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Well, that was disappointing. On a night when a lot of us expected San Antonio to come in and roll over the Mavs, the team managed to find a way to make it a game at the end, only to come up short. Samuel Dalembert played sick, Dirk did Dirk things, Monta made a few of those crafty shots he does, DeJuan Blair had a nice game against his former team, but ultimately there just wasn't enough there to sustain a comeback.
Let's go behind the scenes for some postgame comments.
Rick Carlisle
On the end of the game...
We had a couple places where we became undisciplined and they took advantage of it. When you play San Antonio you have to be very precise with your offence and defense - their team's been together for a long time. We basically had to pitch a shutout in the last 4 minutes and we had a chance to do it, but we had a couple mistakes that short circuited us.
On Dalembert's performance...
Sam showed up sick, throwing up. He heard Brandan wasn't going to be here so he showed up for us and that was big for us. He played really well. He has put two really good games in a row together. I thought Blair played well too. This game came down to shot making and untimely mistakes made by us and timely opportunities to take advantage of mistakes made by them.
On the center rotation...
We have 4 different kinds of guys...when Wright is back he's the best offensive player...Blair is the most physical guy, Dalembert has the most length, and Sarge is the quickest, and probably the best screener we have. We have a lot of good options. It's be great if they were all perfect, but we have no one on our team who is perfect.
On challenges with the roster as a whole...
It's easy to look at our roster and nitpick the challenges. We've got age, we've got some size issues, we've got this that and the other. If you want to make a laundry list, it's not hard to make a list. But my job is to be a problem solver, not a problem identifier; your guys' job is to identify the problems; and that's one reason this job pays a lot more than your guys' job does.
Shawn Marion
On the game as a whole...
It was very frustrating. we never could get over the hump. we got close quite a few times in this game, then would do something to mess it up ourselves...coach said it best, we beat ourselves tonight.
On San Antonio's core...
It's very good. when you've got a core that's been together for as long as they have, they know exactly where guys will be, they feel comfortable with each other and that goes a long way...they're gonna stay solid. they're persistent and relentless and always give themselves a chance to win.
Vince Carter
On the end of the game...
We did a good job to get ourselves back in the game. They're just a very smart team, they stick to their system and make you pay for your mistakes.
On San Antonio...
[San Antonio's] been together for a while so they've seen it all and know how to work the ball til Duncan gets the shot he wants...once he's close to the rim it's basically two points.
On the coming road trip...
The positive [tonight] is our team really stuck together against a good team. It would have been easy to have been blown out but we fought to give ourselves a chance to win. Now we have to get the first one on the road. We can't look ahead, it's one game at a time.
Dirk Nowitzki
On what lost the game...
We only had like 15 turnovers but they were bad ones, felt like electric shock... they were untimely ones, bad ones. So, it's another tough one to swallow, and now we have three tough games coming up.
On Marion...
Shawn is our plug up guy. We stick him on our best offensive player... that's his strength and what he brings to this team. JKidd was unique as well, because he could guard ones, twos and threes. But we've gotta get it done with the lineup we've got. We get beat in transition too easy, we've gotta get back and help our guard there...this league is all about pick and rolls, we have to get better in coverage [on those].
On the Mavs-Spurs rivalry...
After the championship we've had two rough years...that by itself already makes the rivalry not what it used to be, winning 50+ games. So we'd love to get back there, we feel like we have a better team this year than we had the last 2 years, but it's tough. We're letting games slip away here and there and it's going to hurt our playoff chances. But I still think we have more than enough to make a push.
