PGQ Game 77 "Mavs try hard to fall in standings, fail today, get another chance Wednesday"

Oh noes. Again.

Mavs vs Thunder | April 3, 2010

Pregame:

Mavericks Head Coach Rick Carlisle

18 Cough-Ups? 38 FTAs? That was not what i drew up.

"The turnovers were a huge part of our poor defense. The first half, seven turnovers for 16 points. Sixteen points that are undefenable because you give them the score and they get an and 1. For the game, it’s 18 for 31 points. Our defense wasn’t good but our offense was, the way we turned the ball over was a major problem."

(on being down by a large margin three straight games) "We’re struggling the last couple games. It was disappointing tonight because we had a great offensive first quarter. Thirty-seven points is a huge number but one of the things about being a flow team and being able to play off each other and not have a lot of play calling and stuff is when you get in a groove offensively, you can’t allow it to erode what you are trying to do defensively. I think we had an eight-point lead at one point in the first quarter and then we gave it up as the quarter came to a close. Good teams have got to be able to close out quarters and hold leads in those situations. We struggled to do it in the first quarter and in the second, we got behind and were behind the rest of the night."

"I love the way the group at the end of the game finished. Just balls out, absolutely full capacity, making things happen. That’s what it’s going to take for us to get where we want to go. We didn’t have that for long enough stretches during the 48 minutes."

Mavs center Brendan Haywood

C'mon Son! 18 Minutes, 100% FG, PM -19.

(OKC is a possible matchup in the first round in the playoffs, does that change the way you guys feel after the way it went down tonight?) – "No, a loss is a loss and we’re disappointed we didn’t get the victory. We felt a lot of our mistakes fueled them to the victory tonight. We’re disappointed in that aspect, but you worry about the playoffs when the time comes. The playoff season changes every day."

(It was a physical game out there tonight and the refs let a lot of things go. Did it feel like a playoff game out there?) – "This game had a lot of playoff intensity to it. Both teams played physical, competed hard and I like the way it was officiated."

(How did you guys executed your defense game plan tonight?) – "We gave up a lot of points and I can’t say we played well defensively. We just had a great comeback the last six or seven minutes."

(Talk about getting behind and it has been an all too common occurrence lately?) – "We’ve been getting behind lately and I’m not sure why but if I had the answer I’d share it with all of my teammates. We can’t keep putting ourselves in holes like that and expect to be a good team. We’ve got to be better defensively."

Like this

What he said.

Mavs guard JJ Barea

Somebody in this picture carried a dagger.

(How disappointing is this loss?) – "Real disappointing because we wanted to win tonight bad and we just didn’t come out with energy. We waited until that last quarter, and that last group that was out there came with energy and we made it a game but we’ve got to have energy the whole game and we have to play better defense."

"The last six minutes guys were getting into the game because we were down so Eddie (Najera) did a great job of coming with energy and me and JKidd picked it up with him and it worked a little towards the end but it was too late. We’ve got three days to get ready and we have to work on our defense and get our energy back for the whole 48 minutes."

Oklahoma City Head Coach Scott Brooks

"That was a good win. It’s [Dallas] not an easy place to play. Dallas is a very talented team; they play tough, hard-nosed, basketball. It was a good win for us. We came out and fought hard. Defense was not where it needs to be, but it was good enough to win the game, and that’s not easy to do in this building. And the way Dirk was rolling it’s tough. But we gave everything we had to win the game, and I’m proud of our guys’ effort."

(What did you say to them after?) – "Just good job and that I’m proud of them. I’m proud of the work they’ve put in. They put in work everyday and nothing changes. We’ve made the playoffs, and that was one of our goals like the other 29 teams in this league going into the year. But we focused on getting better and improving as a team and working on the things that we knew going into the season that would help us improve, and that was defense, and just continuing to play together. I’m proud of our organization, I’m proud of our owners. Everybody puts so much work into our team, and I’m proud of our fans – our fans are incredible, they supported us when we were 3-29 and that’s not easy to do. You know, my mom struggled supporting us at that time. But we they hung in there and I’m thankful for that, and thankful for the owners giving us all this opportunity."

(When the Mavs made that late run, what did you tell them?) – "Just be patient with the game. You can’t rush. Things were going their [Dallas’] way, you just have to take a couple of deep breaths and keep believing in why we had the lead, and work on that. If you’ve got open shots, take it, if they’re not, pass it and trust your teammate that he’s going to make the right play. But defensively, Dirk had a nice roll there, and then they started hitting those threes at the end. Like I said before, that’s a talented team. They’re as good a team as there is in the West."

Oklahoma City Forward Nick Collison

One more rebound than a dead man.

Oklahoma City Guard Eric Maynor

Gotcha!

(Talk about the three you hit in the last minute) – "It was swing-swing, I was open for the shot and the shot clock was going down and I was able to knock it down. Teammates trust in each other. That’s how it works."

(When the Mavs made the big run late to get it to 4 what was going through your heads?) – "Every time we went to the bench coach Brooks was just telling us to stay calm, that we were alright, we still had the lead, and just had to keep playing basketball."

Oklahoma City Forward Kevin Durant

Missmewhenimgone.

(Talk about the late run the Mavs made) – "We just kept our poise. We just told the guys that we’ve got this game. We were up by 19, and their backs are against the wall. So, we’ve got to continue to be aggressive, and we did. We moved the basketball, we missed shots, but Eric came through and hit some big shots for us. It was a good win for us."

Game Recap