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Rick Carlisle
Watch Rick Carlisle talk postgame about the poor first half effort and defensive effort, and more below:
Read on to see what the rest of the players had to say, or watch the rest of the videos here.
DeJuan Blair
On whether anyone told him what the hostile act was:
No it was clearly a reaction to the call actually I didn't know because I was facing down there so they are going to judge off of what they do.
On the disappointment of being ejected:
It's real disappointing because with me in the game our momentum was going great and when that happened and that got me out of there was a big deal.
On a possible suspension:
I mean it was an accident so we'll see what happens. It wasn't intentional. I was just reacting to a call that I thought didn't go my way.
Monta Ellis
On the disappointment of coming up short after the comeback:
It's very disappointing. At the beginning of the game we had great energy. They (spurs) made their run, got us down and playing against a great team like that you've got the use a lot of energy to come back and we did that and it when from tit for tat. Boris (Diaw) hit a shot and they went up and we couldn't come back at the other end and hit a shot like we should and got into the foul game. I had a good look at the end but it didn't go down.
On DeJuan Blair's contribution:
He did a great job. He came in and gave us that energy. He played tough defense, got rebounds, got a lot of put-backs. He was everywhere...he was a big part of us making that run.
On Blair's ejection:
It killed us. I don't think he did it intentionally. It was a very emotional game and unfortunately he got kicked out. Other than that he did a great job.
On whether he had ever heard of a "hostile act" before:
Never.
On his performance:
It wasn't good enough. I didn't shoot the ball well. I think I came out stagnant. I wasn't aggressive like I was in the second half.
On coming back from a 20-point deficit:
We've been like this the whole season. We know the only thing we have to do is fight. Fight and get stops.
Shawn Marion
On the disappointment of coming up short:
It was a great effort to fight back and get back into it and control the game, we just didn't pull it out in the end.
On the Mavs' play in the second quarter:
We got stagnant on offense. They had a good two-man game going with [Manu] Ginobili and whoever the big was. [Ginobili] was coming off and they were getting straight to the basket for layups...it was working really well for them.
On Blair:
He was everywhere. He had some great steals...he was every active out there...he did a great job tonight rebounding and trying to give us extra opportunities.
On whether he has ever heard of a "hostile act:"
Hostile act? Is that a movie? ... I think you gotta to be a good judge of trying to decipher what somebody is trying to do intentionally or if somebody was reacting to themselves.
On returning to San Antonio for Game 5:
It's a hostile environment. It's very hostile down there. It's an exciting place to play. We just have to go out there and get it done...We just have to take it one game at a time.
Vince Carter
On what's going through his mind:
We didn't win. Plain and simple. We felt like this was a game we wanted to win, we could win, and we should win. Our goal was to come in and protect home one game at a time. I think we came out with the right mentality and the right attitude but we got comfortable and at the same time we knew they were going to make a run. They were going to come out fighting and hit hard and step up their level of intensity throughout the course of the game. And it's something we've been saying since day one, ‘we have to match their level of intensity if we want to have a chance to win.' And I think we got a taste of that mid-way in the first quarter on when they had that lead on us. Kudos to everybody on the team who refocused and allowed us to get back into the game. Everybody really buckled down and approached the game like it should be, meaning matching their level of intensity. I think we buckled down, we stayed focused, moved the ball...we played with a lot of energy late and got or crowd into it and that's the way we have to play for 48 minutes. If not, it's just going to be a long game. We gave ourselves a chance and got back into the game. I'm not going to say we ran out of gas but we just didn't get it done. Plain and simple.
On the impact of Blair:
Tremendous...What he brought to the game really helped us comeback.
On whether Blair's ejection killed the momentum:
We wanted to step it up for him. He plays with a lot of passion. He just wants to win. I don't know about the call, it's a tough situation to be in. You watch it on the jumbotron but you're just trying to focus. I didn't really get a good look at it.
On returning to San Antonio:
Now, they're at home. They're going to bring the same approach in terms of level of intensity and our approach has to be hit first, hit often, and hit for 48 minutes. Plain and simple. If we don't play at their level, we saw what can happen.
On guarding Tiago Splitter:
Good sleep at night. He's a big boy, you know. I'm giving up size and height. I wanted to just be a pain in the butt more than anything. When [Carlisle] said, ‘You got Splitter,' I said, ‘Alright.' You just have to go for it and just lay it all out on the line for the team. I think it kind of helped us and sparked our comeback. [San Antonio] chose to go big and I was going to take the challenge. I just couldn't let him take advantage of me...It's just the level that we had to play...I knew, first and foremost, I had to keep him off the glass. He threw me out the way one time and got an offensive rebound but I tried to make up for it on the other end and just come back and try and fight him and do a better job of just position defense more than anything in the second half. If he's going to get the rebound, he's going to throw me on the ground again. It's just laying it on the line for the team and playing to win. We want to win this series just like they do so we have to do the little things.
Dirk Nowitzki
On why the offense went stagnant after the hot start:
They keep playing. They're a good and smart team, they're persistent. We just had some tough shots. They forced some stuff that we didn't want but we knew coming in that they were going to take our most comfortable things away but we still have to get some better shots, some better looks. We did have some and those few good shots we had we just didn't make. So, it was a tough offensive night but it's not like they were amazing offensively either.
It was a heck of a comeback the way we fought there in the second half, scrambling and doing the stuff we did in the first three [games] to go up 2-1. We just weren't smart enough down the stretch. [Boris] Diaw made a big three. So, that's a tough one.
On how he feels about the team's chances heading to San Antonio:
Well, we're still here to play. Not quite as much in the first half after that start. I thought they just played a little harder than us...All four games we were right there. We gotta go down there with confidence and we'll see what happens on Wednesday.
On the play of Blair:
He was fantastic. I thought his energy was great. He was into it. He was battling Timmy [Duncan] down there which is obviously hard. He gave us some second chance opportunities with some rebounds which is big on a night when we weren't shooting the ball really well, or nobody was shooting the ball well.
On Blair's ejection:
That was just an unfortunate play. It happened. He got kicked out, we moved on. I thought Sammy [Dalembert] did a good job tonight for us as well. He had 15 rebounds.
On his performance:
I had some good looks there; I thought, especially in the fourth quarter out of the post-up, had some turnarounds. I had a shot from the right wing, up one, to put us up three. I was 100 percent sure it was going in but it was short. Tough night. They make it tough on us. They're into us and they take us out of our comfort zone a little bit. Gotta keep battling, it's 2-2.