What the Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Clippers said
after Game Fifteen of the Perfect Season.
Quotes
Mavericks
Coach Carlisle
(On the Mavs' Start) "We weren’t really in the game, and it got the Clippers going. It gave them confidence, and that’s on all of us."
(On another close loss) "It's tough when this happens. But, for me, it points to the fact that there's a lot of other things we can do during the course of a game to avoid those situations, and that's how we're going to have to look at it."
(On giving up 30+ Quarters) "You’ve got to be entrenched in a Defensive Mentality. And we weren’t.’’
(On the Situation) "It's extremely hard to hit two 3s in the last minute of the game to take a lead when you're down five. You got to play from the front more than we're doing."
Dirk 'Stiff Leg' Nowitzki
(On the Game) "We were right there. Three threes to end games, we just can’t let that happen. I mean, we should have won at OKC, we should have won this game and the Lakers game we were tied and should have went to overtime. Three game-winners - so, we’ve got to work that out."
(On the Mavs Losingstreak) "We've got to keep on fighting. Nobody said it was going to be easy, but we can't keep losing on 3s that end the game."
(On Billups' Shot) "We had to stay on our toes, and we defended the first play pretty good. It went out of bounds again, and they got another look at it. They ran a good play, Chauncey took the ball out, then the handoff, and he hit a big shot."
(On defending Blake) "Griffin is very explosive, and he’s always looking to attack and go both ways. He’s the future of the league and he’s fun to watch. I actually thought we did a decent job tonight. We didn’t give them a lot of lobs and we ran with them in transition. We tried to stay between him and the basket. I thought our bigs did a good job."
(On Stiff Leg) "I’m having trouble bending my knees. I’ve just got to get my legs stronger, get my base back. I’ve got to use my legs in my shot and hopefully they’ll come back soon."
(What happen?) "After the Euros, I was just sick of basketball so I took a lot of time off. Probably too much time off. So it's going to take me a while, but it's a lot better than it was three weeks ago, so that's encouraging. But, it’s still just stiff and I can’t move the way I want to, but it will be OK. I’m going to keep on working, get a stronger base, get my legs strong where they were in June and hopefully I’ll be back to my normal self."
(What would help, going into SLC?) "Some practice days, some lift days would be nice, but we just don't have it. This way you've got to just adjust on the fly."
Jason Kidd
(On the End-sequence) "On the road, you want the ball. JET comes down and makes two big threes. He put us in position to win the game, and we just couldn’t get a stop.
(On the Gamewinner) "Again we lost on a 3 from the right side, the same spot Fish made his shot the other night. The Clippers drew up a good play. We knew Billups and Griffin were going to have the ball at some point, and Billups made the shot. We were in a position to win the game, and we just couldn't get a stop.
(On the Mavs) We must lead the league in last-second shots made by our opponents, so we've got to figure out a way to close the door. We left it open, but there were a lot of plays that led to that just to get us back in the ballgame. And those two shots Jason Terry made were huge."
(On losing on a late Three for the 3rd Time) "That’s basketball at its best. It can reward you and also it can upset you. We’re a veteran ballclub, and we have a game tomorrow, so we have to be ready."
Jason Terry
(On the 2nd Loss in a row) "Again, it’s late-game situations. We’ve lost now on three 3-point shots, so we’ve got to get that corrected."
Clippers
Coach Vinny Del Negro
(On the last Play) "I thought we executed it well. There are a few options on the play. First, I thought Butler did a nice job curling and it opened up Blake popping back with the screen. Then I thought Blake made a nice decision in terms of the space that was available for Chauncey to get his shot off. And Chauncey, with his experience, has made a lot of them. It didn't surprise me that it went in; I was just pleased with the development of the play and the execution."
(On Chauncey Billups, Volumeshooter) "You better guard him because he’s going to shoot it. He’s going to make big shots. He’ll get into a rhythm; I’m not worried about his shots. I want him to shoot the ball when he’s open and make big plays. We need him to score, and it’s hard to score when you don’t shoot. He’s very important to what we’re doing. He gives us another element out there that’s a problem for the other team. Sometimes, he’s probably going to force a few, but I trust his judgment on that."
(On Paul not playing) "He’s feeling better. He’s doing all his therapy, and he’s headed in the right direction. But we want to make sure."
(On Winning without Paul) "We are fortunate. We got Mo back, and hopefully we can get Chris back and just keep the process going. Winning these close games just gives us confidence as we continue to improve in a lot of areas."
(On the Game) "I'm pleased with the effort. You can't always dictate things. But you can dictate how you approach things, and you can dictate your preparation in terms of getting mentally ready to play. I thought today we were fortunate to win in some ways, but I was also more concerned about our approach. If you don't compete at this level, you don't give yourself a chance. We didn't do that last night. But today, we did. We made our mistakes but we kept battling and we got a lot of production from our bench. But even if the Chauncey shot didn't go in, I was more interested to see how we would respond after such a lackluster effort last night."
Blake Griffin
(On Billups) "I handed it to him and I was just trying to hold off Kidd. I probably saw the last few rotations and it went in. He's the veteran leader. At all times you can look to him and he knows exactly what he wants to do and what we should do. So for us the younger guys, we're trying to learn from him. He is that calming influence that you know the game is never out of reach when he is on the court."
(On the last play, again) "It was just kind of a 'read' play. Jason Kidd was trailing Chauncey, so I just gave it to him and Chauncey did what he does. There were definitely multiple options and that was the one that stuck out immediately. You have a guy like that with two or three feet on a defender, you give it to him and he didn't disappoint."
Mo Williams
(On the Win) "We beat a good team tonight without our best player, so it was big for us, confidence-wise. I mean, you're going to have your games like Utah, where we just didn't get off the bus and wasted jet fuel. But for us, to be able to do these things that we're doing, we've got veteran guys that relish these moments. We don't call Chauncey 'Big Shot' for nothing."
(On starting 7-7 from the Field) "This is the third game of a back-to-back-to-back and after watching those guys yesterday, I knew it was going to be tough on them today. I just wanted to come and give us some energy to help the team out instead of watching those guys out there busting their behind."
Chauncey Billups
(On his Game) "I didn't have a particularly great game. But I hit the shot that won it, and all I care about is that we won."
(On the Gamewinner) "I was so open, I was able to take my time and shoot the shot. They got a contest on it late, but by that time, it was gone.
(On going from Goat to Hero) "The one thing about it is you have to have a short memory. I wasn't going to let those two turnovers mess up the rest of my game. We had an opportunity to win it and we did just that. I was surprised I was so open. I got a great look and it felt good for it to go down."
(Hey, the Net barely moved) "I don't care if bounced around ten times. I was just happy it went in."
(On the importance of Clutch) "I don’t like when people add pressure to the last two minutes of the game. I just think that if you’re professional and you play hard every night, you should play the last two minutes like the first two minutes. Don’t put any extra pressure on yourself. I thought that we did that. I thought we stayed composed."
Vids
Nailed
Game Recap
Vinny of the Blacks
Courtside Mo
Clips Locker
Billups
Williams
Links
MMB | Catcap Another...and another...and another T(h)ree.
... the most disappointing thing about this loss is not being able to take advantage of the fatigue of the Clippers missing an injured Chris Paul. With as packed as schedule as the Mavericks have, there will be games where they just have no energy and put forth no effort. Those are games that are going to be lost. But when the Mavs go up again a team that isn't rested, and they are rested, they must take advantage.
Clips Nation Chauncey's's's'S Game Winner
In looking at the Mavericks tonight, I thought they played a decent game, and of course could've easily ended up winning. After their sluggish start to the season, they went on to run off wins against weaker teams, but that's what good teams do. They'll get Utah next in Utah, and leave Los Angeles 0-2, but they were a coin flip away from winning both games against two tough teams at home. Odom will no doubt continue to improve and work himself into their flow of things, but what caught my eye was their platoon at center with Brendan Haywood and Ian Mahinmi. Sure, there's a drop off from Tyson Chandler, but you could see where this duo could outperform expectations.
Clipperblog Audio discussion
Recapmaybelater
2MG's Difference
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: the Mavericks played poorly, inexplicably managed to keep things close, and then lost a game they could have — though shouldn’t have — won.
Hoopdata Boxscore
You guys...going 7-25 from long 2 Range. Tsts
Stats
FT-Watch
Brendan bricked all two from the line. So far he is sporting a poetic brickrate of 60 %. Celebration for our
thirdbest Center, Beaches! [nsfw]On the other Hand, Dirk had only 2 FTA. Where are they gonna come from, though?
Rest
Outrebounded? Inexplicably yes, 47-42
34 FG, 22 Assists for the Mavs. Weak
Malus
Disclaimer: If you couldn't tell by now, all italic sentences are made up thoughts, not actual quotes.