PGQ Game 74 "Nobody is perfect"

Man, our highlights are sure looking worse and worse each game, eh?- Not as bad as the Jet-i Mask!- Yeah, righ.....wait, are you mocking me?

Denied.

Mavs vs Nuggets | March 29, 2010

Morning Shootaround

Mavericks Head Coach Rick Carlisle

See, i played Beaubois in an important game and he wasn't great. What more do you want? Leave me alone!

(On playing a complete game start to finish) "The key to the game was the job that Shawn Marion did on Carmelo (Anthony). He is one of the toughest guys in the league to guard and he took the challenge. Carmelo missed a few he normally he makes, but Shawn was right there most of the night. Fortunately, we didn’t have to finish with him. I thought we might have to go back in with him, but I’m glad we were able to give him the rest of the night off."  

(On Dirk Nowitzki’s triple-double) "Very balanced. Timely shot making. Terrific passing. He’s a terrific rebounder, so that’s no surprise. It was good that he could get the triple-double. They are extremely difficult to get. Just really hard. It just goes to show where our team’s head was at tonight. It was an extra pass game, guys were moving it and doing the right things at both ends and were helping defensively. So, it is a win we needed real badly and I am really happy for the guys."  

(Were you thinking about stopping Carmelo when got Marion last summer) "Well, it certainly is one of the good reasons to pursue Shawn for sure. Athleticism, length, experience, defensively ability, you know, let’s not forget the guy had 21 points. He really played well. We played a lot off of random movement tonight and he red situations well, he ran the floor well, he got to the free throw line a few times. It was his all-around game that drew us to him and drew Mark and Donnie to him. Nights like tonight is where you really need a guy that is different."  

(On holding them off down the stretch) "Teams are going to make runs and with a team like Denver, it is never going to be a lopsided game. You are going to have to play the whole 48. I thought there were some key stretches. The fact that they played last night I think was a factor in the game. We tried to push the ball and make it a faster game as much as we could. But there were some key plays. Dirk’s three out of the timeout at the beginning of the fourth was key, they had cut it to seven. I thought that was really a big shot for us and we kind of regained some of the momentum. Denver is a terrific team and you have to play really hard, really physical, but you have to have poise to beat them and you have to play well and we did all of those things."

Lob-Jump-Pump

Mavericks Forward Dirk Nowitzki

Ball.

(On his shooting tonight) "Felt like I missed some wide open shots believe it or not. I had some good looks there. My three-ball looked good, but my in-between game, I had a couple step backs and a couple of turnarounds that didn’t go down. So, that is something to work on, nobody is perfect."  

(What does this win mean) "Definitely a big win. We are looking at the standings and Denver is right there with us, so we have been looking forward to this game for a long time. We felt like it was a great atmosphere, a playoff type atmosphere, physical basketball and the crowd was into it from the get go. This was definitely a fun win. We are at our best when we get some stops and run and get the ball into Jason Kidd’s hands and fill the lanes. We share the ball, we play off each other with a lot of energy and we love to play together. To me the game ball really belongs to (Shawn) Marion. He was fantastic tonight. To me Carmelo (Anthony) is one of the best scorers in the league and he did a phenomenal job on him, trying to stay down and make him take some tough shots. To me he was the player of the game."  

(Talk about the development of Rodrigue Beaubois) "He is going to be great. He’s a work in progress still, we all know that, but I think the sky is the limit for him. He’s athletic, he’s long, he can shoot and penetrate and he’s quick off the dribble. So, he is going to really, really nice. His future is bright and he will be fun to watch for a long time. But, obviously he will have ups and downs in his rookie season, but as long as he keeps it moving and listens to J Kidd, one of the best point guards in the game, he has a great leader to look up to and could be great for a long, long time."  

Tough game, cookie.

Mavericks Forward Shawn Marion

We were as we was. [Read: Sometimes we lose interest.]

(On the win) "I think, we just went out there and wanted to get this win and gain some ground. This was a big win for us. We went out there and did what we had to do to get this win. I think, you know, that game for us was up there was a shaker for us. I sat out because I had a little injury, but they put a good whooping on us up there. It left a good taste in their mouth and a bad taste in ours, but at the same time, things happen and things change and we won the first game of the year, so we came back and we won this game and that is all that matters."   

(On the team’s defense) "We do what we do to stop people. I think everyone is focused back in and we have some ups and downs here and there, but I think now everyone’s focus is really focused on stopping people like it was during the 13-game winning streak. I think if you just go out there and play defense like you want to and lose, then ok, but if you are playing good defense for the most part good things will happen and the offense will take care of itself."

Making Brad Miller look fast.

Denver Guard JR Smith

Mhmmm...chicken.

(On it being an uphill battle all night) "We haven’t been playing Nuggets basketball for the last few nights. When you allow a team to jump out on you, against some teams you can get back into the game but this is a tough team, especially playing them at home allowing them to start off with a 10 to 12 point lead and then trying to fight your way back."

(On Dirk tonight) "It’s tough when he’s got it going. Plus we did leave him open for a lot of those threes, and he’s been known to knock those down. We try to get to him, but he just got open and did a hell of a job."

(On the importance of this game) "It’s huge because going all the way to the Western Conference Finals, you want to have home court advantage. And everybody knows that the Lakers are going to have it at the end. So you want to have as much of an advantage as you can get."

Denver Guard Chauncey Billups

Driving on half empty.

(What was the biggest issue tonight) "They made a very conscious effort coming out and pushing the tempo knowing we played last night. It looked like they were just to say ‘Let’s just try to get up by 20 in the first quarter. Push it, push it, push it.’ They didn’t really run any plays. They just came out and pushed the tempo and tried to knock us out early in the first round, and we didn’t go away. Then they started to settle down and started executing. We cut the lead into the single digits but couldn’t seem to get over the hump. They kept getting timely offensive rebounds and timely second opportunities to hit the three-ball. Just tough stretches."

(Will the second seed come down to the last game?) "It’s definitely going to be to the last game. There’s such great parity that two [seed] and seven or three [seed] and six, everybody is going to be so close as far as just the teams. Not record wise but just good teams that it’s going to make for some good series."

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