Dallas did not attempt a free throw in the first half. That's all you need to know.
That and they were 6 of 31 from beyond the arc.
Oh, and they scored 31 points in the second and fourth quarters combined.
Rick Carlisle
Could you talk about how Hollins played filling in for Dampier?
I like Hollins. He played tough, aggressive, active. He played very good minutes.
Dampier is day-to-day?
Yeah.
Could play tomorrow night or have to see?
Have to see.
Was it a good sign that even though the shots weren't falling the defense stayed active in the second half?
Yeah, we were aggressive defensively and battled in the second half. Then again, the second quarter is what got us.
Jason Terry
Our big man Dampier couldn't play, so he [Hollins] stepped up and had a tremendous effort out there on both ends of the floor.
What was it like to not get a free throw until the second half?
It was tough. A lot of that falls on our shoulders because we weren't aggressive. Fouls go to the more aggressive team and we weren't attacking the basket like we are used to. Once you do that they set the tone and were the aggressive team.
What about losing your coach?
Either way it didn't really matter. Our game plan was intact. We fought on and made it a tough second half. We just didn't make shots. I was probably 10 or 15 points under my average so anytime that happens you have to get someone else to step up. We didn't have anything tonight, but we've got to bounce back. The games come quick in this league and we've got another tomorrow night against Indiana.
Jason Kidd
I think we started off on the right foot, especially in that first quarter. We had a nine point lead, but what we did to get that lead we forgot in the second quarter and we played uphill the whole game. Guys were fighting, we got some stops defensively, we just couldn't make a three when it presented itself. That happens, but guys were fighting and we had our opportunities.
What happened during that stretch in the second quarter?
Well we got stuck on 33 so we couldn't get to 34 or 35. The big thing is in that situation we have to lock down even more on the defensive end, and I think we just maybe panicked a little bit and guys wanted to do it themselves, and we just couldn't get off of 33. From there they were in control of the game.
Was it encouraging that the defense didn't let up even though it wasn't going your way?
Yeah, we fought. It kind of reminded of the game against Atlanta at our place. They came back in that fourth and made threes to put pressure on us. Tonight that presented itself for us and we just couldn't knock down the three when we needed it.