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Quotes of the Night
- Dirk, on Wright playing power forward in Marion's absence: "Usually the four, in our system, is more of a spread guy. As a five, he's usually the roller, but if he's in there with DB or Sam he's probably going to spot a little more out to 14-15 feet, right around his range. We still want him to do what he does, to still roll some and if it's not there pass the ball, set another pick and roll. But the floor will not be as spread."
- Carlisle, on Marion's injury: "He's banged up. X-rays were negative. He's not going to travel with us tonight. We'll hope that he feels better tomorrow or the next day. We'll see."
- He went onto say that he could join the team in New Orleans on Friday, but that it was too early to tell anything.
- Dirk, on playing Tim Duncan tomorrow night: "Yeah, I wish I had his four or five championships, however many he's got. He's unstoppable, he's probably the best power forward to ever play the game. If you want to consider him a center, he's definitely up there."
Must Read Recap
Must Read Recap
Rick Carlisle
On Monta scoring 10 in a row to seal the game in the fourth quarter
It was a key stretch of the game. Monta had a rough game to that point offensively, although he had quite a few assists. At that point, we need a spark and he made plays. He made a couple of plays that weren't necessarily scores and he made some defensive plays, too. It was great to see a guy just staying the course, keep playing, and then it just pops. That spurt got us the win.
On Shawn Marion's status
He's banged up. X-rays were negative. He's not going to travel with us tonight. We'll hope that he feels better tomorrow or the next day. We'll see.
On getting a win at home
I actually looked for us to play a lot better from start to finish, but it just didn't go that way. It was a struggling night, but the important thing is to get a win when you struggle. We were able to do that. We had some different lineups in there without Marion, obviously. Now you're looking at some things we haven't seen much of with two bigs in there at the same time, things like that. The important thing is to find a way, and we did. Now we've got to get on the place a play a 6 a.m. game tomorrow.
Dirk Nowitzki
On getting the win after the two losses
Well, we needed to stop the bleeding somehow. I don't think that it was pretty, but we got the job done somehow. We weren't good defensively and kind of left them hanging around. Considering we have four games in five nights, we should have got a lot more rest in the fourth and we failed to do so, and it's going to hurt us later.
On Marion's injury
'Trix going out is tough, he's been playing well of late. He's a very good defender for us, so that's going to hurt us a little bit. ... Whoever it is, you know you can't really replace his game -- he's got a very unique game on the offensive end, he's always around the ball, around the rim, makes great plays for us -- but we've got to try somehow.
On Monta's surge at the end
He kind of brought it home for us. His shot looked good there...I think he got his confidence back getting a couple of layups in transition. He played some good defense, got a couple of steals, got on the break and got his confidence up by getting to the basket a couple of times. He had a floater in the lane. It always helps when you're a scorer or a shooter to see the ball go through the hoop, get your confidence up, and then he looked like he was unstoppable again.
On exactly what happened when Marion defense
I actually tripped him, unfortunately. I was playing defense. I shouldn't have played any defense. I just should have gotten out of the way. No, my foot was right there. Pau is a very good passer out of the post and his guy back-cut him, and so I think he kind of tried to play the ball a little bit and got his feet tangled up with mine. He took a hard fall. I thought it might be his shoulder or something. But we're glad nothing serious happened, he didn't break anything as I heard. Hopefully he'll be back soon.
On Brandan Wright playing the four with Marion out
Usually the four, in our system, is more of a spread guy. As a five, he's usually the roller, but if he's in there with DB or Sam he's probably going to spot a little more out to 14-15 feet, right around his range. We still want him to do what he does, to still roll some and if it's not there pass the ball, set another pick and roll. But the floor will not be as spread.
On the last meeting with the Spurs
They had us going all sorts of ways, the pick-and-roll, Parker had it going and they had the three-point shooting, so you can't give them all of that and give up 130 and expect to win. We kind of got close there at the end, played some zone and they didn't handle it well for a couple of minutes. But never really got enough stops to win the game so we'll see if we can slow them down some and keep Parker out of the lane. We've been saying the same thing for 10+ years.
On Duncan and his role in history
Yeah, I wish I had his four or five championships, however many he's got. He's unstoppable, he's probably the best power forward to ever play the game. If you want to consider him a center, he's definitely up there. ... He was the best there was, for a while in the playoffs he always beat up on us. There in '06 we snuck by them somehow in game seven and that's the year we should have won the championship, we kind of gave up that 2-0 lead in the Finals.
Vince Carter
On the win
It really was a team effort tonight. We were focused and it was a much needed game especially with us heading out on the road now.
On how the team turned it around later on
We came out a little lackadaisical tonight. We knew it was important but we just had to go out there and give the effort and we look over at their bench and see so many of their guys missing and they only had nine guys. I think we played down to them and they were ready to paly. I don't think we were ready to play and once they hit us in the mouth first, we were able to fight back and really play Mavs basketball.
On Monta turning it around
Let me tell you, he's a monster. When we go through lulls in the game sometimes it's frustrating, but I'll tell with the team that we have, we had so many guys rolling to where it was easy for him in the fourth quarter. One thing about Monta regardless if he's hitting shots or not, he's making the right play for guys and in the fourth quarter he was really putting the ball in the basket.
Brandan Wright
On better play as the game progressed
We got better on defense, started to score some baskets on offense, we got in transition a little bit. Monta carried us in the fourth quarter.
On Wright playing PF in Marion's absence
Yeah, I've been playing there my whole life. It's going to be a big loss for us, but we've got to step up. When guys go down, you've got to step up.
On how he plays together with Dalembert or Blair at the five
We've got to be a great defensive team, obviously. We can work the paint really well, crash the offensive boards. I got to be creative.
Lakers head coach Mike D'Antoni
On what happened down the stretch
Well, we turned the ball over too many times. Especially in the crucial periods where we were trying to lcimb back in it. We can't have twenty turnovers and expect to win on the road. That makes it tough.
On Kendall Marshall
Kendall gives us something. Obviously, he turned the ball over too much. He made his shots and I thought he played well.
On the loss in general
You stay positive. It would be different if they weren't trying. We just don't have enough horses right now. We need to get better, do things better, and our margin of error is very small. When you have twenty turnovers, it was right there. You can't give them 25 points off of lauyps and think that we're good enough to overcome that. You just can't do it.