up tonight but we fell short at the end. We battled back but unfortunately fighting from behind is hard to do.”
KINGS FORWARD OMRI CASSPI
(on the game)
“This was a very tough game against a very good team. Our shots were there but they came up short. I’m happy with the way we played. We will get better as a team. It’s step by step and it’s a long way to go.”
ROCKETS HEAD COACH RICK ADELMAN
(On the Rockets play)
“I like the way we are responding. Even tonight, both these teams were really competing tonight but we were able to do what we were supposed to do in the 4th quarter and come out with a win. These are the type of games that we have to get our place to keep out heads above water so I’ve been really pleased with the way the team’s performed and reacted.”
(On Kyle Lowry’s play)
“He’s really attacked the basket and he’s found people and that’s the key. He’s gotten to the basket and drawn their big guys. He’s found Luis (Scola) and he’s found Carl (Landry) and that’s really crucial. I’ve said all along that one area that Aaron’s (Brooks) got to find a way to get better, he’s got to be able to find a way to find people and Kyle’s been able to do that.”
SHANE BATTIER
(On losing the first game in back to back situations)
“That’s an interesting stat. You can look at it two ways. In the first night of back to backs we were fazed by the task ahead of us, two games in 48 hours but on the other side we showed great resiliency coming off from a tough loss the night before. So I would like to stop that streak and win the game the first night of the back to back.”
(On the Rockets current standing)
“From day one we wanted to keep our head above water. We want to stay in the race and we know it’s a tough schedule. I’m not making any excuses for our record but it’s been a rough schedule in the NBA until this point. Once the schedule breaks we have to be in position to take advantage of it in go on a run as we have in years past. We just don’t want to have any losing streaks but if we do lose, we want to bounce back, get a win and build.”
LUIS SCOLA
(On whether this is a hard week)
“It was a really hard and long week. We had some good and bad moments too. We fought, we played hard. We can’t always win pretty but tonight was a huge win for us. We needed a win. I thought we played a pretty good game. I believe that if we play hard we’re going to win a lot of close games. I just want to give them (Sacramento) a lot of credit. I didn’t think it was going to be as easy as a 15 point victory so I’m thankful and happy for the victory.”
(On whether this game resembled the previous game against Sacramento)
“It looked a lot like that. We made a lot of mistakes the first half. Like I said, they are a pretty respectable team. They play team basketball and they pass the ball well. It was a good test for us and we passed it. We needed a win and it was very important for us to win. They are a team that is right behind us. They would have got ahead of us if we would have lost. It was a crucial game for us but we won.”
CARL LANDRY
(On the importance of the win after last night’s loss)
“With me personally, after that game (Atlanta game), I was happy to play whoever the next opponent was after that. It was so tough after that game, I didn’t want to lose to them (Sacramento), especially at home and thank God we came out with the win. It’s a great feeling.”
(On playing with Kyle Lowry)
“Playing with Kyle for two years now, man he’s an amazing point guard. He can start on almost any team in this league. This is his free agent year and he is playing really well. I know he’s going to get a big contract next year hopefully and hopefully it will be here. I love playing with him as a teammate. He makes things so much easier for me and it seems like every night he’s getting close to a double-double. Tonight he had 8 (points) and 8 (assists) and that’s what we need off the bench. Hopefully, he can continue to do so the rest of the year.”
KYLE LOWRY
(On the run they made down the stretch)
“We couldn’t get it going until the last couple of minutes. Me and (Luis) Scola both hit some open jump shots then Carl (Landry) finished with a layup from up under. We finished the game strong. It took us a while to get going. It took us basically the whole game but we got it going at the end and that’s all that matters.”
(on the importance of the win because of the previous loss to Sacramento)
“Because it was a game that we needed. Last time that we played we played sluggish and let them control the game. Tonight they fought and they controlled the game most of the game but for some reason, a good reason, we found it deep down inside of us to pull it up.”
TREVOR ARIZA
(On the King’s not having one go-to guy)
“I think that’s when teams are more dangerous because they play like they don’t have anything to lose. With that being said, we got it done tonight. They didn’t have anything to lose.”
(On the importance of the win)
“That’s the good thing about the NBA. You get a tough loss the night before and you get an opportunity to come back the next night and change the outcome. Once we lost that one we kind of forgot about it, got on the plane and got here and we got some good rest. We came back and got a win today.”
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