Amar'e Stoudemire talks after the game
Stoudemire on getting out there: "It was great. I felt a little winded in the first quarter but other than that I felt good."
Stoudemire on his immediate chemistry with players: "When you're playing with good basketball players the game becomes easy. It's the matter of finding the right spots on the court to get open and take advantage of your opportunity, and go for it."
Stoudemire getting that first bucket: "It felt great. The first few attempts was a little tough, I was trying to draw some contact and get to the line, and once you get to the line everything becomes a lot easier, the basket opens up for you, but I was able to still be aggressive and get going.
Stoudemire on whether he felt winded: "I felt good. I felt a little winded, yeah, took a long break off on the All Star break, having too much fun in the sun in Miami, but I got back here and started working with the guys and got acclimated with the training staff, so I feel great."
Stoudemire on the crowd reaction to him coming in: "It was exciting. The fans were very joyful tonight. Gave me a lot of energy, it channeled right to me, so I was able to capitalize on that. It felt good."
Stoudemire on what role he wants to play: "Whatever it takes to win. The league knows my pedigree. They know what I bring to the table. This is my 13th year in this league, but whatever we need as a team to win, I'm here to help."
Stoudemire on whether the Mavericks are a championship contender: "Yeah, absolutely. We got all the right personnel, great coaches, great training staff. It's an organization that wants to win and all the intangibles are here."
Stoudemire on being more motivated in Dallas: "I'm always motivated, whether it's with the Knicks, a team that's not going to make the playoffs, or a team that's contending for a championship. As a basketball player, you always got to stay motivated, find areas and ways to make you motivated. That's what makes you better as a basketball player."
Stoudemire on playing with Dirk: "It's been fun. Dirk is a guy who demands so much respect from court spacing, so opens up the court for myself and Tyson down in the paint. It makes the game a lot easier."
Stoudemire on ready to get in there: "I was anxious. I was ready to go. I was ready to get going. I was ready to go from the start."
Stoudemire on that RJ dunk: "Yeah, you heard him earlier, I dunked on him like that. But yeah, I think that was a great, great play on his behalf. He showed some athleticism, but it's tough that it wasn't a play that counted. In my book, that was an outstanding play."
Stoudemire on motivation, again: "Yeah, obviously playing for a championship, you find that motivation in that. Playing for a team that's not going to make the playoffs, you find motivation to compete against whoever you're competing against. There's always ways to find challenge in the game of basketball. That's what makes the game such a beautiful game, there's always challenges. But to compete for a championship, that's the ultimate goal."
Stoudemire on his decision to come to Dallas: "I was very familiar with the organization for playing against them so many times in Phoenix. I knew about the training staff, it's a really, really good training staff, which is a positive for me to prolong my health. And then the players, the players are guys who are all ready to win. Obviously, coach Carlisle is a phenomenal coach. He's a champion as well."
Other Mavericks talk about Stoudemire's debut
Rick Carlisle: "I thought it was very good, very solid. I think he showed how he can help us pretty clearly. There were a couple of situations where there were turnovers -- one of them was my fault because I called a play that was going to take too much time and then he was up against the clock. It's pretty clear the guy knows how to play the game. He's got a lot of skill. He's still got a lot of juice."
Dirk: "He was great. I think he gave us exactly what he thought he would give us, some scoring off the bench, some catching and finishing in the paint. He's got some nice touch from 16, 17 feet, he's got a big body, good rebounder. So I thought he was great."
Carlisle: "We're kind of gauging his level of fatigue and stuff. When he first got out there, it's emotional the first game you get out there with a new team. He was going really hard, he was really tired. I was going to leave him in and [trainer] Casey [Smith] said, 'Hey, you should probably get Amar'e a break,' so we got him out. In the second half, I guess he probably played about the same number of minutes. I see his minutes increasing. I don't see him as an 11 minute a game player or 12 minutes. I thought for the first game with a new team, 14 points in 12 minutes, that's pretty strong."
RJ is excellent as a starter, plus a waved off poster dunk
Jefferson, on whether he agreed with the call: "Yeeeeeeah, I guess, a little bit. It was a good pass, I had a lot of space and I just tried to finish it for Devin. In 14 years, even when I could dunk like that every day, I don't think I've ever had a ref call an offensive foul like that. It's OK though, I don't mind the refs."
Jefferson: "See, back in the day, we didn't have Vine, so normally if they called it off you just wouldn't even see it on SportsCenter. So hopefully the Vine will help. It was just funny watching my teammate's reaction. I think Dirk almost got a technical because he was screaming at the ref about it, but more than anything, I'm just glad that with Parsons out I was able to contribute and get a win."
Dirk: "That was one of the best dunks I've seen in a long time. Unfortunately they called the offensive foul but that was a great dunk."
Jefferson: "As soon as I came down, I saw out of the corner of my eye him pointing the wrong direction, and I just -- at that point in time, I black out and just start screaming. It's one of those things. I don't want to make a big deal out of it. I'm an old man. It happens every now and then. You get lucky once in a while."
Jefferson on starting: "I was joking with Rondo today, and he looked at me funny when coach said I was starting. I have 800 of them in my career, so I feel pretty comfortable there. I understand my place. We have young players in Parsons and Farouq, and my job is to mentor them and to make sure that I can help them in any way and then to be a backup whenever they call. Of course, I feel more comfortable starting, even though that's not my role, I feel very confident that when coach puts me in the starting lineup, that I can make a contribution and make an impact."
Carlisle: "Richard Jefferson goes hard. When he's on the floor, you know he's out there. He's combative on defense and he's aggressive on offense. If you leave him open, he makes 3s."
Jefferson on his role in the offense: "Well, we are just trying to get some more movement. Coach has put in some palys that have really put us in a position to drive, and that's what we're trying to focus on. Me, yeah, I'm gonna shoot 3s. I'm gonna get to the corner. I haven't played too much in the last few weeks. That 33 minutes, I'm going to blame that for my shot going short in the second half, but I'm going to shoot my fair share. I think we're always going to shoot shots that are open, but for the most part coach has been emphasizing on a drive, trying to get in the bonus, and play a more aggressive style of basketball."
Everything else
Carlisle: "We're a balanced team and down the stretch, Monta kind of got going with the pick-and-rolls with Tyson. We just didn't have to put Dirk back in, so that was good. Charlie did a good job on defense and rebounding and stuff. It's a bonus when you can finish the game without [Dirk], no question about it."
Dirk Nowitzki on Monta Ellis: "He's our closer, we all know that. No matter what he does in the first three quarter we know he's going to get the ball from us [in the fourth], the ball's going to be in his hands. We ran a simple kind of shake screen and roll and he made great shots happen over there. We definitely needed some because Charlotte just kept hanging around, they're a tough team, they play hard. It was a little too close for comfort in the fourth, but he kind of kept them at a distance."