Mavs Win in OT: Postgame Quotes

Dirk Nowitzki

After starting 1-9 did you imagine you would end up with 44?

Not really.  I had some good looks, but I forced a couple of shots.  A couple of them were short. But especially in the second half when we knew JET was going to be out, we had to generate some offense, I had to take more shots, Josh had to be aggressive.   And I was able to get hot a little bit and make some shots.  Great team effort.  JJ came in and gave us a huge lift.  Bass, Damp came in having not played the fourth quarter and gave us some presence down low. Really proud of the team.

How deflating was it to hear at the half that JET wouldn't be back?  Have you had a chance to talk to him?

Our trainer Casey came in and just said "he's going to be out", but nobody really knew what happened.  Then when we went out to warmup he came up and said "yeah, it's broken".  He almost had tears in his eyes.  That's how much he cares.  We told him we got this one for him.  We'll try and hold the fort down.  He's the best sixth man in the league.  He means a lot to this team. We're going to miss him dearly, but he'll be back soon.  We know he's a tough guy.  The good thing is we've got the all-star break in between so that's a couple of days where there's nothing really going on.  Hopefully he won't miss too many games, but it's always disappointing to see someone get hurt.

You talk about guys stepping up in his place, JJ was huge, but Kidd as well.

Yeah, he was all over the court tonight.  That's what made him a hall of famer -- it was never his scoring, but he fills up the stat sheets without scoring.  The blocks, the defensive play on Gordon in the second half.  He was phenomenal.  He was getting rebounds.  He was all over the court. That was phenomenal and that's why he's a future hall of famer.

Rick Carlisle

Unbelievable performance.  Early, Chicago was junking up the game with switching and other stuff.  As a team we played a little frantically.  I think Dirk was just trying to get it going and he had some looks but they weren't dropping.  But he just stayed patient and stayed in the game.  Down the stretch, the shot making was phenomenal.  I mean, Dirk's line is incredible.  I thought what Kidd did out there tonight was incredible.  He's in on so many plays at both ends of the court.  His five points were the biggest five points of the game.  I don't think there can be any argument to that.  He routinely takes the best player down the stretch and does great things when we need him to.  My hat's off to him.  I thought the shot Josh Howard hit late in overtime on the right side was a big shot because it gave us a cushion of six.  That was a huge play and he had not been touching the ball much, so it was not an easy shot.  Barea came in and gave us spark.  He got himself into some tough situations some times, but I love his aggression.  We couldn't have won the game without him either. 

Jason Terry?

Broken, fractured, fourth metacarpal.  Out for a while.  So we'll have to patch this thing together without him for a while.  But we've got a lot of good players and we've got enough to win games.  We've got to look forward to that challenge.

We've got a lot of guys. We've got Gerald Green.  We've got Carroll.  We've got George.  Barea is going to take a more prominent role obviously.  And you know, our big people may have to take up the slack a little bit too in terms of scoring.  But we'll figure it out. I've been down this road before. 

Barea's aggression, is that something you work with him on or is it just him?

It's his game.  He's developed into much better of  playmaker this year. I think a great example was the play at the end of regulation where Dirk threw him the ball and he was able to see Kidd and spot up for three.  That was one of the biggest shots of the year for us.  And it wasn't possible unless JJ sees him and hits him in rhythm.  So it's a huge play. 

JJ Barea

Great game for the fans, for us.  We needed a win after a bad game in Utah, and we came out today.  We came from behind and showed a lot of character.  Glad we won.

Did you know about Terry?

They told us at the end of halftime he was out.  The coach came up and said "be ready little guy, we're going to need you this half."  So I got a little bit more ready.

You were very aggressive tonight.

I've been doing that all my life.  That's how I got here so I'm not going to stop.  Coach give me confidence, and we've got that pick and roll with a bunch of good shooters so the floor is open for me to drive it.

With Terry out does your mindset change?

I'm looking to be more aggressive.  So when I get to the paint if nobody comes I'll shoot it.  At the two, with coach calling the plays, I've got to be more of a shooter. At the point you are more in control, but I like it either way. 

Kidd was unbelievable.

I knew he was going to make that shot at the end of the game.  And then he made another one, he was incredible.

What does bouncing back from the Utah loss do for the team's psyche?

Oh it's incredible.  We've done it a lot this year.  I think we've done it like six times. And when we lose it's not good for us.  We go home mad.  When we win everyone's happy and we go to practice wanting another one.

Antoine Wright

Great win.

It was.  Dirk played well.  He played great tonight, it was big.  With JT going out it took the team morale down a little bit, but J Kidd hit a big shot and we got the win.

What was it like to get that news at halftime?

It was deflating, but we've been finding ways to win games these last five games.  And that's what it's going to take.  Everyone in this locker room to come together and pull wins out.

You had a great start to the game, that had to feel good.

It felt great.  Especially after playing so bad in Utah.  I wanted to come out early and try to get in the paint against the smaller guys.  J Kidd told me to get down there.  Normally when he says do something it works.  I just listened to him and I was able to get off to a good start.

How important is it to take momentum into the All-Star break?

We're not even talking about the break right now.  We're talking about the next two games that we have.  You know, losing to Sacrament up there and same with Boston.  So we're focused on these last two games and we'll focus on the break when it comes.