Rick Carlisle telling it like it is.
"I love the talent on our team, but we don't have the kind of talent to win on talent alone. That's a fact. And most teams in the league are in the same position. We've got to fight every night for wins."
"Hard play is the biggest key to winning in this league that there is, other than having enough talent," Carlisle said. "My first year in Detroit we probably won 10 games that year out of 50 just because we were playing hard. We just won on grit.
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It sounds like Dirk is genuinely embarrassed about the Bucks game.
"We let up a little after that first quarter and thought everything's going to be easy," Dirk Nowitzki said. "Teams are too good in this league. We let them get their rhythm. All of a sudden, everybody started shooting the ball well for them. It was bad. It seemed like we never did get two stops in a row.
"Nothing in this league is going to come easy. You give up 80 percent shooting in two quarters, it's just embarrassing."
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Sefko has a little article on the new guys with some Matt Carroll quotes.
"You got to use some discretion," he said. "The one I went after [against the Bucks] was a little out of frustration. But other than that, I try to go after everything. I'd rather err on the side of aggression than laying back and being timid."
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Ryan Hollins, meet Gerald Green.
"That kid is amazing," said newcomer Ryan Hollins, who also is a prodigious leaper. "He doesn't even have to stretch. He just comes out and dunks. This is the first time I don't think I'm the best athlete on the team."