Mavs Drop the Second: Rick Carlisle Postgame Quotes

 "...I thought Bass played well. We just got in a situation where, again, the turnovers and the second shots were too much."

Going into the fourth quarter how did you feel about the game and how it was going?

"I felt we were in a good position based on how the first half had gone.  I was concerned that without Josh from a fatigue standpoint it could be an issue.  But there were long timeouts, there was a delay where a woman in the crowd had a problem, so going into the fourth I felt we were as rested as we could be and that our key guys were going to have to be in there the majority of the time.  I'm not going to blame fatigue.  That's just something everybody's got to deal with.  Again, we're right there and every time we are right there we miss a free throw or a layup.  The timing has been bad.  Denver has something to do with some of that stuff, but some of it is us.  We are going to have to correct that going home."

Is there any initial thoughts of going away from Dampier to a more energy guy like Hollins?

"Well, I'll look at the film, but Damp played well to start the third quarter.  He got his fourth foul and we kept him in the game and then he got his fifth and then we went to Hollins.  We kept him because he was playing well and we were making strides on the score.  I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss Damp as a problem guy.  He's been one of the guys that's keyed our success this year.  We'll look at the film.  We'll look at everything.  The one thing that I'm not shy about is making lineup changes.  If I feel we need to do it, I'll do it.  We've done it a lot throughout the year for a lot of different reasons, but the main reason is always to see if it will make us play better.  At this point I wouldn't say that taking Damp out of the starting lineup would be a priority, or a good move, or something that made sense."

Despite, the fourth quarter did you like the way your team came out with more attitude and more aggression?

"We played better.  I like they way we played, but I was obviously just disappointed with the fourth quarter and some of the stretches in the first half.  Even when we got down in the first half we hung in and gave ourselves a chance to stay in the game."

Do you feel like it will take a perfect game by the Mavs to get a win against this team?

"Our margins for error are not great, especially without Josh playing.  But there are things we control that we can do better.  There's no question about that.  And we're going to have to do it better going home.  Denver's been the better team over 96 minutes, but we feel we are closer than the scores would indicate. I think you have to look at it that way if you are in our shoes. We've got to go home and hold serve and do our job there.  That's where it's at."